Don't Send Your Team to a Conference Without a Plan

Every year, enrollment and marketing leaders sign off on conference registrations, flights, and hotel rooms... sometimes without much of a plan for what comes back. In this episode, Jarrett Smith, Scott Rhodes, and Jeff Kallay draw on decades of presenting, exhibiting, and attending to explain what these events can actually do for your team. Scott shares the debrief system he used as a VP to turn every trip into staff development, Jeff makes the case for treating the exhibit hall as free research and career networking, and the group takes a candid look at where the conference model needs a refresh. Key Takeaways Send Staff With Assignments: Scott's VP playbook: have team members choose sessions tied to something they're actively working on, bring back start, stop, continue ideas, and share what they learned at the next staff meeting. The Exhibit Hall Is Free Consulting: Vendors invest in original research, blogs, and podcasts. Your team should be asking every relevant firm, "What are you providing that helps me do my job better?" Know the Players Before You Need Them: If an RFP is likely in the next 12 months, conference season is the time to meet four providers in that space instead of defaulting to the two names you already know. Your Conference Runs on Vendor Money: Exhibitors and sponsors subsidize the events your team attends. Engaging them thoughtfully keeps registration affordable and the conferences you rely on viable. First-Timers Deserve Training: Associations pour money into gimmicks to drive exhibit hall traffic when a first-timer session on how to work a conference would serve young professionals far better. Episode Highlights [00:19] Why conferences deserve a rethink: framing the state of admissions and enrollment marketing events. [03:46] What the exhibit hall really costs: an insider look at the money behind every booth your team walks past. [06:59] How vendors measure ROI, and why that long game shapes the partners who show up for your campus. [08:30] The Saturday problem: why exhibit halls empty out and what it signals about scheduling. [09:55] What smaller conferences owe their sponsors and their attendees. [12:56] The symbiotic relationship: what attendees and vendors each bring to a conference that works. [15:28] Scott's VP playbook: session assignments, debriefs, and making attendance count. [16:09] Turning the exhibit hall into professional development for your junior staff. [21:46] One change each host would make, from ditching Saturdays to funding first-timer training.