How To Get the Most Value From Your Next Conference

Bridge the gap between the inspiration of a conference and action back at work.
“I had not thought about how I make notes since about Grade 5 when a teacher said, ‘summarize everything I say!’. No wonder I made notes that I never looked at again? I did not realize how much I did not know about being an effective participant at conferences” Conference participant after reading this book

Do you go to conferences, make notes and never look at them again? Think about the last conference you attended. How effectively did you participate? Did you:
Make notes, but never looked at them again?
Collect business cards from people that you can’t remember?
Sit through a key note speech that seemed too dull to listen to?
Put your conference materials on a shelf or in a folder and ignore them?
Find a great idea and did nothing with it?
Spend most of your time with people you know?
Eat and drink more than usual?
Sleep and exercise less than usual?
If you answered ‘yes’ more than ‘no’, this book can help you to become a more effective conference participant. For those of you with lots of ‘no’ answers, this book can enhance your skills and insights to find great ideas at your next conference and convert them into business results.
We have all gone to conferences, made notes, and never looked at them again. If we do not look at our notes, we are unlikely to act on any ideas we created. This book was written with over 15 years of experience in watching people at conferences and speaking at over 250 conferences. You will find three main ideas throughout this book:
1. Ideas related to the resources you bring to a conference as a participant. These include your style of thinking, and sense of purpose, attitudes, and intuition.
2. Ideas about the resources which are around you at a conference. These include speakers, panel discussions, workshops and other participants. You can build your skills as an effective conference participant to use your resources wisely.
3. Ideas on innovative thinking and innovation. I start with making useful notes. Yet the objective of attending a conference is not to make notes; it is use your notes to shape ideas that will be useful for your success after the conference. Some of these ideas can lead to innovations. These tools will help you to organize, process, and develop your thinking skills.