This calendar includes all the information you need to prepare for the most anticipated events in the pork industry. But before registering or attending an online conference, you’ll need to know how to approach the opportunity. Robert Half provides the following tips to make the most of these events. Below the list are key tips.
BANFF Pork – January 11-13
https://www.banffpork.ca/
Banff, Alberta, Canada
South Dakota Pork Congress – January 13 & 14
https://www.sdpork.org/events/pork-congres
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Iowa Pork Congress – January 26 & 27
http://www.iowaporkcongress.org/
Des Moines, Iowa
Ohio Pork Congress – February 8 & 9
https://ohiopork.org/events/ohioporkcongress/
Lima, Ohio
Missouri Pork Expo – February 8 & 9
https://www.mopork.com/events/events-2022moexpo/
Osage Beach, Missouri
Pig Ski Conference – February 9 – 11
https://pigski.com/agenda/
Copper Mountain, Colorado
Minnesota Pork Congress – February 15 & 16
https://www.mnporkcongress.com/
Mankato, Minnesota
Illinois Pork Congress – February 22 & 23
https://ilpork.com/expo/2022-il-pork-expo
Springfield, Illinois
AASV – February 26 – March 1
https://www.aasv.org/annmtg/
Indianapolis, Indiana
National Pork Industry Forum – March 9 – 11
https://www.porkindustryforum.com/
Louisville, Kentucky
Animal AgTech Innovation Summit – March 21
https://animalagtech.com/
San Francisco, California
United Pork Americas – April 19 – 22
https://unitedporkamericas.com/
Orlando, Florida
National Swine Producer’s Conference (Mexico) – May 4 – 7
https://www.veterinariadigital.com/en/noticias/national-swine-congress-2022-opormex/
Convention Center Barceló Hotel, Riviera Maya, Quintana Roo
Animal Ag Alliance Stakeholders Summit – May 11 – 12
https://animalagalliance.org/initiatives/stakeholders-summit/
Kansas City, Kansas
Alltech ONE Conference – May 22 – 24
https://one.alltech.com/
Lexington, Kentucky
World Pork Expo – June 8 – 10
https://worldpork.org/
Des Moines, Iowa
Alberta Pork Congress – June 15 & 16
https://albertaporkcongress.com/
Red Deer, Alberta
NPIC – July 10 – 13
https://porkconference.com/
Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin
Oklahoma Pork Congress – August 5
https://www.okpork.org/events
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Pork Expo Brazil – October 26 & 27
https://porkexpo.com.br/the-trade-show/?lang=en
Tips to make the most of virtual conferences
1. Block your time
Block off time before and after an event so you won’t need to rush from one appointment to the next, and you’ll have time to browse the event’s features and network with attendees. If the event or conference runs all day, block your calendar for the full time. It’s also a good idea to let your manager and team know that you’re treating this as an in-person conference and set up an out-of-office message, asking a colleague to be your backup contact.
2. Explore the opportunity
Before attending a virtual event or online conference, learn about all they have to offer. Many of these conferences will provide a variety of content opportunities, like keynote presentations, workshops, panel conversations or open Q&A forums for attendees. Distinguish between programs you’d like to attend live to engage with the presenter and attendees and those you can watch on-demand at a later time. Can you get continuing professional education (CPE) credits from any of these sessions? Are the slides or other materials available before or after the presentation? Find out as much as you can so you can prepare ahead of time.
3. Engage with the content
It can be difficult to pay attention to someone talking indirectly to you through a screen, while you’re sitting at your desk and messages are flying into your inbox. To help you connect with the content and practice good conference call etiquette, turn off email notifications and put your phone on silent to avoid distractions. Take notes and participate in the discussion by asking questions during the Q&A or sharing challenges or experiences in the larger group chat.
If the event has a virtual exhibit hall or trade show, dedicate some time to browse through it. Companies exhibiting at the virtual booths offer an array of content, including videos, surveys, documents, website links and sometimes even prizes and games. Depending on the platform, you can also chat one-on-one with a live representative, which is a great networking opportunity (and segues into our next tip).
4. Network with attendees
You may not believe it, but it can be just as easy to network at online events as it is at in-person events. You can’t make comments to the person sitting next to you at a keynote presentation, but you can directly message someone who asked a particularly interesting question during a webinar or Q&A forum or set up meetings with them in a virtual breakout room.
If the conference or webinar platform doesn’t provide these built-in networking capabilities, take note of a potential contact’s name and follow up with them on LinkedIn. You now have something in common with people attending the online event, so it should be easy to make a connection.
5. Determine your takeaways
After you attend an online or virtual event, think about how it can benefit your career or business. What leadership advice from the speaker can you incorporate into your management style? How can you apply new industry strategies to your current business challenges? If you think your team or colleagues would also benefit from anything you’ve learned, ask them if they’d like to receive an email with detailed notes.
Time set aside for professional development is always time well spent, whether in-person or virtual. Now you’ll know how to approach online conferences and take full advantage of the educational and networking opportunities there.
We hope you find this calendar of upcoming swine industry events useful. Enjoy each conference, seminar, or expo that you attend. Stay safe!
Check out our blog for more news on the pork industry.
Robert Half. (2020, March 26). How to Make the Most of Online Events and Conferences. Retrieved August 05, 2020, from https://www.roberthalf.com/blog/salaries-and-skills/how-to-make-the-most-of-online-events-and-conferences