Conferences fill ballrooms with people eager for inspiration, who then spill out into workshop rooms where they learn and connect with colleagues. That energy can be like a sugar rush – we reach a high state of excitement imagining how amazing things are going to be when we get home and reinvent. Or maybe that sugar rush-inducing excitement is really anxiety because we realize how far behind we seem to be.
Conference season is upon us. The Central Washington Conference for the Greater Good (Yakima) is on April 19, Washington State Nonprofit Conference (Bellevue) on May 17, and the Nonprofit Practices Institute Summit (Chelan) on May 22. Your attendance at conferences is vital to your success—time away from your desk connecting with colleagues gives you the knowledge, tools, and connections you need to imagine new solutions to the challenges in front of you.
Too often we make conference participation an isolated activity. We reluctantly fit it into our schedule and then march through the day with a conference bag hanging from our wrist until we get home exhausted and overwhelmed. We take pages of notes, which never get looked at again. Last year, I attended a thought-provoking conference with colleagues I admire. I misplaced my notebook on the way home, and when I tried to recall a single to-do item on my inspired list of tasks, I drew a complete blank. Sugar rush of excitement with no stickiness to turn what I learned into action.
The science of learning helps us create a scaffold ready to hold what we learn. It provides an architecture that allows us to turn learning into action. The three cornerstones of this structure are reflection, team, and time.
REFLECTION
“We find two dimensions, reflection and action, in such radical interaction that if one is sacrificed—even in part—the other immediately suffers.”
– Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
We retain 58% of what we are told in 20 minutes, 33% after a day. We will forget most of what we learn at a conference by the time we get home for dinner.
Luckily there is an antidote: reflection. Reflection and action are inseparable. Each is needed to keep the other on track, and yet too often we rush to action because so much needs to get done. Without reflection, those ideas that you jot down in your notebook don’t have anything to which to stick. They are isolated stars not yet drawn into a constellation. Taking time for reflection before, during, and after a learning event forces your brain to create a hook to hang ideas on. It sets up a practice for you to retrieve what you know and imagine your practice in new ways.
Pre-conference question:
- What is most on your mind right now?
- Whether a challenge or an opportunity, what observable change in yourself, organization or community would you like to see within 3 months?
Write the answers to these questions down on the notebook that you plan to take to the conference.
Mid-way AND at the end of the conference day:
- What do you find yourself continuing to think about?
- What ideas have stuck with you?
Find a quiet place during the conference for at least 10 minutes.
Write down what you are thinking about.
TEAM
“The small group is the unit of transformation.”
– Peter Block in Community: Creating a Culture of Belonging
We can’t create change alone. Change happens when we connect with others to put something new in place. A cornerstone of action is accountability, both in terms of our accountability to ourselves and to our community. Bringing a team to a conference allows you to get more out of the marketplace of ideas that organizers offer you. It holds you accountable for what you learned and what you say you are going to do next.
Create a roster of who should attend the conference. These people can be both within your organization and colleagues in your community. Driving a distance? Great conversations happen during carpools.
TIME
“It’s that linkage back to the workplace that I worry about the most.”
– Will Thalheimer, Ph.D
Focus, reflection, and team get us to the end of the conference day. What happens next? What further reflection will we do? What action steps will we organize with others?
Time is a precious commodity in our work. Taking more time after a conference to reflect and act might just be too much to ask. But what if the ROI of the day jumped considerable because you take more time to reflect and act? What if your choice is between a day away that doesn’t change anything and a day away that moved you closer to achieving your mission? None of us have time to waste, so let’s schedule post-conference time to make sure that we reflect and act in ways that move our mission forward.
PRIOR TO THE CONFERENCE, block out time for these events:
ONE HOUR within the week after the conference: Work on your own, read through your notes and make a to-do list of ideas or tasks that you would like to move forward. Look at websites mentioned by speakers.
ONE HOUR within the month after the conference: Share what you learned with your colleagues, board, or community. Talk about what you think about it and next steps. Need ideas on how to schedule this in?
- Learning lunch
- Designated time within a board meeting
- Board potluck before a board meeting
- Nonprofit network meeting
Join a local nonprofit network to continue the conversation. Don’t have one near you, contact us for ideas.
Your mission matters, and time and money to attend conferences are hard to come by. Taking time to connect the change you want to see with learning and resources will make the investments you make go so much farther. We look forward to seeing you at an upcoming conference!
DOWNLOAD the Architecture of Action: Conferences toolkit now.
MORE READING
- How Self-Reflection Can Make You A Better Leader – Kellogg Insight
- Going-the-Distance Learning – Convene
- The Science of Learning at Conferences – Will Thalheimer