{"id":7810,"date":"2024-02-24T18:02:53","date_gmt":"2024-02-24T22:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/?p=7810"},"modified":"2024-02-26T11:56:28","modified_gmt":"2024-02-26T15:56:28","slug":"conference-plans-3-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/conference-plans-3-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Conference Plans? 3 Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-7816\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/AOTA-2024-300x169.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/AOTA-2024-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/AOTA-2024-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/AOTA-2024-150x84.png 150w, https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/AOTA-2024-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/AOTA-2024-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/AOTA-2024.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>The AOTA Conference is just a month away!<\/p>\n<p>Have you started to prep yet?\u00a0 Need a starting point?\u00a0 Think of these three areas:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Organization<\/li>\n<li>Goals<\/li>\n<li>Engagement<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Get Organized<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Conferences go by fast and have more events than one person can attend.\u00a0 Make sure you don\u2019t miss out by getting organized before going.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Set up a meeting with your boss or team to see if there is any information they need from the conference. If a group is going from your organization, go over the next two points with them. Divide and conquer!<\/li>\n<li>Review sessions ahead of time to select first and second choices.<\/li>\n<li>Review the vendor list and map, because if you wander aimlessly you might miss some great, new products.<\/li>\n<li>Download all the conference materials ahead of time.<\/li>\n<li>Decide how you are going to capture ideas you want to take back to your practice. Set up a file on your tablet, devote a notebook to the conference, or email yourself every time you are inspired.<\/li>\n<li>If small talk does not come naturally to you, write up a list of open-ended questions that you can draw on.<\/li>\n<li>Reach out to your contacts prior to the conference and set a lunch or a drink date.<\/li>\n<li>If this is your first conference, talk to colleagues who have attended for suggestions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Set Goals <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Conferences are not inexpensive, so set concrete goals.\u00a0 When you are justifying the cost of the next conference, you will have a solid list of reasons to attend!\u00a0 Here are some suggested goals:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ask at least one question at every session you attend.<\/li>\n<li>Introduce yourself to speakers, make sure you have their contact information and then connect with them via social media.<\/li>\n<li>Make a list of ideas to share with your boss. You will be motivated to follow through and they will want to send you again next year (which is in Philadelphia!)<\/li>\n<li>Meet and thank everyone who served on the conference committee. Watch for introductions at the general session.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>Immerse Yourself in the Conference<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Disconnecting from work and other day-to-day obligations is hard, but you will get the most from the conference if you forget multi-tasking and immerse yourself in the experience.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Once you have arrived, walk around before the conference is in full swing to get the lay of the land.<\/li>\n<li>If possible, stay at the conference hotel. You will have more time for conference activities and a greater chance of meeting other OTs.<\/li>\n<li>Put away your cell phone. Think about it, would you approach someone who was glued to their phone?<\/li>\n<li>Join group activities \u2013 like an early morning walk.<\/li>\n<li>Sign up for targeted events like meetings for first time attendees or special interest groups.<\/li>\n<li>Volunteer for the conference.<\/li>\n<li>Strike up a conversation with at least one person at each event.<\/li>\n<li>Connect with the larger conversation using the conference hashtag on Twitter and Instagram.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I have enjoyed every AOTA conference that I have attended, both as a practitioner and a vendor, and Orlando will be no exception. Please stop by to say hello to everyone from the OT Toolkit at Booth 542.<\/p>\n<p>Also be sure you see a little bit of the city hosting the conference \u2013 there is a lot of entertainment options in Orlando so come a day early or stay an extra night and enjoy a little bit of Florida.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The AOTA Conference is just a month away! Have you started to prep yet?\u00a0 Need a starting point?\u00a0 Think of these three areas: Organization Goals Engagement Get Organized Conferences go by fast and have more events than one person can attend.\u00a0 Make sure you don\u2019t miss out by getting organized&#8230;<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/conference-plans-3-tips\/\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#DC0201\">Read more<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conference"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/AOTA-2024.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7810"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7817,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7810\/revisions\/7817"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottoolkit.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}