An important way to gain more from your attendance is to plan what you intend to do at the event before going. You should select key sessions you want to attend; and make notes on exhibits you want to see and specific products you want to evaluate. Preparation will make your attendance a more valuable experience. Be sure to plan time for the organized networking opportunities. Planning can also be an excellent way to sell your boss on why you should go to the event. A list of things you intend to accomplish will go a great deal farther in getting budget approval than just saying youąd like to go.
Two of the best reasons for attending a conference or seminar have nothing to do with the topic or formal sessions.
The first is the networking potential from the contacts you make with other attendees. Few things will provide as good a reference source as a good network of contacts in your field. Cultivating and maintaining these contacts is one of the best reasons for attending a conference. A safety or environmental professionaląs job can be a lonely position in many organizations. There are often few internal personnel that you can discuss plans and programs with to get opinions. A network of outside contacts can fill this gap.
Planning can extend to networking also. List several challenges you are currently facing at work. Who is likely to be at the conference that may provide some useful information in helping with those challenges? For seminars, this list should be more specific. Prepare a detailed list of questions regarding the specific topic of the seminar. Keep the list handy during the seminar to remind you to ask any questions that the general presentation doesnąt answer. Make appointments to visit with key contacts who will be attending the event or who are located in the area of the event. You may also want to research other resources located in the area where the event will be held.
The second reason is the value of getting away from your work environment. I donąt mean to look at attendance at a seminar or conference as a vacation, it is not. The focus should still be on safety or environmental issues, but you donąt have the day-to-day pressures of constant phone calls and demands for your attention that are present in your work place. This getting away aspect can also affect perspective. When we see the situations we deal with in our work location every day, we can lose our ability to sort out the important from the insignificant. The revitalizing experience of a conference or seminar with our professional peers can remind us why we went into the safety/environmental profession in the first place. This can lead to gains in our performance when we return to work even if we didnąt learn anything łnew˛ at the event we attended. Remember, time spent talking with others in the hall is at least as important as time spent in formal sessions.
The event is not a vacation. You should attend conferences and seminars to work or you shouldnąt attend.