{"id":25683,"date":"2019-07-19T10:03:18","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T14:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smps.org\/?p=25683"},"modified":"2023-06-20T11:03:35","modified_gmt":"2023-06-20T11:03:35","slug":"make-the-most-of-your-membership-and-next-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smps.org\/2019\/07\/19\/make-the-most-of-your-membership-and-next-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"Make the Most of Your Membership and Next Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-25687 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/ulyMembership-1280x570-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"570\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A member recently told me that she got approval to attend her first conference. She was really excited, but nervousness also settled in. When I asked why, she said, \u201cBecause I want to make sure my firm sees that it was worth sending me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During our conversation, it dawned on me: When our employers invest in us, we want to give back. In other words, we want to grow professionally\u2014and help our firm in the process.<\/p>\n<p>Whether you\u2019re planning to attend your first conference or your fifth, you want to make it a great experience. But how can you create that feeling\u2014and know how to plan\u2014when every conference is different?<\/p>\n<p>Here are a few tips that can help:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Get out of your comfort zone to meet new people\u2014this will establish a professional network beyond your chapter<\/li>\n<li>Vary the sessions you attend\u2014it will help build your skills (and your firm will thank you for that!)<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t be shy about approaching a speaker after a session\u2014it\u2019s an opportunity to learn more<\/li>\n<li>After the conference, share your knowledge with a lunch and learn program\u2014this lets you give back to your firm and colleagues<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Beyond these tips, sometimes you won\u2019t know how to create the best conference experience until you get there. What\u2019s often challenging about work (and life) is that it can be unpredictable. Embrace the unpredictability and turn it into something positive. When you do, you\u2019ll get the most out of every experience.<\/p>\n<p>Until next time,<\/p>\n<p>Tina Myers, CAE<br \/>\nDeputy Chief Executive Officer<\/p>\n<p><em>P.S. If you\u2019d like to put these tips to good use, there\u2019s still time to register for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.buildbusiness.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Build Business<\/strong><\/a>, our annual conference. This year we\u2019re in the nation\u2019s capital from July 31\u2013August 2. Take a look at the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventscribe.com\/2019\/SMPS\/agenda.asp?pfp=FullSchedule\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong> program<\/strong><\/a> and join us to learn, network, and be inspired!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A member recently told me that she got approval to attend her first conference. She was really excited, but nervousness also settled in. When I asked why, she said, \u201cBecause I want to make sure my firm sees that it was worth sending me.\u201d During our conversation, it dawned on me: When our employers invest [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[124,45,125],"class_list":["post-25683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-membership","tag-conference","tag-membership","tag-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25683"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42602,"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25683\/revisions\/42602"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smps.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}