You’ve invested hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars to attend a conference in order to learn something new that will improve your relationships, optimize your health, or advance your business. Not long after, the excitement of the conference wains and you find yourself barely remembering the awesome things you’ve learned. Where is that workbook? What about the business card for a contact you met there? Am I any different today than I was before that conference? Is it all a waste of time and money?
There are actually several ways to maximize the investment that you’ve made and really allow yourself the opportunity to experience the transformation for which you’ve paid. Immediately (or as soon as possible) after the conference, make time to complete these 5 steps and you will truly make the changes necessary to experience the improvements you desire.
- Scan the workbook, notes, and business cards and store them digitally. This allows you to free up space for storing these items and also makes them easy to find when you need them. (You don’t have a scanner? Take them to Fed Ex with your USB flash drive and have them scan them for you.). It also makes them easy to carry with you (on your phone or tablet) should you decide to read them later.
- Type your handwritten notes (while you can still read them). It will refresh your memory and, frankly, you’ll be able to read and understand it much better when you access it later.
- Store everything in a file on your computer where you will remember how to locate it. I store mine in ‘my documents’ usually under a file with the name of the person conducting the conference (ie Tony Robbins) and then title the file with the conference name and year in which it took place.
Obviously this would be quite time consuming if you’ve attended a conference where you get a large binder. In that case, I would still scan all of the business cards I’ve collected and store them in a file with the conference name and year. Usually, if I later remember someone whose services I am in need of, I can recall where I met them. This way I can easily locate the card without having to collect and store hundreds of business cards. You can also use an app like Scannable to easily store business card info on your phone, you will need to remember the person’s name to find them in your phone.
Handwritten notes should still be keyed into your favorite word processing app also. If you are anything like me, your handwriting seemingly gets harder to decipher the farther in time you are away from the actual conference date.
- Schedule any goals you set during the conference into your calendar. I also schedule a 30 day and 90 day follow up to review the workbook and browse through the notes to identify any additional ideas that I missed the first time. This helps me stay on track for reaching those goals.
- Write a summary of your 3 biggest take-a-ways. What are the 3 things you learned at the conference that have the most potential to change your life? Where can you immediately implement them? Is this something you can schedule on your calendar? Make sure you decide when and where to implement them NOW. Consider reading this summary daily for 30 days.
***BONUS***
- Whenever you register for a new conference, take a look back at the notes, goals, and take-aways from your last conference. This will show you how much you’ve grown since then. I promise—you will amaze yourself! It will also remind you of the promises made that you still want to focus on during this new conference.
Not only will following these steps help you get the most out of your investment of time and money, but having these items stored digitally may serve as a resource for you as you expand your own platform. Always watch for ways you can learn from others. This workbook and these business cards can often be examples to you as you learn ever increasing ways to communicate your message and your story.