I Am Not a Good Conference Attendee
When leaders gather in a room you can feel the potential that is swirling all around. I think that’s the “magic” of live events. When you are physically sitting in a room with other human beings processing the same content and discussing possible action steps — there is potential to really spark some creative change. It’s why we do The RightNow Conference.
But in the past 2 weeks I have attended two conferences. That’s rare for me. I can’t remember the last conference I attended aside from our own. It’s not that I don’t think other conferences are good … I just typcially feel too busy to carve out the time.
Last week I was in Orlando for the Exponential Conference which focuses on church planters. Someone gave me their pass, so this week I am in Chicago for the Q Conference which focuses on the future of the church. They are both well done and very different in terms of experience.
But in both cases I am struggling to be a “conference attendee.” Part of me is evaluating everything that is going on and asking questions in my head like, “that’s cool, should we do something like that?” or “why in the world are they doing it that way?” Part of me attends these other conferences and wonders if there are conferences going on every week out of the year and if there’s a compelling reason to be “one more conference in a sea of conferences.”
Enough about my conference attendee issues. I wonder what motivates you to attend conferences. What do you hope to get out of it? What kind of conference is most helpful to you?
The most valuable thing for me is the networking. It’s the lunches and idea swapping in between sessions.
I can buy content but it’s really hard to buy the connecting to others that events offer. I go for relationships!!! I get/buy the content after I have eatablished the relationship. For me conferences are about connections. Brian, a little side note, I look forward to seeing you at the next conference
I attend conferences (mainly Right Now’s, but in general) because it’s an opportunity to get away from the routine and “retreat” for a few days and hear a different perspective on ministry. It challenges my thinking when I go to conferences. One of the other important factors that I’ve learned in attending the last few times is to NOT feel guilty to attend a session that is for “me.” I used to just go to the ones that pertained to ministry because I felt like I shouldn’t be using that time to refresh personally. I got over that. Those are often the most meaningful and recharging to my ministry, because I’m stopping long enough to talk to God about how we (he and I) are really doing. Ministry in the flesh is not productive, but can be redeemed, thanks to our amazing God. Also, I am loving the focus on the church being the Church, not a place we go once a week for some teaching and coffee.