Top Reasons Why Young Professionals Should Go to Conferences
Are conferences essential for strengthening a career? Industry professionals give their top reasons for young people.
During my three hour flight to Vegas (my first time visiting there), I couldn’t stop thinking about how blessed I was to be given an opportunity that would impact my career for the better. Although I was extremely stoked to pop my “Vegas Virginity”, I was more excited about attending my first ever tech and social media conference.
In college, I learned how to create a nice portfolio, how to build a resume and even a lesson on writing cover letters, but no one told me how essential a conference can be for a recent college grad getting their feet wet in the industry.
A week before Thanksgiving, in Las Vegas, Nevada, I attended the XLIVE Conference. The event was hosted at the beautiful MGM Grand.
I went alone, so I knew I was going to have to put on my big girl panties and network with people I’ve never seen before. Some were CEO’s and vice presidents of major companies. No big deal. *Hyperventilates in brown paper bag*.
While mingling and maneuvering through sessions, the exhibition floor and the nightly happy hours, I began to deeply understand why this experience was so helpful. I learned new tools and skills I could apply to my corporate job and freelance company. I loved meeting people with real-world experience in the industry I want to expand in. I did so many pitches and introductions it felt like I was on Shark Tank.
After the conference, I felt like I could talk to anyone.
Confidence boosted. 1000%.
Below you’ll find 4 key reasons why it’s essential to attend conferences.
Learning new information and new technologies:
After landing my first official job/ full-time paid internship I realized that college only gives you a snippet of what will be happening when you start your actual career. After college, it’s up to you to gain more knowledge in the field. At Xlive, Bob Bonniol, partner/chief creative officer of Mode Studios, discussed in a keynote, combining artificial intelligence into brand activations. This “merged reality”, is a new marketing trend that combines real life and virtual reality.
Check out how Corona implemented this tactic in their marketing campaign with influencers:
Innovative tools and New Trends:
Conferences educate attendees about new trends and technology of the future. To win and be ahead of the competition, requires moving at the speed of innovation.
At XLive, not only did I learn about event marketing strategies and implementing focus on the event goers return on experience, I also saw exhibits that can take an event to the next level.
Here were my favorite brands that incorporate new technology and creativity that your event goers will love!
La Photo Party
An experiential photo entertainment company that specializes in photo activations, photo booths and photo booth software.
Those are a couple of my takeaways from attending my first event and tech conference, but if that wasn't convincing enough to get you to invest in yourself, I asked, Nick Rivero Co founder of Meptic, and LDI Conference Director, Ellen Paige of Informa Markets to give a few more reasons.
Being Present (RIVERO):
“Visiting conferences is a huge part of what we do, because it’s about being present,” Rivero said. “There's so much (information) we’re not able to get through digital and social media. For my team, the products and technology almost come secondary to being present. With conferences, you have the ability to catch up with colleagues and friends while also learning new information. It’s about connecting, and that's just something you don’t get on social media. When you can have a conversation, grab a drink, catch up, and learn about what they’ve been up too, it makes for a whole different experience.
It also makes going out of your way worth it for the trouble it might take to get there. You will never get the time back to go spend time with those people.”
Networking ellen-paige:
“It’s really important to go to conferences like this because you meet a lot of people,” Page said. “As the technology that we live with gets more and more developed, there’s still that analog side of meeting people, sharing experiences and networking. For younger attendees, meeting people who are older and have been in the field for a really long time can be beneficial. Maybe they’ll become your mentor, maybe you’ll work with them, maybe your job seeking or just willing to share technology stories and anecdotes.
You can spend a whole year researching and when you go to a live event (XLIVE) like this , it all comes together. We watch TV forever but when you go and get a chance to meet people, talk to them and ask questions you get a much better experience. It becomes real.”
Hopefully these reasons convinced you to go to a conference. And remember, you don’t have to choose a conference thousands of miles away, if you’re new to the game, start local. I always check Eventbrite for local networking events and those are great to work on your networking skills and meet people in your community.