Any good business event creates action.
That goes for conferences, workshops, webinars, and any other assembly of businessmen and women aimed at exploring a particular topic.
If you attend a conference and don’t come away with actions, you’ve wasted your time.
Maybe you’ve met a new customer, a new business partner, or a potential hire. Or maybe you’ve learned a new skill, technique, or hack.
But leaving with actions isn’t enough.
Whatever it is you’ve learned, whoever it is you’ve met, if you don’t take the time to follow up on the actions you’ve captured, you’ve wasted your time.
And this happens more often than not...
The problem begins when you leave the event and return to your home/office.
That’s when the emails come in. That’s when you notice the missed calls. That’s when you have a line of friends, family, colleagues, and customers at your proverbial door who wonder where the hell you’ve been the past few days and who need your time and attention, now.
So those actions you captured at the conference, actions which felt so relevant and important, now fall to the bottom of your to-do list never to be addressed again.
The solution is to schedule time after, before you attend.
Let me explain...
Right after signing up for an event, long before you attend and as you block your calendar for those days you’ll be out-of-office, schedule a four- to eight-hour meeting with yourself the day after. If your conference is on Thursday, schedule 8am to noon Friday morning.
This time is non-negotiable and uninterruptible, just like the event itself. This is the time you’ll transform the energy, excitement, and actions generated at the event into results.
Learned something new? Use this time to write down how you will incorporate this knowledge into your day to make yourself more productive and successful.
Met someone helpful or interesting? Use this time to reach out to them. Thank them for their time and schedule a meeting to explore how you can help each other in the near future.
Discovered a new tool? Use this time to explore how it can help you, buy it, and incorporate it into your workflow.
Whatever you do, don’t pretend you’ll have the time after an event to take action on all you’ve learned. The pressure to return calls, check email, and otherwise work on things you’ve missed will be too high.
Before your conference, workshop, webinar, or other event, schedule non-negotiable, uninterruptible time for immediately after so you can take action.
About the Author
Michael Mehlberg
Scheduling Monster, Productivity Junkie
I help high-achieving entrepreneurs live their passion and achieve their dreams by consistently saving time, getting productive, and being more efficient and organized.
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