Why Attending In-Person Industry Conferences Can Be Game Changers for Your Business!

Jul 12, 2023

by Pamela Evans
I recently returned from attending the Association of Briefing Program Managers (ABPM) European Conference in London. It was a relatively small, intimate gathering of industry experts representing the executive briefing and customer experience community. This was the second such in-person European-held conference since the height of Covid-19, and the participants agreed that it delivered value far exceeding the investment required to attend.
With so many virtual engagement offerings these days, one must ask, “Are physical conferences still relevant”? From my perspective, I would answer a resounding “Yes”! How else can one see and feel the passion and excitement first-hand when meeting a community of talented experts in the field of customer engagements, visiting state-of-the-art experience centers up close and personal, and gathering insights about leading-edge ways to grow and enhance one’s program that will impact a company’s business outcomes?
Just as we want our customers to come away from our company engagements highly energized and aware of new trends, solutions to their challenges, and capabilities necessary to affect change in their organizations, that is what we want conference participants to do, as well. If a conference participant can be inspired by professional conversations with colleagues and partners around building or enhancing programs, can physically see and touch brand-new technologies and observe experiential design trends implemented at cutting-edge executive briefing and customer experience centers, then they will be more motivated to influence their own company’s leadership when they return home. That influence can be converted into action that, in turn, can differentiate a company from its competitors.

So, the next time your manager is hesitant to invest in your attendance at an in-person industry conference, remind them that the knowledge you will gain and the connections you will make will be well worth the cost. Investments need to be made in executive briefing and customer experience programs in good times and lean ones. And if just one tip, tool, or technique is gained by in-person conference attendance, then that may be the game changer for your organization.

Thank you to ABPM for planning and orchestrating this invaluable conference and to the extremely professional company hosts, Elekta, Salesforce, Verizon, and Service Now, for setting a high bar for other programs and centers. The wealth of knowledge shared by Session Leaders and Solution Partners is unmeasurable. And, to all the participants and their management who saw the value in supporting attendance at this in-person conference, you have just taken a step toward contributing to your own company’s customer engagement success and the bottom line!