Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to get more out of
Speaker 1: virtual conferences. While some groups are starting to meet in
Speaker 1: person again as more people are vaccinated against COVID, virtual
Speaker 1: gatherings will likely be with us for a while, and
Speaker 1: that's not a bad thing. With a little thought, you
Speaker 1: can get a lot of the upsides of in person
Speaker 1: conferences and some additional benefits too. When you think about
Speaker 1: regular in person conferences, they tended to serve two functions.
Speaker 1: One was the content, letting people discover new trends or
Speaker 1: ideas in an industry or gain access to experts that
Speaker 1: they wouldn't normally learn from. The second was to meet
Speaker 1: people in person and to tighten existing relationships. While people
Speaker 1: spend a lot of time and effort focused on the
Speaker 1: programming que the angst over which panel do I attend,
Speaker 1: I'd argue that the latter is a lot more important.
Speaker 1: With many conferences, you'd be better off parking yourself at
Speaker 1: the coffee station or in the hallway and setting up
Speaker 1: lots of appointments with other attendees, rather than attending any sessions.
Speaker 1: So that suggests an obvious drawback of virtual conferences. If
Speaker 1: the biggest upside of most conferences was meeting people in person,
Speaker 1: and virtual conferences are well virtual, what is the point?
Speaker 1: But you can still get some of the networking benefits
Speaker 1: if you are proactive about it. First, when you sign
Speaker 1: up for virtual conference, do the work of figuring out
Speaker 1: who else is going who you'd like to meet. Ask colleagues,
Speaker 1: ask your network, Ask your network if they know any
Speaker 1: one who's going that you should connect with. Post on
Speaker 1: social media that you are going. The goal is to
Speaker 1: get three names or so of people who would be
Speaker 1: worthwhile to connect with, then figure out a way to
Speaker 1: do just that. One idea is to arrange for both
Speaker 1: you and a new connection to attend one of the
Speaker 1: same sessions and then do a private debrief with each
Speaker 1: other afterwards. This is kind of the equivalent of grabbing
Speaker 1: coffee after a panel. If you already know the person
Speaker 1: to some degree and you're looking to reconnect, well you
Speaker 1: don't even need to bother with that. Just say, hey,
Speaker 1: I saw we were both going to this conference. I'd
Speaker 1: love to chat. Then get it on the calendar. The
Speaker 1: conference is just a pretense but you know what, wasn't
Speaker 1: it always? And in the virtual world you don't have
Speaker 1: to spend the time and money on travel to make
Speaker 1: that pretense happen. You might also host a small group
Speaker 1: session with a hand full of attendees that you'd like
Speaker 1: to get to know better. You know the drill. More
Speaker 1: than six people are so on a virtual discussion can
Speaker 1: sometimes become hard to manage, but about that number will
Speaker 1: work great for something social. Think of this as the
Speaker 1: equivalent of a few folks grabbing dinner together or hitting
Speaker 1: the bar. After a day of sessions. You can talk
Speaker 1: about the conference and that would be a great starting point,
Speaker 1: but presumably you will move on to other things too,
Speaker 1: which is also great. You can also network with presenters
Speaker 1: from virtual conferences by sending an email after any session
Speaker 1: with your feedback. I can promise you these emails do
Speaker 1: get read, even if they don't always garner a response,
Speaker 1: and networking is partly about getting people to recognize your name.
Speaker 1: If you send a thoughtful email to someone, the next
Speaker 1: time they see your name in an industry publication or
Speaker 1: on a discussion for them, this expert or industry leader
Speaker 1: will think, oh, yeah, that's so and so she all
Speaker 1: has smart ideas. From your perspective, this is a great
Speaker 1: thought for such a person to think. And finally, with
Speaker 1: virtual conferences, use the fact that you don't have to
Speaker 1: take a break from your normal life or invest in
Speaker 1: travel costs to attend. This means you can attend a
Speaker 1: lot more conferences. The bar can be lower since it's
Speaker 1: much less of a time cost. If there are even
Speaker 1: maybe two people attending that you'd like to get to
Speaker 1: know better, or there is one session you'd really like
Speaker 1: to participate in, it might be worth it. You wouldn't
Speaker 1: fly across the country for that, but joining a virtual
Speaker 1: program over your lunch break, I mean why not? Of course,
Speaker 1: now that we are in year two of virtual conferences,
Speaker 1: most organizers are recognizing how important the social and networking
Speaker 1: functions are, and many are building in the opportunity for
Speaker 1: small group sessions. If these are available, go ahead and
Speaker 1: sign up. Getting to know a small group of industry
Speaker 1: colleagues in a structured setting tends to be a wise idea.
Speaker 1: And again, you don't have to go anywhere. Since you
Speaker 1: can sign up for more conferences in the virtual world,
Speaker 1: you can do even more of these sessions than you
Speaker 1: might have when conferences only happen in person. I do
Speaker 1: know that in person is coming back. I have a
Speaker 1: few events on my calendar for the fall. But virtual
Speaker 1: is great too because you can bring people from farther
Speaker 1: afield and people can come who might have had family
Speaker 1: or health reasons for not attending in the past. More
Speaker 1: people means better networking, which, as we learned earlier, is
Speaker 1: really the reason to go to conferences in the first place.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod
Speaker 1: that's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from
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