How to Make a Conference Pay Off

Pictured above: The scene at MIX10 after the Day 2 Keynote.

Whether you’ve just come back home from SxSWi, are heading back home from MIX10 or expect to go to a conference sometime soon, you want to make sure that it was worth the ducats you or your company spent sending you there. It’s one thing to come back from a conference, all inspired to try out the ideas you picked up, test drive the new technologies showcased and stay in touch with the people you met, but it’s an entirely different thing to follow through.

Web Worker Daily has an article titled How to Make a Conference Pay Off that provides these tips on how to get the most out of the conference you just attended after you’ve arrived back home (be sure to read the article for expanded versions of these pointers!):

1. Review your content – the notes, business cards, literature and so on.
2. Act on the quick “now” items.
3. Schedule the “now” items that take more time.
4. Check for information posted online.
5. Complete the tasks from step 3.
6. Follow up with the people who promised to contact. Don’t underestimate the strength of weak ties!
7. Study the materials. It is why you picked them up in the first place, isn’t it?
8. Write blog posts or articles. Sometimes the best way to cement what you’ve learned is to share what you’ve learned.

Also worth checking out: A Conference Survival Guide for the Web Worker.

[This article also appears in Global Nerdy.]