Heading to a conference? Here’s our top 5 things to make sure take with you
At MASONRY I’m all keen that the team plus myself are constantly keeping up to speed with ideas and skills. We love a good workshop and conference! I’m at my second one this month – earlier in June I headed to the FANTASTIC MoJoFest – sadly it’s not happening in 2020 and boy did I get lots of ideas, shared tons on knowledge and learnt lots of new skills.
Next week I’m London bound for my first conference with Janet Murray. I’ve followed her online and her podcast for a number of years now greatly admiring her work and ideas. Build Your Audience Live #BYAL19 jumped at me as being the perfect kick-starter for MASONRY new business development. We spend a lot of time focusing on our clients that we often forget to promote ourselves to new clients. I can’t wait to hear all the speakers and focus on my own business!
With this in mind I thought I’d share my most useful items that are always in my bag when heading to a conference:
- Mophie Powerstation
No way will any phone (even new!) last the whole day at a conference…tweeting, sharing, photos etc all chew the battery – plus usually Google Maps trying to navigate me to the venue! I have one of these Mophie chargers in my bag always, it’s saved my bacon on numerous occasions. Reliable, good solid charge and is quick to top up.
2. Water
Before you say it, of course I know there is always some available but learn the lesson of a coffee addict…bringing your own bottle is essential. I’m hands down a coffee fiend and being where it’s on tap sends me over the edge. I recently detoxed from coffee and realised I was drinking so much at meetings and conferences but not good old H2O…bring your own, it’s easier
3. Conference Timetables
Without fail I always print one off. I know there are apps but usually having a piece of paper with the highlighted ones is just perfect. It never ceases to amaze me how many people show up minus what they are there for…details of their learnings!
4. A pen and paper
I adore stationery and to be honest as much as I love tech there is nothing like making notes in a fantastic notebook. I love my Smythson notebooks – the paper is thin so you do have to pick your pen! Speaking of pens my current favourite is my Pilot Frixion – great for erasing mistakes…and I do make them occasionally – plus the ink works perfectly with the Smythson. I treated myself to a Soho notebook in the Brown Thomas Marvel room for Christmas (a girl needs her treats!) and then went on to buy another one in the Smythson online sale…which happens to be back on…on no…
5. An open mind!
Conferences are for learning and meeting new people. I love the fact that I’m in a room full of people, many in different industries to me, and yet we all share similar questions. I used to be a conference junkie but these days (and sadly having wasted money at quite a few duds) I am super picky. Choose ones that will give you learnings, will motivate you, will inspire you to action and most importantly make you think. Going in with presets isn’t going to help you get the best experience from any conference, in fact, quite frankly it’s a waste of your money going then. Be open, you may not always agree but you might just surprise yourself…
What conferences do you rate? We’d love to hear!