I love a good conference. I’m writing this on the back of the 9th IPEd national editors conference held in Melbourne 8-10 May, 2019. This was the third editors conference I’ve attended and made more special as I was part of the fabulous organising committee.
Editing can be a fairly solitary occupation, depending on the type of editing work done. I work mainly in the academic field and don’t even talk to most of my clients. I receive an email enquiry, bit of further discussion over email, document is sent, I edit it, return it, payment is made electronically. I wouldn’t even know most of my clients if I bumped into them even though I establish a genuinely warm connection with most of them. It’s quite unusual after a career in event management where I had nothing but phone and face-to-face contact with every client.
One of the reasons I enjoy conferences is the interaction with my fellow editors. I’m fairly active in the industry, having been involved in organising monthly events with Editors Victoria and over the past two years helping to plan the most recent conference.
I find the sessions so inspiring, whether it’s putting totally new ideas in my head, reiterating things I already know or practice or looking at ways of doing things differently. I fill pages of my notebook with fantastic tips, links to helpful websites, books to read up on. What drew me to Dr Malini Devadas’ session on Money Matters was that it promised to be the last workshop I’d ever have to do on how to grow my business…(in a nutshell). I have done numerous workshops on growing a freelance business and with absolutely no discredit to all the fabulous facilitators, it is me that has to do the work and practise what I learn in all these workshops. So…I created a list of 5 tips for making the most of a conference and putting new ideas into practice:
1.Start preparing before the conference
Most conferences will publish excerpts, abstracts or other details on what is being presented. Delegates can plan which sessions they’re attending, knowing who the presenter will be. I read up on my speakers and looked into their previous work and started thinking of what I wanted from each session. Giving myself an idea of what to expect and what I wanted from it made the session and my note-taking more practical.
2. Record where possible
If - and only if - the session and the presenter allows it, record it when you can. This allows you to freely focus on the presentation and the interaction with the speaker by not having to take notes or try and get some relevant tips down verbatim. Some conferences publish audio and/or video of sessions. If you quote any text or post any video, be sure to attribute it to the speaker.
3. Be selective with your sessions
There are inevitably clashes with sessions at a big conference. Make the best use of your time and choose sessions that resonate the most and that you feel you’ll gain the most from. Ask fellow delegates to share notes from sessions you can’t attend or see if they’re being recorded/streamed/uploaded. Stick to the one session rather than going in and out. A Q&A session can be just as valuable as the presentation.
4. Network-it
A conference is that rare occasion where you’ll find many experts in their field all under the one roof at the same time. Make the most of this and reach out to as many speakers and delegates as you can. Come armed with a stack of business cards and approach speakers after presentations or during breaks. Use the opportunity to pick their brain…..
5. Use it or lose it
Now comes the hard part and the one I find the most challenging. It’s easy to sit in a lecture theatre and be inspired by experts sharing their wisdom and experience, it’s harder to put it into practice when you’re sitting back at your desk with no PowerPoint presentation to guide you through the next steps. So, starting the day after the conference: Reach out to fellow delegates and colleagues and give each other deadlines or inspiration to report back on any projects, changes or follow up from the conference. Commit to paper: contact presenters to thank them and tell them what you’ve learnt. Once it’s in writing, you’ll be inspired to follow up. Set yourself some long-term goals for the next 12 months and keep revisiting.