Conference ROI - One Easy Tip to Get A Return on Investment
By the end of the year folks will be going to conferences again. Conference ROI is important to understand whether or not certain conferences are worth the investment and time. Every year my employees and I go many conferences Virtual and some day in person for both learning and marketing. I believe every conference - I learn something. Prior to focusing on return on investment (ROI), we never a had a formal process for retaining knowledge from a conference. So a few months ago we implemented a simple plan to document conference ROI.
Write down ten things you learned. I ask my employees and myself to write down ten things we learned at the conference. When I send multiple employees to the same conference, I still make them do it. It is a simple trick, but it works for a few reasons.
Being intentional. Just by the simple act of asking folks to gather info makes them be more aware of their goal for going to the conference in the first place.
Competition. A little competition is a good thing. By having employees, all have to do presentations it makes sure nobody's phoning it in.
What is good for employees is good for the boss, too. Even when I go, I still take notice of things in a more deliberate way. I make myself create a presentation on ten things I learned, too. It has forced me to define goals and be able to share my new knowledge with my employees and clients too.
Other tips for conference ROI:
- Ask for contacts your team made—and make sure you follow through on meeting with new contacts.
- Meet with your team before and after, and make sure it is clear that you care about a return on the cost of sending them to a conference.
- Be prepared to implement new ideas. If folks come back with the idea that is good, don't just let it sit in a PowerPoint. Make sure you work with your team to implement the ideas.
- If there is no conference return on investment, act on that too. Sometimes it is a bad conference that is a waste of your time and money. Empower your employees to help make that judgement too.