Hey speed racers!
Just got back from staging the tremendous coup of working at the San Francisco Game Developers Conference this past week. This got me thinking of the varied conference-going hacks I've picked up over the past couple years that help maximize the experience:
- Alternate Payment Models: There is a time and a place to pay the full admission price, however I've found 9 times out of 10 there's a better way to do it. For instance in general, I'm young, garrulous, and interested in learning about traditionally male-dominated industries (gaming, infosec, VC, etc.) It's usually pretty easy to get a volunteer spot and much easier to chat folks up, get the stupid questions out of my system, etc. lending a hand than sitting in an audience. Likewise, if I were hugely knowledgeable about the industry, I would gun for a speaker position and use my spare time following up with contacts who approached me or approaching the guys on my own watch list. If I were somewhere in between and a good writer, I'd gun for a press badge. You get the picture. If an event is out of your price range, ask yourself what you really want to get out the event and what you bring to the party. Your answer and the logical next actions might surprise you.
- Scheduling: I see folks go to one extreme or another on this. The seasoned guys often shrug off the talks entirely as things for noobies and end up catching up with their extended social network for the duration of the conference. That's great guys, but you're not meeting new people, picking up new ideas. Sounds like a fast track to obsolescence. The noobies plan out their entire calendar down to 10 minute intervals. What happens if you meet someone fascinating and want to take an extended lunch with them? Or if a new awesome talk comes up? You're out of luck. In general, I treat talks like mini-classes and ask myself what I want to get out of them in advance. If something better comes up or I realize 5 minutes into the talk that it's not everything I thought it would be (and more!) I take a walk.
- Document Management: Basic tenants = consolidate everything in one place and sort it frequently before your cache refreshes. I'm such a sucker for free swag. Notebooks, business cards, you name it. By the end of the Con, I have a slew of notes to self scribbled on napkins, flyers, programs, and the full complement of notebooks I got/brought to the con (Marble pocket sized ones are my favorite-- Moleskine's are too nice and I'm afraid to sully them with my unruly scrawls). My system thus far (please suggest further hacks!) consists of:
Pockets! I don't care how hot the skirt is, if it doesn't have pockets, I'm not rocking it. One of these days, I will get a Lara Croftesque thigh holster to hold a notebook, business cards and pens, but until that day, I'm a pocket devotee. I also leverage the pockets in name badges, where available.
Multiple pens! Because you always loan one to a klepto or your favorite one runs out of ink. Lately, I've been debating picking up a silver jelly roll style one because everyone has these damn artsy fartsy black background business cards that are impossible to scribble notes to self on the back of, which brings me to...
Notes to self: OK, I don't do this in front of the person, but I try to periodically batch process my piles 'o cards so I remember the context I met people in (who does it make sense to follow up, friend, avoid like the plague?) you get the picture... which brings me to:
To Do Designation: In general, I capture 3 kinds of information. A. Notes for future reference B. time-sensitive action items C. stupid doodles to make an idea sink in or convince the dude sitting next to me I'm hella smart (or hella bad at drawing). I use boxes, arrows, and underlines to draw my attention to "B" time-sensitive action items and try to transfer them onto my to-do list asap.
- Systemic Management: Playing a sustained A game is really tough, especially with late nights fraternizing.
Water: I'm a huge fan of water because not only does it keep me from wilting, I can pack in a status water bottle if I'm feeling insecure, and if I drink enough, I always have a viable reason to excuse myself from a lame conversation.
Sleep: I know folks who like to pack hotel rooms like they would a burrow of hibernating mice. I say, "know thyself." I like to go to bed early, get up early, and recharge solo. A lot of time, having a personal asylum is way more valuable than cost savings from load balancing.
Exercise: A bit counterintuitive to prioritize this, but to drop one of my favorite Sandra Bernhardt quotes, "energy begets energy; it is by spending oneself that one becomes rich." A decent yoga session is a great way to recenter in the heady conference environment. If you're really in a pinch, my favorite hack is to stream 8 min [insert body part here] videos from the 80's for a good chuckle with my endorphins.
Food: With cookies and coke in high supply, this is a challenge to sustain. But trust me, you don't want to come off a sugar high in a dim room of an afternoon session... Particularly if you're jet lagged. Worst case, Starbucks sells decent oatmeal and bananas at a manageable price (by SBux standards).
P.S.
Lun Sophal is getting his recycling activities underwritten because I'm late in reposting...