Getting the most out of CASE Europe's Annual Conference

Whether this is your first time at a CASE conference or you are looking forward to catching-up with old colleagues and making new friends, this week presents many opportunities. Each year more than 50% of the people attending the CASE conference are doing so for the first time. This year you are coming to one of the world’s most beautiful cities – a UNESCO World Heritage City, Edinburgh – but as an Edinburgh University alumnus I may be biased. Your organisations have made an investment in you and in turn you are making an investment of your time, energy and enthusiasm.   

Having attended and spoken at many CASE conferences over my career, and as a recent Trustee of CASE Europe, I believe it is one of our industry’s greatest events for networking, gaining new knowledge and reinforcing what you already know, as well as for forging life-long friendships. These events also never fail to remind me what an amazing profession we are all part of.

So, ahead of a week where you will be mingling with over 1,000 like-minded individuals, I thought I would just share with you some of my top tips for getting the most out of the week ahead.

Plan

As in the world of development and advancement, if we don’t plan we don’t do. Look at the programme ahead of time, there will be so much to choose from and you can’t split yourself into two. So choose your top sessions every day and then maybe ask a colleague or a friend to attend your second favourite and share with you.

Be Present

As we know, development is not for the faint of heart. We are, I’m sure, all great networkers, however, mingling with over 1,000 people throughout the week can be quite daunting. Show up wherever and whenever you can and absorb all the great ideas, chat and ask lots of questions. The sharing of knowledge and experience will be quite amazing.

Make New Friends

Attend the round-tables – I know they are early, but you will get the chance to talk in smaller groups. Ask questions, challenge the presenters. They are all volunteering their time and their great expertise, but you also have some great input and answers.

Volunteer

You may not have offered your time as a speaker or a volunteer yet but think about it for future conferences. CASE relies on volunteers speaking at their events and contributing their ideas and knowledge. Think of how you can contribute to a profession that values input from others.

Back at the Ranch

Share three top tips with your colleagues when you get back to the office. Don’t keep all these good ideas to yourself. Think about three great ideas that you can apply to your own programme and share what you have learned with your colleagues.

Have Fun

Finally, it will be a busy week, you will come away with new friends, new ideas, thoughts that have challenged your own thinking and lots more questions but make sure that in the midst of all of this that you have fun. Take time to see a bit of Edinburgh.

I look forward to speaking with many of you at the conference next week, look out for me and I’ll be looking out for you!

Colin McCallum, Cairney Partner, Cairney& Company Ltd Colin.mccallum@cairneyandcompany.com