I really enjoy going to conferences. Perhaps you do as well. In my line of work (pastoral ministry), I’ve attended preaching conferences, worship conferences, missionary conferences, conferences that are for general edification and encouragement, leadership conferences, and more. I also know there seems to be a conference for nearly every industry, hobby, culture, and sub-genre in existence.

Case in point, years ago in a men’s small group, several of the men were having a good laugh that I was about to attend a conference focused on the subject of preaching. Then, a few minutes later, one of them was discussing how the highlight of his year was attending a conference focused on…concrete. Some return ribbing was certainly in order after all the flack I had taken for a conference on preaching.

While I am certainly pro-conference and love attending quality conferences myself, there is an inherent trap that I have seen again and again for conference attendees. Attendees will love the main sessions, dive into several workshops, fill out their conference programs with copious notes, then return home and carry on changing little to nothing in their everyday lives.

No, not every conference is meant to be life-altering. However, most that I have attended are meant to inform and impact in a way that sticks with attendees when they leave. These events are designed to download a tremendous amount of information so that you, the conference participant who has dedicated both time and money to attend, can feel as though you received tremendous value and implement what you learned.

But if we’re honest…most of the time conference workbooks get filed away in a drawer only to be thrown away a few years later. The excitement and motivation of new ideas often withers away as we run face-to-face with the reality of everyday demands and responsibilities. And far too often, the pain of change simply does not seem to be worth the potential benefits.

MY APPROACH

I cringe to think about how many conferences I have attended over the years only to let the immediate lessons and value gained disappear into the grind of every day. So several years ago, I began implementing a post-conference strategy that has benefitted me tremendously. I ask myself the following two questions:

What is one idea I can implement in the next week?What is one idea I can implement in the next year?

Any conference worth its entry fee will have you swimming in a sea of ideas for your personal or professional life. This, then, is an exercise in focusing in on what I find to be THE best and most necessary ideas for where I am currently. By identifying a seven-day goal, I can give myself momentum and see (nearly) immediate value from the time and money I have just spent. The one-year goal then goes on my whiteboard or notebook (wherever I am keeping my yearly objectives) and I begin working backward to put it into place.

No, this idea isn’t the most novel, yet it has been immensely impactful for me personally. It is also an idea I would highly recommend you implement for the next conference that you attend.