Professional development events are a valuable investment in your career. From networking gatherings to training programs to conferences, these events provide an opportunity to build new skills, expand your professional network, discover emerging trends and bring fresh ideas back to your organization.
As with anything that provides value, you also need to make an investment. When it comes to events, those investments are time and money. To make sure you get the best ROI, it’s important to do more than just show up. Instead, you should approach events with intention. Below are several strategies to help you maximize the value of event attendance.
Set Clear Goals Before You Arrive
Before the event begins, decide what you want to accomplish. From a professional development perspective, are you looking to connect with some new people or grow your leadership skills, or is the main draw to earn continuing education credits? From an education perspective, are you hoping to learn about new technologies or get up-to-date on policy? Determining this will help you plan what sessions to attend, especially if you will be at a multi-track conference or a summit.
Review the agenda in advance and create a schedule that aligns with your goals. Do leave room for flexibility in case an unexpected session or conversation presents you with a valuable opportunity.
Be an Active Participant
It’s easy to sit through presentations and collect handouts, but the greatest value often comes from active participation. Commit to asking thoughtful questions during sessions. Perhaps even, as you are going into an event, set a goal to ask a certain number of questions.
Rather than simply photographing presentation slides, take notes on ideas that could improve your own organization. Capture action items, useful resources and contacts you’ll want to follow up with later.
Make Yourself Accountable for Follow-up
Before attending an event, perhaps as part of your request for permission or funding, offer to bring back information to your team. Volunteer to do a brown-bag lunch where you can share the top takeaways with your coworkers, or to create a post-conference report or infographic with key stats and ideas. Connect with your public affairs office and offer to write a blog or social media post summarizing the event.
Promising a tangible follow-up will force you to pay closer attention at the event, take more detailed notes, and ask more questions. If you can spread the knowledge you gain throughout your team, it will also justify the time and expense the organization may incur by sending you.
Build Meaningful Connections
Networking is far more than collecting business cards and increasing your connections on LinkedIn. Focus on having genuine conversations with a handful of people who can be impactful on your career or benefit your organization.
Just as you set goals around your purpose for attending, do some preparation for networking. Research who may be at the event (some events even publish attendee lists) and reach out in advance to set up meetings. LinkedIn is a great tool for this. Follow the event hashtag to see who else is posting about attending. Before the event, reach out to people with shared interests to introduce yourself and schedule informal meetups.
After the event, connect on LinkedIn; alternatively, exchange contact information before leaving, then reach out within a week, while the conversation is still fresh.
Realizing Event Attendance ROI
Every conference, workshop or training session builds knowledge, expands your network and exposes you to new ways of solving familiar challenges.
By attending with clear goals, actively participating, building relationships and applying what you’ve learned, you’ll gain far more than a certificate of attendance. You’ll return to your organization with practical ideas, stronger professional connections and renewed enthusiasm for your work and its impact.
As the founder of GovEvents and GovWhitePapers, Kerry is on a mission to help businesses interact with, evolve, and serve the government. With 25+ years of experience in the information technology and government industries, Kerry drives the overall strategy and oversees operations for both companies. She has also served in executive marketing roles at a number of government IT providers.
Photo Credit: Vitaly Gariev, Pexels
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