You made it! You’ve been looking forward to this conference for a long time.
The only drawback to the last conference you attended was that you went back to work completely exhausted from trying to make it to all the sessions you were interested in (which, let’s be real, were most of the sessions they had!).
This conference, you’re already torn between a couple of the break out sessions and the keynote speeches. Each day looks fantastic!
As you’re planning out your week, we’d recommend a couple of tips!
Be intentional about where you spend your time.
Take a couple of minutes to look at your schedule, the time you’ll be spending in different sessions, and prioritize.
Even if you make it to all the ones that look interesting, we all know your brain will be mush by 3pm, and dinner will not be fun!
Think about your year ahead, the team or corporate goals you’ve got, and what you know the most (or least!) about. Where is there a gap, or where do you need your thinking challenged or pushed a bit?
Choose what you attend strategically verses just what looks interesting.
Meet someone new.
At these types of conferences, it can be easy to flock to those you know (maybe team members are there with you or you know other people in your region who will be there).
Even if meeting new people gives you the hives, try it out. In addition to the knowledge you’ll learn while there, just as impactful (and sometimes even more so) can be the people you meet.
Grab lunch with someone sitting in-front of you at a session, or choose to sit with someone new for dinner (even bring a colleague along with you!).
Communicate back
It can be so easy to go to a conference and then share these little bits and pieces with some of your team. When that happens, we sell ourselves short of the impact we can have of all growing towards the same thing together.
Even if you’re not sure that anyone would care that you learned about “x,” consider taking a little time to share some key learnings or next steps with your team.
HAVE FUN!
Middle Seats 