Whew! Time was I could do three days straight of convention yackadoodlin’, hand shakin’ and millin’ about and still be up for the vendor’s open bar parties. I’ve now done just one day, with attendant cocktail parties, and I’m a whupped puppy.
And one more day to go.
But I still enjoy it, and, in fact, I think I’m better at it, as I’ve eschewed picking up everybody’s paper and am going home to mama (the corporado battlestar) with just three solid things to attack.
And renewing by now old acquaintace, over drinks, can be uplifting.
But man, I think I walked ten miles today. I’ve long since gotten over bauble collecting, but my pen inventory is taken care of for a bit.
As fun and sociable as it may seem, you’ve got to watch what you say.
Ah, well, back at it tomorrow. Then we start the nuts and bolts again.
So’d a convention ever lead to something significant for you?
[sub]*To the tune of Felix Pappalardi’s Tired Angels[/sub]
I’ve been an exhibitor and an attendee, though never at the same time.
I actually think I got more tired as a vendor.
Standing in the booth all day, basically tethered to a 20x20 square of carpet with no where to sit down (boss thought it looked “unprofessional” for us to sit).
Sometimes escaping to cruise the other booths or take a 20-minute lunch break. Wearing heels.
Then I had to go shmooze at the dinners & parties with customers & prospects. Never allowed to show that I’m tired or in a bad mood or in pain. The best was trying to hide your hangover the next day. It’s really easy to get hungover at these things after drinking very little - general fatigue, lack of sleep, dehydrated from too much caffeine & salty food.
The worst was getting back to the office after being at the conference for 8 days and having the cow-orkers convinced you’ve been on vacation, and not understanding why you need to take a couple of days off to make up for the fact that you just worked 3 weeks straight with no time off. And had to build & disassemble an enormous structure. Hard physical work on top of hard mental/emotional work.
On the flip side, I travelled with a great team, some of whom I only saw at conferences. Their companionship made up for many of the horrible things that come with being a vendor at these giant conferences.
You don’t get that same sense of comraderie as an attendee of a conference - or at least I never have. It’s much more on-your-own and a little lonely for me, even when I get the chance to catch up with old friends. Add to that the fatigue of doing the conference shuffle (walking walking walking) and I suppose it’s exhausting in a different way. I’m always ready to come home.
Hey Motorgirl, I can relate to much of what you say, having been on both sides of the table. When I had my own company and had a booth, I was flattened by 3½ days of that experience. And I’ll agree that the lone attendee (delegate?) experience is very different.
Either is subject to an attack of convention feet.
This time my company took a midpoint approach. We had a booth with nothing to show besides a banner with our company name and logo, contact info, etc.
It was great! Nobody was assigned booth duty and we just cruised the hall, knowing we had an oasis. Everytime I came back to the booth to rest, scores of folks dropped by. Heh, I did come back to it about 9:00 this morning to find some guy from another company using it to make a presentation. I barged in on that.
I used to have your problems. Then I learned the secret to happy convention feetsies.
Ecco shoes. They look damn good, you can get them cheap if you know where, and they feel like sneakers. Good sneakers. Also great in the snow. Never worry about the thin leather soles in dress shoes again.
OK, spill it. Where do you find Ecco shoes cheap? I’m a recent convert to the Church of Ecco, but I haven’t been able to find any deals, at least not on the web.
Just splurged on a pair of hiking-boot-kinda-things from Ecco and they are great! My wife has a similar pair that have lasted 5 or 6 years now and are still in terrific shape.
It’s this club thing. Uhm. It’s a collective, and… I can’t remember the name. Next time I talk to the parentals, they know. Starts with an S, I think, three words.