DigitalFanGirl

2009 is near and I’m starting to map out which conferences I want to attend. Earlier this year I had the priviledge of attending CREATE South in Myrtle Beach, SC as well as PodcampNY in Brooklyn, NY. Both conferences were AWESOME!!! I met some amazing people, shared a lot and learned a great deal.

Both of these conferences were filled with people whom are extremely excited, motivated and active in social media on various levels and hearing & seeing what they’re doing was truly inspiring. And of course it’s always a wonderful thing to be around like-minded people and meeting folks you connect with online in person; putting an actual face to a name.

The one thing that was a little disappointing for me was the fact that after these conferences were over, the conservations were over as well. I was somehow hoping to keep some of those ideas and conservations alive. Now, there were a few people I met at PodcampNY specifically, that I still keep in touch with, but overall, all those other conservations died once the conference ended.

I wondered what I could have done to keep those conversations active, but realized it is something that has to be desired on the part of all parties involved. There were even a couple podcamp sessions I attended where we actually talked about setting up a wiki or something to keep the conversation going once the conference was over, but no one took the initiative to start it up. Now that I think about it; we were pretty much all on our laptops with wireless connectivity and could have easily set up a wiki right there in the session and none of us did that - including me. Maybe it was not a thought at that moment. I mean, I’m just thinking of it hindsight.

So, I’m baffled as to how to extend the conversations I engage in at these conferences after the conference is over. I suspect others who attend workshops and conferences are wondering the same.

We all tote around and pass out business cards at these things, but that’s just an exchange of 3.5in x 2in paper - not exactly extending the conversation. So as I set up my conference schedule for 2009, I’m hoping to find a way to take these conversations from the conferences to the “afterconference” if you will.

If you’ve perfected the art of keeping conversations from conferences alive or if you have any ideas on how to make this happen, please share your methods and ideas by leaving a comment on the blog. I’d love to hear your ideas and opinions.