Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

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April 5, 2008

Missed Opportunities and High Returns of Attending a Conference

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 9:02 am

With a Little Help From Friends — Old and New Ones!

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Deciding to go to SxSW was easy. Well it was easy last summer when Sheila Scarborough and I had this master plan. I would go down to Austin and stay at her house. We’ve known each other since two days before forever . . . it seemed a logical next step — everyone says it’s the show for bloggers. Everyone seems to go there. It seemed that I should too.

Sometime in January, I started to wonder, why was I making this significant investment? Would it really help my business? Adding friends to my Twitter account didn’t seem like enough reason to melt my credit card for a trip to Austin. At best, my answer was nebulous.

I was torn. I saw serious potential, but I’ve also gone to conferences where no business happened.

Missed Opportunities and High Returns of Attending a Conference

I had to be sure before I registered that serious business conversations would happen. I needed a high return on my investment. The registration would be more than worth it, if I could grow my business and add more value to SOBCon08.

I realized the only way to ensure a high return was to plan one. Here’s how you might do the same when you come to SOBCon08 or any upcoming conference you’re considering.

Simple enough suggestions, but I asked — lots of folks came without a plan.

Frankly I’ve had my share useless, no-return conference experiences. They make it easy enough to convince myself that I can’t afford the time and cost of any conference. One thing they have in common is that I was a passive attendee — not invested in my own attendance.

It’s the plan that ensures the return. Now I pick the conferences most relevant to my business. Sometimes I suffer a pinch of cash flow, but I make a plan to ensure a return on my investment. My business grows, my network gets richer, and my blog gets more traffic. The plan keeps me focused, organized, and feeling in control of capturing what I’m after.

SxSW was a high return investment experience. I had fewer than 50 conversations, but they were the right ones with the right people. I came home with two new clients, another sponsor for SOBCon08, and a new project that I’m working on. That would have been a lot of missed opportunities had I not made the commitment.

Getting a return on our investment is the core of business. Key to investing is identifying true opportunities. Without investing we’re just going, moving forward not growing.

No one can attend every conference. But when one offers real potential, it’s worth thoughtful consideration. With a plan, we can ensure a high return on our investment. Missed opportunities are expensive too.

How do you decide between the high returns or missed opportunities of attending a conference?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!! SOBCon08 is May 2,3,4 in Chicago. All that expertise in one room! Register now!





Filed under Business Life, Strategy, Successful Blog | 17 Comments »




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17 Comments to “Missed Opportunities and High Returns of Attending a Conference”

  1. April 5th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
    sunny said

    You know, it occurs to me that some people – maybe lots of people – don’t know how to approach a plan. Sometimes it’s as easy as creating a form for people to fill in the blanks. Have you thought of creating a template for people to use when deciding how to maximize a conference? It might help those who are undecided about how to proceed.

  2. April 5th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Sunny!
    Thanks for the great idea! It’s a form and a model folks could use in more than one way.

    Gotta stay focused on what’s on my desk today, but I’m smiling about this idea.

    Thank you!!

  3. April 5th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
    Suzie Cheel said

    This is a great article Liz, I Think Sunny makes a great suggestion. Something we all need to consider.

    I know that this year we are going to do visiting etc before Blog World so we can come home and focus on what has transpired. Planning before hand is so important to the success

  4. April 5th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
    Michael Leis said

    Liz – I totally missed you there, and am jealous of your social ability there. I’m curious how you cultivated so many valuable relationships so quickly.

    It was my first sxsw, and my first try at blogging. I kinda fell into it. Blogging was an available tool for me to let all the people who couldn’t make it in on the great ideas flowing around there, and just as a way for me to remember what the heck happened.

    Since then, I’ve really been gratified by the daily writing calisthenics and the clicks — that people appreciate the sharing.

    But the commenting has been really low. Would love it if you took a look and throw some criticism over.

    Cool blog!

  5. April 5th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Suzie!
    Yeah, the suggestions is a great one. I need to get a bunch of forms together and tie them up into a book.

    Planning is 80% of success. :)
    Execution is following a great plan. :)

  6. April 5th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Michael!
    Sorry it took so long to answer. I’ve been working on a project for a client.

    SxSW was mostly a matter of knowing what I was there for and preparing before I went down. Having a plan does a lot to give me confidence to talk to people, especially if I’ve already told them I’m coming. :)

    The rest was mostly hanging out where the people were.

    The key to commenting is leaving room in what you write for folks to be able to add more. :)

  7. April 7th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
    MAGGIE AT COFFEESHOPMAFIA said

    I enjoyed reading your post. I am more of a fly by the pants kind of person and I am always trying to teach myself to think more clearly and efficiently. Great questions to ask myself

  8. April 8th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
    Julius said

    Great article,

    I’d suggest to attend as much as possible unconferences and BarCamps in general.

    Most of Camps are for free and information is open and accessible.

    Most of al BarCamps are great for networking as the nature of the conference stimulates discussion and interaction

    Julius

  9. April 8th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Julius!
    I agree that unconferences can be useful and rich with content . . . BarCamps are great for networking — depending also on who’s drawn by the idea the BarCamp is built around.

    But any conference — even those with a “free price” — requires an investment of travel and time. :)

  10. April 9th, 2008 at 8:32 am
    Jenny said

    Hope you had a great time. I never make it to things like that because I don’t have the money plus I refuse to go anywhere by airplane.

  11. April 9th, 2008 at 9:09 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Jenny!
    The trip proved to pay off in many ways, and that made it easier to have a good time while I was there. :)

  12. April 9th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
    Tammy Lenski of Conflict Zen said

    Liz, this is written by the educator you so naturally are! You’ve reminded us of the difference between attending a conference as a passive recipient of what’s handed over and engaging a conference to squeeze out the best of it. Terrific!

  13. April 9th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Tammy!
    You see the value in what you invest in! You educate by pointing out our strengths. Thank you!

  14. August 16th, 2008 at 6:52 am
    Save on blogworld expo! Register now! - Liz Strauss at Successful Blog - Thinking, writing, business ideas . . . You’re only a stranger once. said

    [...] Remember the high returns of attending a conference? [...]

  15. August 31st, 2008 at 9:40 am
    How to get the most out of an ACR conference | Mediator Tech said

    [...] For more good ideas to prepare for the conference, check out Liz Strauss’ Missed Opportunities and High Returns of Attending a Conference. [...]

  16. May 5th, 2011 at 3:05 pm
    Mediator Tech newsletter: The ACR edition - Making Mediation Your Day Job said

    [...] For more good ideas to prepare for the conference, check out Liz Strauss’ Missed Opportunities and High Returns of Attending a Conference. [...]

  17. January 17th, 2012 at 4:53 pm
    Mediator Tech newsletter: The ACR edition | Tammy Lenski Conflict Resolution said

    [...] For more good ideas to prepare for the conference, check out Liz Strauss’ Missed Opportunities and High Returns of Attending a Conference. [...]

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