If you are in business, especially the business of technology you will as likely as not find yourself at a conference or two. This guide should help you avoid some common pitfalls, and help you squeeze the most out of your trip.


Airports

Airports are designed, from first principles, to disappoint you. If you think you’re going to get anything half-way useful done during a layover you are sadly mistaken.

Airplane
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Airtran is cheap, very cheap, so cheap in fact that it’s all they could think of to write about on the back of their peanuts bag. For the traveler on a tight budget it’s still a great bargain.

Pack light, lots of Airlines are charging for the first bag and even if they don’t not lugging around that extra suitcase will save you a ton of stress.

Not for the feint of heart, but another way to save yourself a few seconds is to buy toiletries in the city after you land. There is something about separating out 3 oz bottles of shaving cream into plastic bags that always costs be an extra 10 minutes.

Take the maximum amount of time you would be willing to accept as a layover on the way up, divide by four and that’s the maximum layover you’ll want to deal with on the way back. No one likes a 2 hour layover at 5AM after flying across country (ahem).

No matter how much of it you get, plane sleep is not real sleep.


Hotels

Book a hotel by the venue, in a lot of cases, once you factor in parking and renting a car spending a little extra on your accommodations is more than worth it.


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Hotel Wifi is notoriously fickle and when you need the web to be your map, your ‘phone’ and your primary mode of communication things get hairy. If sometime is going wrong, don’t be afraid to call the front desk.

No sleep, time zone changes, hotel living . . . All a monumental drain. You will spend more time than you think fighting against your own energy levels. Bring a multi-vitamin.


Transit

There is WiFi in more places than you would expect but fewer than you will really need. Many major metropolitan areas have some kind of municipal WiFi, be sure to look.

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1800-GOOG-411 is Google’s 411 directory, it will also give you addresses on the go and connect you to pretty much any business you can think of. If you get lost easily and can’t find web access, this is a fantastic alternative.

Acquaint yourself with the city, knowing how to get around will buy you more time to sleep – a precious commodity. If you have a car, take some time to get lost in it.

You’re almost always better off taking taxis instead of a car, but if you rent a car be wary of the insurance policies. Take what you absolutely need but no more.

If you decide to rent a car know that parking can be annoying and expensive, shop around.


Pre-Event

Show up a few days early. Take in the sights, enjoy yourself, if you have cushion in the schedule use it

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Conferences are social events often in strange cities. Situations like this tend to be a lot easier to deal with if you are traveling with a native — check your networks.

Set up meetings, lunches and other ancillary events in advance. You’ll have a lot more fun (and get a lot more accomplished) if you aren’t scrambling for something to do.

Go to all the pre-events that you can find. Usually these are smaller, more intimate situations and will give you much needed practice for when the flood gates open.

Soak in the local color, eating at Wendys every night will be even more disappointing than usual in a new city.


The Main Event

Bring business cards.


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Get out of your comfort zone. It’s really easy to stand around saying nothing, resist the urge, most people are nicer than you think. Do something “hard” just to prove you can do it.

If possible, travel with someone else, there is power in numbers and you’ll get a lot more done.

Lunch is a great time to meet people who you might not otherwise run into, step out of your comfort zone.

Carve out some time between festivities for a nap, even 30 minutes will help you make it through your ridiculously long days.

For Tech Events

Twitter is like ESP, use it.

70% of the crowd is actually watching the conference from a live stream as they blog the event. No tip there, just an observation.


Post-Event

Be grateful, if someone helps you out be sure to thank them.


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Eat well after every day of the conference, not only is it another excuse to be social but it will help you keep up your strength.

Putting on an event is hard, hard work – I can’t stress this enough, be sure to thank your hosts. (thanks Chris and Ponzi)

Have fun, if at any point you aren’t having fun ask yourself why and fix it accordingly.

Follow up after the conference. Remember, nothing exists in a vacuum.

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