Conventions Create the Big Picture

I have attended many different types of conventions as a live blogger. My purpose at these conventions is to attend the event and to report on what's happening there as it happens. I've learned a lot from these conventions. The single biggest thing that I have learned is that a convention is the best place to get a huge introduction to the big picture of an industry.

The reason that this is true is because every little player in an industry will be represented at a convention. You get to know what each of the roles are in the industry from the big central players to the small folks on the fringes.

For example, if you went to a convention for people in the printing business then you would expect to learn all about various types of printers. But you would also meet document management software vendors and other people from document imaging companies. You would meet the people who repair printers in offices. You would meet people who create accessories for printers. You would learn more about the printing industry than you could ever expect to learn from researching it simply by seeing who shows up at the convention.

There's a convention for almost every industry that you can imagine. If there's an industry that you really want to get the big picture on then I'd definitely suggesting finding the convention that goes with it.