Last week, Csaba Ban, hosted another great BP Conference. This year's translation conference was planned to take place in Nuremberg, Germany, but due to the pandemic of Covid-19, the skilful and resourceful host succeeded in organising the entire event online on the Zoom platform. A great experience and pretty challenging, I would say, and it turned out a huge success as any other BP Conference.
This translation event attracted a little less that 500 attendees and speakers. It felt really nice to virtually see and meet all this interested and well-respected people of our industry.
I've been to a few conferences as an attendee in the past years, but this time I had the honour to be one of the speakers. From this point of view, I can assure you that post-conference blues are still there and again, you have to find a way to drift the conference blues away and make the most of everything you've learned as an attendee or as a speaker.
So, how can you quickly digest everything you've learned and experienced without risking of losing any of the important tips shared?
Here's a 5-step method that definitely works for me:
1. Leave everything aside for a while
It's only natural that after a conference, your head is full of new information; people you met, tips and tricks you've learned, new methods you need to follow... Now, it's time to take a step back and do some self reflection. You need to reflect in order to understand what went well, what actually helped you and what you could improve for next time.
2. Put your thoughts on paper
Writing down your thoughts is a simple and clever way to keep your mind on track and stay concentrated in your goal. So, just make a list of your post-conference thoughts, write down what impressed you the most, what you loved and what you'd like to know more about. As I've already said in my presentation, traditional pen and paper actually work better for me, but, you can use your computer, your tablet, whatever works for you.
3. Categorise your thoughts
Now that you have your list ready, it's better to categorise it in order to be able to apply everything into your Business and Marketing plan. What I usually do is to group my list in two categories:
a. Business b. MarketingUnder "Business" you can write everything that will help you improve your work and your business; for instance, new tools, apps, proofreading techniques, etc. Under the "Marketing" category you can put all thoughts and strategies you've learned that will help you promote your business better and attract more clients; for example, how to write better content, how to post on social media, how to write blog posts, best ways to attract direct clients, and more.
4. Make a list of actions
Now that you have everything in order, you need to understand and decide how you'll actually implement all these into your own business. A good way is to make list (again!) of actions you have to take for your own improvement. For example, one of my actions is to complete my webinar on... (I won't reveal it! Stay tuned to find out!). It's no secret that whatever actions you need to take, if you put all these verbs down, it would be easier for you to act. Are you ready?
5. Connect
This is maybe the best tip I could give you. Stay connected with the people you met at the conference. Just drop them a line to say thank you, mention them on a blog post, and take part in conversations. You'll be amazed by the ideas and information you'll get and most importantly, you'll stay in touch with your colleagues and friends.
Now it's time to say a huge thank you to all wonderful attendees and speakers I virtually met last week. It was a great experience, I've learned a lot of things regarding business and marketing and I can't wait to apply them in my work. I'm really looking forward to meet you all in person in BP21 in Krakow, Poland.
Don't get distracted; start making your list!
#StaySafe #StayTuned #WorkingBetterTogetherAnastasia
