Last year following my attendance at the 2012 eWomen Network Conference I wrote this article to help you plan better to be away from your office for several days. The conference this year, like last year, is 5 days (including the pre-conference days) of world-class speakers, vendors, and attendees. It is a long time to be away from home and business and it can make doing business and staying healthy challenging. I wanted to share with you my top 3 tips for getting the most out of being at a conference, but first I want to let you know what my focus is for the conference this year.

I know, to be away for this long I really need to stay focused so I don’t over spend, over eat, under perform, or come away with no ROI. It must have a return for my investment so I have created 3 goals. I will use these goals to evaluate everything I do at the conference to ensure I am focusing my time in the most effective way to ensure I get my money’s worth.

1. Make 3+ connections for the opportunity for me to speak, because this is where I start my connection with new clients.

2. Find 2 core JV (Joint Venture) partners to add to my pool moving into 2014.

3. Build stronger friendships with those people in my inner circle.

If a dinner, training, meeting, outing, or coffee does not meet one of these three goals it becomes much easier to say ‘no’ and more clear to the outcome for my business.

Here is the full story from last year with my other three tips