(My September–November Post Taste)
This autumn turned into a small professional marathon.
In September I was in Dubai at SHRM MENA – thousands of HR people, endless energy and air conditioning strong enough to prepare anyone for a future Antarctic expedition. I even returned home with a fever, but it was worth it, so no regrets at all.
In October I flew to Brussels, where we had:
- the EAPM Delegates Assembly – including a very serious conversation about how HR will shape the future workforce of Europe (no pressure),
- the Belgium HR Conference – where people discuss HR tools and HR failures with the same emotional intensity others usually reserve for football championships.
And in November I joined MELA Reunion, a gathering of leaders from my beloved network where the energy is so uplifting that you fly to your next destination taller. Sadly only spiritually. My actual height remains exactly the same.
Four events. Four different worlds. One conclusion getting louder at every boarding gate:
Conferences and professional networks develop us more than trainings.
Yes, I still design and run trainings:) Life is ironic.
Now let me explain my point.
Trainings teach you things. Conferences change your brain map.
At a training you learn a tool. At a conference you suddenly realise that your big problem is actually a small warm up exercise for half the planet.
Instant mental resizing. A free upgrade you did not even know you needed.
Trainings have slides. Conferences have slides too, but they also have people who actually do things.
Slides are nice. They are polite and polished. They behave.
But at a conference you meet real people who deal with real situations and struggle with real challenges just like you do.
And when someone honestly says: “Here is what happened in my company and yes, we are still alive”
you start thinking: “Oh, so this is how the real world works”
No long introduction. No dramatic build up. No corporate poetry. Just express knowledge wrapped neatly like a delicious shaurma, warm, direct and straight to the point.
Being in a room full of smart people forces you to grow up a little.
Psychology calls it social elevation.
Being surrounded by brilliant minds activates your best self settings. No motivational posters needed. No inspirational Instagram stories either.
Because you look around and think that these smart people are your colleagues. Then maybe you are not doing so badly.
That is growth. Identity edition.
Good fortune=unexpected magic
Trainings are planned. Conferences are also planned, but they do not exactly behave like it.
The real learning, the part that actually stays, happens:
- at coffee tables where conversations decide that your agenda is optional,
- in long corridors where someone stops you with one sentence that changes your whole thinking,
- when you accidentally sit next to an interesting person (usually because the normal seats were taken),
- and yes, even in restrooms. (I have a story. A good one. One day I will share it.)
This is development in its surprise edition.
Conferences do not just give knowledge. They give opportunities.
Trainings prepare you for opportunities. Conferences deliver them right to your face.
Collaborations, project ideas, invitations… you name it. And sometimes the moment is as simple as someone saying during a coffee break: “You should speak in our country”.
Boom. Your professional GPS navigator has recalculated. This is the kind of chance that trainings simply do not create.
Professional expansion mode.
Trainings last two days. A network can last years.
The real development happens after the event – messages, calls, WhatsApp groups, shared advice, new ideas, friendships, projects and thousands of tiny check-ins that move you forward without you even noticing it.
A training gives you information and, if you are lucky, a skill. A network gives you a future.
My Final Post Taste
These trips reminded me of something important.
We do not grow because someone teaches us a new model. We grow because we meet people who make us think differently and sometimes much bigger than we planned.
Conferences and networks do not hand you formulas, so if you go there only for formal new knowledge, you will be disappointed.
They hand you perspective, courage and community. And sometimes this is exactly what we need more than another tool, worksheet or framework.
So if you ever wonder whether you should go to that conference, the answer is simple:
Yes!!! Pack your bag. You will return with a new version of yourself. And possibly a colder nose, depending on the air conditioning.
