Get out of your bubble! 5 reasons why you should attend a conference this fall

Like the change from summer to fall, conference season arrives every year without fail. Although many people love attending conferences, some question the value. There are probably countless reasons why conferences can help you (and some reasons they can’t). I count myself as an optimist on the value of leaving your bubble and attending events.

On the “pro” side of conferences, here are my top five benefits:

1. Meeting new people

2. Re-engaging with your connections

3. Team building

4. Learning/getting new ideas

5. Benchmarking what YOU are doing

I’ll briefly explain each of these below.

Meeting new people

The value of networking and meeting new people is hard to understate. Why? It’s essential to career growth and getting new perspectives. As a natural introvert, it takes effort for me to network at events. However, over the years I’ve had countless development and content opportunities come from networking at conferences.

Some people question the value of building a network if they aren’t actively looking for a new job. That’s short-sighted. A powerful network can help you in many other ways besides job-searching. In addition, trying to build a network at the last-minute when you find yourself suddenly looking for a new job or need references to land a thought-leadership opportunity is a tough task. You must build a network BEFORE you need it.

Furthermore, building a network isn’t just about you. Meeting new people can be an opportunity for you to help others through mentoring or sharing best practices. That’s rewarding.

Re-engaging with your connections

Everything I mentioned above applies here as well. It’s important to maintain relationships. That can be done virtually, but conferences give you a natural opportunity to connect and spend dedicated time with people you value.

There are so many ways to do this. Setting up coffee, attending a presentation or event, and stopping by a booth are all good ways to connect. Attending a conference makes any of those actions incredibly easy.

Team building

If multiple members of your team are attending an event, it’s a great opportunity to do some team building. In fact, with so many of us working virtually now, it might be one of the only times during the year when you can spend dedicated time in-person with colleagues. Even for those rare people who see each other all the time, a new setting offers the chance to step away from the typical daily distractions.

I know what some of you are thinking: “But we don’t have any budget for travel. We can’t go to a conference.” If that’s the case, check to see what’s happening in your city or state. Many larger cities offer day-long conferences at reasonable attendee rates. Take advantage of those!

• 💡 Pro tip #1: Check to see whether conferences you want to attend offer scholarships that might offset some or all of the cost to attend. Many conferences do this and often have scholarships remaining even as the event date approaches.

  
  

• 💡 Pro tip #2: Do you know that your company doesn’t have any budget? Never assume. Ask your manager the question. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Learning/getting new ideas

I don’t know everything. You don’t know everything. Nobody does. When large groups come together to address issues they have in common, you get exposed to valuable information and strategies.

Only focusing on what you currently do where you do it is extremely limiting. Conferences offer the rare opportunity to hear from others about what they are doing. What’s working. And even more valuable sometimes, what’s not working.

Benchmarking what YOU are doing

Here’s a twist on the point above, it can be difficult to understand how what you’re working on compares to others in terms of effectiveness or creativity. We tend to be harder on ourselves, teams and organizations when we have limited context to judge our work.

I always come away from conferences with a few ideas that would be new for me or my team. And I almost always confirm that we are doing much of our work better or at least as good as others.

👇 Where you should be this fall

There are so many great conferences coming up before the end of the year. Here are a few I personally have attended in the past and recommend for this fall.

• SHSMD Connections Conference: the nation's leading conference for health care strategy and market development professionals. Oct. 13-15 in Denver, CO.

• Healthcare Communicators Northwest: the 2024 Healthcare Communicators Northwest conference is the perfect chance to meet and catch up with fellow healthcare communicators, share ideas, and dive into what’s new and next in our field. Nov. 8; Fort Vancouver, Washington (near Portland).

  
  

• Becker’s CEO/CFO Roundtable: essential discussions on rural healthcare, digital transformation, health equity, C-suite diversity and more will take center stage. Nov. 11-14 in Chicago.

  
  

• HCIC is where marketing, digital and the consumer experience converge! Nov. 10-13 in Austin, Texas.

👇 More on this topic!

• 💻 Article: Are in-person industry conferences worth it? Yes, but …

  
  

• 📽️ Video: How Can Attendees Get Value from Healthcare Conferences? Check out my conversation with Colin Hung.