Networking vs Learning: How to Leverage Both While Attending Conferences

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Last month, an article by meetings, net cited, a recent study that

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said that event planners feel their events deliver noticeably more

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value through attending networking.

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Then through the learning sessions.

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Welcome to episode 1 36 of this shit works.

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A podcast dedicated to all things, networking, relationship

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building and business development.

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I'm your host, Julie Brown.

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Speaker author and networking coach.

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And today I am discussing how to make an entire conference.

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A networking experience.

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You don't have to tell me how important conferences are for

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your business in your career.

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In my book, I dedicate an entire chapter titled how to conference like

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a bad-ass to preparing for attending and following up after conferences.

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I've always put as much emphasis on the networking aspect of

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conferences as I have on the learning opportunities at conferences.

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And now the event industry agrees.

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A recent survey conducted by event production from Encore asked planners

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about where their in-person events delivered value for their attendees.

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And surprise surprise 74% of respondents said that the value

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for attendees was in networking.

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And relationship building.

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Now.

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This is music to my ears, but it might not be for event planners and

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also session presenters because the educational portion of the conference

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should also offer value for the attendees.

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As a speaker and presenter, I know the tremendous amount of time and

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effort it takes to craft presentation.

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Also having been a past conference board member.

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I know how much thought goes into determining the learning tracks.

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And selecting the presenters.

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So.

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What should event organizers do with this information?

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What should you do if you are planning, you know, a company retreat, an annual

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meeting, or just an in-house event?

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Well, The first thing would be to hire me to give a key note where I give

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you all my tips and tricks for making networking a seamless part of your life.

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That is obvious.

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I mean if 74% of your attendees are there to network, let's make sure they're

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getting the most out of that experience.

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Right.

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Right.

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The second thing event planners and event organizers can do is

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focus on educational programs that offer an interactive element.

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Something that encourages engagement during the session.

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Yeah.

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Some people are going to moan and bitch about having to get up and talk to someone

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they don't know, but I can guarantee they will ultimately be grateful that they did.

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They will ultimately be grateful that you made them do that.

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Especially when they discover that they found a new friend.

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For me, the best conferences I've ever attended are the ones in which

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the keynote speaker captivated me.

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I had tangible takeaways from the sessions.

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And it got to network with new and established connections.

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That for me is the trifecta.

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That triple threat of a conference.

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And conferencing is back in a big way.

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Another finding in this survey was that 62% of event planners expect

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an increase in attendance across all of their events in 2023 and beyond.

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After most conferences were held virtually it held at all during the pandemic.

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The desire for in-person events, networking in social interactions

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is on the rise and conferences are more important than ever.

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If you haven't attended a conference in whatever area of expertise

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you are in, I ask you to look into what is available to you.

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Yes.

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Attending a conference may be intimidating, but it is N will be

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one of the best business and career development decisions you make.

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Okay.

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Onto the drink of the week, which come on, this one was like way too easy.

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This week's cocktail is called.

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The conference.

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I'm not sure why.

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But I found the recipe in Epicurious.

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So it's a legit cocktail.

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Here's what you're going to need.

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A half ounce of Rittenhouse rye.

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I mean, this is written house a hundred, right?

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I mean, just use ride if you ha, if that's what you have a half ounce of bourbon,

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such as Buffalo trace, they called for it.

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But come on, like Buffalo trace is really fucking hard to get.

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So just use a half an ounce of whatever bourbon you have.

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And half ounce of Calvados, which is either apple or pear, Brandy.

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Half ounce of cognac.

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One teaspoon of simple syrup.

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Two dashes of bitters, regular beer bitters, like Angostura bitters,

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and then a dash of moly bitters.

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You're going to need a lemon twist and an orange, orange Troost for garnish.

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If you're fancy like that.

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What you're going to do is you're going to store all the ingredients over ice and

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then strain into a double rocks glass over one of those really fun, large ice cubes.

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I get like little sidebar here.

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I went on Etsy during Christmas and I bought.

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Ice cube.

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I mean there.

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Branders for all of my guy friends.

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And so, like, I got one for Chris with a B and one for my, my friend, Jason, and

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one for the neighbor down the street.

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And so like the square blocks of ice, those big blocks, what you

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take as you take this brand are, and you don't need to heat it.

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Some whatever.

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It's like copper.

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So it melts the ice automatically.

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And you can brand your own ice cubes with.

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With the brander.

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And then I also bought monograph.

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Ice cube trays.

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So I got one that says JB and one that says CV on it.

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I'm a sucker for the shit.

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Okay.

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Anyways.

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You're going to pour all that stuff over one large ice cube.

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If you have a brand or a brand, if you have a monogrammed one,

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get your monograph one out.

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And if you're fancy as fuck garnish it with a lemon and an orange twist.

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All right, friends.

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That's all for this week.

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Actually, you know, it's not, I totally forgot.

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I totally forgot to tell you.

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I have been asked by a number of people if I'm going to do an audio

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version of my book, and I'm not sure if I'm going to do an audio version

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of my book, but I did record the first chapter as an audio chapter

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and you can download it totally free.

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If you visit Julie Brown book.com.

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I'm not sure again, like, I'm not sure if I'll ever do all of the

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chapters, but here's your chance to hear me reading the book.

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If that's like your thing.

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Anyways, it's available for you.

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So go download it if you want.

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If you like what you heard today, please leave a review

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and subscribe to the podcast.

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Also, please remember to share the podcast to help it reach a larger audience.

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If you want more.

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Julie Brown.

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You can find my book.

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This shit works at Amazon or Barnes and noble.

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You can find me on LinkedIn at Julie Brown BD.

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Just let me know where you're found me.

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Send me, send me a personalized note.

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You can find me on the Instagram at Julie Brown underscore BD, or you can just

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pop on over to my website, Julie Brown bd.com to learn more until next week.