Take Two

The conference season is starting, and I thought that I’d pass along a word of wisdom from someone who has gone to way too many conferences:

if you are going to a conference for the first time, if at all possible, go with someone else, or find someone else you know who is going

Picture the scene…

You are in a line of perhaps 100 people (“A-F”) waiting to check in. Last night you flew in and had to figure out whether your hotel was served by a shuttle, and then where to find it. You stood in line to get your room. Here you are again, and you don’t know anybody at this event, except the one person in the shuttle who said they were also going to the same conference, and good luck finding them again amongst the 3000 people in this building. You are shy, and a bit intimidated, so you don’t strike up conversations with people also waiting in line around you.

Eventually you get your packet with a schedule, and now you’ve got to figure out how to get to where you are going. It always happens, trust me…the two things you came to this conference to attend are scheduled opposite each other, and they are not repeated. You have one morning where you don’t care about anything on the program. Breakfast was outrageously expensive at the hotel, and you had to wait in line to boot.

You are thinking “Why did I come?”

Now imagine an alternative universe…

You and your colleague are on the flight, and you get to “talk shop” all the way across the country. He’s been to these events before, so he introduces you to someone he knows on the shuttle, and it turns out that they are in the same specialty as you are. While waiting in line to check in, you are included in several conversations he has with people who recognize him in the lobby, and you will be a part of a group for breakfast the next morning at a little coffee shop down the street that has cheap food and nobody in line.

One of your breakfast group also shares your specialty, and tells you about a session that you don’t want to miss, which happens to be first on the program. When you get to the room, you look around and find her, and grab a seat next to her. She introduces you to several people sitting close, and now you have a new group of colleagues with whom you will see and interact over the course of the next three days.

Which works better for you?

If you are a first time conference attender, don’t be afraid…just reach out to someone you know who has been there before and is going (don’t forget that you can use social media to do this…).

If you are a seasoned conferee, invite one of your local colleagues to go, and offer to help them get the most out of the conference.

You’ll both benefit…trust me.

Got a conference story? Please leave a comment and tell me about it.

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Tagged as: Cinq Rechants, conferences, mentoring, Olivier Messiaen