Conference Hack

Business and travel tips for people attending conferences, tradeshows, conventions, and meetups

Archives for November 2018

Julie Gurner Keynote on Video

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Dr. Julie Gurner, Doctor of Clinical Psychology, delivered the keynote address at Affiliate Summit East 2014 in New York City on Tuesday, August 12, 2014.

Missy Ward, Dr. Julie Gurner, and Shawn Collins

The title of Dr. Gurner’s talk was “Accomplish What Matters: 8 Tips Backed by Neuroscience”, and this keynote was unique in that we had a live artist illustrating the speech as it was delivered.

Dr. Julie Gurner keynote illustration

Also, this wasn’t standard marketing conference keynote content, which is one of the reasons it was awesome – also, Dr. Gurner is super smart and has amazing information to share.

Watch and learn why multitasking isn’t really possible, the importance of Circadian rhythm, and how dream boards are not good for you.

Attending keynote speeches can be valuable because you can gain and implement some knowledge right away or act on inspiration from the talk, as well as have the unique opportunity to get face time with the speaker.

Work Out Your Conference Schedule

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When the agenda is finalized online for the conference, you can start figuring out your schedule, so you know when you’ll be occupied and which times are available for meetings.

Conference meeting schedule

Read through all of the session titles and descriptions, as well as the speakers for each, and pick your favorites. When I do this, it’s a mix of the topics and people I want to see.

Start setting up meetings in advance in 15-30 minute slots as soon as you can, because the schedules of your fellow organized people tend to fill up fast.

Reach out to your contacts to let them know you will be at the conference, and that you are available to meet.

Mention that you’ll be there on your Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Twitter accounts, so people know you’re there, and you might be able to set up times with folks you’ve wanted to meet and didn’t realize they’d be attending, too.

Also, you can certainly drop in randomly at the exhibit hall booths of companies you want to meet, but you’re more likely to get time with the right person if you book a specific time before the conference.

Install the Conference App

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Find out if the conference has an app, and if they do, be sure in install it on your phone and/or tablet in advance of the conference.

Here is an example of the Networker app from Affiliate Summit that solves a problem many networking apps have – it includes a large photo to make it easy to identify the person you’re trying to meet at the conference.

Networker app from Affiliate Summit

A typical conference app will include the agenda, scheduling tools, networking functionality, speaker bios, and details on the sponsoring and exhibiting companies.

This can be invaluable during a conference, so you don’t have to keep a copy of the physical program.

Also, if there is a capability for networking, you should set up whatever you can in advance, so you can get optimal use of the app at the conference.

Cory Booker Keynote on Video

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Cory Booker, US Senator from New Jersey, delivered the keynote address at Affiliate Summit East 2008 in Boston on Monday, August 11, 2008.

Missy Ward, Cory Booker, and Shawn Collins

Lots of people thought it was an odd choice when we announced Cory Booker would be keynoting at Affiliate Summit. At the time he was the Mayor of Newark, NJ and wasn’t yet a household name.

But I’d met him back in 2001 through a mutual acquaintance who was looking for somebody to help run his website during his first mayoral run. I happened to be a political junkie who was willing to create and run his website for free, so I was “hired”.

Anyhow, during that election cycle, which was captured in a fascinating documentary called Street Fight, I got to know Cory and see him speak many times.

I was thoroughly impressed by his speaking style and figured he would be inspirational and challenging for our audience.

As a side note, Cory became a Twitter superstar less than a year after keynoting Affiliate Summit. When he was interviewed about it, he would say how Ashton Kutcher encouraged him to get on Twitter.

However, as we were walking out of Affiliate Summit after his keynote, Missy Ward and I pushed Cory to get on Twitter, and he joined that month. Whatever, Ashton.

Attending keynote speeches can be valuable because you can gain and implement some knowledge right away or act on inspiration from the talk, as well as have the unique opportunity to get face time with the speaker.

Get CityPASS When You Visit Cities for Conferences

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The next time you are heading to an out of town conference check and see if you can build in a day or two there to enjoy the city with CityPASS.

New York City from the top of the Freedom Tower

CityPASS is a service that sells discounted ticket packages to top tourist attractions in various North American metropolitan areas.

They are currently available in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Southern California, Tampa Bay, and Toronto.

So, many of the cities you are likely to hit for a conference, except maybe Las Vegas and Orlando.

An example of the CityPASS for NYC is that you have a choice of two packages – one has three preset tickets:

  • The Empire State Building
  • American Museum of Natural History
  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art

And then three options for other places to visit:

  • Top of the Rock Observation Deck OR Guggenheim Museum
  • Ferry Access to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island OR Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises
  • 9/11 Memorial & Museum OR Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum

Alternatively, you could choose a lower cost CityPASS when you can go to three attractions from a list of ten options.

Either way, it’s a great deal compared to buying individual tickets to these attractions, plus it streamlines the effort of booking tickets at multiple places.