I wrote the following tips prior to the 2008 IACA conference in Florida. I have updated and revised them for this year. I hope they help you get the most out of your conference attendance.
I attended my first IACA conference in Milwaukee in 1997. I remember it well. I was young and socially awkward. I didn’t understand a lot of the training. I met a few people but didn’t really make any lasting contacts. I came back with pages full of notes that I didn’t know how to implement. Frankly, it was only the San Diego locale that drew me back in 1998, and only the opportunity to give a presentation that made me return in 1999 to Baltimore. That conference was the turning point: I made my first crime analysis friends, presented for the first time, developed an effective way to capture ideas, and finally began to see what the IACA was all about.
I don’t want it to take three years for you. Every year, I despair that new members come to the conference for the first time, don’t make any contacts, don’t find any training relevant to them, don’t take anything back to their agencies, and don’t see any reason to return next year. If you’re new to the IACA, or your involvement hasn’t gelled yet, these are my top tips for getting the most out of the conference.
- Go to Classes. Dowtown Hyannis will beckon, but it will be much more enjoyable as a reward for a hard day’s work than as a place to play hooky.
- Choose a mix of classes. At the IACA conference, you will find some classes on techniques (“Risk Terrain Modeling for Spatial Risk Assessment”; “Using Geographic Profiling as an Investigative Tool”), concepts (“Creating a Master Crime Analysis Database”; ”Using Smart Policing to Enhance Crime Analysis”), the profession and its resources (“Role of Crime Analysis in Hard Economic Times”; “Grants and Crime Analysis”), and the criminal environment (“Foreclosures and Crime”; “Abatement of Problem Motels”). Try to split your attention among them. Within these categories, assess your own knowledge and experience with the topics covered and determine if you are fluent in them, familiar with them, or flummoxed by them. I recommend spending 60% of your time in the “familiar” classes; they’ll start with a foundation that you already know and introduce new ideas and techniques. Spend 20% among topics in which you are “fluent”; they’re confidence-builders and the instructor may surprise you with a few new ideas. Allot the final 20% to classes that “flummox” you; they’ll inspire you with possibilities, and you’ll make them your “familiars” in one or two years.
- Don’t Take Notes; Make Lists. The presenters’ points will be covered in handouts, articles, and other resources. Don’t try to outline everything they say. Instead, keep a series of lists in your notebook: things to do, books to read, web sites to visit, resources to investigate, and people to contact. Listen to the presentations, think about how they relate to your work and your life, and add things to your lists as they occur to you. I come back with at least four pages worth of action items from every conference.
- Be a Good Audience Member. The speaker in front of you isn’t some paid professional; she’s one of your professional colleagues. She’s probably nervous, which doubtless you would be if you were up there speaking instead of sitting in the audience, smugly counting her “ums.” Help her out instead. Sit towards the front, try to focus on substance instead of style, keep eye contact, smile and nod when she says something you agree with, try to at least look like you’re writing things down, and see if the world will survive without your sending a text message every 45 seconds.
- Compose a Three-Sentence Introduction. Networking is mostly about conversations, and when conversations fail to take hold, networking opportunities are lost. Give them something to grab on to. Your name and agency aren’t enough; write out a three-sentence introduction that encapsulates who you are, where you’re from, and what you’re doing there. (In career development circles, they call this an “elevator speech.”) This would be mine if I was new to the IACA: “I’m Christopher Bruce. I live in New Hampshire, but I travel around the country, providing analytical support to agencies who have adopted the Data-Driven Approaches to Crime and Traffic Safety model. I’m here hoping to hear analysts’ experiences with traffic analysis.” If my new acquaintance can’t think of anything to say about New England, travel, DDACTS, or traffic analysis, then he’s just hopeless.
- Make an Effort to Meet Someone New. It’s easy, once you’ve met a few people, to spend all of your time in their company. This goes for both new and veteran attendees. Don’t let it happen. Seek out at least one new person each day and give your three-sentence introduction, and make sure you go to a meal with an unfamiliar crowd at least once during the week. At the very least, seek me out and introduce yourself, because I want to meet everyone.
- Backs of Business Cards Are for Writing. When you get back to the office, you’ll hopefully have a stack of business cards, and you won’t remember who gave you each one. Scrawl liberally on the backs of them the moment they’re handed to you—appearances, impressions, what you talked about, what they promised you, what you promised them, what you want to say in your follow-up (see below).
- Attend the Annual Meeting. It’s more than just financial updates and membership counts: it’s your chance to lend your voice to IACA goals. This year, we’ll be talking about new and ongoing projects such as training, certification, and publications. We want your comments and questions. Also, several of your colleagues will be receiving awards. Actually, you might be receiving an award, and it’s always embarrassing when you don’t show up.
- Record and Follow-Up with the Contacts You Made. Send a quick e-mail to each person you met, refer to the topics you discussed, send along a copy of your bulletin or whatever resources they might like, and give them your full contact information. Then record their information in your contacts list. And take this trip from an old pro: use the “notes” field to write down what they looked like and sounded like; you’ll need this information next year.
- Send a Conference Report to Your Boss. When you get back from the conference, send a follow-up to your boss outlining what training you attended and what you got out of it, ideas you’ve developed, resources you found, and any other information that will help show that when you go to a conference, you come back with more than souvenirs and a golfing trophy. These days, everyone’s competing for training funds. Make them see how investment in your professional development pays off.
Give these techniques a try, and I think September 19-23 will be the best four days of your professional year. I look forward to seeing you all in just a few short weeks!
Sincerely,
Christopher W. Bruce
President
International Association of Crime Analysts
