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Which lanyard is right for you? Choosing a great conference experience

The higher education crowd has been well represented each year at Confab in Minneapolis, and this year Higher Ed is getting a Confab all its own.

With the addition of a industry-specialized conference as well as an industry-diverse lineup, hooboy, you’ve got choices. Spoiler alert: both kinds of conferences are awesome. Let’s break them down.

Specialized is...special!

Going to an industry-specific conference is a fabulous experience. There’s a lot of shared knowledge of how the field is structured, and you don<’t have to do much explaining before you launch into a story or question. Most folks at a higher ed conference understand and sling a dizzying number of acronyms (“BIS* number” being one of my favorites), and you don’t have to pause to define what a provost** is. At these conferences, I can talk about content in terms of recruitment and retention, and nobody bats an eye.

Industry-specific conferences are a great place to branch out in terms of subject matter; everyone speaks the same general language or works in similar environments, so understanding new ideas, tools, or practices becomes much easier.

Diversity lets you dabble

Confab Minneapolis is somewhat specialized, having a tight focus on content strategy (and not as much on, say, web development or design), but it is definitely industry-diverse. Presenters and attendees from different fields mean different points of view that you could very well miss if you only stick to industry-specific conferences. Still, it does take a bit of extra effort on your part to translate ideas from one industry or experience into something workable to bring back home to the boss.

HOT TIPS

Don't worry, be-lanyarded Confabber, here are some HOT TIPS to make either type of conference a rousing success.

• Folks at conferences might not know all your industry’s lingo (if any). If you’re relating a problem or story, figure out the root of what you’re getting at, and leave out any info that doesn’t help your fellow attendee understand you. Even at industry-specialized conferences, be careful about tossing around alphabet-soup acronyms specific to your institution.
• Read through the conference program and check out presenters’ backgrounds. As you plan your itinerary, make sure you’ve got a mix of people from your own industry or area of expertise (or as close as you can get) and people who aren’t. At industry-specific conferences, mix and match types of workplaces (big, small, local, national, international) to hear about other experiences.
• Find your people (and eat cake with them)! Some conferences have themed tracks based on interest or industry, or table topics at meals and breaks. The “Higher Ed” table topic at the first Confab in 2011 led to amazing connections and invaluable friendships among people doing content strategy in similar settings. When you find folks who speak your language, you can examine together what you’re learning through a similar lens.

And a final HOT TIP that’s worth its own paragraph: Stay open-minded when you hear new ideas. It’s tempting to write things off with a scoff of “Oh that would never work for me, because…,” but give yourself a chance to imagine. Maybe the Fortune 500 company or giant Research I university has resources that your tiny department can’t come close to matching, but the core of their method may scale to become just the solution you’re looking for.

Choose your own (content strategy) adventure

You’ll find that no matter what kind of conference you decide to attend, it falls somewhere on this spectrum of specialization and diversity. Take the time to suss out where your next event falls, and make a plan. Seek out other folks from your industry (besides your coworkers, if you’re attending in a pack) to discuss how you’ll connect ideas to practice. Attend presentations outside of your industry or area of specialty to discover fresh ideas that may influence your work.

Diverse or specific, every conference has a golden nugget of awesome waiting for you to take it home—you just might need a little bit of elbow grease to pry it loose. But trust me—it's always worth it.

* BIS = “butts in seats,” or the actual number of students sitting in classes on the first day of the academic year.

** A provost, for those not in the know, is what you call a pile of snow that blocks your driveway. Thanks to my coworker Susan Andre for clearing this up.

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