Top Tips for Conference Attendees

With Product-Led Alliance 's #POPSF kicking off tomorrow, I had to remind myself of how to do the whole in-person conference thing. Thought I’d share some of my tips with as we enter conference season.?

Before the Conference

?? Look at the agenda- ?(esp if there are multiple tracks happening!) Make a list of talks that you can’t miss, and people that you are hoping to connect with. For the Twitter (X?) users out there, conferences often have a dedicated hashtag allowing attendees to have real time conversations and connect long after the conference is done.?

??? Decide on your note taking strategy - handwritten notes, laptop, or tablet - whatever allows you to be the most engaged. Particularly insightful talks / conversations can also lead you to think of practical takeaways that you won’t want to forget. (I could go on and on about this so I’ll be saving that for a dedicated post)

?? Dress for success - ?Something comfortable and professional that will suit you for the whole 10-12 hour affair. Pockets are always a great idea!

While you're there

?? Do your best to be present - if you’ve traveled to this conference or are taking time out of your packed work life, make it worth your time. For the next day or so act like the conference is your job - because it is! (Unless you like hanging out at conferences for fun?)

?? Have a system for outreach- Do people still use business cards? A coworker of mine had a system - cards of people she wanted to reach out to ended up in her jacket pocket. The rest in her back pocket… Having a system allowed her to be quick with her outreach post-conference. Take it a step further and make a little note to yourself on what you might want to reach out to them about?

Après Conference

?? Share back your learnings - esp if your company is paying for you to attend a conference! Whether that's sharing around a google doc, or hosting a lunch and learn, others will appreciate that you were able to distill down days of learning / connecting?

?? Incorporate takeaways - the whole reason we go to these in the first place. If you got something compelling out of your time there, find ways to keep yourself accountable - adding it to your quarter plans, or even having your manager keeping you accountable is a great way to make sure your learnings don’t go stale

?? Connect with attendees - Even if you didn’t meet in person, having this shared experience gives you a higher chance of successfully connecting on Linkedin after the fact. Bonus if you can call out something they talked about during the conference.

Ultimately conferences give you a fantastic opportunity to step out of your day to day, and reflect on the state of the industry. Hopefully you leave more energized than when you got there!?

I’ve walked away from conferences re-energized to tackle problems, having met really awesome people, and in one very memorable case - a job! Just like anything else, you get out of it what you put into it, so hopefully with a little bit of prep work, a lot of coffee, and snacks you’ll have a great conference season!

Happy Conferencing all!

#productivity #productops