A professional organizer’s best tips for attending a business conference! Amy & Glenna recently returned from the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) Conference in Phoenix, Arizona.

We had an amazing time of learning – both from the sessions we attended and from other conference attendees. Professional Organizers are a wonderful group of people whose mission usually involves helping others. You will never meet a friendlier, more welcoming bunch of people!

The notes I’ve gathered below apply specifically to the NAPO conference, but will also be helpful when traveling to any business conference. As you can tell, I’m a big fan of using Evernote to attend conferences as paperless-ly {is that a word?} as possible.

Before you go to conference:

• Create a notebook in Evernote for all conference information
• Download all session handouts ahead of time – organize in Evernote with one note per session
• Download the conference app, if applicable
• As you make travel plans, save everything to your conference notebook – airline reservations, hotel reservations, directions to the hotel, shuttle confirmation, etc.

What to bring to conference:

• Reusable water bottle
• An extra bag for conference expo goodies
• Business cards
• Camera – you will want photos of your “online” friends

What to wear at conference:

• Comfortable shoes – most conferences include a lot of walking from one place to another
• Dress comfortably but professionally
• Dress in layers – at our conference, it was 70 degrees inside and 107 degrees outside

During the conference:

• Collect business cards and utilize Evernote’s business card scanning feature to enter them immediately
• Type session notes directly into Evernote during the session
• Add photos to your conference Evernote notebook
• Keep one paper (or note in Evernote) set aside for action items – this will reduce the need to review everything to re-capture ideas
• Have fun! Make sure you are taking mental health breaks, so you don’t get too overwhelmed

After the conference:

• Set aside time (preferably a whole day) when you return to review information, class notes and new products
• Scan in flyers and information you want to refer to, but not save the paper for
• Follow up with any vendors or contacts
• Decide on your top 3 action steps – don’t get overwhelmed with trying to do everything

Attending a professional conference can be the boost that you need in your business. You will be inspired, educated and motivated to keep doing what you love, only better! There’s something amazing about gathering with a group of like-minded people.