I’m on my way to one of my favorite conferences I attend each year, HDI 2011. I’m doing a pre-conference workshop on social media (details at http://bit.ly/gvrypQ) and a 1 hour session on Customer Service for the Microwave Generation. This is the 6th or 7th time I’m attending this conference, and it’s probably my 50th conference I’ve attended.

What follows are my best tips for making the most of the HDI 2011 Conference and Expo…or any other conference you may be attending.

1) Look up and engage – Believe it or not, the other conference attendees are often as smart (or smarter) than anyone presenting at a conference. And they’re definitely more immediate than staring at your phone for new e-mails/Tweets/Facebook status updates, so pay attention, because you never know who you’ll run into.

One year I got to spend a few minutes talking to Dennis Miller because I was paying attention. Another time I got to meet the famous Coach Ken Carter, again because I wasn’t looking down at my phone. Friends of mine have gotten to go backstage, connect with Frank Oz (the man inside Yoda), and more, all because they were looking up instead of looking down.

2) Attend ALL the keynote speeches – This year, we get to hear from Garrison Wynn, Steve Farber, Jackie Pflug, Scott Klosowsky, Ruben Gonzales AND Les Brown. For FREE! This is all part of the conference package, and this is where I go to fill my bucket and get turbo charged until the next conference. I expect to learn a new way of looking at my life and my business and often these offer some things to look back on throughout the year.

3) Spend some time in the hallways (instead of only the breakout sessions) to deepen the conversation of a particularly awesome session you attended. Some of the best times I have at any conference are in the hallway. Pick someone you see who’s paying a ton of attention in a session and ask them if they’d mind talking in more in depth about the conversation. Sometimes you can even convince the presenter to stay behind and answer questions, but don’t count on it.

4) Follow the conference hashtag on Twitter for some insider info – #HDI2011 is this year’s hashtag, and (after 5 years of talking about how social media will change the fabric of this conference) we’ll really be using the hashtag to track the conference. Many of the staff is on Twitter now, as are many attendees. I know I’ll be sharing some inside info that won’t be on the usual calendar, inside info on people, on events, and anything else I can find out.

5) Develop a plan to integrate ONE new thing into your work and set a date for implementation – The first time I attended a conference, I tried to integrate everything into my work. And I failed miserably. The last time I went to a conference, I realized if I took even 1 tip back that I actually implemented, I’d be WAY ahead of where I was if I tried to do everything and failed.

The key was deciding which 1 thing I wanted to do, and then putting a firm implementation date on my calendar.

And one more tip that’s worked GREAT for me!:

6) Attend as many evening parties as you can - but drink water with a lime – Again, I learned this one the hard way, as I tried to consume as much free booze as I could. BAD IDEA! Instead, drink water with a lime, and you’ll stay hydrated and avoid the dreaded conference hangover.

What are YOUR best tips for making the most of a conference?

This week when you go to your favorite coffee shop, get your hair cut, talk to your cell phone or cable company, or even go grocery shopping, pause for an extra second and thank those who serve you.

It’s Customer Service Week and all week over at Slacker Manager, I’m going to be sharing my best tips on making a GREAT customer service week.

If you want a little inspiration this week, I’m doing a webinar this Thursday called Recession Proof Your Customer Service, along with 4 other great sessions from:

• Rich Hand, Executive Director of Membership for HDI
• Chris Dancy, Founder of ServiceSphere
• Brandon Caudle, Author of Customer Service Voodoo
• Pete McGarahan, President of McGarahan and Associates

If you’re a member of HDI, all 5 webinars are complimentary. There are many levels of membership for HDI, so if you’re an IT service and support professionals, I encourage you to sign up and join us for the webinars!

Last week I spent 5 amazing days with 1900 other IT service and support professionals at the 2009 HDI Annual Conference. I learned a TON of new things that I plan to share with you over the next few days and weeks. For now, I thought I’d share why I attend conferences like this, and why if you don’t, you should attend them to too.

1. Networking – If you’re looking to meet folks who can help you answer questions about your industry, there’s no better place to do so than a conference. Get there early, make a plan for who you want to connect and reconnect with, learn and remember new folks’ names, and don’t be afraid to skip a session or two if you get involved in an in-depth conversation.
2. Inspiration and Recharging Your Batteries - Almost every conference has keynote sessions meant to inspire you to perform at a higher level or think about things differently. This is one of my favorite parts of the conferences I attend, because it gets me moving in the right direction.
3. Knowledge Gathering - Most conferences have breakout sessions presented and facilitated by experts in their industry. You can learn a LOT from them if you take time to listen to the speaker AND listen to the folks who ask questions, especially if they ask questions you have or questions you have the answer to. Don’t be afraid to go up to someone who asked a question or who needs your help and ask them if you can speak to them a little more.
4. More Knowledge Gathering – If there were no sponsors, there would be no conferences. Most conferences offer time to interact with the sponsors, to ask them questions to learn from them, and to gather a little more information so you can learn more about them, all in a safe, low-pressure environment.
5. Knowledge sharing – At the HDI confernece, I had 1 breakout session, 1 panel I facilitated, 1 brain bite first thing in the morning and 1 30 minute presentation/facilitation about creating your elevator pitch for your organization, so my knowledge sharing was very formal. Sometimes my knowledge sharing is more informal, as I try to ask questions and add insights where I feel I can add value. I love to share, and it’s one of my favorite parts of a conference.

While the HDI Conference was for my day job, I also enjoy attending events for the job I do with the rest of my time and energy. May 1/2/3, I’ll be attending SOBCon09, Business School for Bloggers, to learn a lot more about how to run my online speaking/writing/coaching/branding business.  If you’re going to be there, I hope you’ll seek me out so we can learn from each other and potentially collaborate on something new and exciting.

I’m curious…what am I missing about conferences?

What should I be doing in addition to what I already am doing? What do YOU get out of your favorite conferences? Do you have other conferences I should be attending?

Hi to all my new friends in Denver, CO at the Rocky Mountain HDI chapter! I had a fantastic time sharing my tips on how folks can recession proof their life. Special thanks to everyone who made time to connect with me before and after my presentation.

One of the points in my keynote is about finding your purpose, and in the following picture, I took my personal purpose pitch and I put it into Wordle. If you’re not familiar with Wordle, it’s quite simple: You throw some speech, or a URL, inside the Wordle machine, and it spits out a visual representation of whatever you put in. The bigger the word, the more frequently it’s used. The smaller, the less it’s used. It’s one of my favorite tools.

It came as no surprise to me that the word that was the most frequently mentioned in my P3 was PEOPLE. PEOPLE matter to me, and they are a key part to my personal purpose pitch.

If you’re interested in working with me to create your P3 and more, I’m available after July 1st. Please contact me today, and let’s find a time we can make it great together!