Lessons from my 2nd CHA

Now that I have returned from the blur of my second trip to CHA, I can share a few lessons learned on this longer trip to the show than my first.

Work-related Lessons:

• Talk to everyone you can and ask questions! I swear some of the best things I learned were from striking up conversations with people in places like meal lines and elevators.
• Rolling totes are definately worth their weight in gold! While they may be a bit hard to maneuver with at times, the overall experience is so much better than carrying a bag when you are picking up (literally) tons of catalogs.
• Smiles start at the feet. It is so much easier to smile at people when your feet don’t hurt, so it really is worth looking for two months for a pair of shoes that you can walk comfortably in all day.
• Keep business cards handy at all times. Even after hours and away from the Convention Center, you never know when you will find a great contact to exchange one with!
• Staying at a co-host hotel within walking distance is worth the pricetag. It saves precious time and energy and makes the day more productive.
• Prioritize. Don’t try to see everything. It simply isn’t possible.
• Sleep is not optional. By the last day you will have no idea what you are looking at anymore if you have had too many short nights and long days (not to mention jet lag).
• Plan your last day. Sit down with a map the night before and put marks on all the booths you still need to get to. Then spend that day working your way systematically from one end of the floor to the other to all of the spots that you marked.
• Some of the best opportunities happen by chance. Pay attention to what is going on around you (and who is around you) so you don’t miss one!
• Appointments can be very productive. Make sure that you have made appointments with people that you definitely want to see if at all possible.
• Bring a badge holder attached to the badge at two corners. It turns around less often so people can read your badge easier and see who you are.
• Organization is an important tool. Being organized saves time and makes your trip more efficient and productive.
• Dress nicely. Dressing like a professional tells others at the show that you take yourself and your business seriously and will affect the way that you are treated by booth staff and others, even if they don’t realize it.

Miscellaneous Lessons:

• Singles go fast! I think that half of the cash I used was spent in the form of dollar bills given for tips or put into vending machines.
• Catalogs are extremely heavy by airline standards. My small suitcase just barely made the weight limit when it was full of catalogs on the trip home.
• I don’t know how I ever lived without wireless internet. I used it at the convention center, and multiple airports to access the internet from my palm handheld and to post the live updates from the show floor along with the pictures from the booths.
• Dress in layers. We can send probes out of the solar system but we apparently can’t figure out how to evenly heat or cool a convention space.
• Internet Cafes are great spots for printing boarding passes. The 5 page printing limit at the CHA internet cafe was perfect for printing out my itinerary and boarding passes for the trip home and saved time at the airport (and helped me get great seats too).
• One of these things is not like the other. In a hotel full of crafters and nuclear scientists, it is pretty easy to tell one from the other.
• It’s HOW much? Even in a $160/night hotel, $3 still seems excessive for a vending machine soda.
• Red-eye flight is a misnomer. Black-eye flight would be a better term for it, after the dark circles you end up with the next day that no concealer will hide.

And edited to add a few I missed this morning (proof that sleep is NOT optional, as mentioned above):

• Women pay attention to restroom locations before they need them. Men do not.
• Make sure you have a little cash left over when you get home. It makes it easier to pay the pizza delivery guy.