As I write this I am in the middle of Fall conference season. I am on the road almost every week heading to one conference or another. For us conferences remain the best way for us to connect with new customers, strengthen existing relationships and build new ones.
With the move to remote activities, webinars and on-line everything, we see some people moving away from conference attendance. I hope that it is just temporary as we know humans need in-person interactions to be fulfilled.
Not every conference is affiliated with a specific industry association, but most are. The benefits of being part of a relevant industry association for your sector are huge in my opinion, especially when they have an annual conference!
First off, you have the opportunity to share ideas and best practices with your peers. No one organization has everything figured out. By tackling large issues collectively, a group can come up with much better ideas than any one person or organization can.
Most associations provide resources, research papers and tools for their members. All of these items can provide you with efficient and effective ways to improve your team. For example, APPA (the Association of Physical Plant Administrators) has an entire library of books and documents that can be made available to its members, including many research papers.
Webinars are the current in-thing when it comes to thought leadership. Most associations have a regular webinar schedule that will provide relevant content to your and your team from the comfort of your desk.
If your association does have a conference, attendance will provide you with access to Thought Leaders and business partners that are providing the latest and greatest in products and services. Most importantly conferences are the opportunity to network, in-person, with your peers. Once again this is a great opportunity to share best practices, but also provides you with an opportunity to build your personal network which could result in creating employment opportunities for you, or help you with recruitment for your team. I know several people that changed organizations within their sector based on relationships they built at conferences.
Many industry associations have professional development and certification programs that provide professional credentials that will give you more clout in your industry and improve your job prospects. For example, IFMA (the International Facility Managers Association) provides the Certified Facility Manager (CFM) credential, based on a detailed curriculum that they offer to their members.
Many of the conferences/events offer Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for relevant professional designations that make it easy to stay up-to-date on your training requirements.
Joining an industry association and attending a conference or training program is one thing, but if you really want to take it to the next level, volunteer for a committee or the board. Most associations are eager to have new members become more active in the association and help to shape its future. There is an extra time commitment to join, but your participation will not only help you get more involved and learn more from the association, but you will be able to help guide its future.
I hope to see you all soon at a future industry association event or conference.