So far we’ve covered how to incorporate learning styles into conference strategy and presentation design. But If your post-event strategy doesn’t invite attendees to the next level in their development you’ve done it all for naught. Develop a robust digital strategy to extend the impact of your event.
Social Learning Through Social Media
After a successful event, you may be tempted to flood your timeline with photos. But don’t make this rookie mistake. Give your followers a digital learning experience not a slideshow. Thoughtful posting across various platforms can regather your audience and reconnect them to your content. So prioritize community building and content creation across these platforms:
- LinkedIn: LinkedIn is the number one platform for professionals. Build a post-conference group exclusive to your attendees, where they can workshop ideas, gain resources, and grow their network.
- Twitter: choose a hashtag and host a Twitter chat where professionals can tune-in the same time each week to discuss topics related to your industry.
- Instagram: If you’re going to post photos, create custom images with inspirational quotes from the event to remind your audience of their experience.
Give Your Audience More Facetime
Creating fresh content lets your audience dive deeper into a topic without feeling like they’re getting your leftovers. Instead of recycling video from your breakouts and main sessions, produce new videos based on your conference themes. Invite top influencers from your event to host webinars or go live on Snapchat and YouTube. Your hosts can then take questions and comments from their viewers directly.
Instead of relying on experts, you can also use video to highlight a fellow learner’s journey. Shoot several follow-up videos with conference attendees, and release them across various channels. Your audience will have a steady flow of content to keep their momentum going.
Lean into Learning Modules
Presentations are a conference staple and you can use them to expand the lifespan of your event. Instead of circulating speaker notes and slides, work with your presenters to turn their presentations into interactive training modules. These modules can be designed directly from their PowerPoints and be developed to be distributed through a website or a Learning Management System (LMS). Whatever the purpose, these modules should prioritize practice over summary and provide a real payoff for your audience.
Brella once worked with the Regional Office of Education for the State of Illinois on a Gifted Education program aimed at providing new classroom and instructional skill for teachers. We helped them translate their classroom training experience and PowerPoints into a series of computer-based training modules. The approach gave our client the flexibility to offer their learners an in-person training experience, as well as, a self-paced one. This allowed our client to reach a larger number of teachers and to provide a richer learning experience overall. In addition, the blended experience of classroom learning and training modules was so successful that it became a path to certifying teachers in the new skills learned.
If your attendees are putting in work to learn something new, reward them with recognition they can take back to the office.
Great training events combine the best of pedagogy, strategy, and design. As you prepare for your next event rely on these principles to build upon your work.