| How to Get the Most From Attending a Conference |
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Hi Friend
Next month I am going to be in the USA and while I am there I am taking part in the OTC in Houston, Texas. If you are going to be at the OTC or are based in Houston, let me know and we might be able to arrange to catch up in person.
Going to this conference has also prompted this month’s article titled How to Get the Most From Attending a Conference.
Last month I provided an article from the team at sparesFinder on data cleansing. (Read it here). Due to the length of that item I posted an opening in the newsletter and provided a link to the rest of the item on the website. The benefit of this approach is that it means that articles can explore issues more deeply as it removes the constraint of trying to fit the whole item into the newsletter. This worked quite well so I will continue with this approach when appropriate.
How To Get The Most From Attending a Conference
Let’s face it conference attendance can be expensive. Fees for multi-day conferences can sometimes be $2,000 or more. Plus you may need to fly in, pay for transfers and probably spend two or three nights in a hotel. Perhaps more than that though is the cost of you not being at work. Unless the conference is in or near where you live and work you are likely to miss four or five days to attend. Let’s call that a week!
So, if your company is spending thousands of dollars and a week of your time in order to continue your professional development then you had better make the most of that investment. To help you with that, the following are my 8 tips on how to get the most from attending a conference.
1. Plan Ahead
OK so you checked out the speaker list and content before getting approval to attend but for most people that might have been months ago. If the next time you review the speaker and topic list is at the conference registration then you are not respecting your own time and your company’s investment.
At least two weeks before you travel, go through the speaker and topic list and identify those that look worthy of your time and attention. Use a highlighter pen and be sure that you are not double booking your time (more on prioritization in point 3). Also, be wary of just checking out the sessions with a great title. Check out the presenter, read the summaries provided. A great title doesn’t guarantee great content and visa-versa. Use your own judgment on whether the content might be best reviewed by reading the associated paper. This is often the case with highly technical subjects. Plus if you read something that needs clarification you can usually contact the speaker later. All speakers love answering questions on their topics!
Planning ahead is not about finalizing the plan, it’s about giving you the information to make better decisions when you are at the conference because the next thing you are going to do is set up some one-on-one meetings.
Read the full article |
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Keep on improving,
Phillip Slater Founder, SparePartsKnowHow.com |
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Phillip Slater Founder, SparePartsKnowHow.com |
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