10 key takeaways from the Marquette University Digital Summit

1. Conferences = networking opportunity

Hundreds of students and professionals rubbed elbows at the Digital Summit, including participants from Laughlin Constable, Spotify, Google, Microsoft and more. Some Marquette students had the opportunity to get up close with speakers as student ambassadors by greeting them and introducing them. But anyone has the opportunity to network at a conference like the Digital Summit by sitting at a lunch table where you don’t know anyone, exchanging business cards and then following up with a LinkedIn connection or an email. You never know where it might lead.

2. Keep personality and character in brands

Laughlin Constable practices what they preach by keeping personality in brands. For example, they personalized the face of cancer in a campaign for Aurora, they’re proud of their local roots by transforming a concession stand into a mock super club, they’re unafraid to tell it like it is when it comes to beer, socializing and college student.

3. My Moments that Matter

The presenters from Google discussed the importance of measuring the moments that matter. These Google moments are different but they are all uniquly personalize to you, and it reminded me of Instagram. On Instagram, people post photos, which are captured moments, that are important to them. Feel free to check out some of my mometns that matter on my Instagram.

4. Who you sit by matters

I had the pleasure of sitting next to the person running the Digital Summit Twitter account. We began to strike up a conversation and then she began to retweet several of my tweets to the Digital Summit account. The next time I go to an event, similar to this one, I will always introduce myself to the people around me. You never know who you are sitting by!

5. Have a library of relevant Gifs

Gifs get your tweets noticed by others. A funny Gif could be the difference between someone scrolling past your tweet or checking out your profile.

6. Help out your followers

If you’re sitting around waiting for a speaker to present Google their name and find out more about them. Once you find out new information tweet the link so others can see too.

7. Liven up your twitter with a video

A picture says 1,000 words but a video can provide sound, context and catch the people’s attention as they scroll through Twitter. At these events everyone is taking photos be different and explore other mediums to make your message stand out.

8. Do a little research of your own

Finding out more information on a statistic or story that a presenter shared is an excellent way to go beyond the presentation.

9. Connect with your classmates outside of class

There are more people at this event than just business professional. Don’t be afraid to throw your fellow classmates a follow or retweet.

10. Last but not least, always thank your presenters and give feedback

These presenters took time out of their day and provided valuable information the least we can do, as audience members, is thank them!

Lastly, if you went to the Marquette University Digital Summit please give your feedback so they can make next years Summit even better!