Last week, the ILN hosted our 2010 Regional Meeting of the Americas in Houston, Texas.  I’ll be putting up some posts this week re-capping some of the sessions, but I thought I’d start today with my recommendations for what to do when you get home from a conference.

At our meetings, although the business sessions are very valuable, the key is relationships – our members rely on their relationships for both referral work and collaboration.  And these relationships don’t have to take a hiatus just because you’re back at work.  So what should you do once you get home?

1. Reach out: At our conferences, we provide both a delegate & companion listing, and a listing of delegates with their photos.  It’s a great idea to go through these during and after the conference, make notes of who you met and what you talked about, and take a few minutes to email them once you’re back in the office to let them know you enjoyed meeting with them.  If appropriate, you can arrange a phone call to continue a conversation that you were having during the conference.
    
2. Connect via social media: We talked a lot about social media at this conference, and I’ve found that it’s an excellent way to keep in touch once you return home.  The easiest thing to do is check on LinkedIn for the other attendees and connect with them.  That way, you can keep up with their activity more regularly.  For ILN members, we also recommend joining our LinkedIn group so that they can continue to interact with their colleagues online.

   Facebook and Twitter are good options as well – do a quick search for the attendees on these platforms if you’re using them and are comfortable connecting professionally on them.  
    

3. Check your calendar: One of the things we recommend to our members is meeting with ILN attorneys when they’re visiting another member firm’s city.  When you return from a conference, it’s a great time to take a quick look at your calendar for the next few months and see where you’ll be traveling.  Check these cities against the list of the people you met at the conference, and drop them a quick email to arrange to have lunch or coffee.

Does anyone have any additional tips for what has worked for them after attending a conference? I’d love to hear your thoughts!