Maximize your return from conferences and training: Be strategic about what comes next
Loriana Sekarski
Loriana Sekarski is the founder and president of BONSAI, a consulting company that transforms leaders (and businesses) into the best version of themselves. Outside of BONSAI, Loriana serves as an adjunct professor at Washington University's graduate student program. Additionally, she's fine-tuning her passion project, TakeFlight, a program that addresses domestic abuse within the Christian community.
This is the conclusion of a series on boosting the value you receive from training or conferences – preparing, attending, and what you do when you return.
I love football, and that love extends beyond watching games to also include watching movies and reading books about football. One thing that always sticks out to me when I watch a movie or read a book about football is the amount of time that coaches and players spend watching game films. They realize that what happens on game day impacts how the team performs in the future, and they spend time watching films and evaluating their past performance to make a plan for the future.
The same is true for conferences and training. We can prepare and be intentional when we attend, but if we return to life as normal afterward without taking any follow-up action, that time and money are wasted. Just like the coach, we need to build time into our schedule to evaluate the experience and determine what we will do or change after the event.
As I write this, it’s three business days after the Amplify Outreach 2021 conference (which I highly recommend), and already it feels like weeks have passed since the valuable event. It is so easy to get caught up in the emails, meetings, and urgent demands that await our arrival back at the office and then completely forget to take action following a conference or training.
These five steps can help you be more strategic in what comes next after you return from a conference or training.
Step 1: Time Block Before You Attend
What is important is on our calendar, and what’s on our calendar gets done. Before you even head to the conference, block some time on your schedule for after the conference to review your notes and follow up with people you met. Also, block some time for bi-weekly check-ins to see how you are progressing on your goals related to the conference.
For example, instead of saying you need to reach more people, try phrasing it as “I will meet with two unchurched people for coffee in the next 30 days.”
Step 2: Review Notes Immediately
If possible, on the way home from the conference, review all your notes and clearly mark these things:
- People you need to connect with
- Actions you need to take
- Shifts you need to make in what you do
While you should review your notes nightly, reviewing them again at the end will help you distill the most important action steps and key takeaways. We are likely to make three changes, but not ten, so narrow your list of action items to a short list that you can implement instead of having so many action items that it’s overwhelming.
Step 3: Take Action
Now that you know what you want to do, go back to the blocks of time you already have on your calendar for conference follow-up and update them with specific actions you plan to take in each slot. You might block one time for reaching out to set up virtual coffees, another time for internal actions related to staff or volunteers, and another for any deeper learning or exploration you identified as necessary based on the conference experience.
Step 4: Get an Accountability Partner
The reason coaches are effective is because accountability partners make achieving goals significantly more likely to happen (same reason Weight Watchers works). When we have to report back to someone how we are doing, versus just telling someone our goals, we’re much more likely to do the work necessary to make those goals happen. This is especially effective for behavioral changes or other actions we learn at a conference, or for things we want to do that are important but not urgent. This accountability partner can be a coach, fellow ministry leader, or friend.
If there are changes that need to happen in your organization, share those with your team to hold yourself accountable. For example, you might share that you will begin using three new facilitation techniques in every future leadership meeting and they should be ready for action item review and commitment at the start of every meeting. Once you’ve committed to your team, you’re more motivated to follow through or you risk losing credibility.
Step 5: Use the SMART Goals Framework
It’s easy to come back from a conference and say, “I need to reach more people.” But that is a statement of hope, not a clear action or goal. The doing comes in getting specific and having a reasonable, measurable goal with a due date. For example, instead of saying you need to reach more people, try phrasing it as “I will meet with two unchurched people for coffee in the next 30 days.”
By being intentional in how we prepare, being fully present at the conference, and being strategic in what comes next, we can be better stewards of both the time and money involved in attending conferences and training. With this approach, conferences become a true opportunity for growth and meaningful connection where we see a tangible benefit for ourselves and those around us.
If you have topics or questions you would like to see addressed in a future article, please email me at Loriana.Sekarski@GrowWithBONSAI.com.
