Conferences

 

/*By Rick Nason, PhD, CFA
Partner, RSD Solutions Inc.*/

I just came back from speaking at the Travel Health Insurance Association
(THIA) conference in Hollywood.  I had a great time as I got to meet many of
the conference attendees.  Flying all the way from one coast to the other
coast I have to admit that I was wondering if conferences have met their past
due date.  After all it is quite expensive for all to attend a conference,
in terms of both expenses and time.  However once I was there I realized why
conferences are so important – particularly one as well designed as this
one.

The problem with many conferences is that they think it is (a) all about the
content, and (b) only content that will be applied on the first day back at
the office is what is important.  The THIA conference showed that the
opposite was true.  While the location in sunny California certainly helped,
the main reason the THIA conference was such a success is that the focus was
on selecting speakers who covered an eclectic set of ideas.  The conference
provided a forum for thinking.  Secondly the conference provided a forum for
socializing and informal networking in a very comfortable rather than forced
way that is so common at many conferences.

Ideas and the ability to build new and reinforce old connections is what
conference should be about.  If those two components are present, then the
ready to apply work tools will follow, and that is what makes a conference a
value-adding event.