You’re attending a conference next week. 30 speakers. Each has a blog, newsletter, or recent article you “should” read before their talk. You’ll read zero of them.
Then you sit in a session, hear an idea you don’t have context for, and wish you’d done the homework.
Two weeks before the conference:
Without prep: You hear talks cold. You follow 60% of the argument. You ask basic questions that waste everyone’s time.
With prep: You’ve already heard two AI hosts discuss the speaker’s recent article. You follow 90% of the argument. Your questions are sharper. Your networking conversations are more substantive.
The best conference content happens in hallways between sessions. Those conversations are better when you can say: “I listened to your recent piece about [topic] — I had a question about…”
Instead of: “So… what do you do?”
International conference? Speakers publishing in different languages? Save German, Japanese, French articles and listen in English. Walk in prepared regardless of the original language. 100+ languages.
After the conference, save articles by people you met. Your daily podcast keeps the relationships warm by keeping you informed about their work.
The best conference question starts with: “I heard your recent piece…”