3 Ways to Get the Most out of Every Education Dollar
Dollars for continuing education are often hard to come by. Whether you spend a few or big bucks on education, here are three ways to get the most from them:
- Plan what you will attend. Since I work at numerous conferences each year, I see how often conferences include breakout sessions. By having concurrent sessions, many more topics are made available. Determine ahead of time what sessions you want to attend. I’ve talked to groups of people from the same organization who have a plan. They have decided ahead of time who will attend what; they cover the courses the organization needs and those that interest the attendees. So much more knowledge is acquired this way.
- Network. Even we shy types can decide to make the most of the opportunity by introducing ourselves to new people and learning from them in addition to the talent presenting the sessions. And what about networking with the presenters, too? Networking goes best when you share something, find common interests and ask open-ended questions.
- Debrief upon return. As a former CEO paying the bills for conference attendance, I expected employees (and persuaded directors) to ‘download’ the key points, their top takeaways. That way they spread the learning experience around so we could get more for our money. I chose written reports; verbal is also valuable.
Continuing education ensures your organization has a future. You’ve got to keep up. Invest in learning continuously and get the most out of every dollar in every economy. Write what you expect from individual investments into board governance policies and into operating policies.
