Plan to present what you learned

Ask how you'd share knowledge so you pick up more

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is that you can learn more from any
experience when you plan to present what you've learned later.

(00:26):
On my other podcast Best of Both Worlds, a listener
wrote in asking for tips on how to do conference
as well. I know that a lot of people go
to conferences, get fired up, and then come home and
forget everything a day later. People don't even reach out
to useful connections or read the books they picked up.

(00:50):
And really that is too bad, because if you are
going to take several days out of your life and
travel somewhere and often pay hefty conference crisis, you might
hope that you would get some mileage out of the experience.
There are lots of ways to get a better return
on investment. Please do reach out to the people you

(01:14):
bothered to connect with, but beyond that, one of my
favorite practices is to set up a situation where you
present what you learned. The most obvious way to do
this is to schedule a lunch and learn type gathering
with colleagues who didn't attend the conference. You could do
this a few days after you return, you tell people

(01:38):
what was covered at the conference and any useful information
you learned. You share names that people should know and
tips for folks who might go next year. Now, your
colleagues may or may not find your presentation particularly useful,
but it will reinforce all the knowledge that you took
away from the conference as you think about how to

(02:00):
turn it into something that won't bore people to tears.
To make this lunch and learn even better, make sure
you schedule it before you go to the conference. That way,
you will be going into all conference sessions knowing that
you will need to present something useful later. You will

(02:21):
be far more mindful of writing down important points and
organizing your notes for later access. You might ask questions
that you know your colleagues will be interested in and
be sure to get responses. Planning to present what you've
learned changes what you learn. This technique can be useful

(02:44):
for things beyond conferences. When you are reading a book,
think about how you would describe the main points to
a friend. Then do it. You will probably retain more
information from the book. If you are taking a trip,
think about how you would write a short guide for

(03:06):
a friend who is considering the same trip. You'll pay
more attention to what's interesting and what's worth visiting and
the things that you learn there. Planning to present what
you learn makes you a more active consumer of whatever
you are learning. To put it simply, you pay more attention.

(03:27):
And since it is easy to sleep walk through much
of life, that little nudge toward mindfulness can go a
long way toward making any experience more useful. In the meantime,
this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

(03:48):
the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
hear from you. You can send me your tip, your questions,
or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's B the number

(04:10):
four then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot
me an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at i heeart
media dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out with
all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to
staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I

(04:31):
Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit
the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows.