PowerSkills 2021 and You – A Guide to Help You Maximize your Experience

From January 21 to 23, 2021, Career Advising and Transition Services (CATS) will host PowerSkills 2021 – the next level free online career summit!

If you’re reading this, you’re likely a student of the School of Continuing Studies, and you’re learning remotely. With COVID security measures active in most parts of the world, your opportunities for in-person networking are limited. After 10 months of living through the challenges of a pandemic, you may be restless, bored, lonely and uninspired. If any of this sounds familiar, then PowerSkills may be just what you need!

While you can certainly be a casual participant, and jump into some sessions that maybe of interest, you can make most of your experience with a little (1) planning, (2) strategic execution and (3) follow-up.

Planning

• The first thing to do is register for the event PowerPass! Your PowerPass enables you to access individual sessions as they open for registration.
• Check the list of individual events often, as new sessions are added on a regular basis.
• Read the session descriptions and related speaker biographies and make a three-day schedule for yourself. Consider what topics and or speakers resonate with you. Also, think about the format of the sessions. If you’re the type of person who enjoys jumping in and participating, look for workshops. If you like to sit back and take information in, seek out the webinars or keynote addresses. If you like to ask the subject matter experts questions, tune into the interviews or panel sessions.
• Once your schedule is finalized, do your research! Learn more about the speakers and topics so that you can be more engaged during the session and will be equipped to apply what you learn to your own situation. This will also enable you to ask the right

Strategic Execution

• Login 10-15 minutes before each session so that you can address any technical glitches or other issues. If you plan to keep your camera on and/or participating in the session, stage your environment by adjusting lighting and everything in your camera’s view.
• Have a notebook ready! You may want to jaunt down quotations, book, article or other references, the names of participants who you may want to follow-up with and quick tips for future reference.
• If you planned effectively (see above), you will be engaged and ready to absorb the information and align learnings with your own particular needs and goals.
• Take advantage of the *chat* feature to network with participants from around the globe. Feel free to comment on the session, provide references, add to others’ comments or simply chat as appropriate.
• After each session, take Action Item What information do you want to retain? What do you want to follow-up on? How can you dig deeper on a topic? Whom would you want to connect with on LinkedIn? How can you start applying what you learned?

Follow-Up

• The end of PowerSkills 2021 marks the beginning of your work! If you prepared for the event and executed it to your advantage, you’re ready to take your learning to the next level.
• Connect with people on LinkedIn – including any speakers who you would like to be part of your network. Perhaps write them a note on LinkedIn and thank them or tell them how the session benefitted you, as just one example.
• Look at your session notes. How can you effectively take the tips that you learned and turn them into actionable items? If you write these down and turn them in to SMART goals as one example, you are more likely to maximize your time at PowerSkills 2021 and take some important steps to enhance or advance your career, soft skills or goals.
• Provide feedback. You will be asked to provide feedback on PowerSkills 2021. Take five minutes and provide any feedback that you think would be useful for the organizers. This will also help ensure that your next PowerSkills experience meets – and even exceeds – your expectations.

Now, you’re ready to go! Enjoy PowerSkills 2021! We look forward to seeing you there!