It’s been two weeks since you left Grapevine. Are you ready to spark some action, or are you already down the path of putting what you learned at the conference into action in your organization? 

One of the main reasons to attend conference each year is to acquire new ideas and ways of thinking, and then to bring those ideas back to your organization, make a plan and put it into action. Below we offer some advice for making the most of your experience – but before you get started, let’s make sure you have the proper plan in place.

Maximize your experience by putting what you learned into motion after conference. You came to learn and now you can act as a change agent in your organization to reap the benefits of what the ASHHRA conference is all about. Implement change and motivate yourself and others to be the change agents your organization needs.

 

Below we share six ways to ensure you get the most out of your conference experience:

1	Keep that conference app! The ASHHRA conference app is live and active until next year’s conference, so use it as a resource to continue to make connections and share ideas. Challenge each other to implement change.
2	Access learning session slides. Did you know that PowerPoint slides/presentations from most learning sessions are available on the app? Open the presentations in your browser, where you can then save them as PDFs and email them to yourself. Then use these as road maps to create your plan, and be sure to download the slides to the sessions you couldn’t attend.
3	Type up your notes. Remember those great notes you took in your ASHHRA Journal? Be sure to take the extra step to type up your notes. Typing handwritten notes allows you to further commit ideas and concepts to memory and allows them to be easily shared with colleagues. Once you’ve typed them, commit to bringing them to staff meetings and sharing them with others who may have not been able to attend the conference and/or the specific session.
4	Send a couple emails. Be sure to follow up with those you met. Send an encouraging email, drop a line to say hello, encourage the sharing of ideas, say ‘thank you’ to someone—nurture the relationships that you created. You’ll see an immense return on your efforts.
5	Connect with others via social media. Set aside time to find colleagues on LinkedIn and Twitter. Reach out, send a message and establish the connection. This is an easy way to stay constantly connected and doesn’t require a lot of time to make it happen.
6	Create your plan. After reviewing notes and the available slides, create a plan of action that puts what you took away from  conference in action. Start with just one idea that would be easy to implement. Pick one thing, or decide to make just one change, and make it happen. After that small victory, you’ll be more motivated to continue down the path to change.