There are countless useful blog posts out there on how to network at conferences if you're timid, how to best enjoy this week's BlogHer conference, how (not) to approach a blogger about a business partnership, and even what to do after a conference.

But even before you work up the moxie to talk to people, attend panels, and hit up other conference-goers for an extra drink ticket, you should plan to make the conference a learning experience from which you'll benefit for months or years to come.

Attending a conference is much like putting together a college course. Your challenge: create a course (for yourself and for others like you) about Topics X and Y at BlogHer '08.

Step 1: Determine your learning objectives. My colleagues at the Teaching Resources Center where I work have made this handy-dandy three-step process for creating learning objectives for yourself or others:

a) Lofty goal I want to achieve:

b) How will I know I have achieved this goal--or at least be well on my way toward achieving it? (Must be measurable!)

c) Method by which I'm going to achieve this objective:

Let me use myself as an example:

a) (Very) lofty goal: I want to bootstrap a company that produces and distributes educational resources that fill the gaps created by No Child Left Behind in grades K-8. At BlogHer '08, I want to find potential business partners and mentors.

b) Measurable achievement: I will know I have achieved this goal if at the conference I make connections with five bloggers who already have bootstrapped their own businesses, and connect with three to five more who are starting their businesses--and I'll invite them to form a mastermind group. By "make connections," I mean have an initial conversation that may lead to further conversations and collaboration.

c) Method: I'm going to put on what my husband refers to "the big [insert name here] show." While my spouse finds "the big Pete show" to be draining because he's an introvert, I find "the big Leslie show" to be energizing because I'm an extrovert--I gain energy from interacting with other people, even if I am at heart kind of a shy person. To help make lasting connections, I've printed new business cards and will distribute magnets pointing to the home page of my new venture. I'm going to collect business cards and take LOTS of notes.

Step 2: Create assignments that will help you achieve your learning objectives. Already I'm doing that by detailing my methods and measurable achievements above. But I might add others:

• Each night after massaging my feet because I wore stupidly cute shoes, I will type up my notes and follow up with e-mails to people I've met.
• I'll invite to breakfast, lunch, or dinner people who sound interesting to me.
• I will recruit progressive educational bloggers to guest post on my venture's blog, and I'll offer to write posts for their blogs, too.

Of course, you can create learning objectives and assignments for individual conference panels: I will attend panel X to learn more about Topic Y, and ask a question of blogger Z, then follow up with her after the panel (if she seems approachable at that moment) and/or via e-mail.

Step 3: Craft a syllabus that supports both your learning objectives and assignments. In the case of BlogHer, that means attending relevant "classes" (panels), "field trips" (lunches, cocktails, shopping) with other bloggers, and, yes, doing quite a bit of reading and research to support your goals.

Step 4: Assess your progress and re-evaluate your plan. No, you don't need to give yourself a written final exam--I always hate those--but you might benefit from an "oral final." By this I mean you find a blogger buddy with whom you debrief from the conference, reflecting on your progress and delineating the next logical steps in your learning.

At conferences, networking and learning can go hand-in-hand, but I've always found networking to be (for the most part) spontaneous (even if I do stalk a speaker or two at every conference in the hopes of cornering her for a brief conversation), while establishing learning objectives will help you get the most of your BlogHer experience. It provides a map and concrete goals--without taking any of the fun out of the conference.

Leslie Madsen-Brooks helps university faculty improve their teaching. She blogs at The Clutter Museum, Museum Blogging, and The Multicultural Toy Box.