Sending staff to industry events and conferences is not always a priority for managers and team leaders… but it should be.
Oftentimes, the biggest barrier is how expensive these types of events can be, especially when you add travel costs. They can also be time-consuming, taking multiple days away from the office. But attending professional events provides a multitude of unique and valuable opportunities that your team members can’t get at the office or while working from home.
Encouraging your employees to attend industry events should be a recurring discussion during annual reviews and a “must-have” line item on your team’s budget. These types of events and conferences can encourage your staff to learn new skills, expose your company and brand to new audiences, provide the opportunity to connect with clients or peers, and, most importantly, bring meaningful industry insights back to your team and organization.
Consider five key reasons to send employees to industry conferences:
- Your employees become empowered. As your team member boards a flight or a train with a suitcase full of professional attire on their way to an industry event, they know the organization they work for trusts them to represent them on a larger stage. This level of confidence in the employee empowers the individual, increases employee engagement, and can support retention. Additionally, once your team member is onsite at the conference, they are trusted to capture key findings from keynote speeches, breakout sessions, workshops, and panels, allowing them the opportunity to contribute meaningful change within the organization.
- Genuine relationships are built. Every professional conference has social elements baked into the agenda, whether it’s a happy hour, mixer, team-building event, or other networking activity, all of which are incredible opportunities to create new bonds or strengthen existing ones. By attending these social events, as well as the conference panels and workshops, your team member can meet new vendors, network with potential clients, or receive important feedback on product development or marketing.
- Increased brand awareness. As your team member networks with fellow attendees, speakers, and sponsors and walks around exhibitor booths, they will constantly be talking about your company. Employees are your company’s best ambassadors, and having them mingle with other industry professionals while talking about your business exposes your brand to a larger audience and may lead to new business opportunities.
- Content development. Another opportunity to boost engagement with your team members attending industry conferences is to entrust them with capturing content for your company’s social media accounts and/or blog. Typically, the marketing team will have social media guidelines prepared and can work with team members attending industry events to capture real-time quotes for the social network X (formerly known as Twitter), videos for Instagram Reels or Stories, or make note of key takeaways from various sessions to draft a blog post.
- New destinations provide inspiration. According to Psychology Today, the brain releases dopamine, also known as the "feel-good" neurotransmitter, when exposed to something new, and dopamine causes you to want, desire, seek out, and search. Stepping into a new city or an unfamiliar venue can push people out of their comfort zones and disrupt usual behavioral patterns, leading to a spark of new ideas and/or fresh thinking. When your staff members escape their day-to-day commute and work lives to travel to a new environment, this can inspire focus, motivation, and creativity.
While sending employees to conferences and industry events can be a costly investment, it can have a positive impact on the team member who gets to attend, as well as your company and brand. Being at a conference inspires employees to build new relationships, strengthen existing ones, and learn new things that can drive meaningful change at your organization.
