Fun to keep your conference badges to reflect on all the cool events you have attended.
In an earlier post, I mentioned some ways to help yourself absorb the information learned at a conference. As a conference speaker, I aim to not give too much information, but enough that will truly help people to have better careers. But, I am also aware that if you go to 3-7 sessions at an average conference, your brain will be swimming in too much information. If you’re overloaded with information, then you simply won’t put it to good use.
Here are some ways that will help you with applying the new information to your work, when you’re back at the office:
- Share. Ask your boss if you can share the information learned with the rest of the team. In a brown bag learning session, share what you learned. The process of preparing slides and handouts will help you to further digest the information. You may have heard the phrase “If you want to learn something, teach it”.
- One thing. Pick one thing that you want to do differently from what you learned at the conference. If you try to apply everything, you’ll apply nothing. Flip through your notes and see what really resonated with you. Decide how you want to apply that information and move forward.
- Review. In the previous blog post, I talked about reviewing the information 6 months after you attended the conference. I’d like to amend that to say that you will be better served by reviewing the information every 3 months. Simply make a calendar event for yourself to review your conference notes every three months. In doing so, you’ll pick up on something you didn’t catch the first time.
- Connect. Go through the business cards you collected and reach out to those people. Connect on LinkedIn and then use that messaging platform to keep in touch. You might even ask their input about a conference session you both attended.
Likely, you’ll keep attending conferences in your lifetime. So, look for the best way for you to absorb AND APPLY the information learned at these conferences. Otherwise, attending the conference is a big waste of time. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have time to waste. But, I do want to apply the information to help me be a better professional. Doesn’t that sound good?!
Which of the tips above are you going to implement today?