Thoughts on Conferences: What Makes them Good or Bad?

I have been to about a dozen conferences this year in various countries and four continents. I have been part of the organizing group for some of them, a speaker in others. And in fact, conferences have been a core part of my life, education and professional work for more than a decade.
So what makes a good conference?
This is something I ask myself and others all the time and the answers seem to boil down to three things, listed here in order of importance.
1. Networking
By far and away the most important is connecting with old friends and making new ones. Conferences offer a socially acceptable way of approaching strangers, exchanging ideas and building alliances and partnership.
People come from all over a country or region often not to go to any of the sessions but to meet up with friends, swap stories with each other, and enjoy a meal or drink together. Some people find new jobs, others come seeking to find someone for a need they have.
2. Best Practice Sharing
The second reason people come is to pick up on the latest trend, technology or technique. Workshops are often designed to convey the ideas of best practices leaders. Many attendees have the goal of bringing back one or two things that they can implement right away to make money, same money, or ease the workload.
Usually the most popular sessions are the ones where an exemplar demonstrates what they did to achieve some remarkable goal. Question and answer sessions cover a wide range of topics designed to spread good ideas, challenge bad practices and keep uo to date.
3. New ideas
And new ideas are critical to staying on the edge. Keynote speakers and so-called gurus are most likely to be the ones to introduce new concepts or challenge an accepted practice with new data or research. Professions move forward on the basis of this type of data and the opportunity to see what is possible. The early adopters will grab onto the new ideas and try them out. If they are successful they will be presented in following years as best practices.

So the conferences that blend all of this together are often the best. In the recruiting and social media arena there are a handful of good conferences, depending on where you live, that provide the broadest base of attendees (for networking and best practice sharing) as well as the “gurus” who bring in the new.

My favorites are ERE EXPOs, TRUs, and the ATCs in Australia. I’ll write more about these conferences and also about  think tanks in a future post coming soon.

Tagged as: collaboration, networking, Social Networks