Budget dollars are getting tight again. It may be the end of the fiscal year. It may be that your company only sends a limited amount of people to TechEd. I know that for me, both of those statements are true. My company can only send so many people to TechEd. We need people here to support the company. After all, that is the reason why we are employed. Darn it!
TechEd is an addiction for me. There are so many new "toys" to check out and play with. I can meet other people who are facing the same issues as I am. I may get some contact information so that I can call with questions. I know why I want to go to TechEd. Please notice I am NOT an SAP employee. I am just one of the TechEd junkies.
But...
Why would any of this help my company? Why spend the money to send anyone to TechEd?
I try to get organized so that I can answer these questions. I list out some of the things that I have done in the past. I prepare a list of some of the expectations that I have for TechEd 2008.
Some of the things that I do after TechEd: - Present to my peers. Put together a PowerPoint. Make sure that you can communicate what you learned. This provides a dual purpose, sharing information and solidifying the new information in your own mind.
- Develop some hands-on training from the material you bring back. Learn something new? Something old? Anything that would benefit others from learning in-depth. In this way you spread the wealth of what you learned.
- Create some examples on your system.
- Use what you learned. Incorporate it in something you do. Then make a note of it. Share the examples with co-workers – and your boss too.
Some of the things that I do prior to TechEd: - Get a list of the topics at TechEd. I know there will be several that interest me. There will be a few that I know I have projects where I can apply them.
- Match the Topics with my project list for the year.
- Gather a list of questions. E-mail co-workers for questions. Have the list ready to take with you to TechEd.
- Get my business cards ready to go! I try to pass them out to everyone I talk with. This will provide some invaluable contacts.
After writing all of this down and doing all of these things, I still may not get to go to TechEd. But I increase the chances of myself or others in my company going to TechEd when I can show a return from the conference. I do have an advantage as one of the five pillars of my company is people – developing employees. When we have the knowledge of what is available we can make better decisions regarding what tool to use, and how to use the tool. If possible take the time to learn a new technology.
Check out the TechEd site.
