Back when I first started going to conferences, the
schedules typically ran 9 or 9:30 to 4 or 4:30. I used to bring a book to read
in the evenings in case I didn’t like what was on TV. Then I started getting
invited to dinners and parties and planning meetings and conference days got a
lot longer for me. But what I’ve noticed recently is that conference days are
getting a lot longer for everyone. People have come all this way and are
willing to pack a lot into each day. I’m writing this on the last day of
CppCon
where there is content starting at 8am and running until 10pm. There's even content over the two hour lunch break! That’s
a long day, and a bunch of them in a row makes for a long long week. So here
are some tips for how to handle that kind of week. I’m going to be specific to
CppCon, because I think a lot of my readers should attend it, but other
conferences will have equivalents to everything I’m mentioning here; I’ll let
you do the mapping yourself.
First, have a schedule. Weeks before the conference, mark
out what talks you want to attend. Have a goal of selecting two talks in most
time slots. Then if your first choice is not as good as you expected, or the
room is full and you don’t want to stand, you know exactly where to go for your
second choice. Have that schedule in your pocket – on your phone, or on a piece
of paper – so you have no lost time figuring out where to go. (CppCon uses Sched, which mails you each day's schedule in the morning, making it easy to have with you.) Don’t be the
person who shows up at 9 only to learn there were sessions at 8. Check the
schedule at least once a day during the conference in case things are being
added. Tip: things are being added, you can count on it.
Second, plan ahead to take care of the physical body that is
carrying your brain from session to session. It’s really a simple matter to
have a few granola bars and a bottle of water in your bag. If you miss a snack,
you can still have something to eat or drink. Bring a light sweater in case you
are in the cold room. Bring some painkillers if you might get a headache from
sitting somewhere loud. Bring whatever little comforts you need to keep
yourself from getting whiny and leaving early to go to your peaceful hotel room
and watch TV. (That said, there’s always one day in a one-week conference where
I go back to my room for an afternoon nap. It’s the only way I can stay
functional during long and intellectually-intense days. Just make sure you’re
doing it for a brain recharge and not for something you could have avoided by
bringing a small item with you to the conference centre.)
Third, think about how you’re going to take notes. A paper
notebook? Bring a spare pen, too. Your phone? Your laptop? Or are you just
going to immerse yourself in the experience and use the videos if you want to
check something later? Whatever your plan is, bring what you need to be able to
use it. Power is always a challenge at conferences – I like to bring an
external battery for my phone so it can charge in my bag. Think about what your
bag is going to weigh and consider leaving the laptop at the hotel and getting
by with a phone and some paper for notes. It’s really liberating not to be
lugging a heavy bag, in fact surprisingly so.
Fourth, before you arrive (at the latest, on the plane to
the conference) write up your goals for the conference. Do you want to meet
people? Specific people, or some number of people, or people from a particular industry?
Do you want to learn something specific? (Perhaps this is the year to
understand SFINAE, or be able to follow along in a talk that includes template
meta programming, or “get” those Haskell jokes people are always telling.) Maybe you want to tell people about something?
Tweet some number of times? Blog some number of times? Have a plan. Have goals. Check yourself
against these goals each morning, and adjust your plan for the day if you need
to, so that you move towards those goals each day.
When you arrive at the conference, scout out the amenities.
Where are the bathrooms? Are there tables and chairs? Are there tables and
chairs with power? On Day 1, pay close attention to the food and drink pattern.
Is coffee always available, or only at certain times? Where does the food
appear? Knowing this will take away any worry you may be carrying around that
you may miss something and not get another chance at it. It will also save you
from taking extras of things and lugging them around all day when you don’t
really need them. I also like to work out patterns related to what rooms I’ll
be in – that I’ll be on the same floor all afternoon, for example. It just
makes me feel a little more settled and centred.
Looking after your body doesn’t stop with what you planned
and what you brought. I start each day with 5 minutes of stretching which makes
a big difference to how I feel all day. I also try to use the stairs instead of
the escalators – less lining up and it makes me feel better too. I go ahead and
eat the snacks, many of which are not part of my normal day (brownies in the
afternoon? bag of chips at lunch?) but not to excess. CppCon has fruit and
other options that are not all about fat, sugar, and caffeine, and it’s often a
smart choice to go with those rather than the straight-up treats. Try not to
get too far from normal. If you normally have 5 cups of coffee a day, then you
can do that during the conference, but if you’re a one-cup-a-day person,
perhaps don’t go beyond 2 or 3 a day while you’re here. Same advice for alcohol
– if you dramatically increase your consumption over the course of the week,
you’re likely to feel uncomfortable by the time Thursday or Friday rolls
around. The one thing you should be sure to take in more of than usual is water
– whether you’re eating more sugar than usual, drinking more caffeine and alcohol
than usual, or just walking a lot more than usual from room to room in a conference
centre, extra water is what you need to compensate. If you grab a bottle of
water at a snack break, hang on to it when it’s empty – typically most
conference rooms have a watercooler or bubbler by the door where you can refill
that bottle whenever you want. Can’t stand water? Bring something to flavour it
with – pick up some powders or drops at home and try them out to see which one
you like. It’s way more efficient than hanging around hoping that this is the
break they have juice at, or leaving the conference centre on a half hour walk
for a convenience store.
As the conference goes on, be aware of how you are spending
your time. For example, if you check your email during a session, but then take
a peek at Twitter, and then at your personal Facebook – are you even really in
the session anymore? Don’t be afraid to leave if this is not the session for
you. You can go to another one, or talk to other attendees out in the hall, or
go back to the hotel for a one hour nap. Almost anything is better than
ignoring a speaker and killing time on your laptop or phone. And if you’re not
prepared to leave, then perhaps you just need to start paying more attention to
the session – assuming it’s material you actually are interested in. Take a
look at those goals you wrote. Have you tweeted recently? Blogged? Learned that
thing? Met enough people? Will staying in this session and listening meet your
goals, or should you go out to the hall and work on a goal? Are you just
chatting with your own coworkers, or someone you’ve known for years? Building
and strengthening relationships is great, of course. That doesn’t mean that
discussing the football game with your cubicle-mate is a good use of your time
at a place you flew 5 hours to attend. Maybe you can walk around and find a way
to join a conversation with a speaker or someone else you wouldn’t normally
meet. Just standing there listening can be very enlightening even if you don’t
end up saying much.
If you’re not normally a tweeter, blogger, or
talker-to-strangers, a conference is a great place to start. There are
immediate benefits. Perhaps your question will be answered, or your point will
be repeated and quoted, or you’ll make a new friend or business connection.
This will give you reinforcement for doing that, of course. As you meet your goals,
make a record of that, so you can easily answer questions about what you
learned or accomplished during the conference. Consider writing a summary when
you’re done – for yourself, or for whoever funded the trip. A chronological
structure is natural – Monday morning I went to a talk called X and learned Y
or met Z, at lunch Monday I talked to A and B who encouraged me to look into C,
Monday afternoon I went to a talk on C – but be sure to have an executive
summary that reads a little less like a diary. Start writing it during the
conference and polish it on the trip home. Once you get back to the office,
writing that summary is going to get harder and harder, so don’t put it off.
Attending conferences is a great way to boost your career –
when you do it well you learn a lot in a short time, meet luminaries of your
industry and people just like you, raise your profile and your confidence, and have
a wonderful time. When you do it poorly, you get tired, hungover, lonely,
overwhelmed, and bored. Put in the effort to plan and prepare, and you will be
in a great position to reap the rewards.