Maximize Your Time in Orlando: 10 Tips to Amplify Learning Potential at the ASHHRA 51st Annual Conference & Exposition

Whether you’re a first-time attendee or you’ve attended the ASHHRA Annual Conference & Exposition for years, you have a responsibility to get the most out of every conference you attend. To justify your time away and investment in ongoing self-development and learning, you should carefully plan how you’re going to maximize learning and networking potential at this year’s conference. 

To get the most out of your conference experience and maximize your time in Orlando, here’s a checklist of items to tackle before, during and after the conference. 

Before the Conference

• We all have those questions or issues that keep us up at night, and we’re not quite sure how to go about solving them. So be prepared, and come to Orlando with a list of questions you’d like to get answers to. Remember that no question is too complex or simple.
• Uncover your strengths and weaknesses, and plan your Learning Session schedule based on these. Plan to attend sessions that touch upon where you need improvement and avoid those that you already know a lot about. Not sure how to pick which sessions to attend? Use the Learning Track Selection Guide to determine the level and competency you want to enhance.
• Don’t just rely on the conference program onsite to keep you on track. Access the entire schedule online or on the ASHHRA Conference Mobile App in advance, and make a personalized daily schedule on what sessions, networking events and exhibitor booths you’ll attend/visit. Planning ahead will go far in the long run. Tip: If you’re lucky enough to have a colleague attend with you—or if you know someone who’s attending—create your schedules together so you can tag-team sessions and get the most out of the learning opportunities. 
• Don’t forget to pack your business cards; there will be many opportunities where you’ll want to hand one out, so don’t leave yourself hanging. 

• Take notes during the keynote and general sessions, Learning Sessions and even in the Expo Hall, and be sure to identify the biggest takeaway from each of these events. This will help you remember what you learned and also put new ideas into practice. 
• If you’re making the time to go to a session, don’t be a wallflower and sit in the back of the room slouching in your chair. Speak up, ask questions and take time to meet the speaker and ask any follow-up questions after the session. 
• When meeting others and exchanging business cards, keep a pen handy so you can jot down notes specific to the person you met. Adding notes to the back of business cards is a great way to make sense of (and follow up with!) all of those cards you’ll collect during the conference. 

• So what to do with all of those valuable notes from general sessions, Learning Sessions and the Expo Hall? Start by separating wisdom from action items. Review your notes and pull out the tidbits of knowledge, then identify action items—whether it’s to further research a product or service, follow-up with a colleague or finally tackle a large project. This will allow you to start moving in the right direction and implement some things you took away from the conference. 
• Take the "tidbits of knowledge" that you separated from the action items, and put them in a presentation or document so you can easily share what you took away with colleagues (and even your boss). Doing so demonstrates the value of attending, provides a better case to attend next year and allows others to benefit from your attendance as well. 
• And last but certainly not least, don’t let all those business cards you collected go to waste. Remember those handy little notes you wrote on the back of each of them? Make it a point to reach out about something specific—whether via email, Twitter or LinkedIn—and connect with those you met. These relationships have the potential to be life-long business connections that can aid you in further developing your career, from now and long into your future. 

We wish you a wonderful and productive 51st Annual Conference & Exposition. Make the most of it!