Some of us have plenty of conferences and mingling event. It is not easy to leverage these events beyond some fun with colleagues.  We could establish new connections with people in the industry, check out what other people and companies are working on, and maybe find some talents for our own company. The work does not end at the conference, and the follow-up is important. The follow up after professional mingling is the subject of this guest post.

If you just came back from a professional development event, and you thought that was it, think again. The worst possible thing you can do right now is – nothing. Even though your motivation and excitement level may have dropped, there’s still so much to be done. Otherwise, why attend such an event in the first place?

So, what can you do?

You can, and you should do a few things if you want to make sure you are taking everything you can from this experience. Instead of letting all of it go to waste, remember that you owe it to yourself to use what you have just learned to grow and improve. Read on to find out what will help you do just that.

1.    Share Your Newly Gained Knowledge

Knowledge is one of the rare things that grow with sharing. Your co-workers can benefit from the conference you attended, too.  When you learn as a team, your overall performance will improve.

In fact, Human Resource studies show that the success of knowledge management in companies depends on the sharing of knowledge. Knowledge is a critical organizational resource that provides a sustainable competitive advantage in a competitive and dynamic economy.

Whether you choose to go all-in with a PowerPoint presentation and a long meeting sharing all you got or share your experiences during a friendly brunch with your colleagues, make sure to do it. Share the main points or copy the handouts you were given during the event. You can even hire a professional to write a follow-up paper for you to give out, and make sure all the bases are covered.

I recently attended a Digital Marketing Seminar and shared my insights to my colleagues. While we really didn’t have the time to sit down together, I sent an email with the most important takeaways and include the links to more information. They identified which ones are applicable for their own business units and we are will discuss the concepts further in our annual strategic planning session.

Having a presentation for those in your team that did not have the chance to attend is becoming a standard practice. The big challenge here is actively engaging the other team members in the new opportunities, by provoking their curiosity and asking for their profession perspective.

2.    Say “Thank You”

Did your company pay for you to attend this event? Show them it was worth it. Write them a long email to tell them what you gained from this experience or go to their office to report it face to face.

Don’t forget to thank them for investing in you – you are probably aware that not everyone in your company was sent to this conference. That’s why showing you appreciate the support is crucial at this time. This way, not only are you a nice person, but your bosses will know that you would also be grateful if they decided to put money into your professional development again.

Studies also show that showing appreciation opens the door for more relationships. A 2014 study published in Emotion magazine found out that thanking an acquaintance makes them more likely to seek and continue an ongoing relationship with you. Thus, thanking your company for the opportunity might open doors for more personal development opportunities for you while creating a culture of gratitude at the same time.

Maybe such a note will work in some cultures. Where I come from, you say “thank you” directly to your boss who sent you. And if you are good this “thank you” will be accompanies with a couple of new business leads.

3.    Nourish Your Connections

First off, If you are the type of person who is bad at remembering names, you can try downloading apps like Namerick. Using mnemonics, this app will help you keep track of the names of the other attendees you will meet during the event. You can also use Camcard to manage and organize all the business cards you will receive at the event and then connect with them later.

Now, if you thought exchanging business cards was all that you could do, you thought wrong. In the world where social media rules the world, it would be silly not to connect with the people you met in the online world. Find them on LinkedIn or Twitter.

If they don’t use these (which would be really uncommon), send them an email. Remember, make the it personal in either of these cases. The only thing worse than not following up is using generic messages. Share their blog post from the conference, quote them on Facebook or just ask them to share their impressions with you.

Networking is crucial and it is one of the main reasons people go to these kinds of events, so you can’t let yourself neglect your new contacts.

Quite often we meet the same people on different conferences. These people are visiting conferences professionally, typically recruiting people and business leads. Typically these people have time to follow all the industry news. You can build friendships, and/or use them to collect and to broadcast information.

4.    Put Your Knowledge into Action

Even though networking definitely is important, the most important reason you went to a professional development event is – you guessed it – professional development. Now it’s time to show that you learned something from it.

Use your newly found knowledge to shine. Suggest a new marketing technique that was discussed or offer a new point of view in an upcoming project. Don’t be shy showing that you really gained something valuable – your colleagues, and your superiors, will know how to appreciate this.

Make your pitch more memorable by using apps like Haiku Deck, which co-founder Adam Tratt calls as the “Instagram for pitch decks.” The app provides simple yet powerful designs that will help you clear away the clutter and get your audience to focus on your ideas.

I have never seen this done in practice. If you have examples of truly useful experiences from professional conferences, please share in comments.

5.    Keep Learning

Did you like the topic that was talked about during the conference? Did any of the speakers leave an impression on you? Do a little research on your own – find their website, maybe they write a blog that covers other aspects of the subject they talked about. Read blog posts from authority sources to gain more information. Remember that you learn not only for the sake of your company, but for yourself, too.

So that you won’t get overwhelmed with the amount of info that you come across, it is better to use some tools for organizing, developing, and sharing your ideas. For Microsoft office users, OneNote is a powerful tool that allows you to organize notes, images, and even PDF files. Further, it allows for collaboration to family, friends, and colleagues so that they can put in their two cents as well.

If you are looking for a more visual organization tool, check out MindMeister. This collaborative mind mapping app allows you to capture and share your ideas visually. This tool features built-in presentation mode so you can turn your mind maps into dynamic slideshows easily.

6.    Provide Feedback

Yes, we understand that email that was sent to you asking you to give feedback about the event you attended sounds like the most boring thing on your to-do list. Well, you should do it anyway.

Offering valuable feedback and constructive criticism will not only remind you of the most important parts of the conference, it will also help make the next one even better. You can also consider sending a personal email to a specific person whose presentation impressed you. That’ll certainly bring their attention to you and may earn you a valuable connection.

Some event organizers incentivize attendees for answering event feedback. Once an attendee answers the feedback form, they get an automatic raffle entry to win a prize at the end of the conference. In fact, one of my colleagues even won a drone during the last conference we attended. You get to help the organizers and win something as well.

I have seen achieving wonders simply by volunteering to help organizers in their next events. You can try this tactics.

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This article was submitted by Laura Buckler, freelance writer and author of leadership and excellence articles. Laura thinks that life is easy once you get the hang of your duties, so she tries to make people understand that. For more information, follow her on twitter