Last week I went to Central States 2023 in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio. This was my second Central States conference and my 5th in-person World Language Conference overall and was hands down the best conference I have ever attended. The effort and attention to detail from the conference board and planning committee was top notch. I presented about the use of #authres in the ADI classroom and attended sessions that felt like once in a lifetime experiences with presenters that sparked my teaching energy and passion again.
Planning your own conference experience it a vital task that one must do in order to enjoy all that a conference can offer you. Lack of planning on your end can lead to burn out and feeling overwhelmed. This year, I didn’t want to gate keep any of my tricks and lessons I have learned over the last 6 years of my conference career. So many conferences are going on over the next few weeks and months….so let’s get you ready!
First and foremost, if you are able to get a hotel room close to the conference, or at the conference hotel (if they have one), do it! If an AIRBNB or VRBO is more your thing, that will work, too. The important thing is that it is close enough for you to be able to access this location easily from the conference. Something I found out this year is that even though I only lived about 15 minutes from the conference location and hotel, I had absolutely no where to put my things or a place to escape to if I was feeling overstimulated (which happened a lot). I was BLESSED my hubby used some of our hotel points to get me a room for the weekend. If you can’t make that happen, there is NO SHAME in taking a break in your car or having a quiet lunch alone to recharge your batteries.
Before going, see if you have any other WL friends attending the conference with you. I personally do not like feeling alone in a crowded room. It triggers major anxiety for me. So, its always important that I know which buddies of mine from the #langchat or #OFLA space will be attending as well. If you find that you are a lone wolf, DO NOT PANIC! There will be other lone wolfs there and chances are, they will be friendly. Just be willing to make new friends and embrace this time of networking and meeting new people.
Some other things before you go:
Plan to arrive to the conference early to get a lay of the land, register your attendance, and adjust your schedule if needed. Something I regretted not doing was adding the conference lunch to my attendance and I was disappointed that I didn’t add it in time. Make sure that you have a morning beverage of choice (water, coffee, tea, etc.) It also seemed like a great time to mingle and meet new people if that is something you are interested in.
Plan to get to your sessions early, especially if it is with a well-known presenter. I attended 2 sessions with Laura Terrill, a true WL ACTFL icon, and there were people sitting on the floor to hear her present. Also, if you know that you are needing to charge a device, make sure you grab an outlet seat. Those were hard to come by at Central States this year because I wasn’t getting there in time to grab one.
Another thing to consider is dividing and conquering with other attendees. If you are going to the conference with friends, consider splitting up and going to different sessions and sharing takeaways with each other later. You will find it extremely difficult to go to everything you want to because chances are, they are all scheduled at the same time!!!
Something you also should consider is how you plan on taking notes for each session. This was my downfall this year because I didn’t consider the fact that my laptop isn’t holding a charge like it did in 2020, my apple pencil will only charge with my iPad, which means my iPad needs a good charge at all times…..so I was unprepared. Here is what I suggest after doing a big reflection: Use ONE Google Doc for the ENTIRE conference. Make a table and write the conference title in it. Add a section for you to write ideas you can take into your classroom that very next week….or….use this free template I WISH I THOUGHT OF SOONER!
I would be crazy to forget to mention that you HAVE to go to the exhibit hall! Enter ALL of the giveaways, talk to vendors, and make connections. Oh, and grab all of the free pens and pencils and swag that you can. Companies want you to take it! I promise.
Lastly, give yourself a break. There is NO SHAME in taking a break to eat lunch or decompress. Pressing on from 8am to 6pm multiple days in a row isn’t realistic. One thing that happened to me during the pandemic is that I no longer have an extensive social battery. Conferences can put me in a real pickle if I don’t take some quiet time to myself and make sure that I eat and hydrate.
After the conference, I would highly recommend sharing your takeaways with someone whether it is your coworkers, friends, spouse, or literally anyone who will listen. Take the document you used for your notes and highlight things you don’t want to forget. I like to think of 1-2 things that I learned that I could immediately implement into my classroom the following week.
If you gathered new contacts, emails, etc….go ahead and send a text to keep connected with them. Give new people a follow on social media.
Lastly, don’t forget to complete the post-conference survey! Those planning boards and committee members DO listen and read them. They want to make your experience the best it possibly can, so take the 5 minutes and do the survey.
I hope this was helpful to you in your planning for future conferences! I know there are many incredible conferences coming up and I will have the most insane FOMO seeing all of the events happening at each one. Below is a padlet that I created for others to share their tips and tricks for a successful conference experience.
