Get in a better business.
I’ve had to fire people for conference shenanigans. One dude got drunk and tried to play grab-ass with hotel staff. They knew he worked for us and complained to us.
Another time at a company party two colleagues decided (after much booze) to skinny-dip in the hotel pool. One was reprimanded but the other was fired because it was a second offense of dumbassery.
That’s not my experience at all. Typically a conference for me is arrive on Sunday (Saturday if you want to pay on your own for a night at the hotel.) Do whatever. Starting Monday it’s 8-5 every day except Friday when you’ll end around noon. Fly out Friday afternoon. Typically one of those nights will have a ‘mixer’ for networking, sometimes 2 of them. Usually though after 5 is your own time to schedule or not schedule as you see fit. It’s not atypical to have an afternoon or morning where nothing applies to you that you can sneak out of for some day stuff in town if that appeals to you.
Did she win?
Well deployment is another issue because what of the spouses left back home?
The cool thing about military conferences, you didn’t have to leave on that Friday. You got paid to stay another night and leave on Saturday.
Business dinners don’t last all that long. There is plenty of opportunity if you want it.
I’ve been going to one conference for 38 years, and I’m an organizer, and if there were sexual shenanigans I’d know about them. Instances of people getting drunk, that I do know of.
We also have a depressingly low percentage of women attendees. Better than it used to be, but still low.
I’ve spoken at a few conferences where the attendees are primarily military. There were 600 attendees, but if you got 35 in a session room you were doing great. They all showed up for lunch and dinner, though. If anyone wanted to fool around, plenty of time, but I think they mostly played golf.
I was never in the military, but I’ve been told by more than one military wife that they had no idea married women cheated as much as they did until there was some kind of deployment.
As someone who has been married for 22 years without being unfaithful, I find the whole premise a bit insulting. I’ve traveled without my wife many times and nevertheless managed to avoid the lure of infidelity. I’m sure there are many other married folks who can say the same.
On the other hand, I’ve known people who’ve cheated on their spouses, and they did so whether they were traveling out of town or not. I don’t think geography figures too prominently in the equation.
Generally, staying quiet about what went on during deployment was honored. But I remember one guy who came back from Puerto Rico on the advance team and went around to guys’ homes and ratted on them to their wives. There was a huge mess when they got home and more than a few separations and divorces. The guy was blackballed on the next deployment, and openly threatened by some of the men. No idea why he thought that was a good idea.
As for corporate, I suppose there must have been that kind of thing going on, but I never saw it. I went on one trip to DFW with one of our finance people, and she and I drank down a bottle of Bombay in the hotel bar, but went to our separate rooms afterward. Never crossed my mind (or hers either, I’m sure) to have any sort of dalliance.
been to 11 conventions for work and the evenings were free but I never saw anything going on and was married for all 11 so I never looked for anyone to have fun with.
This is my experience as well. When my ex would comment that it must be nice to travel for work I would respond that conference room C at the Hilton in San Francisco look exactly like conference room C at the Hilton in Chicago and that’s where I’ll be when I’m not sleeping.
When working for the government I was having problems with one of the contractor’s program managers (female). My Boss (male) said he’d come to our next meeting and straighten things out.
They’ve been married about 20 years now…
Exactly the same as my experience with teacher’s union conventions.
I used to go to academic conventions. Research papers and all that.
The local host school would work out a great deal from the hotel. The hotel thought they were going to make it up on booze. Suckers. We are hard core computer nerds. At once place a manager walked around asking why we weren’t drinking like people at “normal” conventions.
I was always one to mind my own business. I never saw anything the least bit suggestive of any funny business going on. But it would have to been blatant to catch my eye.
I mean, we’d stay up late talking, playing pool or engaging in other activities. But carousing was something that Other People Did.
In my last job the employer hosted an annual offsite over a weekend, (including bringing staff from offices in different cities together), and the Saturday night was a gala dinner. The corporate culture was the cliched ‘work hard, play hard’ and as a result all sorts of shenigans ensued. The Sunday morning breakfast gossip was often about who wound up in who’s room. Which was extra awkward as all staff below Senior Manager level shared rooms, sometimes resulting in the unlucky sharer having to find somewhere else to sleep that night.
Well, maybe not inter-employee, but we do have a couple of company manufacturing locations in Rayong, Thailand. The only western-style hotels are in Pattaya, Thailand, so I saw all sorts of shenanigans going on. I would see married people that I respected in the hotel elevator with local women, and no discretion whatsoever.
No, no, that’s just the nerd’s definition of carousing.
Now, if you were hard core nerds, you would have gathered everyone in one hotel bedroom for an impromptu night of wild and passionate
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons
–G!
I have a strict “never sleep with my co-workers” policy, so would never screw around with anyone I work with - even though the opportunity presented itself once when I’ve traveled out of town with a female co-worker. It’s just not worth the possibility of losing my job, etc. I would also never drink too much in the presence of my co-workers, etc. - that’s another no…just doesn’t look good.
I did hear a story of a married co-worker who was screwing his boss (female) when they traveled out of town together. He ended up getting divorced - and ultimately fired (not sure what happened to his boss). My office has a strict no-dating policy when it comes to mangers dating their subordinates, since it could/will lead to favoritism.
However, I like sleeping with married women I don’t work with - when it’s “uncomplicated”, i.e. when they themselves are travelling out of town for work. I live in an area that hosts a lot of out of town conferences, etc. and it’s not that difficult to hook up with married women who are feeling “frisky” when the opportunity is there to do something without their spouses finding out. I’m extremely discreet & careful, and it’s especially nice if the women are not from my area & when we’re both on the same page re: this being a short-term affair 
Anyone who thinks that all women who travel out of town are faithful to their husbands is naive. The opportunity is there to have some casual fun, and many take advantage of this.
My wife’s married boss once propositioned her at a conference on the way home from the bar but she declined, though this was long before ai was in the picture.
I work in the spirits industry so conferences are pretty much one big event of passing bottles and flasks of whatever people are proud of. Its pretty much required to be a very social drinker. That being said I know people have hooked up but I’ve never witnessed anything inappropriate.