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Have you ever been to a conference, convention or training event? Do you remember how excited you were to learn new things and meet new people? Did you walk away with about 800 new ideas? How long did that last and how many ideas did you actually implement?

If you’re anything like me, chances are you came back to office with a ton of handouts and great ideas, put them in a pile… and promptly forgot about everything you learned!

After doing this too many times, I’ve developed a few key steps for keeping the momentum going after an event.

1. Book a spot at the conference next year. If you feel energized by attending the event this year, chances are you’ll get the same motivational boost next year. Sign up as soon as you can so you have something to work toward.
2. Subscribe to the newsletter or email list. Most organizations that hold conferences have a mailing list of some sort. Keep connected to the group and the source of new ideas by subscribing.
3. Read all those handouts. Do it ASAP – on the plane ride home, if possible. Take lots of notes and pull out any action items that you would like to pursue.
4. Follow up with contacts ASAP. If you read this before you go to a conference – remember to make notes on business cards! Write down something to remind you of who the person is and what you talked about. Back at the office, send an email follow-up. Include any information you promised to exchange and give them at least one action item for their own follow-up.
5. Choose one thing to work on. I often feel overwhelmed with the amount of ideas I can generate over a 2 or 3 day conference. The key to moving forward is to find one project you can take concrete action on. It can be as simple as doing some follow-up reading or as complex as changing your career! Just pick the thing you most want to work on.
6. Share with others. The best way to learn is to teach, so find a way to share your learnings with your co-workers or supervisor. I’ve done short presentations at staff meetings and found that it helped me sort through all my material and get it straight in my head.
7. Slow and steady wins the race. Just because you learned a lot in a short period of time doesn’t mean that you have to act on it all at the same time. Try to plan out the changes that you can implement over a reasonable time period, then stick to your project plan. I aim to implement one small idea per week.

Conferences and conventions can be a great motivator over the short term. Keeping the buzz going takes some planning and work, but it’s a great way to keep your career moving forward.

If you have other suggestions for taking the next step after a conference, please tell us all about it in the comments.

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