How to Make the Most of Your Next Conference

Social media consultant Chris Brogan has posted 10 tips for conference goers.

Since the season is about to get into full swing, here are some of the best ideas from the list:

• Scour the web (technorati and Google Blogsearch) to see who’s coming, and reach out to people you want to see.
• Have a really simple, brief sentence to answer: “What do you do?” “What are you working on these days?” “What brings you to the conference?”
• Never assume people are better than you, or that you’re somehow not good enough or important. You are. And if people don’t know you yet, go in like they know you reasonably well anyway.

People naturally flock together in safe, familiar groups, especially when put into the middle of a sea of strangers. But to learn anything new, it's more useful to break away now and then. For the shy, there's an entire wiki on how to start a conversation.

What do you do to get the most out of seminars/panels/expos/conferences?

(Cross-posted on Ricochet)