Attending a professional conference is an exciting and sometimes overwhelming experience, filled with opportunities for learning, networking and professional growth. However, the momentum gained at these events can quickly fade if you don’t act upon it soon. To truly leverage the potential of conference connections and insights, it’s important to have a strategic post-conference action plan.

Here are five actionable steps that business professionals can take to build their brands and businesses after attending a conference.

• Follow Up Promptly: Time is of the essence when it comes to post-conference networking. Within 48 to 72 hours of the event, reach out to new contacts with personalized emails or LinkedIn messages. Reference specific parts of your conversation to remind them of your interaction and to demonstrate interest in getting to know them better. This not only keeps the connection fresh but also lays the groundwork for future collaborations.
• Share Your Learnings on Social Media: Position yourself as an active participant in your industry by sharing your conference takeaways as a blog post or LinkedIn article, as well as on social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter. This approach not only adds value to your network but also increases your visibility and engagement with the broader professional community. Remember to tag the conference, speakers and/or attendees to enhance your posts’ reach and impact.
• Implement and Share Innovations: Identify a couple of innovative ideas or practices you discovered at the conference and integrate them into your business or professional routine. Document the process and outcomes in a social media post or blog post. Sharing these experiences not only underscores your commitment to growth and improvement but also establishes you as a thought leader in your field.
• Expand Your Network with Thoughtful Connections: Use the post-conference period to connect with speakers and attendees you found insightful. Craft a personalized connection request on LinkedIn, expressing your shared conference experience and interest in their work. This targeted approach to networking opens new doors and fosters meaningful professional relationships.
• Leverage New Insights for Strategic Networking: Reflect on the key insights and trends from the conference and identify how they align with your business goals and challenges. Develop a plan to engage with industry leaders, trends and potential collaborators.

Key Takeaways

• Prompt Follow-Up: Solidify new connections quickly to maintain momentum.
• Social Sharing: Elevate your professional profile by sharing insights and engaging with your network.
• Innovation Implementation: Apply and share new ideas to establish thought leadership.
• Thoughtful Networking: Expand your network with a focus on quality and relevance.
• Strategic Engagement: Align post-conference actions with broader business objectives for maximum impact.

Post-Conference Action Items

To transform your post-conference enthusiasm and learnings into tangible outcomes, consider these action items that you can do today:

• Connect and Engage: Identify three new contacts from the conference and reach out with personalized messages. Share something of value with each to kickstart a meaningful dialogue.
• Key Takeaways Post: Write a LinkedIn post or blog post about your top conference takeaways and how you plan to implement these learnings. Tag relevant parties (people and entities and use the conference hashtag) to extend the conversation and gain more visibility for your post.
• Strategic Planning: Set aside 30 minutes to brainstorm how the conference insights can address a current challenge or goal within your business or company. Outline a simple action plan to tackle one of these insights in the coming months and present that to your team.
• Internal Learning: Offer to give a short presentation to your colleagues on key takeaways from the conference at your next internal all-hands meeting. Make sure to thank your boss and others who advocated for you to attend the conference.

By following these steps and engaging with the action items, you’ll not only keep the conference momentum alive but also amplify your professional growth and brand development in meaningful ways.

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Stefanie Marrone advises law firms of all sizes, professional service firms, B2B companies and individuals on the full range of marketing and business development consulting services designed to enhance revenue, retain current clients and achieve greater brand recognition. She also serves as outsourced chief marketing officer/marketing department for small and mid-size law firms.

Over her 20+-year legal marketing career, she has worked at and with a broad range of big law, mid-size and small firms, which has given her a valuable perspective of the legal industry. Connect with her on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, sign up for her email list and follow her latest writing on JD Supra.