“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt
By my estimates, the total number of miles walked by participants by the end of each MACUL conference equals 2.75 times the distance from the earth to the moon. I mean, really, there’s a ton of walking! Unfortunately, much of it would be considered aimless wandering and meandering by participants who aren’t sure where they’re going. I’m not talking about being lost, I’m talking about people with no destination.
In order to get the most out of attending the MACUL conference, you really need to spend some quality time planning your strategy. Cobo Hall is too large for you to make it up as you go along. You’ll never see what you want to see!
“He who fails to plan, plans to fail.”
-Source unknown
There are many resources and strategies for laying out your plan. Here are a few from me:
Take a look at the Program Book before the conference.
It’s on the web, right here, a full two weeks before the conference. You don’t want the first time opening it be during Thursday’s keynote. It’s like opening a good book, once you start you’ll have a hard time putting it down. Then you’ll miss Alan November…and he’s pretty funny. Come back to the Program Book often and narrow down your session choices.
Use the At-a-Glance Schedule…or whatever it’s called.
The Program Book is very important, but it can be unwieldy as you’re moving from session to session. So…once you get to the conference, dig down into your Green Bag (or maybe they’ll be Black this year. w00t!) and dig out the single sheet that shows a matrix of all the sessions for each day and where they’re located. Since you’ve been looking closely at the Program Book, you should be ready to circle the sessions your planning on attending.
Backup! Backup! Backup!
Without a doubt you’ll find, that for whatever reason, a session you chose to attend isn’t going to be one of the ones you’re actually going to attend. Maybe it’s a BYOL session and it’s full. Perhaps you discover that you already know the topic. Whatever. Now what are you going do? This isn’t the time for last-second decision making! During your planning, pick one or even two “backup sessions” per time slot. That way, when Option #1 falls to pieces, you’re ready to act!
- If you’re really on top of things, you’ll try to identify backup sessions that are close by your first choice. Otherwise, you’ll waste all your time hoofing it from D3-19 to Michigan Hall. (Not gonna happen.)
“I love it when a plan comes together.”
-John “Hannibal” Smith
I’m sure there are other strategies and tips that seasoned attendees could add (and please do btw), but this is a great place to begin. With a little thought beforehand you can maximize your experience.
The A-team reference is priceless, but your advice is so spot on. I always walk conference newcomers from my building through the guide the week before the conference, otherwise I know they’ll spend a lot of time just wandering around and missing out on a lot of great stuff!
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Great Advice!!!
Backup is very important. Sometimes you just can’t make it all the way or you sit down in a session and find it’s not what you thought it was. So definitely have a back up session scoped out.
Get recommendation. Sounds like you have been there a time or two.
In the conference planning, extensive care is given to plan the best possible experience for all. If you don’t look carefully at the program (as Kevin suggested) to see ALL that is there and develop your strategy, you may miss some real jewels.
See you all next week.
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I am going to be a first timer. I am having a bit of trouble sorting through and figuring out which sessions are pay and which are included. I see some that I would like to go to and then I think…is this one of those special interest meetings??? Any help?
Sure Josh…here’s what you have to pay for…to the best of my knowledge.
-Wednesday Pre-Conference sessions. I think they’re around $65 per half-day session.
-Hands-on workshops. On Thursday and Friday there are two hour hands-on workshops. They cost $40 and you have to pre-register.
That’s all, I think. The reception Thursday night is free, unless you want to pay the extra $14 to see the Star Trek exhibit. Everything else is part of the package.
Kevin’s got you covered, Josh. I just looked through the Conference Book again, and you’re right, it is a bit confusing, as there isn’t a clear heading that says “OPEN” or “FREE” sessions. But if you notice,, directly below the time it will either say HANDS-ON WORKSHOPS or it will say nothing, If it says nothing but the session names below the time, then it’s a free session
Thanks guys-
I won’t be able to pay for anything extra- and didn’t register for anything besides baseline conference, but still want to get the most out of it. Any suggestions on which sponsored events are “don’t miss” or even sessions for that matter???
Most people do exactly what you’re doing…that’s the conference, really.
If you have a specific topic you want to learn more about, then look for that in the session descriptions and get some of those on your list.
If you’re looking to absorb anything and be inspired, then hit a lot of the featured speakers.
Another strategy is to look for presenters who teach at your level or subject area and see what innovative things they’re doing.
Sounds like the Thursday night thing at the Detroit Science Museum (or whatever it’s called…sorry official MACUL people) is going to be fun, so make sure you hit that as well.
And don’t forget the vendor area…it’s nice to see some of the latest hardware or software tools. Plus you may need some extra pens and some of the chocolate that they hand out!