6 Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Next Business Conference  

It’s conference season, and the long days and late nights are jam-packed with knowledge, networking sessions, and social events. It’s hard not to let a busy conference schedule get the best of you, but it’s important to know what you can do, both before and after the event, to maximize your experience. Here are six tips to help you make the most of your next business convention. 

• Familiarize yourself with the details of the conference. This is especially important if this is the first time you are attending a particular conference. Review the agenda well in advance and make a list of the high-priority sessions you want to attend. Decide if there are any people you want to meet or any get-togethers you might want to set up. Orient yourself with the layout of the event so that you can make the most of your time. Some conferences are so large that sessions are held in multiple locations throughout the host city. If this is the case, make a list of the events or sessions that you want to attend, create a schedule or timeframe that will enable you to attend them, and find out what transportation options you have.

• Find out who else is going. Will your clients or partners also be attending this event? Contact them prior to arriving at the conference to find out where they are staying, set up a time to meet, or make plans to grab a bite to eat together. You may find that your colleagues are more relaxed at business events; this can be the perfect time to talk about a new idea that you have or an initiative that you want to bring to them. If you know who is going in advance, you can maximize your schedule and allow yourself an opportunity to meet with everyone on your list.

• Get as much work done before the event as possible. You won’t be able to check out of the office entirely when you head to your conference, but you will thank yourself for completing some of those more mundane tasks before you head out. And be sure to set an out-of-office reply on your email and phone so your colleagues know you may not be available to them while you are gone. If you prepare in advance, you won’t return to an overwhelming pile of work.

• Bring what you need to get through each day. Conference events can go well into the night, and you may not have a chance to return to your hotel room during the day to change or grab your laptop charger. Have what you will need for the entire day before you leave your room in the morning–a laptop and phone charger, the right attire (maybe a spare pair of shoes so you can give up on the heels when the day is done?), enough business cards, snacks, water–whatever you may need to make it through a day filled with work sessions as well as an unplanned client dinner or late-night drinks.

• Divide and conquer. Make sure that you know the size of the conference so that you can determine how many from your team should attend. Then decide who will go to which sessions so that you can take advantage of all the conference offers and see all the speakers you may be interested in. Don’t make the mistake of thinking your entire team can attend all of the events together. While you may not be able to attend every meeting you’d like, you can always share and compare your notes with your colleagues later. 

• Follow up and share the wealth. What happens after the conference might be more important than the conference itself. Make a list of action items during the event that you will carry out when you return to your office. It might be developing a new relationship, researching a new concept, or discussing an idea that came up at a group dinner. Follow up on all of these items! And, if there were others on your team who were not able to attend the conference, make sure that you share all of your notes and presentations with them.

Conferences are great resources for new ideas, new relationships, and renewed enthusiasm. Following these six tips will help you optimize these valuable experiences.