Reasons why I Attend Tech Conferences?
Educational is top one on my list
No matter how experienced I’m in my field, I always have the need to learn. Working in daily business ventures can often be isolated in one team without the exposure to variety of points of views. This sometimes to missing new ideas, trends that can impact future results. The educational aspect of any of those conferences is bug and can expose me to new ways of conducting my business, meanwhile helps me discover how to be more productive and bring new opportunities to the my employer and colleagues.
Encounter new vendors and vendors
Discovering innovative products and services for your business is necessary to stay competitive in today’s fast-paced world. Plus, many vendors who sell to your industry fully grasp what is happening inside your competition. Invest time with the sponsors at the event and turn them into your friends and allies. Get nice goodies! and you may introduce a great product for your team at the end of the day! (Happened with me on multiple occasions)
Position yourself as an expert
When you are active in your industry, you can develop a reputation as an expert to your peers and your clients. Those who are engaged over the long term are often asked to speak at the events and to write articles for their industry publications. Like it or not, others like to associate with the experts in any industry. Clients feel good about doing business with those that are celebrated by their peers. If your strategy is to be the best-kept secret in your business community, you will be missing a valuable opportunity. I prefer to share my knowledge, and grow together with anyone I do business with.
Having Fun & Networking
Being between people that share the same interest is fun, it gave me the opportunity to speak more freely specially at AMA (ASK ME ANYTHING) sessions.
On the other hand conferences provide a great opportunity to network. Often competitors from other regions of the world can become valuable resources for referrals and best-practices. Collaboration is the way to approach networking.
For instant, Qcon offers a great way to network during lunch time. Eat with people you don’t know, discuss what you like and get the best out of it…
Such conferences can add a layer of enjoyment to managing my career growth by mixing the social and learning aspect.
Never underestimate the power of a little fun mixed with some interesting people!
Many falsely believe that since they can now access industry information via the Internet that the days of the live meeting are gone. The truth is, meetings are more important than ever. The value in meetings comes from the human-to-human connections that occur. Often people cite the serendipitous “hallway conversations” that they have with other attendees as the most valuable parts of attending an event. While these are not on the agenda, or mentioned in the breakout sessions learning objectives, when two or more people begin to discuss topics on a deeper and personal level, the success of the event to those involved becomes irreplaceable. It is the people that bring the ROI to your time at a conference.
Usually, I take an extra day at the end of the conference to visit the city of the conference and enjoy the trip exposure while exploring the culture.
Bring back goodies & knowledge to your team
I have a big drawer of gifts I got in conferences, many of which i gift to others or I use for myself. Having been at such conferences, its always good to bring back with you knowledge to the team you work with and share what you learned!
Create an engineering social, share with your peers what you found interesting and try to get them the videos to watch. This may allow them to join you next time and it will get your ideas you believed in to your work where you spend the most time of the week.
Finally!
Below you will find a great list of conferences for 2019, I hope we could meet on one of those and have a heated discussion that can end up with a great solution!
If you find those conferences expensive, there are ways to visit them for free. Being a volunteer at a conference is a great way to watch the conference enjoy the people and attend it for free.
You can view some of the volunteering options for Qcon on https://qconlondon.com/volunteers
If you need help or questions about volunteering you can always reach me on social media!
Twitter: @gajabahian
I hope I answered my version of why to attend Development conferences?