Ten Top Tips: Getting the most out of attending a conference

Having had the luck of attending PLENTY of conferences in the last few years, I've noticed that some younger (and some older professionals) aren't really making the most out of their conference experience. Also conferences are a great way to promote your own personal brand.

Some people treat conferences like the working version of what I imagine American University 'Spring Break' is like, whilst others pretty much over-earnest the whole thing! Either way you can often not get out of it exactly what you might have hoped for. Here are a few tips
That's pretty much it, try it for your next PD opportunity and I guarantee you'll see the differences when it comes to marketing your personal brand.

1. Attend with a goal in mind (networking and building up my industry contacts either for this job or the next one, learning more about a specific area, etc). Like any activity it helps to know what you are trying to do going in you can then plan you priorities, choose the right sessions, make sure you attend the networking events etc.
2. BUT attend with with an open mind! Because I just love 'How to' guides that give you one piece of advice and then immediately contradict it. But seriously be aware of Donald Rumsfield's famous unknown unknowns - don't be afraid to hear a talk that isn't on your pre-conceived radar, it might just take you down a completely new path to unexpected opportunities. Make space for random learning, is really what I'm saying here.
3. Get over being SHY Really how old are you? You are an adult professional, and your company believes in you enough to invest in your PD. Don't tell me you can't talk to strangers, if you are really daunted by this prospect try this tip. Practice chatting with the taxi drivers on the way to and from the airport, really bash their ears, "Where are you from?", "How bad were things there before you immigrated?", "Did your family come over with you?" . Trust me by the time you get to the conference you'll be well practised in striking up a conversation and your shyness will feel very much like "a first world problem". (I know this is a stereotype but with any luck you'll get to hear on of these amazing refugee stories like I have, if not that, the great yarn I got with an ex soldier who was hours away from invading Timor under Gough Whitlam, but I digress.)
4. Don't just hang with your home-y OK so the Boss has sent two of you to the conference, make a conscious decision to separate from time to time and report back to each other. You'll see twice as much, meet twice as many people and add twice as much value back to your company.
5. Grab the delegate list By any means, some are provided, some you have to ask for, some you'll need to steal, from here you can identify exactly who you want to speak to, hopefully you can also grab their twitter handles and follow your key targets too and they'll follow you back!
6. Ask a good question early Go to the very first speech and really try to come up with a great question early, by standing up and announcing yourself as a player, others will recognise you and and people will seek you out. Placing great comments and being an actively player in Twitter hash tag land is the digital version of this. You don't have to be mister (or miss) insightful on Twitter either, just research when the speakers give examples and post links, anyone can do that, but by golly you'll get props for it "here's the link to the TVC she was speaking about".
7. Use twitter conversations to identify new people to meet. Not much else to say here, if you follow the hash tag players you can identify people you want to be your friend.
8. Seek out the speakers, usually they are here on their own and are stuck talking to earnest conference organisers all night, as cool as they are, they’ll be thrilled to meet you. Then exchange details, tweet, follow etc you’ve just made a valuable contact!
9. Type up your notes and share them with co-workers. If they are good, start a blog and post them too, you probably have five ready made posts to write straight from your notes.
10. Have fun but not TOO much fun A drink and a bit of a rage is a great immediate way to build connections, but it goes without saying that there is a world of difference between social lubrication and all night benders that could get see you miss half the next day and lead to inappropriate behaviour that could see you fired.