Conference Breakfasts and Dinners A great opportunity to network and build relationships

Knowledge Cafés **

Are There Any Questions?

So often at conferences, the organizers allow little time for conversation and networking. They feel they do not have the time to spare as they need to pack in so much content. But what about before and after the conference – breakfast and dinner time?

I was at such a conference a few years ago in London. Little time had been allowed for networking, and I knew better than to suggest it to the organizers as they were fed up with my feedback in the past and usually ignored my suggestions.

So at the end of the first day, I was surprised when the chairperson announced a breakfast meeting the following morning. I soon got to the bottom of what had happened – one of the delegates had suggested it.

I asked him to write up what had happened and how the meeting had gone.

Conversation at a professional conference: making the most of breakfast-time:

I recently went to a two-day Legal KM conference in London, and as an unexpected spin-off learned how to make the best use of conversation time.

Day 1 was packed with content, but short of conversation time for the 70+ delegates. Sure, we had the chance to chat informally over coffee breaks and at lunch, but it was not the focused, reflective type of conversation from which we could retain very much.

I was a bit restless about this. So, towards the end of day 1, I spontaneously suggested to the conference chair that we convene a voluntary breakfast-time meeting for delegates to properly discuss what we had been learning. To my pleasant surprise, eight people “signed up” and we ended up having a really valuable “extra” session – unscheduled and unanticipated, but highly valuable nonetheless.

A striking feature of what I might call the ‘reflection’ breakfast was that most of the international delegates came – from Stockholm, Zurich, Malta, and Johannesburg – after all, they had flown in for the conference, so why not make the most of their time in London? Needless to say, the international flavor enriched the session for us all.

I would highly recommend this simple idea when you are next at a professional event and want to get the most out of the interactions.

Andrew White
Partner, Bird & Bird LLP
http://www.twobirds.com

Conference breakfasts and dinners are so easy to arrange.

POST NAVIGATION

Knowledge Cafés **

Are There Any Questions?

CHAPTER NAVIGATION

Conversational Environments

Strategy

Close

Pop-up all Chapters

Tags: conferences (9) | dinner (1) | networking (4)

SEARCH