You’ve done your homework and you’ve chosen to attend a conference that promises to have a positive impact on your business. You’ve arrived with a list of sessions you’d like to attend and people you hope to meet.
What next? Here are four ways to ensure you gather and absorb the information you’re looing for:
1. Organize your notes daily
It’s normal to take copious notes while attending conference presentations, but not everything you jot down or type into your device will be useful. So, at the end of every day, go through your notes, extract the most useful points and organize them.
Take three separate sheets of paper (or digital files) and label them “to do,” “thoughts to ponder” and “priority contacts,” suggests Allison Graham, London, Ont.-based author of From Business Cards to Business Relationships: Personal Branding and Profitable Networking Made Easy.
Your “to do” list will hold the ideas you would like to apply to your business. It could be as simple as the title of a book someone suggested you read. Your page of “thoughts” will include great quotes that inspired you or got you thinking. The page of “contacts” will list the people you would like to stay in touch with.
At the end of the day, Graham says, you will have distilled those notes into relevant information that will have a direct impact on your business.
2. Work on your business
If you’re attending a multi-day conference, says Sara Gilbert, founder of Strategist Business Development in Montreal, the time away presents a good opportunity to engage in some strategic thinking.
If you have a documented business plan, bring it with you so you can review it. Consider whether your day-to-day running of the practice jibes with what you originally intended. What’s working? What’s not?
For example, your business plan might include a strategy to network on a weekly basis through community events. However, when you review your plan, you realize that you haven’t been able to keep up with that schedule. Take some time to determine how you can modify that goal so that it is more realistic and provides results.
3. Take a walk
Avoid planning such a tight schedule that you find yourself rushing from one session to the next. Give yourself a couple of breaks throughout the day. And when you do get a breather, Gilbert says, don’t spend it in your hotel room; get outside and take a walk. Take the opportunity to grab some fresh air and mentally recap what you learned in the last sessions.
“The best way to energize your body,” she says, “is to move your body.”
Breaks also offer a chance for you to mingle with others.
4. Network
“Meet new people,” Gilbert says, “and get different points of view and insights.”
Exchanging fresh ideas over a good meal is an effective way to continue working on your business while you’re away, she adds.
If a colleague is attending the same conference, remember that you will see this person when you return to the office. So, focus on spending time with new people.
This is the second instalment in a four-part series on conferences.
Next: Networking.