The Benefits of Attending MTP Engage as a Team [Mind the Product]

Have you ever asked your boss if you can attend a conference, only to be told that someone else in your team is going, and they’ll report back what they’ve learned? It’s disappointing, isn’t it? While there is a lot of value in someone reporting back to a team, it assumes that the only reason to go to a conference is to learn. In reality, it’s about much, much more.

At Mind the Product we believe in following up after our conferences: we write up every conference talk and share our conference videos freely with our entire community on our blog, not just with conference attendees. But watching videos isn’t the same as being there. You miss the energy in the room, the buzz and excitement of being with your peers, the feeling when you hear something and you think, “Yes! I’ll try that on Monday”.

Here are just some reasons why you should think about attending conferences as a team:

• An amplifying effect. That energy and excitement you feel is 10 times greater than if you go alone
• It reinforces the team members’ commitments to each other and helps to create a common language
• It’s an opportunity to bounce ideas around and share stories and experiences faster and more informally than in an office environment
• Bonding/team building. If team members travel together and are away from their families in a new environment, then a degree of vulnerability is introduced. This allows the team to depend on one another more. They’re also spending more time together outside of work and this more casual setting allows people to get to know each other on a more intimate level. The relationships between team members improve so that they work better together, and enjoy working together more.
• Inspiration. A conference environment alone can be inspiring. Speakers can be inspiring, other attendees we meet can be inspiring. We can be inspired without learning something new.

A number of teams attended MTP Engage Manchester 2019. Grace Han, Senior UX Designer at BookingGo, sums up the sentiments of the many comments we received: “I attended with design team members from different product teams, including some who had just moved here from Amsterdam. It was a great opportunity to get to know other members of our design community. Working separately, in different buildings, it can be challenging for us to have such interactions outside a work environment. The topics we discussed after each talk really helped us to get to know one another by providing an interesting talking point. Plus, it was really fun just to have a day out of the office.”

Tickets for MTP Engage Manchester are on sale now, including Team Discount tickets, where you get a 10% discount when you buy 10 or more tickets. The ticket limit for purchasing online is 25. If you require more than 25 tickets please email us. These tickets are limited in number and are only available whilst General Release tickets are on sale.

The post The Benefits of Attending MTP Engage as a Team appeared first on Mind the Product.

Source: Mind the Product https://www.mindtheproduct.com/2019/08/the-benefits-of-attending-mtp-engage-as-a-team/