The conference is over. Time to unpack, relax and play with all your new swag! But it’s also time to make the most of your conference experience. Here is a list of things to do when you return from a conference to keep the momentum going.
1. Brain Dump
Within 72 hours after the conference, while things are still fresh, take some time to document all of your thoughts on paper. Revisit your notes to make sure they are clear to you. This will help preserve any a-ha moments or key takeaways that didn’t get well documented.
2. Download the Resources
Ensure you have all the slide presentations and handouts you found helpful. You can even look through presentations you missed in Co+op U.
3. Prioritize and Put Into Practice
Prioritizing your top five most important lessons will help you reflect on the information you’ve just been bombarded with and make it easier to digest. Take the time to critically look at the ideas you are revved up about and ask yourself these questions:
- What resonated with you most?
- How can you use that information to do your job better or faster?
- Did the conference make you realize that you have a skill, talent or technology gap?
Think through how you can implement what you learned and start building your plan. Need help setting goals? Check out the SMART Goals course in Co+op U!
4. Pass Along Knowledge
Your co-op probably doesn’t have a large professional development budget, which means only one or two staff members will typically attend any given conference. So it’s important to have a strategy for sharing takeaways and newly acquired knowledge with the entire team.
Staff go to fantastic events like Marketing Matters, Focus on Fresh or Co+nvergence and soak up tons of knowledge before returning to their jobs at the co-op. But what happens after that? Rather than letting all that information sit with only those who attended the event, or worse yet, letting it fall by the wayside as day-to-day activities take over, take the opportunity to spread the knowledge with other staff.
Check out this article from Association for Talent Development to find ways to bring conferences back to work
