There is a lot that I love about being a conference speaker!
First, conferences are rarely held in undesirable locations … I’ll see you next week Hilton Head!!!
But even more than the sunny locales, it’s the people, the energy and the brainpower packed into hotel conference rooms (and occasionally the hotel bar) that I love. I’ve found that you can never get a group of marketers together without great ideas taking flight.
As you prepare for your next conference, here are a few tips to help you avoid simply collecting great ideas and actually putting them to immediate use.
Immediacy:
Don’t wait until you get on the plane or back to the office to create your summary notes.
- Use the voice memo feature on your phone to remind yourself of the really great ideas
- Send yourself emails so that great ideas are waiting in your inbox
Network, network, network:
We all know the value of exchanging great ideas with colleagues, but have you ever asked for a copy of someone else’s session summaries? By trading session notes you can:
- Gain a whole new perspective on sessions you mutually attend
- Extend your conference reach by gaining session notes on breakout topics that you did not attend.
Bring the Learning Home:
As you sit in your sessions, consider what will be best to share with your management team and staff:
- Any new ideas
- How the ideas fit into your existing plan
- How your customers or members will benefit
Ultimately, listen to your speakers and ask yourself:
- What ideas can I turn into training?
- What ideas should be the focus of our next management meeting?
Once you have your world-changing ideas summarized:
- Prioritize them based on what makes sense immediately and fits your existing plan and what should wait for future initiatives.
- Outline next steps and assign responsibilities to get it done.
Action Plan:
In short, to get the most from your conference experience, you need to treat the conference like a project or campaign with:
- Timelines
- Milestones
- Measurement
By moving from idea collection to bringing home meaningful, actionable plans, you can better demonstrate the value of conferences and, hopefully, justify attending more.
With more than 115,000 visits worldwide, we hope that you enjoy this blog. If you find it helpful, please share it with your colleagues. Also, check out our YouTube Channel for short video blogs.
We bring these marketing philosophies to community banks and credit unions nationwide, and would love to bring them to your institution too. Contact us to see how.
MarketMatch is also a nationally and internationally requested speaker. Contact us to bring our marketing ideas to your next conference.
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MarketMatch is a marketing firm, dedicated to the credit union and community banking community. We utilize knowledge-based strategies to help you FOCUS on the right story that will generate the greatest MOMENTUM and prove the best RESULTS with our written ROI Guarantee.
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