Turn conference chaos into organized insights
July 7 2025 | Issue 51 | Link to this issue | Subscribe
Hi Reader –
Picture this: You're at a conference, juggling a coffee, a tote bag full of swag, and trying to take notes on a speaker who just dropped the perfect solution to your biggest business challenge.
Sound familiar?
This was me last month at Craft + Commerce, Kit's annual conference.
Between taking speaker notes, gathering contact information from people I met, and visiting all the vendor booths, I was reminded why Evernote mobile is my secret weapon at these events.
The difference between conference chaos and organized insights? Having a mobile capture system that actually works. Let’s dive into a few great conference use cases.
10 Ways to Use Evernote Mobile at Conferences
Here are 10 ways you can use Evernote mobile to get more out of your conference experience:
Capture & Document
1. Audio notes during sessions: Record key insights from presentations, then transcribe them later to make them searchable. You can record up to an hour and 100mb of audio content per recording.
2. Digitize paper materials: Take home zero paper! Use Evernote's built-in scanner for business cards, flyers, and handouts. The auto-crop feature makes this fast and clear, and it all becomes searchable.
3. Photo slides and displays: Snap photos of presenter slides or vendor booths, then transcribe key information when you have time to process.
Organization & Access
4. Calendar integration: When presenting at conferences, Academy member Mary connects all her session notes to calendar events. When she needs her presentation notes, she taps the calendar event and has instant access.
5. Create conference shortcuts: Add your conference notebook and key notes to mobile shortcuts for one-tap access.
6. Enable offline access: Download your conference notebook to your phone so you're not dependent on spotty venue WiFi. (Available on all paid plans.)
Networking & Follow-up
7. Document new contacts: Create notes for important connections with their photo, business card scan, and conversation details.
8. Track action items: Use Evernote tasks to capture follow-ups and commitments before they slip through the cracks.
9. Log inspiration quickly: Use the scratch pad for those "aha moments" that hit between sessions.
Administrative
10. Centralize everything: Keep confirmations, receipts, itineraries, and travel details in one conference notebook. I pulled up my rental car confirmation from the airplane (“what company did I book that with?”) before landing:
🧠 Academy Members: Master your mobile Evernote skills with our dedicated Mobile Course — perfect for conference productivity. Plus, get real-world insights from fellow members and Academy guests: Mary shares her conference workflow (37:82) and Sandee covers her trade show strategy (45:55).
Preparation is Key
When you’re in the action at a conference, your brain can’t handle organizational decisions while processing all that new information. If you want to stay organized in the moment, you need to prepare ahead of time.
So take some time to set yourself up before the conference:
Create a dedicated notebook and download it for offline access
Optimize key notes for mobile (larger fonts, simplified formatting)
Add the notebook to your shortcuts
Set up calendar events and link relevant notes
The goal isn't perfect capture — it's frictionless input, so you can process everything properly when you're back at your computer.
Cheers to your productivity —
Stacey
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