home from a conference? now what?

Welcome to all of our new subscribers from Allume. We loved meeting many of you and hope you enjoy our posts each week!

What are you supposed to do when you finally get home from that blog conference? I mean after you hug your family and figure out what is for dinner that night. You’ve got your swag bag, a stack of business cards, and a pile of dirty laundry. Your brain is full of information and your phone is full of photos. Your body is exhausted and your mind won’t stop spinning.

Sound familiar?

In July I was at She Speaks. Many of my friends were recently at Allume. Others have been to Declare or Influence this year.  Perhaps you attended another writing or blogging conference. And now you are asking yourself the big question, “Now what?”

While each of us have different experiences and expectations of the conferences we attend, there are several ways all of us can make the most of our time spent learning and connecting.  Here are few ideas.

Reinforce connections you made.

At She Speaks, I was able to meet with several incredible writers. As we sat together talking the last night of the conference we all swapped business cards and followed each other on Instagram. Since then, we’ve continued to stay connected via social media and the occasional text or email. Make a list of four or five people you want to build a stronger connection with. Be intentional about following up with them regarding conversations you had or even sharing a photo or quote on social media that reminds you of them.

Identify action steps.

Hopefully you learned at least a couple of things at the conference. What are you going to do with that information? Take some time to identify two or three specific actions steps you can take based on what you gained. Give yourself goals and timelines for completing them.

Write a blog post.

It is a gift to the conference organizers and speakers when you take the time to write about your experience. But it also can be an encouragement to those who were there — and those who were not. Share what you learned, who you met, and how it impacted you. Be sure to link up with the conference linky if they have one.

Sort the swag.

The swag bags at conferences are awesome. But as much fun as it is to get all those books and gifts at the conference, when you get home it can all end up in a pile and you wonder what you are going to do with it. Maybe you want to write reviews on the books or share about the ministry of one of the conference sponsors. Schedule those posts and give yourself a deadline.  You can also do a giveaway of the items you may not need. Or perhaps you want to offer them as a donation for another group in your community. This is a great time to thank {again} the sponsors of the conference.

You don’t have to do all of this the day after you get home … or even the month after you get home.  Sometimes you need to give yourself time to process what you experienced. These are just a few suggestions for making the most of your post-conference time.

What is one thing you do when you get home from a conference?