Your Favorite Business Conferences

Last week I put out a survey about conferences and said I would report the results today. Well, only a handful of people took the survey, likely due to bad timing on my part. But here are the results:

1. How many conferences will you attend next year?

One - One Person
Two - Four People
Three - Two People
Five or more - One Person (My comment: Wow, that's a lot of conferences.)

2. List the conferences you value most:

UPA, CHI, AYE

In my case I attend most of these as a speaker, and I have learned to ask for the privilege of attending their entire conference as part of my engagement, so the annual list varies. However I will tell you that I really miss the discontinued Fast Company Real Time Conference and wish they'd bring it back - it was definitely my favorite one in years past.

Maximum Impact with Maxwell and other speakers is fantastic. I also enjoy industry conferences.

Association for Manufacturing Excellence (www.ame.org) - in Dallas in October next year. Best by far for lean enterprise leadership (not just manufacturing anymore). 21 years old, sold out this year (Boston), for practitioners by practitioners... people who have been in the real world. Lean Accounting Summit (www.leanaccountingsummit.com). 2005 was the first conference, and it sold out.

WOMMA Wombat in Orlando PopTech in Maine

3. How do you choose a conference?

Speakers - Six votes
Location - One vote
Topic of Focus - Seven votes
Date - no votes
Length - no votes
People who attend - Three votes

4. How much of the conference do you ACTUALLY attend?

I attend the whole conference -  Four People
I skip out on 25% or so - Three People
I skip out of about 50% of the conference - None
I attend only 25% of the time - None
I don't really attend at all - None

5. What kind of contacts do you make at conferences?

I leave each conference with a stack of new contacts and business cards - Two People
I make several new contacts - Three People
I usually meet a couple new people - Two People
I often don't make any contacts at all - None

6. If you could go to any ONE conference, cost being no problem, which one would you attend and why?

AYE - most personal development, no pressure to network
Anything done by Gallup.
Catalyst conference with Maxwell's group would be AWESOME. Powerful, younger speakers with new ideas, and easiest to implement ideas.
Association for Manufacturing Excellence - ame.org
TED - They pull in great presenters on a wide variety of topics, I hear they is also put on a great production.

7. Who pays for your conference costs?

I pay my own costs - One Person
My company pays - Five People
I get in free (by being a speaker or volunteer) - One Person

I would love to hear from a few more of you about what your favorite conferences are and why, so leave a comment telling us the conferences you are attending next year.

I have three on my calender so far:
The ASTD International Conference (doing book signings/talk)
The Global Institute for Leadership Development (possible speaker, TBD)
A writer's conference with my mother, who is also a writer (summer, exact conference TBD)
And I am working on adding a couple more......

Thanks to those of you who participated!!