I've always been terrified by the idea of me being on stage and speaking in front of other people. Yet, I am huge supporter of knowledge sharing and after I started this blog, I felt less nervous about being on stage. So, when I saw the call for speakers for WordCamp US I applied. My chances were slim - it's the inaugural edition of the biggest WordPress gathering in the States and I was quite sure they wouldn't accept a first-time speaker. Until I received an email confirming my application. I am incredibly excited and honored to be able to share my experience and lessons learned from my humble conference journeys.
Feedback Wanted.
I've already prepared my talk but I really want to make sure I answer as many questions that the talk title and summary may evoke and keep the talk on the right track. I would be very happy if my 3 readers provide some input and help me do well. Here's the deal:
My talk title: Conferences For The Ultimate Connected Brand Experience
Talk outline: Freelancers, small and even established businesses often overlook the value of conferences mostly because they are usually a significant investment that is difficult to measure. In this talk I’d like to share several tips that will help both individuals and businesses to create the ultimate connected brand experience by attending conferences and generate valuable business as a result. Attendees will leave the session with specific actionable items on how to prepare for a conference, what strategies to implement for the best results and how to take the most from the event after it’s over.
How can you help: Based on my talk title and outline, what questions would you like to be answered? Drop your wisdom in the comments below.
6 Comments
Congrats on putting yourself out there and speaking for the first time. I have no doubt you will be amazing.
One thing I would love to see you cover the employee/boss relationship and conferences and why 1) Bosses should encourage their employees to attend conferences (if you think they should) and 2) How employees can help convince their boss they should attend a conference.
It would also be awesome and interesting to see how you measure the impact of a conference and how you decide which ones are worth going to and which ones are more "nice to have".
Congrats again!
Thanks for your support, Aaron! I really appreciate it 🙂
Your questions are great, think I address all of them in the talk, but one of them under a slightly different angle. Will twist it a bit to be more specific.
Thanks again!
Congratulations, Tina! Amazing, I'm sure you'll be brilliant 🙂
I was pretty much going to say what Aaron said above, but I'd also be interested to hear what you think about how sending an employee to a conference helps a company benefit all of their employees.
Something we chatted about a bit when I was at Envato was bringing information about the WordPress community back to deliver within the company to help others who weren't embedded understand it.
Could be a useful addition 🙂
"I feel guilty when I go to conferences because they are fun. There are parties, and new people to meet, and fun activities, while my colleagues are back at the office working hard do meet deadlines."
I heard this many times, from many people, not just in my head 🙂 if you give a good answer to that, you help a lot of folks out there.
You got this! And those are some great points above. As a terminal freelancer, I would want to hear advice geared toward people on their own, maybe just getting started. How to break in and meet people when you don't know anyone? What can one expect and what shouldn't one expect? How to prepare but also to arrive open-minded...#mytwocents.
Thanks all for your comments - great questions and recommendations, really help a ton!