It’s official: conference season has arrived. Propertymark One kicked things off with a bang earlier this week, and over the next few weeks, thousands of estate and letting agents will pack their best blazers, stock up on branded tote bags, and descend on hotel ballrooms and city venues across the UK.
We’ll laugh. We’ll learn. We’ll grab lanyards and lukewarm coffee. And if we’re lucky, we’ll return to the office with fresh inspiration and a fire in our belly.
But here’s the million-pound question: what actually happens next?
Because according to the research, not much.
80% of Learning Goes to Waste
Studies consistently show that only 10–20% of what we learn from conferences and training days ever gets applied back at work. One UK study found that just 35% of skills were still in use 12 months after training. The rest? Lost in a sea of emails and Rightmove comparables.
This isn’t just a property industry problem—it’s about human nature. We attend events with good intentions, but unless we take deliberate steps to translate ideas into action, we quickly slide back into “the way we’ve always done it.”
So Should You Bother Attending Conferences At All?
Honestly? Yes – but only if you’re going to do something with what you learn.
Because if you were just looking for a fun and uplifting day out, you may as well have gone to Legoland.
The truth is, inspiration is easy. Implementation is where the real work (and value) lies. And the best businesses—the ones that grow, adapt and lead—aren’t just run by people who go to events. They’re run by people who act on them.
Why We Don’t Put Learning Into Practice
The research lays bare a few classic culprits:
No time – You’re back to 200 emails and a diary full of valuations.
No support – Your boss/colleagues/clients want you to do things the old way.
No plan – You meant to act, but now you can’t read your hastily scrawled notes. Was that “automate socials” or “animate sausage”?
No relevance – The training was too generic or theoretical to be of real use.
And my favourite:
No one else is doing it – You feel like a weirdo trying something new, so you stop.
All very human. All very fixable.
How to Make Learning Stick
Whether you’re attending a massive expo or a smaller training day, the goal is the same: take one or two useful things and actually do something with them.
Here are a few ways to guarantee that you come away from the next conference with a masterplan:
Limit Your Note Taking. Before the day, carve out a page in your notebook labelled “3 Actions from Today”. Scribble as many notes as you like on other pages, but your mission is to come home with three clear, realistic, business-improving actions. No more. Anything beyond that risks becoming an ideas buffet you’ll never digest.
Use AI. The next day, with inspiration still coursing through your veins, photograph your notes and upload to ChatGPT. Better still, use your phone’s voice recorder to capture the sessions and use apps like Ottr or Plaud to transcribe them. Upload the transcripts to ChatGPT, instructing it to summarise your key learnings and turn them into a 30-day implementation plan to improve your business.
Schedule Team Training. One of the most effective ways to learn is by teaching others. In the days after the event, present your key learnings to your team; work together on setting new goals based on what you have learned, thereby achieving total buy-in and accountability from your colleagues.
Don’t Let Learning Die in Your Notebook
Look, conferences are brilliant. You meet inspiring people. You hear clever things. You feel fired up. But that energy has a short shelf life. If it’s not turned into action within a few days, it fades into nothing.
The good news? The transfer of learning isn’t some mysterious magic trick—it’s a habit. And like all habits, it gets easier the more you practice.
So yes—go to the conference. Enjoy the coffee. Clap for the speakers. But then? Go back to your office and do something. Otherwise, all you’ve really collected is a lanyard.
Toby Martin is an industry consultant, trainer, and speaker.
