5 Must Do’s after Attending a Live Event, Training or Conference

I decided to write this blog after attending the 2 day content live event with Janet Murray  (and a host of other  fab presenters) for two reasons: firstly I thought it would help me be clear about what I needed to do to make sure I got the most from the event and secondly as someone who runs courses and training events myself, I thought I could use it in my business to add value for my clients and make sure they know how to get the most from the events they attend. So, I hope you find it helpful and if there is anything you feel I have missed out please let me know and I can add it at a later stage.

1.Plan

This might sound counter intuitive – surely the time for planning is before the event – and yes that is true, but it is also wise to plan what you will do afterwards. I knew I was going to be pretty busy in the days immediately following the event so in my diary I allocated 2 ‘sessions’ (I wrote this on the first) when I could do what I needed to do, to ensure I was extracting as much benefit as possible from the event. After all, attending events requires an investment in terms of time and money so it is simply good sense to make sure that the days/weeks don’t slip away without acting and applying what is learned. I’d like to add here that this also involved checking out the goody bag – I must confess to being to events before bringing home the goody bag and then somehow not getting around to investigating it until some of the ‘goodies’ were out of date. This hasn’t been the case this year!

2.Review

At most events, and definitely at Janet’s, there is so much information that you simply can’t take it all in, so one of the reasons I diary in a session afterwards is to give me time to review the material. We will all be different but for me that involves looking through my session notes with a highlighter and reminding myself of the parts that had the greatest application to my own situation and business. These will be my ‘takeaways’.

Once I have done that I usually then identify a few things that might be relevant and I will maybe implement-  but not right now (for me setting up Pinterest, I will definitely do it but probably not till next year) and ones that will form my post event  ‘to do’ list. For me there are some things I want to look up, or read more about, some podcasts to listen to, or videos to watch, and when I review and prioritise I will diary in time to do at least some of those.

3.Apply

Having identified my most important takeaways it’s time for action, or at least action planning! Let’s be honest if it all stays as notes in a book the impact will be minimal. I have now got a note page in my phone where I write ‘content’ ideas whenever I see or think of them and I am dairying in 2 days in Dec to create my content for January, for me that is actually a re-purposing as I am using some of my old blog posts to create podcasts, videos or info-graphics. I am also putting regular planning time in my diary, something that I have often found hard to do but recognise increasingly that getting those things on a sure footing will add to my bottom line AND reduce the stress that comes from running around in a not always productive tizz!

4.Reflect

An important part of any business is the ability to reflect. Following an event is a great time to  ask yourself ‘what is working?’ and ‘what is not working ?’ I have reflected on the rather haphazard way I produce content and I am going to take a more structured approach, As a ‘creator’ or ‘Star’ profile  (you can find out more and take the test here ) I have no problem creating content but doing it in a strategic way that achieves the results I want is more of a challenge. Reflection on the live events itself is also important. So, I am asking myself was it worth the investment. For me it is a resounding yes, one of the reasons I decided to attend this year is that the content diary I bought last year remained largely blank! Thankfully that isn’t the case with my already less than pristine one – couldn’t say 2019 is sorted but there are at least some plans. As the investment seems worth it, I will probably attend Janet’s next event. One of the things I enjoyed most was the ‘doing’ – the video for twitter, the Instagram story the podcast and of course the content planning where we actually put pen (or pencil in my case) to paper and started on our plans.

5.Relate/Connect

At almost every event you will meet others who are in business and so, in part at least, it can be a networking event. This was the case with Content live. But if you don’t follow up those connections (which might mean connecting on linked in or Instagram or getting in touch directly with someone you‘ve met)  in the first week or so after the event you are probably unlikely to do it or even remember why you wanted to in the first place.. One of the things I love about Janet’s events is that the workbook contains the contact details of delegates and presenters. I noticed in the book one delegate who was only there on day one and I didn’t get to meet her but I think she would be someone I could collaborate with as our businesses are closely aligned. Not only does Janet put the presenter details in the workbook but as delegates we get to meet most of them personally which is great and in fact I have already connected with a number and plan to reach out to the rest.

If you attended the event and haven’t ‘done’ anything with it then it’s not too late and hopefully this will have helped, there is still time to extract even more value from the brilliant content of ‘content live, by taking action yourself.

And of course the principles are true of any event or training you attend so whether it’s a one day course or a residential weekend, if you have invested your time effort and money into it you owe it to yourself and your business to extract as much ‘learning ‘ as you can and then put it into practice.

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