Here's how you can develop the key attributes of a strategic thinker in the context of Conferences.

Strategy in itself is a long-term effort. To become a strategic thinker you need to read a lot, be out there and meet new people, study the patterns of those people interactions and put into practice the learnings that come from both practical life experience and theory that needs to be studied. Precious opportunities to learn are everywhere, you just have to take advantage of them and understand that you can never stop learning. The strategic thinker knows that to engage actively is like running a marathon that never ends.

Before you attend a conference, create a strategic plan for engagement with other attendees. You have a limited window at the conference to interact with old colleagues and build onto your network. Look into who else is on the attendee list and which you need to make contact with. Prioritize the individuals and sponsor booths that you want to stop by and hear about their companies latest developments. Consider prioritizing your list to maximize your networking opportunities. Consider the professional relationships that you want to nurture the most. See if you can schedule a time to connect with those at the top of your list over dinner or a drink at the end of the day.

Networking is the lifeblood of your career. Without it, your career is dead. But to truly be effective, networking needs to be done right. Learn about the people you want to meet at the conference that you are planning to attend. Know what they like, have some ideas in mind on how to start a meaningful conversation with them. And then, once you are talking to them, listen and talk, don't be the only one doing the talking. Ask "How?" questions, show that you are curious to learn more about them. And don't forget to follow up! Without follow-up is like you didn't even meet that person.

In your conference plan, schedule in time to reflect on the key takeaways for each session. Organize your notes and highlight the insights that you gathered. This will help you develop a conference briefing for your internal teams use. Which are novel information in the field and which are actionable insights? Take your new found conference insights back to your internal team and discuss. Pass your insights onto your internal team members is pivotal in leveraging your efforts to improve the businesses performance.

As mentioned earlier, strategic thinking is a long-term effort. If you want to do it right, it's something that you never stop doing. Take the time to regularly stop and think, assess where you are going with your career and how you are leveraging conferences as a platform that can help you get where you want to get. Never stop being curious. Write down your thoughts, engage with other people, even if they look shy at the beginning. Many of us are scared of rejection or of appearing awkward. There's nothing worse than losing the opportunity of "going deeper" just because nobody else does it.

Asking questions is what makes us smarter. Why? Because by asking questions we learn what we didn't know before. But simply asking questions is not enough. Make sure to ask educated ones, and to do so you got to ask "Why?" and "How?" questions, which prompt open-ended answers, which are the ones that can teach you the most.

With having captured an abundance of insights at the conference, which can be turned from the abstract to practical. Distilling your insights into the actionable will make your conference attendance valuable to your team's business tactics. Which insights are worth following upon? Determine which insights can be acted upon in a useful and practical manner. Prioritize the new idea, technology, or process that will create a novel outcome for your customers or increase your team's internal efficiency. For each insight, identify internal team members to relay them. Take this moment to reflect on the insight with your internal stakeholders to help navigate your next conference and hone your insight gathering.