5 Things You Should Do After ERG Blueprint
A practical, compassionate guide to sustaining momentum, without burning out or losing focus.
You did it. You showed up, you listened, you connected with people who get it. You left with pages of notes, a head full of ideas, and a genuine sense that things could be different.
And then real life kicked back in.
Your inbox is full. Your diary is already overloaded. And somewhere between the commute home and your first meeting back, the energy from the day started to quietly leak away.
It doesn't have to be that way.
Here are five things to do after ERG Blueprint that will help you hold onto what mattered, build on it, and make something happen.
1. Reflect before you act
The instinct after a conference is to act immediately. Share everything on LinkedIn. Forward seven links to your committee. Draft a proposal before the week is out.
Resist that instinct. Just for a day or two.
Give yourself space to sit with what you heard. Which sessions landed the most? What surprised you? What confirmed something you already knew but hadn't quite been able to articulate? What made you feel uncomfortable, and why?
Reflection is not procrastination. It is how you separate the ideas that genuinely apply to your context from the ones that were inspiring in the room but won't translate. It is how you show up to your next conversation with clarity rather than noise.
Write down three things that genuinely moved you. Not everything. Three things. That is your starting point.
2. Share your learning intentionally
This is where many ERG leaders lose momentum. They go back to their organisation, share a flood of takeaways, and watch people's eyes glaze over.
Your colleagues did not attend the conference. They do not have the same emotional context you do. What felt transformational to you may feel abstract or overwhelming to them.
So be selective. Be strategic.
Think about who needs to hear what, and why it matters to them specifically. Your sponsor needs different information from your committee. Your HR business partner needs different information than your senior leadership team.
Before you share anything, ask yourself: what do I want this person to do, think, or feel after this conversation? Then shape your message around that outcome.
A simple debrief structure that works well: what was the overall theme of the day, what was the one thing that most applies to us right now, and what are you proposing as a next step? Keep it short. Keep it focused. Make it easy for people to say yes.
This is also your opportunity to build buy-in. If you want leadership to sponsor an initiative, they need to understand the business case, not just the conference highlight reel. Connect what you learned to the language of your organisation. Tie it to strategy. Frame it in terms of outcomes, not activities.
ERG Blueprint is designed to give you that material. The speakers, the sessions, the conversations you had in the room; all of it is evidence you can use. Treat it as such.
3. Choose one or two priority actions
You probably came away with a list of things you want to do. That list is almost certainly too long.
Pick one. Two at most.
Not because the rest does not matter. But because doing one thing properly creates more momentum than attempting six things half-heartedly. It also protects you from the kind of overwhelm that leads to doing nothing.
Look at your list and ask: which of these would have the biggest impact if we followed through? Which is most achievable given where we are right now? Which would build the most credibility with the people whose support we need?
That is your priority action.
Write it down clearly. Give it a timeframe. Identify who else needs to be involved. If you want to turn it into a sponsorship or resource proposal, now is the time to draft it while the thinking is fresh and the context is recent.
A conference gives you permission to say: I went, I learned, and here is what we should do next. Use that permission while it is still live.
4. Follow up with the connections you made
The conversations you had at ERG Blueprint may be some of the most valuable things you take away from the day. Do not let them fade.
Follow up within a week. Not with a generic LinkedIn connection request, but with a message that references what you talked about. Something specific. Something that shows you were present and that you value the exchange.
Ask yourself: who could I collaborate with? Who is working on something that intersects with our priorities? Who challenged my thinking in a way I want to explore further?
ERG networks are strongest when they are genuinely reciprocal. You are not just collecting contacts. You are building a community of people who can support each other's work, share resources, and create collective influence that no single ERG can generate on its own.
If you met someone whose organisation is further ahead on something you are working towards, reach out and ask if they would be willing to share what worked. Most people will say yes. Most people want to help.
That conversation might just change the trajectory of what you are building.
5. Protect time to embed change
Attending a conference is easy, relatively speaking. Embedding what you learned is the hard part.
It requires time that your diary will not automatically give you. You must protect it deliberately.
Block time in the next four weeks specifically for the priority action you identified. Put it in the diary now, before the urgency of everything else swallows it. If you need to present a proposal to leadership, block time to write it. If you want to introduce a new initiative, block time to plan it properly. If you want to bring your committee along, block time for that conversation.
Change does not happen at conferences. It happens in the weeks and months afterwards, in the small decisions and consistent actions that most people do not see.
The ERG leaders who make the biggest difference are not always the ones with the biggest budgets or the most senior sponsors. They are the ones who protect the time and create the conditions for good work to happen.
Be one of those people.
One final thought
ERG Blueprint is not just a day out of the office. It is a catalyst.
The conversations, the insights, the connections, the renewed sense of why this work matters; all of that is there to be built on. But it requires intention. It requires you to go back and do something with it.
You have already done the hard part by showing up. Now make it count.