moments into tangible action items. But fear not. Step 1: Pause and reflect Time frame: During your commute back home After a week of non-stop activity, your brain might be tempted to switch off the minute you leave the convention center. But try to resist the urge to unplug right away. Bonus: With this prep step out of the way, you can relax, take your brain off the clock, and enjoy whatever time remains before you go back to work. Step 3: Report back to your teams, stakeholders, and communities (Time frame: Within the first few weeks post-event, when possible) You probably sent a flurry of tweets, shared some snaps and selfies, streamed stories on Instagram, or posted other updates as conference events unfolded in real time. Here are a few ideas that can help others benefit from your experience and illustrate how your investment in Content Marketing World will pay off in terms of business value: Simple:Draw up a quick email or memo to thank your managers for allowing you to attend the event (and for picking up any slack while you were gone). For example, you can write your thoughts up a blog post; turn session data into an infographic; or edit photos or video footage into a post-show wrap-up report for your YouTube channel. Hopefully, these suggestions will help make your post-show experience less stressful and more impactful; but we’d also love to hear your favorite tips for getting the most out of Content Marketing World. We’ve been waiting for you!
There’s so much going on at every Content Marketing World event that it can be easy to lose sight of the biggest reason you came: to gather new ideas, valuable insights, and helpful techniques that can inform and improve your content marketing efforts throughout the year.
Considering the sheer volume of useful information (and the pages upon pages of notes) you are likely to come away with from your time in Cleveland, you might start to feel a bit overwhelmed when it’s time to shift back into work mode. On top of catching up on your regular responsibilities, you now have to find the time – and the mind space – to process everything you’ve learned and turn those big aha! moments into tangible action items.
But fear not. Here’s a framework you can follow to maximize the value of your CMWorld experience and continue to reap its benefits long after the show floor has closed.
Step 1: Pause and reflect
Time frame: During your commute back home
After a week of non-stop activity, your brain might be tempted to switch off the minute you leave the convention center. But try to resist the urge to unplug right away. Instead, use the downtime during your flight to take care of a few “housekeeping” tasks:
- Re-read any notes you’ve taken, filling in key details you may have missed as you typed (or scribbled).
- Tag and annotate your photos, so you can more easily identify the people, ideas, and circumstances you captured (and recall why you did so in the first place).
- Review the business cards, connections made within the app, and brochures you collected and make note of the connections you most want to follow up on.
- Copy important names, insights, and ideas into your favorite collaboration tool (like Evernote, Trello, a Google doc, or even a simple notepad app).
Reviewing all these details while they are still fresh in your mind will help you better retain and apply the information later on. Bonus: With this prep step out of the way, you can relax, take your brain off the clock, and enjoy whatever time remains before you go back to work.
Step 2: Categorize and prioritize your key discoveries
Time frame: (approximately 3-5 days, post event)
Done resting? Good, because next you’ll want…
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