This is an excerpt from, “The State of Professional Development in Higher Education.” Read the full report here.

As you plan your attendance at a professional development (PD) event or program, consider these 10 practices for making the most of the experience:

BEFORE THE EVENT

1. Commit to yourself that you will take time to reflect and process what you learn at the event. For example, can you stay an extra afternoon or even an extra day following the event? If not, block time on your calendar for the day you return from the event for reflection. The challenge in returning immediately to your busy office and catching up on your day-to-day tasks is that you may not have time to reflect and plan – unless you intentionally schedule that time.
2. Schedule a reminder on your calendar for a date 3 months following the conference to review the materials, and to debrief how they’ve informed your thinking and work and how much progress you’ve made.

AT THE EVENT

1. For each session you attend at the event, write down one reaction, one takeaway, and one question you have.
2. While at the conference, create an action plan. What are 2-3 action steps you can commit to? In your plan, include: How much time will you need to complete these steps? What resources will you need? Which allies on campus can be helpful to you? How will you know if you’re successful?
3. At the event, identify a thought partner and schedule a follow-up conference call with your partner, to take place 2-4 weeks following the program. Don’t leave the meeting without having the call on the calendar!

ON THE WAY HOME

1. Use the plane or train ride home to prepare an informal presentation or some informal remarks to distill the most critical ideas from the event and their implications.

BACK ON CAMPUS

1. Share your informal remarks with your supervisor to gather his/her input and ideas, and then prepare a formal presentation to share your most important ideas with your colleagues.
2. Beyond just a formal presentation, save your conference workbook and other resources from the event, and share these with your colleagues. You could share some reading or an instructional video that you found especially useful. Schedule a “lunch and learn” session with your colleagues to discuss the workbook, video, or article you shared.
3. Create and extend your network by carving out one hour in the week after the event to review all the business cards you collected and plan appropriate follow up. Also, did you meet anyone who would be a useful contact for one of your colleagues? Similarly, stay connected with the speakers at the event who resonated with you. Follow them on social media, sign up for their newsletters, and—if appropriate—stay in touch with them.
4. Build momentum immediately around your action steps or the new skills you learned at the event. Improve those new skills by practicing; don’t let yourself lose them in the midst of a return to your day-to-day tasks. Can you find someone that you can practice a new skill (like how to have a difficult conversation) with? Can you work with a “test” or “dummy” data set to begin working with some of the new data mining practices you’ve learned? The key is to build momentum by implementing something—even if it’s something very small—within the first few weeks after the event.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amit Mrig, President and CEO

Amit co-founded Academic Impressions in 2002 to provide research, publishing, and training on issues that directly impact the sustainability of higher education. Under his direction, AI has published hundreds of articles and papers, interactive training programs, and topical and timely webcasts, serving over 50,000 academic and administrative leaders across 3,500 colleges and universities.

Amit leads and manages AI’s research, programming, and publications on higher ed leadership development. Many of AI’s research and thought leadership papers have been authored by Amit, including The Other Higher Ed Bubble, Small but Mighty: 4 Small Colleges Thriving in a Disruptive Environment, General Education Reform: Unseen Opportunities, and Meeting the Challenge of Program Prioritization.

Amit has consulted with dozens of higher ed leaders, cabinet members, and board members—discussing current challenges and practical solutions while helping to identify which issues they can address to best impact change at their institution. Amit is a frequent contributor to Forbes, discussing issues in higher education. He also serves as an active board member of The Challenge Foundation, an organization helping low-income students successfully earn a college degree.