Although I enjoy attending CPD events, I was apprehensive about attending the CILIP 2018 conference in Brighton as a) it was so far away from where I live b) it was being held in such a big venue c) I’d never been to a conference before and d) I didn’t know anyone else who was going. Pre-conference Preparation To alleviate my apprehensions, I looked at the conference overview online and at the networking events that were being held throughout the conference and made a brief plan of what I wanted to attend. I decided on the Hidden Brighton guided walk on the Tuesday evening as I hoped I might be able to meet someone in a similar situation to me, so we wouldn’t be on our own for the whole conference. I ended up meeting 5 people, all from different sectors and we ended up spending quite a lot of time together and have since become good friends and even have our own WhatsApp group! Keynote Speakers Each of the keynotes was inspirational in their own way and I left each session with a