Making sense of scattered conference notes
Ever left a conference with notes scattered between your phone, business cards, handouts, computer, and your brain? Me too! Here's what worked for me.
I recently attended a local conference with 650+ small business and nonprofit leaders. Balancing information intake with networking was sometimes overwhelming!
Strategy:
Make notes wherever you can in the moment, then carve out time to sift, think, and prioritize later.
1. Take notes during the event.
When making notes on someone’s business card, I often run out of space. So, I bring index cards and jot down what a new acquaintance and I talked about. Tape or store the index card and business card together to revisit later.
2. Collect all your notes
Did you email ideas to yourself or text a friend something cool? Write on an unrelated brochure about a conversation?
3. Write key ideas on index cards - one idea per card
Sift through your notes looking for action items, project ideas, and take-aways. Write each idea on an index card (or small piece of paper). If new ideas come to you as you work, write them down too!
4. Sort cards into categories
Sort by topic, project, urgency, etc. Think about what will make the ideas or to-dos easier to find when you need them. Label your stacks.
5. Prioritize
What’s most important or most urgent? You can sort cards within a stack or put all urgent items into a single stack.
6. Take action
You can use the cards as a stack of to-dos (where you can only see one task at a time) or rewrite it into a list. What’s important isn’t the format (index cards vs. list) but rather the thinking and action it helps you accomplish.
What I'll do differently next time: Take a mid-conference break to do a quick version of this process, helping reduce overwhelm and focus my energy for the remaining sessions.
Graphic Recordings from Founded in Fort Collins
My personal notes from two sessions at a small business & nonprofit conference, Founded in Foco.
Non-profit event leaders discussed strategies and specific tips for creating relevant and purposeful events – the kind that people want to attend and that directly further the organization’s mission.
Speakers: Alex Koenigsburg, Abbi Lockner, Kaitlin Bjork, Wally Van Sickle, Susan McKenzie
Marketing without social media? Stacey Nicholls explained how small businesses and non-profits can leverage content marketing, strategic partnerships, and paid marketing — with little to no social media if they choose. Whichever the strategies they choose, it’s all about meeting audience and community needs: “People care about how you can solve their problem.”