Each year across the United States, professionals spend hundreds of thousands of dollars attending conferences and seminars. Professional programs can be well worth the time away from the office, as well as very productive and profitable. The many thousands of dollars we invest in time and money attending programs will not pay for us if we don’t organize the steps to utilize the vast amount of material shared during the program. Here’s how you can turn the next scheduled conference into a valuable experience.

Beginning of the year:

- Plan ahead scheduling conferences and seminars. The program content should be geared to material which will assist the team to achieve the vision or goals set for the year.

- Determine the practice dollars which will be allotted towards continuing education this year.

- Prepare for the course time out of the office by making up the hours of production on another day, or increase the daily goal each working day of the month.

- If only one team member will be attending the program, hire a temporary person to replace them for the day.

One week before attending the course:

- Prepare for the program ahead of time. For example, list at least five specific questions we want answered at the program.

- Determine the purpose for attending the meeting. Review the outline once more. Check the time that the program starts and determine your driving and lunch arrangements. Call to confirm that the attendees are indeed registered. Are there any particular materials we are expected to bring to the program? May we tape the speaker?

- Call a brief meeting of the team to review the day’s schedule of events. What time do we meet in the morning? Who is going to drive? Are we supposed to meet some of the team there? What time is registration? Breakfast? Are we going to have lunch there?

Two days before program:

- Confirm with team at the morning huddle the meeting place and time. “We are expected to be on time to get a good seat. Oh, by the way, we are sitting in the front row, so be early for registration!”

Once at the seminar:

- Dress professionally. Have paper and pen ready to take notes. Sit in the front of the room. Always bring a sweater. Remember, your first impression lasts the longest!

- Use the break time to network. Talk with peers; make lunch and dinner plans for the future with as many different people as you can.

- Bring lots of business cards to exchange. Make a note of something distinctive about the person giving it to you. Put them in a safe place so you don’t lose them.

- Collect as much information from the speakers that you possibly can. Ask questions if you can, and be available to introduce yourself to the speaker during the break. Don’t talk during the meeting and never leave the room until the group breaks.

- After the program is over, read your notes. If traveling with others, prepare a summary of what the group experienced and learned.

- Prepare an outline to be presented at the next scheduled team meeting.

Back at the office:

- Keep in touch with the speakers. If you enjoyed the presentation, write a note to the speaker sharing your positive thoughts. If you did not gain much from the speaker or did not enjoy the presentation, you also can share feedback with the speaker as to how the presentation could be improved. If you don’t want to burn bridges, write to the speaker with your specific questions or topics you would like them to expand on for you and your group. Ask them how you can get additional information on their specialties.

- Prepare an outline to be presented at the next team meeting. Photocopy if you can the important handouts so everyone can tuck these into their folders for future reference.

- After presenting the key points from the seminar, if the practice wants to implement the ideas, it will be necessary for the team to discuss and brainstorm the idea. Decide what topic you want the group to discuss. The group begins to generate a list of concerns or observations. Have a flip chart available to capture the ideas. Brainstorm as many ideas as possible in a designated number of minutes. The note taker records all of the ideas.

- When the time is up, verbally repeat the ideas back to the team. The team prioritizes the list of ideas with the three or four most important. This list will be implemented within the next 30 days. Discussion of duties and deadline dates is handed out. The commitments are printed in the team minutes and passed out to each team member. At the next meeting, the idea to be implemented is placed under the heading of old business.