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Tuesday 7 June 2011

5 Top Tips: Get the most out of an event

Professional development is most useful when it is planned, reflected on and then incorporated into what we do on a regular basis.

Some linguists use logbooks or learning journals to tease out these three elements, and make sure they're really applying what they learn when they engage in PD.

If you're taking the time and effort to attend a talk, training event or webinar, it's worth making sure you're getting the most out of it. Here are some tips and ideas to make sure you're doing more than just going through the motions:
  • Offer to write an event report for a local newsletter or e-group. This is good motivation to summarise the ideas that were most interesting or relevant to you. (You may event get a contribution towards your costs in return.)
  • Post your conclusions, key learnings or action points to your blog. Making a public commitment to improvement may increase your likelihood of following through too.
  • Approach the organisers and offer to be involved at an event. This is an especially good option if you're time rich but cash poor.
  • Organise your own events. If you have a burning desire to learn more about a particular topic, there's a good chance others will be interested too.
  • Consider live tweeting the event. Done well, this can force you to engage, extract and summarise the most useful information and save time when it comes to writing up your notes afterwards. Here are some useful ideas on how to live tweet an event.
Any other suggestions on making the most of the training or events you attend?

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