You likely already know what an external event is: thematic gatherings that take place outside our organization’s environment. They may be institutional and governmental events, such as COP30; corporate events, such as trade fairs and exhibitions; innovation events, such as hackathons; or academic events, such as scientific conferences. But how can you maximize the value of an event by accessing, capturing, and disseminating knowledge?
The first time I attended a conference—one of those where several roundtables and talks take place at the same time—was during my undergraduate studies. A few classmates and I from the Public Policy Management program experienced four intense days at the Public Administration Students’ Meeting in Florianópolis. When we returned to the university class routine, we had good memories, a few new contacts, and different perspectives on our careers. At no point did we talk with classmates who could not attend the event about what we learned there.
How can you maximize the value of
an event by accessing, capturing
and disseminating knowledge?
The second time, I was already in my PhD program and attended my first international conference, the SSTI Annual Conference, focused on professionals, researchers, and policymakers working in science, technology, and innovation. This time, I needed to submit a report to the National Science Foundation (NSF), which funded the trip, indicating the presentations I had attended, what I had learned, and how it related to my work.
Because of this, from the first day of the conference, I captured in real time what I was experiencing there. If I had not acted that way, everything I heard would have been lost, and by the time I returned to Brazil I would no longer remember what I had learned. In addition, I selected the discussions that truly made sense to me. At the time, I focused on those from which I could gather insights applicable to my research.
From the first major external event I attended to the second, it is possible to see a significant difference in how much I benefited. Not only because in the first I was a young student and in the second I already aspired to be a researcher, but because in the second instance I dedicated myself to capturing and organizing knowledge. Even so, the report I prepared was limited to NSF reviewers. When I returned from the trip, I could even have encouraged other colleagues to share their ideas and references on the topic with me, improving my own research.
Participation in external events can be
planned to generate value for activities,
processes, projects, and organizations
One of the premises of Knowledge Management is that captured knowledge needs to be mobilized—that is, shared with stakeholders—so that these people have the opportunity to use it in their day-to-day work. Knowledge only creates value if it is applied. Today, I see that participation in external events can be planned to generate value for activities, processes, projects, and organizations through the capture and sharing of knowledge, which is grounded in collaboration.
Below, I present some best practices to make better use of events with this objective.
1. Define the topics and the objective of your participation, as a professional and as an organization. The topics should be directly related to the processes or projects you work on, or to the organization’s strategy and aspirations.
2. Plan ahead. Review the event agenda a few days in advance, list the sessions and professionals you would like to attend, talk with your colleagues and leaders, and prioritize. This action plan will help you stay focused and avoid wasting time.
3. Record what you see and hear in real time. Note down knowledge, opportunities, ideas, learnings, names, and references, and where they can be applied. Having a template as a support tool, with specific fields, allows you to organize and speed up capture and the subsequent sharing of knowledge. Do not ignore informal conversations; they can bring valuable tacit knowledge.
4. Share the knowledge you captured. When you return, highlight the main learnings and best practices related to the topics covered, write an article about the event, or schedule time with your team to exchange ideas and perceptions. Did more people from the organization attend? Get together and create an event radar: what should and should not be shared with the team, and how this knowledge can be applied in the work of the team, the company, or the organization.
5. Develop an action plan. The experience from the event and interactions with your peers will certainly generate opportunities for collaboration and for developing further knowledge. For example, reviewing a process or scheduling a benchmarking session. List these activities and detail deadlines and responsibilities so you do not lose sight of them and to ensure the flow of knowledge.
Attending an event can be very intense due to multiple activities happening at the same time and the volume of people and information we encounter. Prior planning and the use of structured tools facilitate knowledge capture and value creation through sharing.
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