As I blogged last year, I decided on a formula for choosing sessions at the ProBlogger Event.
These were:
- Know Your Goal
- Prioritise Your Sessions by Interactivity & Networking
I think it worked pretty well for me, but there was on big variable I didn’t take into consideration: session format.
Most of the topics that interested me most at ProBlogger 2013 were in the newly created lounge format. This is great for Q&A but not so good when you just want to hear people talking on these topics and let your own ideas flow in at the same time.
I probably would have gotten more out of it if I had prepared questions to ask each of the speakers. I would also have wanted to research the speakers beforehand to make sure they don’t answer that type of question a lot on their website – because you want to ask a question that’s new and educational and relevant.
In the end I don’t think I chose any sessions for the networking. Mostly because the time between sessions was fairly short, there was a bit of a rush sometimes to get to the next one for a seat, lots of people wanted to speak to the presenters…
Tip:
If you want to speak to a presenter after a session, get a seat up the front of the room. That way you’re not walking against the flow to get to them, blocking people who are trying to leave.
How did your session strategy work out out last year? Any other tips you can share to help people choose sessions?
I didn’t have a strategy, just crossed my fingers & hoped for the best! I’m with you, I preferred the seminar style over the lounge sessions 🙂
I think the lounge style is only good if you’re really prepared and really interested in it. I’m hoping to concentrate more on meeting people this year. I feel like last year was barely getting me acclimatised – blogging conferences are so different from other conferences I’ve been to!
Oooh I always struggle with choosing conference sessions. I presented at a conference last year and there were two other talks running at the same time as mine that I was gutted to miss out on!
Oh that’s a shame! Were the sessions recorded?
I didn’t really have a strategy and like you I preferred the seminar style sessions over the lounge ones. I liked that they had more structure and it wasn’t as easy to go off on a tangent that wasn’t related to the session.
I think most of the moderators/panelists last year did a pretty good job of keeping people on topic. But there are always some people who don’t take a hint or think a public session is for talking about their VERY IMPORTANT issues.
I avoided the lounge ones because I wasn’t quite at that stage yet, but maybe I’ll see about going to a few this year. I like to sit at the back because means if I want to leave to visit another session I can do so easily 🙂
I will have to give this some thought as I’m heading to Problogger this year. Luckily my husband is attending too so I’m hoping we can take a divide and conquer approach so we can maximise our knowledge. I better start researching and preparing some questions, the lounge sessions sound a little intimidating!