I graduated college in May, and I've never been to a conference like this before.
Do you guys have any tips for getting the most out of one of these events? What to expect? Thing to do / not to do? Any advice would be much appreciated!
On a networking note, bring business cards of some sort. People forget your name, forget your face, but its hard to forget something physically given to you when you're genuinely interested in talking to the other person.
Besides email, do you list your twitter/linkedin or whatever social network account you use? Blog or website?
Any neat tweaks on business cards you've seen? (USB business cards? I remember the CD ones - people weren't going to use them as a CD anyways so I guess it's not such a great idea)
some bluetooth-enabled contact info from a cellphone app?
At DEFCON 17 I saw people use Bump on their phones to achieve this sort of thing without cards. At that same conference I actually came across a very cryptic card which ended up being a crazy puzzle game of sorts. That held my attention for a good 2 days.
Couple of ideas;
- include your picture also the one you use as your avavtar on social media if it is different
- if you have some graphics skills make a set of cards for each event you attend
Talk to everyone. Ask them about what they do, and what they're interested in. If you make any sort of connection, add people on Twitter, Facebook or whatever they prefer. Keep up with what they're doing, and help out if you can/want.
Go to the hackfests. Find different folks to eat with at every meal.
Notice how much I'm talking about people? Yeah, they're the most important part of a conference (and life in general).
Have an offline copy of the schedule, and don't count on the wifi staying up.
If it's not already, make sure your dev environment is fully set up.
Review the schedule, downloading, and perhaps installing any software/libraries mentioned in talks you find interesting, (saves you missing 10 minutes of the talk)
Realize that for a lot of things, a simple note that X exists and what it's called is enough for future research.
Roomshare. You'll learn a lot, and meet people you wouldn't otherwise.
Go to the sprints if you can. Go out with people in the evening.
Have fun!
Be well rested, mentally and physically prepared. Forget about drinking, drugs, coffee, soda, junk food, and late nights, starting now. When you get there, go to as much as possible, day and night, and take it all in. Get there early and stay late. Take advantage of related events and get-togethers (at night, especially). Minimize drinking, coffee, and junk food while you're there. Let your mind and body take your notes for you. Don't allow yourself to end up in crashing and missing anything. There will be plenty of time for that on November 14. Most of all, have fun. Don't wonder what could have been if you had planned properly.
Have caffeine if you've found that it helps you stay alert or be perky/whatever. Eat junk food for the same reason. Lots of carbs and proteins both work for me.
I don't know - I guess I just don't think of a conference in the same way as a marathon (which is what edw519's advice would apply to).You should absorb what you can but you should meet lots of folks and hang out.
Brush your teeth and have good hygiene. No one enjoys smelling you from 10 feet away. Smile. Wear your nametag. Take pictures with people and connect afterwards.
Enjoy and congrats!