Ways to Save a Bad Time at a Conference

This is a pretty timely post today. A lot of my colleagues are sitting at a conference and complaining about some of the issues they’re experiencing on Twitter. Good thing I decided to sit this one out. I was happy to “attend” via Twitter at my home office in my robe and slippers thus saving myself a bad time.
So what can my unlucky counterparts do to save themselves and their conference experience? Here are a few suggestions:
Network. Take the time to get to know people during the breaks and network, network, network. Ask someone who is the same boat to get some coffee at the concession area. Ask them about their work. Pretend you’re a journalist taking it all down. You never know who you might meet by just asking some simple questions about what they do and what makes them get up in the morning everyday to do it.
Tweet. Get on Twitter and follow the conference hashtag. (What? No #hashtag? Make one up and spread it around to the people sitting near you!) See what other people are saying. Keep up with what the main theme of the tweets. If other people are unhappy, you might want to find a place to meet up and have your own unconference sessions in the lobby or eating areas.
Take pictures. This is a great way to meet people and will also give you something creative to do. If you have a video camera, do some impromptu interviews. People are always flattered to become the subject of a blog post and might share some great info. You may not use any of the pictures or footage but you might just learn something new from someone else you talk to.
Leave. Time is precious. If you have better things to do, leave and get them done. If you’ve traveled to the conference, take the time to sightsee. Learn more about the new city your visiting. Take the time to catch up with projects, emails, calls, blog posts. This is protected time you’ve captured for yourself anyway. Might make sense to make the most of it in other ways.
Feedback. Make sure to give the organizers honest feedback on how they could make the conference better in the future and where they fell short. This can be hard sometimes, but its valuable feedback for everyone. The organizers want to give everyone the best experience they can. Only by receiving honest, polite feedback can they make the changes they need in the future. Encourage others who aren’t enjoying the conference to do the same.
In the end, you can only save yourself. You might want to think about what you expected to get out of the conference and where it fell short. Did you expect too much? Did the conference not meet the description and advertised promises? Is the material too ahead of where your knowledge lies or too basic for your needs? Are you just having a bad day? Taking the time to identify the cause will help you avoid experiencing the same bad time at future conferences.