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Every year mega-conventions (SCW Fitness Mania, IDEA, CanFitPro, WSSC) offer opportunities for group fitness instructors to develop their professional skills while accumulating all of their continuing education credits in one fell swoop.

In a previous post, Krista mentioned her plans to attend SCW Fitness Mania in Orlando, Florida. And since there may be instructors out there also considering attending this or other conferences this year, I thought it might be best to write a post on how to get the most from a conference.

If you’ve attended conferences before, you know what an overwhelming experience they can be. Session after session, cognitive overload. Workout after workout, physical exhaustion. By the time we come home, we’ve retained key pieces of the conference, perhaps spent too much at the expo, and forgotten the names of the people we’ve met.

Below are five different ways to make your conference-going experience successful.

1.       SESSIONS: Couple your session notes with visual cues. Nothing is more frustrating than coming home from a conference and not being able to decipher your session notes. (This is especially true with choreography-based notes). We often pepper our notes with stick figures or expand our explanations to help us remember, but that may not be enough. In addition, write what you were wearing, who you were with, or where in the room you were standing. Sometimes visualizing ourselves in the room can be more effective when it comes to information recall. The more you write about the experience of that session, the more likely you’ll remember what the session was about.

2.       PRESENTERS: Introduce yourself to the presenter before the session begins. This may seem counter-intuitive, but many presenters are bombarded with questions right after their sessions. If you want to stand out, make the connection beforehand. I’m not suggesting you engage in a lengthy conversation or disrupt the presenter while he/she is prepping for her session. But an inviting message or an encouraging comment is often welcomed. Example: “I’ve never done double step before, so I’m really looking forward to this session” or “Where do you suggest is the best place in the room to set up for your session?” When you follow-up via email or in-person, presenters are more likely to remember you.

3.       ATTENDEES: Create a temporary community at the conference. You’ll meet a lot of people throughout the conference. Not all will be potential business relationships or future friends (though you never know), yet everyone will be experiencing similar moments together. When you meet someone new, find a way to stay connected during the event. If there is a conflict between two sessions in the same time block, try finding someone already attending one of the sessions and ask if they’d be willing to meet briefly afterwards to go over any take-away points. More often than not, you’ll find yourself taking better notes, knowing you’ll be delivering this information again to a colleague. Text messaging is also a great way to send bits of information during the sessions. Text websites URLs, choreography combos, or quick positive messages.

4.       EXPO: Explore the expo with your eyes first. I don’t know about you, but somehow I always end up spending way too much money at the expos. A penny-wise way to keep from going broke is taking a tour of the entire exhibit floor first. Get the ‘lay of the land’. It helps if you take pictures of the things you might consider buying (bring a cell phone, if it has a built-in camera). Sounds odd? Well, sometimes this helps avoid impulse buys. You can look through the pictures throughout the day or later when you retire to your hotel for the evening. Share ideas with your friends and get their opinions before going back to the expo and purchasing what you need. (Note: Nowadays, you can find better or similar deals online on Amazon and/or ebay.)

5.       WILD CARD: Do something you’ve never done before! Although we attend conferences to get new ideas, be better fitness instructors, and improve our professional careers – at some point during the conference do something completely different. Whether you attend a session on a topic unrelated to your field of expertise or explore the host town with some newfound friends – just remember that the experience isn’t always limited to fitness.

Enjoy your conferences this year! And if anyone is going to IDEA World this summer, send me an email – Let’s organize a meet-up so we can “unleash the power of group fitness” together…

My recent PT on the Net box office alert let me know that for the next couple of weeks, I can sign up for California or Florida MANIA at the discounted PT on the NET member price of $183.22.* Right now on the SCW website they have early bird specials of $229.  This is an excellent price for a 3-day conference that will award me enough CEU’s to recertify with both AFAA and NASM.  The cycling workshops are presented by Schwinn, so I will have to petition MDA for STAR points, but at this price you can’t beat it.  

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