How to Make the Most of Tech Conferences and Meetups

Tips to have productive experiences in tech conferences and similar events

Tech and professional communities provide great value to developers. In Medellín, Colombia, there’s a large number of these communities with different approaches but all are very well-received. Some examples are Medellín JS, Python Medellín, MDE.Net, Robótica Medellín, among many others. In my case, I actively participate as an assistant and speaker for Pioneras Developers and I’m an organizer of Women Who Code Medellín. Devs can also go to international events such as the JSconf, Scale Conf, Pycon, and more.

However, us attendees do not always make the most of the events we go to.

Surrounding ourselves by people with similar interests is inspiring and motivating and all. But, on many occasions, it’s all too easy to get sleepy, lose concentration and get distracted. Or, even if you try to listen carefully to the presentation, you fail to understand it. You don’t associate with any of the concepts and that causes your mind to wander or you end up falling asleep!

Why does this happen?

In recent months, I’ve dedicated myself to answering this question. My goal was to discover what have been, for me, the determining factors that lead me to get bored and not learn as much as I want from the meetups and tech conferences that I attend. Of course, I also want to know how to deal with these factors so that they don’t interfere with my learning process in the future.

Certainly the speaker is important, along with the “show” he or she puts on to draw your attention, but beyond that, the way we tackle the “challenge” of learning new things through meetups and conferences, is crucial for achieving it!

5 tips that helped me to learn better

1. Pick talks depending on your current interests or needs.

Not all conferences or talks are good for all people. The first thing I discovered when I was wondering why it was sometimes difficult to get the most out of one of these events is that sometimes I attended talks without any expectations.

You must find the right conferences. The right conference for you, usually, is one that talks about how to solve a problem that you’ve already experienced. Also, it can be a place where you’ll find information that you will probably use in the near future.

2. Have a clear objective when attending a talk and make sure to fulfill it.

For example, if it’s a talk on unit testing, my goal would be to know what tools for unit testing exist and understand why unit testing is important.

Being selective about the topics and having a clear objective led me to better concentrate. To make sure I achieved that goal, I actively participate in debates or forums.

Later, I discovered that the talks that dealt with subjects with which I had had contact at some point were the ones that caught my attention more easily. That led me to tip #3.

3. Study the topics a little beforehand.

Doing this was especially helpful for me—I even felt that my memory worked better—because my mind managed to associate concepts and easily remember much more information, which made me really learn.

I also discovered that my concentration was fickle and, for that reason, I kept losing track of the subject. To concentrate better, I applied tip #4.

4. Take notes: Write what is really important

It’s not about writing everything that appears in the presentation or everything the speaker says, it’s about writing relevant things and key concepts that will help you remember.

For example, what I started writing was:

The title of the talk

The tools mentioned and a note to indicate what they’re for

Some key phrases or comments that were usually a specific definition, characteristic, or use of the tool/concept

Occasionally, a drawing that served as a mind map to summarize the talk. Here it may be useful to develop your own system of symbols. Also, read a little about graphic facilitation to document things easier.

I suggest something like this:



Then I began to notice that although I had a general overview of the most used technology stack, the knowledge I acquired in meetups and conferences was purely theoretical. So, if there was something that really interested me or that I needed to do for my job, I had to put all the theory to practice and embrace what I learned.

What I did took me to Tip #5.

5. Start making mini-projects

If I was learning, for example, about CSS grid, I would take a course or tutorial where something basic would be developed with this tool and then increased the scope to expand my knowledge. Or I started something completely from scratch, based on a made-up problem where I could use CSS grid.

Doing both of these things is usually much more enriching than not. Taking a course helps you to consolidate knowledge and gain confidence. Then, inventing a problem and solving it means you know exactly what that technology or tool is used for and right there, you are also exercising your creativity. Doing something from scratch, without any basis, also helps you remember what you’re doing. That way, when you use the tool again, you’ll be much more confident and you can move faster.

My criteria when selecting an introductory guide to a subject:

Takes less than one hour: Videos or readings of less than an hour assure me that it presents key concepts (without unnecessary information) and that I can manage to understand the “big picture” of the topic, that is, its “why” and “what for” . The tool is used to solve a problem or get an expected result: After understanding the “ why” and “ what for” , what interests me is knowing the “how.” I prefer to practice just the basics initially, so that afterwards I manage to understand it and put it into practice in more complex situations.

Note: I don’t recommend long courses that emphasize the details. In general, when you are learning, it’s better to have a notion about the subject, knowing the key concepts and understanding “the easiest approach”. Then, with these foundations of theory and practice, the details and advanced concepts of the subject can be easily learned and internalized upon further research.

More tips?

These five tips have helped me to greatly improve my learning process. They’ve served as a basis for learning more about how my brain works at the moment of learning and thus, get the most out of everything I hear and see in meetups and conferences. But, since we all have very different ways for effectively learning new material, I invite you to consider the tips that worked for me or, even better, find your own solutions based on your particular way of learning.

Let us know your ideas about effective learning and how to learn better through tech events, meetups, and tech communities!