How to Take Ideas From Conference to Contact Centre

What happened the last time you went to a conference or training event? Did you come back brimming with good ideas, but never quite got around to implementing them?

If this sounds familiar, take a look at these foolproof tips to help make sure good ideas go straight from conference to contact centre. After all, knowledge is only potential power – it’s what you do with it that makes the difference.

6 Steps to Help You Turn Inspiration Into Action

1. Put a Debrief Meeting in Your Team’s Diary Before You Go

Before you go to the conference or training event, put an ‘INSERT EVENT NAME – Debrief’ meeting in the diary with your team for when you get back.

Not only will this ring-fence precious time for you to share your ideas, but it will also help to give you a sense of purpose and accountability for going to the event – as you’ll be conscious of gathering ideas worthy of sharing.

2. Look at the Agenda and Prep Questions in Advance

By looking at the agenda ahead of time, you’ll be able to plan to make the most of your day.
It will also give you a chance to prepare some questions, so you can get the most out of the session.

3. Take Notes That Make Sense

Write down as much as possible about what’s being said – and most importantly, how you think it could be applied in your contact centre

At the event, don’t just scribble down a one-liner and hope that you can remember what it means the next day.

Instead, if an idea sparks your interest, write down as much as possible about what’s being said – and most importantly, how you think it could be applied in your contact centre.

This will help you to get off to a strong start when reviewing your notes, as you’ll be able to spend time building on your original thinking and not just trying to puzzle out why you’d written “introduce ring game!!!!” in red pen.

4. Take Note of Who Is Giving the Talk

It’s equally important to make note of any names. Write down who the speaker is and also any people in the audience who ask good questions.

You may also find it useful to introduce yourself at the event and/or connect with them on LinkedIn to talk more about the topic in hand.

5. Review Your Notes Before Your Debrief Meeting

Be careful not to overwhelm your team at the debrief meeting. It can help to review your notes beforehand and pick out the strongest 2–3 ideas you want to give attention to. Or even whittle it down to one idea you think will have the biggest impact.

You can always offer to send your full notes to the team after the meeting, if they want to see them.

6. Make an Action Plan

When you’ve shared your strongest ideas with the team and got buy-in for moving forward, make sure you agree actions and send minutes round after the meeting. Most importantly of all, set another meeting in a month’s time to review progress.

If you follow all of the above the next time you go to an event, you can be sure you’ll be in good stead to implement the positive ideas you’ve heard – and not just find them on a post-it note in a few months’ time!

Good luck!