74% of event planners said the value for people attending conferences was in networking and relationship-building. 

Knowing that networking and relationship building trump the learning sessions, what can event organizers do with this information? What can you do if you are planning a company retreat, or annual meeting to ensure that the learning objectives coincide with valuable networking time? 

Drink of the week….the Conference.

If you liked what you heard today, please leave a review and subscribe to the podcast. Also, please remember to share the podcast to help it reach a larger audience.

Click to BUY MY BOOK!

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD CHAPTER ONE AUDIO FREE

Click to BOOK ME AS A SPEAKER

Click to SIGN UP FOR MY NEWSLETTER

Julie Brown:

Website

Instagram

LinkedIn

Youtube

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

said that event planners feel their events deliver noticeably more

value through attending networking.

Then through the learning sessions.

Welcome to episode 1 36 of this shit works.

A podcast dedicated to all things, networking, relationship

building and business development.

I'm your host, Julie Brown.

Speaker author and networking coach.

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

A networking experience.

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

your business in your career.

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

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

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

conferences as I have on the learning opportunities at conferences.

And now the event industry agrees.

A recent survey conducted by event production from Encore asked planners

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

And surprise surprise 74% of respondents said that the value

for attendees was in networking.

And relationship building.

Now.

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

also session presenters because the educational portion of the conference

should also offer value for the attendees.

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

effort it takes to craft presentation.

Also having been a past conference board member.

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

And selecting the presenters.

So.

What should event organizers do with this information?

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

meeting, or just an in-house event?

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

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

That is obvious.

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

getting the most out of that experience.

Right.

Right.

The second thing event planners and event organizers can do is

focus on educational programs that offer an interactive element.

Something that encourages engagement during the session.

Yeah.

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

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

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

Especially when they discover that they found a new friend.

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

the keynote speaker captivated me.

I had tangible takeaways from the sessions.

And it got to network with new and established connections.

That for me is the trifecta.

That triple threat of a conference.

And conferencing is back in a big way.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yes.

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

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

Okay.

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

This week's cocktail is called.

The conference.

I'm not sure why.

But I found the recipe in Epicurious.

So it's a legit cocktail.

Here's what you're going to need.

A half ounce of Rittenhouse rye.

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

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

such as Buffalo trace, they called for it.

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

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

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

Half ounce of cognac.

One teaspoon of simple syrup.

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

and then a dash of moly bitters.

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

If you're fancy like that.

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

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

I get like little sidebar here.

I went on Etsy during Christmas and I bought.

Ice cube.

I mean there.

Branders for all of my guy friends.

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

one for the neighbor down the street.

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

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

Some whatever.

It's like copper.

So it melts the ice automatically.

And you can brand your own ice cubes with.

With the brander.

And then I also bought monograph.

Ice cube trays.

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

I'm a sucker for the shit.

Okay.

Anyways.

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

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

get your monograph one out.

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

All right, friends.

That's all for this week.

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

I totally forgot to tell you.

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

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

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

and you can download it totally free.

If you visit Julie Brown book.com.

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

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

If that's like your thing.

Anyways, it's available for you.

So go download it if you want.

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

and subscribe to the podcast.

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

If you want more.

Julie Brown.

You can find my book.

This shit works at Amazon or Barnes and noble.

You can find me on LinkedIn at Julie Brown BD.

Just let me know where you're found me.

Send me, send me a personalized note.

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

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