As we prepare to attend Piscine Global in France, we get to thinking about how to make the most of any conference you’re planning to attend, whether it’s one in your own backyard or one on another continent.
Here are our best tips for making the most of your attendance at a conference:
- Spend time with the brochure prior to showing up at the conference site. Print out the brochure or conference schedule. Note which
sessions you want to attend, why and what you’re hoping to get out of it. Write questions to prompt yourself to either ask them during the session or to ask them after if the speaker doesn’t address them. - Attend the before and after conference events. Many conferences host breakfasts prior to the sessions opening and these are great for getting to know other attendees. After conference events are also great for mixing and mingling and will likely put you in the same room and within chatting distance of the speakers.
- Once you get back from the conference, follow up with the people you met there. Send an email, follow up with a phone call, write a blog post. Don’t let the excitement and the information you gleaned from your conference attendance fade away. Keep it alive by after-conference networking.
sessions you want to attend, why and what you’re hoping to get out of it. Write questions to prompt yourself to either ask them during the session or to ask them after if the speaker doesn’t address them.What will you do to make sure you get a return on your investment from your next conference attendance?