Extending the Summit Afterglow

By Liz Herman, STC  Member

Whether you are an attendee, a speaker, or both at this year’s Summit, there are ways to continue that feeling of connectedness and community well beyond our time together in Chicago in May. In addition to maintaining relationships with both new and old friends and colleagues, you can use the content and knowledge acquired and shared at the Summit to extend your professional reach if you so choose and take advantage of new opportunities, which ties nicely into this year’s theme: The Booming Business of Content: New Era, New Opportunities.

Speakers, you’ve put all that hard work and time into your presentation(s). Why deliver it once and then never again? Post Summit, reach out to STC chapter leaders, SIG, and SIG COI leaders and offer to present at one of their upcoming meetings. When I delivered an STC Summit presentation around feedback in 2020, I did just that. I reached out after the Summit and was able to share the presentation with a larger audience. Through doing that, I expanded my STC network and continued to get great feedback on the presentation for future iterations. The bottom line is that we are all looking for relevant content and not everyone can attend the Summit. Offer your amazing presentation and expertise to others in our community. Speakers, I’ll also leave you with a tip for next year. When notified that your presentation is accepted, reach out to see if a community might be available for a preview of your session. It allows you to practice and get feedback before you’ve ever stepped into the conference hall.

Attendees, you will meet and connect with other attendees and speakers. Perhaps you’ll send a LinkedIn request or exchange email. Keep those connections flourishing after the Summit. How? Write a short post on LinkedIn about something you learned at the Summit. Tag your new connections. You could even write a short article on LinkedIn with conference takeaways. It’s easy to do and there is minimal pressure because there is no minimum word count! Look at the STC Intercom editorial schedule. Is there an upcoming issue with a topic of interest to you? There might be someone that you met at Summit who would make a great co-author. That same person might also make a great co-presenter when the Call for Proposals comes out for next year’s Summit.

Don’t let the glow of Summit wear off. Extend it by reaching out and sharing your expertise, getting a head start on presentation ideas for next year’s Summit, and nourishing those special connections you’re going to make in May. See you there!

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