Benefits to Attending Leadership Conferences
I’m about to attend the Chick-Fil-A Leadercast, presented by John C. Maxwell and Giant Impact. The event is only one day, but the great lineup of speakers and topics has me anxiously awaiting it. As I reflected on this, a thought occurred to me: most of these great speakers have published plenty of material and lessons, so why do I find it important to attend leadership conferences at all? I came up with the following short list. Perhaps it will help you convince your boss the next time this event, or a similar opportunity comes around.
1. Education: The obvious. As a leader in the organization, you must continuously develop your leadership skills. Conferences are among the best ways to do this.
2. Networking: Whether you’re an extrovert or not, be sure to reach out to co-participants. Those in attendance are like-minded, particularly if the conference focuses on a particular theme, like Greenleaf’s Servant Leadership conference and you may find them excellent references for bouncing new ideas.
3. Focus: You could spend weeks, even months reading books in small snippets, but you can’t always focus consistently and key topics are often lost in translation. In contrast, by attending all day events and longer conferences, you are able to absorb the information continuously. From my experience, this results in greater retention of the information.
4. Setting an Example: As a leader in your organization, you need to set the example by honing your skills and leadership capabilities. As your team and peers see you make the commitment to be out of the office for these experiences, you lead by example and set expectations for them to follow.
So the next time you contemplate whether you can afford the time away from the office, consider these benefits and more, then commit yourself to, as the Chick-Fil-A Leadercast says, “Be The One”. If you seek suggestions for leadership events, definitely check out the Chick-Fil-A Leadercast and Greenleaf’s Annual conference.
Question: Why do you attend leadership development events?
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ben Lichtenwalner. Ben Lichtenwalner said: @Leadercast I've just posted an article on my anticipation of the event Friday – feel free to RT: http://bit.ly/b3t2Tk […]
Thanks for the blog Benjamin. I am actually planning a Christian Business conference here in the UK – so it is great to read why you go. I wonder is there anything specific that the conference organisers do that help you achieve your four aims? For example, you mention networking – did the conference have anything that helped with that? Or could they have done something that would help with that?
Hope you don't mind me asking all these questions – it's the first time I have done this and I really keen to get it right.
Of course, any other ideas/suggestions from other bloggers would also be handy! Cheers
Sounds like a great conference Matt – let me know how it goes.
For networking, the best solution I saw was an (optional) compilation and distribution of attendee information. Each participant received, before the conference and after, a list of the names, companies and contact information provided for any attendee volunteering this information. This enabled participants to seek out individuals they were interested in meeting during breaks and /or follow up afterward.
For education and focus, it is important for the conference facilitator to provide copies of materials, ideally before, but definitely after the conference. This frees attendees from taking notes and enables them to focus on the presenter. Furthermore, attendees can reference the content later for further education.
Setting an example, of course, is really up to the individual. Thank you for your question and good luck with the conference!
Hey thanks for that – really appreciate it! It all helps! If you want to see how things progress – check out en-thuse.com.
I am keen to get the networking thing right as I think this will be important to add value for those attending the conference. I like your idea of giving out information before hand. How would you feel if this was done through the web, rather than handouts being sent out (I am not a big fan of carrying lots of paper – but that's just me). Maybe if it is done on the web – you could connect before the conference and arrange to hook up at the conference? Just an idea.
What a fantastic site Matt. I am en-thused already and wish I could be there myself. Using the web makes the most sense, especially given your clear web production skills. I would just ensure you put the list behind some form of security to ensure spammers do not get the list.
I will definitely follow the development of your conference with enthusiasm. Cheers!
Thanks Benjamin! You could always come to the UK for conference 😀
Great to connect on Twitter too…thanks for your help.
Hey thanks for that – really appreciate it! It all helps! If you want to see how things progress – check out en-thuse.com.
I am keen to get the networking thing right as I think this will be important to add value for those attending the conference. I like your idea of giving out information before hand. How would you feel if this was done through the web, rather than handouts being sent out (I am not a big fan of carrying lots of paper – but that's just me). Maybe if it is done on the web – you could connect before the conference and arrange to hook up at the conference? Just an idea.
Thank you, for sharing your thoughts and the benefits. This was helpful for me.
Thank you, for sharing your thoughts and the benefits. This was helpful for me.