Making the most of your conference experience

Andrew Scott
Business Continuity Institute

The BCI is a global organisation with Members, Forums, Chapters and Partners all across the world, but whether it is due to time, distance or perhaps even environmental concerns, unfortunately not everyone who would like to attend the BCM World Conference and Exhibition on the 6th and 7th November will be able to do so. Sadly some people will miss out…

I don’t know about you but I sometimes feel like I’m doing several jobs at once. I'm sure we all do at times but even so, and with the best will in the world, none of us will be able to attend all three streams of the conference at the same time, not to mention the packed exhibition that will be going on or the free seminar programme taking place. With so much happening, we simply cannot attend everything. Again, sadly some people will miss out…

Or will they? Of course attending the conference and listening to the individual presentations will offer the best learning experience. But just because you’re separated by several thousand miles, or only in the next lecture hall, does not mean you have to miss out completely. In this day and age, with many of us using social media, we can take the discussions out of the lecture hall and into the virtual world. We can involve in our conversations all those connected to the Institute, or business continuity in general, whether they are at the conference or not.

If you use Twitter or Linked In, or perhaps Google+ or Facebook, then why not start a discussion online and engage with many more of your BC colleagues. The bonus is that it will help make sure the conversations continue long after the conference is over.

Of course it is also important not to miss out on the earliest form of social networking - talking to your colleagues face to face, at least those who are fortunate to be there with you.

Enjoy the conference and I look forward to meeting many of you there. For those of you on Twitter, the hashtag we will be using is #BCM2013.