Each day of the conference fill the fields of your template with specific actions. Writing down actions in this template is like a contract with yourself and you’ll commit to following through on them. After your return to the office, go through the list and decide which action to complete that day, next week, or next month. Donna Moritz, visual content strategist and founder, Socially Sorted Make a relevancy list At the conference, make a list of resources and ideas that intrigue you or relate to your work. Later, come back to the list and pick out others that still seem relevant, and schedule time to explore those. Make sure the learning turns into action – or at least experimentation – back in the real world. A few months later, revisit the folder and the list to see if you followed up on everything you wanted to, and to see if you find any new inspiration. Do a lunch-and-learn in your office to share what you learned. For example, if you need to get funding or team buy-in for a six-month item, make that your to-do for month one. You’ll never get the case of the conference content overload (or the chance to make actionable differences at your company) if you don’t attend.
Editor’s note: Given that thousands of marketers succumb to conference overload every year, we thought it was the perfect time to bring back and update last year’s advice on how to overcome it.
It’s the day after an invigorating conference.
Your head has been filled with trends, slide decks, tips, graphics, and inspiring stories.
Your notebook is filled with ideas, notes, and doodles of possibilities for your content marketing program.
You’re suffering from a case of the conference overload. But you don’t need to. Take the advice of some past and current Content Marketing World presenters on what to do before, during, and after a conference to take actionable steps for you and your brand without the suffering.
Schedule time on calendar
Block off one hour the week you return to think strategically. Get out of the weeds and reflect on the things that will make the biggest impact in your life, career, content, and work. Schedule another hour on your calendar a month or two later to review your notes or even re-watch favorite sessions to be reminded of the things you wanted to accomplish on your return.
Andrew Davis, author and CEO, Monumental Shift
Create a ‘contract’
Develop a simple template with no more than 10 empty fields. Print the template (yes, print it). Each day of the conference fill the fields of your template with specific actions. Writing down actions in this template is like a contract with yourself and you’ll commit to following through on them. The things you write down should be one-item actions – not projects or ideas containing several tasks.
After your return to the office, go through the list and decide which action to complete that day, next week, or next month. And then go and do it. Don’t overcomplicate what you learned.
Frank Thomas, director of content strategy and content marketing, adidas
Turn notes into action
First, take a mountain of notes. Then write takeaways to share under two headers: “things we don’t do but might want to” and “things we already are doing that speakers encouraged.”
A month or two later, approach your team and ask: “What of this do we want to commit to doing, and how do we do it over the next half year or year?” That way, compelling and innovative ideas you gather don’t sit unused in a file somewhere.
Michelle Park Lazette, writer, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
Pick one for one
With any session, it’s important to write down one thing – just one thing – to act on. If you act on nothing else from that session, what one thing would move the needle the most in your business?
Start with those ideas and then select one to three actions from the entire conference. Set one- or three-month reminders on your calendar to check in on the progress of your action items.
Donna Moritz, visual content strategist and founder, Socially Sorted
Make a relevancy list
At the conference, make a list of resources and ideas that intrigue you or relate to your work. When you get back to the office, review the list. Do any of them make you think you need to change direction on your current work? Explore those first. Later, come back to the list and pick out others that still seem relevant, and schedule time to explore those.
Laura Creekmore, president, Creek Content
Use the power of Twitter
Use the conference hashtag to tweet your notes and retweet highlights from others. Each evening at the conference, look through your collection and find themes you’ll want to revisit. Back in the office, use tools such as Wakelet or Adobe Spark to build a collection from the conference and share it with coworkers. Some of the best insights may come from the questions they ask or thoughts they add beyond what was shared at the conference. Make sure the learning turns into action – or at least experimentation – back in the real world.
Amanda Changuris, associate director of corporate communications, BNY Mellon
Don’t overload unnecessarily
Don’t feel like you have to go to every session. If you find yourself with a time slot where nothing seems to fit, take that hour and write down your thoughts on how you might apply what you’ve learned to a project you’re working on or how you might present the same topic to your coworkers when you get back. Conferences pack a lot of information into a short time and if you…
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