The trend in conferences is that fewer people attend them. Those of you who continue to attend conferences tend to attend fewer of them each year. This trend has also occurred with most off-site activities, including training, as well.

Because the opportunities to attend these conferences are fewer and further between than in the past, it is much more important to make the most of the information you gather during the conference.

On the Way Home
So, you’ve taken clear notes on that material of interest and use to you, notes that you can understand once you return to your desk. If you’ve spent a little time in your hotel room at the end of each conference day skimming over them, you’ve then probably already added to or subtracted from them where appropriate. You should be in good shape.

However, if you’ve been too busy with conference events to look at your notes, the best time to attack them is probably in the airport as you wait for your flight home and on the plane. Although these are not ideal times and places to concentrate for those of you that are easily distracted, you’ll still find that it will be easier than waiting to return to your office, where there will be phone messages and e-mail in abundance, along with the stream of people sticking their heads into your office or cubicle to ask questions or catch-up.

At conferences, most of us gather too much more information than we’ll ever use. One of the challenges we face when we return to work is that we are overwhelmed with what we have collected. When we try to show it to our bosses or co-workers, there’s just too much and they end up getting little from us as a result of information overload.

Some people spend time separating the information. As a result, information they don’t need right now isn’t mixed up and getting confused with information they really need to use now and share with others. Another tactic, which I use, is to strike out items that are unimportant. That’s right – I just put a line right through them. You may wonder how many times I’ve done that and been sorry later. Well, the answer is “none that I can remember.” Sometimes, in the excitement of seeing new products, I find I have placed too much importance on items that are “cool,” but in reality, not that useful to me.

The opposite problem is that we can take hasty notes and don’t understand them later. For this reason, I always skim my notes on the way home. If I’m already starting to question what I meant, that definitely means I need to add more explanation to them.

Back at the Office
When you return and give your co-workers and boss a report on your findings, keep in mind that none of them want a play-by-play account of your days. Summarize what you think is important, skip the rest. If they’re interested in more detail, they can ask for it later.

Also, when you return home isn’t the time to ask, “How do I know what’s important to report on?” That should have been determined as part of your justification to attend the conference that you submitted to your boss ages ago. If you didn’t know what was important to your company when you wrote up your reasons for attending the conference, then you didn’t gather the right information at the conference. So, it probably doesn’t matter that much what you report about when you return.

Now, this does not mean that your original goal can’t be a little vague. Sometimes companies like to send representatives to conferences just to get an idea “what’s out there,” to make sure the firm is visible to others in the industry, or to make sure their information is presented to conference attendees. If this is the case, then your report can be an overview on a high level and on a variety of topics.

Other Wrap-Up Issues
While you and your company are determining whether it was worth spending the money to send someone to a conferences, that should also be the time to discuss whether you were able to gather the information needed plus attend important conference activities. Sometimes, you just can’t get to it all, possibly because there’s not enough time, or possibly two talks important to you are held at the same time. Whatever the reasons, be sure to communicate such issues when you return.

Almost always, there are still questions that you need answered after you return to your office. After all, the more you walk around talking to people at a conference, the more likely the ensuing discussion will bring up other questions. If they’re important questions, make sure you contact the people you met at the conference who can provide the answers.

Finally
To increase the chance that your company will send you or your co-workers to another of conference, the information you gathered needs to be shared and its benefits to the company made apparent to those who make travel decisions. Make sure to to share the information you collected with your boss and co-workers and put it in formats that can be accessed by any of you whenever needed.