Follow the lead of these eight industry veterans to build a goal-oriented attendance plan that will pay off in dividends.
Recession or not, look no further than the headlines in any business publication and you'll see an increasing number of articles offering advice on how companies can best deal with tighter marketing budgets.
Combine the need to generate more marketing performance with fewer resources, continuous changes in the online marketing industry and an increasing number of companies bringing search marketing functions in-house, and you have a formidable training challenge.
There are many options for companies looking to train their new internet marketing staff members and to keep tenured employees up to date. Both SEMPO Institute and the Direct Marketing Association's search engine marketing certification program provide a wealth of training opportunities.
However, conferences are not inexpensive. Add in travel, hotel, pre- and post-training and conference fees -- not to mention meals and incidentals -- and companies end up paying between $2,500 and $5,000 per employee per conference. Plus, there is the cost of time away from the office during which the employee is not performing billable work. Such costs in a budget-conscious marketing environment make it even more important for companies and individuals to get the most out of their educational investments.
Whether the investment in attending a conference is on the company's dime or the individual's, it's important that conference attendees get the most out of their time at events by setting goals. Managers sending individuals to conferences should be clear about expectations. Company staff should be sure to talk with others within the organization or teams that have attended the same or similar events to gain their insights.
Depending on the reason for attending a conference, goals may vary. Here are some common goals based on the various reasons for attending marketing conferences:
- Networking: How many qualified prospects, marketing partners, vendors to outsource to and job candidates will you meet? Tally up the prospective opportunities for each day of attendance, and then compose a productive follow-up plan to ensure that potential connections won't fall through the cracks.
- Knowledge: How many sessions will you attend, and how will they capture the information? The best plan is to take notes, photos and video (where allowed). When meeting new people, discuss the sessions with them and compare notes; it's a great way to network and get other opinions. Before the conference, make a grid or a plan that outlines the specific sessions you will be attending. Often, there is not much time between sessions, and the difference between getting a good seat and standing room only can be a matter of minutes.
- Content: How will you leverage the conference experience to create new content for articles, your company blog or process documentation? Set goals for how many should be created each day. The content captured and created can supply a company blog with numerous posts, and can show clients, staff and prospective clients that your team is on top of what's happening in the industry. Some companies depend on blog posts for each day of the conference that is attended. Set goals for how many blog posts, articles or other types of content will be created for each day of the conference. It doesn't have to be all text; include photos of people and presentation slides. Take video where allowed.
- Knowledge transfer: How will you pass on the information you've acquired to the rest of the team? Knowing you will be required to present the information you are gaining with the team back at the office helps keep you focused on takeaways and practical interpretations of the new information.
- Socialize: Where there's a conference, there's a party. After-hours events are exceptional opportunities for conference attendees to relax, network and share information. Make no mistake, post-session networking can be an art form. Make a point to relax and have fun, but be clear about objectives and make a goal of attending a dinner each night of the event, if possible. Some dinners are a tradition amongst long-time friends, some are sponsored by vendors and some are ad hoc events that occur as a result of like-minded individuals wanting to continue the day's discussion.
As you can see, there are many more opportunities to get value from marketing conference participation beyond simply keeping up to date with an industry. Pre-conference goal-setting and planning, well-defined processes and follow-up and post-event knowledge sharing can multiply the value organizations realize by sending employees to educational events.
Not all organizations are positioned to take full advantage of these insights, but through a simple analysis, it can become clear pretty quickly how much is being left on the table or to competitors that are sending the same number of people and incurring the same costs.
Understand the conference offerings, set goals and make the time to pre-plan conference involvement. If you leverage content creation, networking, recruiting, competitive intelligence and prospecting opportunities, industry conferences can move from being expenses with uncertain effects to being investments with multiple returns.
So what do other conference organizers, programmers, speakers and attendees have to say onthe subject of smarter conference attendance? Read on to gain insights from Brad Berens, Robert Scoble, Danny Sullivan, Chris Sherman, Kevin Ryan, David Berkowitz, Heather Lloyd-Martin and Michael Brito.