A Productive Conference attendance .. and some fun too

G'day,

Today I am in San Francisco, what a beautiful city!

While planning to attend this professional industry conference in San Francisco I decided to make the most of my time in this fabulous city and fly in one day earlier than the conference. I have always flown in and out of this beautiful place but not had the chance to explore it. To make my time here more productive I did the following things:

1. Reached out to a colleague who previously lived in the city and asked for her recommendations of 'tourist' things to do.

2.Invested one day exploring the city based on her list of recommendations and had a great time, rode the cable car, drank Irish coffees at Buena Vista, drove across the Golden Gate bridge and wandered around Sausalito!

3.Contacted other conference attendees I had never met before the meeting to make arrangements to connect at the event.

4. Reached out to people I knew were attending the conference and planned to share meals with them over the series of days here. It is always great to reconnect with friends and collegues and catch up face to face at events like this.

5. Identified which sessions I would attend (and which sessions I would skip) by reviewing the program online first.

6. Wrote to the speakers of the sessions before the event introducing myself, advising them I would like to connect at the conference ... and have already enjoyed making new connections.

7. Brought stamped stationery with me to the conference so I have already started my follow up from the people I have met.

So often we fly in and out of conferences without exploring the city, connecting with new people and reconnecting with friends. You can make every conference attendance productive by investing one hour planning before each trip and taking your follow up tools with you. So today I am off to enjoy more of San Francisco!