How do you conference?

Good morning, all! As teased in my previous post, I really wanted to make a point to talk about a new concept in my life—that of the conference personality. I recently experienced my first professional conference alongside several fellow graduate students and new professionals, and I noticed pretty early on that each of us had a different way of experiencing the conference; each of our personalities and purposes for attending affected the way in which we interacted with the people and presentations around us.

This post will serve to talk about several of the different species of conference-goers I have identified, and I’d love to hear more varieties from you readers. How do YOU conference?

AWAY WE GO!

1. The Social Butterfly:

Ah, the Social Butterfly. We all know this conference attendee and have seen them in action. Brave and tireless, the Butterfly may or may not attend different presentations throughout the day, but by gosh, they are making EVERY MINUTE COUNT by making connections with the people around them. Once the sun goes down, it’s game over—the Social Butterfly has dinner plans, after-dinner plans, meet-ups, Alumni reunions, receptions, and after-reception receptions to attend. They go and go ‘til the wee hours of the morning, skip the earliest morning sessions to catch up on sleep, and are ready and raring to go get coffee with new and old friends by 11 a.m.

I attended NASPA with a couple of social butterflies, and let me tell you, I wish I had their stamina! Of course, the Butterfly makes a point to save up their energy for the networking they’re doing, but in a room full of people, the Butterfly refuses to know a stranger. For those of you that have taken StrengthsQuest, the Social Butterfly is often a “Woo”—Winning Others Over. By the end of the conference, the Butterfly has 50 new business cards, 100 new Twitter followers, and was the belle of the ball. Even if you’re not a butterfly, it’s great to have friends who are, because they can help you along in your networking if you’re a little leery of crowds (like I am!). All hail the Social Butterfly!

2. Interested and Intentional

The Interested and Intention (I&I) conference-goer is a sight to see. They set their sights on a high purpose for conference attendance: learning! The I&I purposefully selects each presentation to fit their interests and hopes to truly be engaged in the sessions. They go to at least 2 or 3 of the keynote speeches and take notes, listening and having an inner dialogue with the content. They are at the conference to truly make the most out of the information presented.

This is not to say that the I&I isn’t social! Oh no, quite the contrary. The I&I is intentional in their social time as well—they plan ahead for the conference, making contact with old friends to meet up and with colleagues for suggestions on who to meet with and what to talk about.

I attended NASPA with an I&I, and I was SO impressed by the manifold things that she got out of the conference. Not only did she intentionally select the sessions she attended to support the work she does, she also contacted old advisors to see if any of their former colleagues were attending NASPA, and if she could set up breakfast, lunch, or coffee dates with them. In doing so, she got the opportunity to sit down with a group of senior student affairs officers—Vice Presidents, Deans, etc.—and pick their brains for an hour or two. She made a point to be intentional about her conference experience, and it paid off. All hail the I&I!

3. The Grab Bag

Last but not least, a type of conference-goer I’d like to describe is what I’m calling “The Grab Bag.” The Grab Bag is exactly that—they attend conferences for a variety of purposes and a potpourri of experiences. Absolutely they’re at the conference for professional development! Absolutely they’d like to make time to meet up with old friends and colleagues! Absolutely they want to meet up with new acquaintances! Absolutely they want to explore the city in which the conference is held! For the Grab Bag, a conference is, in and of itself, a variety of meaningful and fun experiences, and the Grab Bag tries to make the most out of all of them.

I know this conference-goer well… it’s me! Especially because NASPA was the first professional conference I attended, I wanted to make sure to experience each part of the conference week to see what I liked best. Now that I’ve experienced all of them, I know that I want to KEEP doing that! I arrived in Philadelphia a few days early to sightsee; I made sure to attend presentations and keynotes that would most encourage my professional development; I set aside time to have one-on-one breakfast and lunch dates with old friends and new. And I am VERY satisfied with my conference experience.

A Word of Caution

No matter your conference type, Butterfly, I&I, Grab Bag, or Other, the true key to attending any conference is to Know. Your. Limits. Personally, I know I’m not a night person. Once 10:00 p.m. rolls around, my rapier wit and sparkling charm start fading fast, and I’ve known this for a while. So I made it a point to do all of my networking and spending time with friends during the day. Sure, it meant that I skipped a few rounds of concurrent sessions, but ultimately I made some great connections with other conference attendees, so it was all worth it. I knew that I couldn’t hang every night with my Social Butterfly friends who were awake ‘til 1 or 2 a.m., so I made a point to save up my energy ‘til the last night of the conference when I knew we’d be out for a while.

Know how easily you get tired, know how you deal with tiredness.

If you’re attending the conference with friends or colleagues, be mindful of their conference personality, their limits, and how they deal with stress.

Most of all, know what you want out of a day—to network, to learn, to sight-see, to have a happy medium of all of them. Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize. Know your conference personality!

This list isn’t comprehensive, by any means, but it’s definitely a good start to what I know will be a LONG life of conference attendance and observations. I think I’m going to make it a point to try to identify sub-species of each of these types of conference-goers, and maybe find some new species along the way!