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Ask HN: How to get the most out of a programming conference?

8 points by waxman ↗ HN
I just won tickets to RubyConf from Heroku. (Thanks again, guys!)

I graduated college in May, and I've never been to a conference like this before.

Do you guys have any tips for getting the most out of one of these events? What to expect? Thing to do / not to do? Any advice would be much appreciated!

9 comments

[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 18.4 ms ] thread
abyssknight
Most of the conferences I've gone to (i.e. DEFCON, BlackHat, etc) I've benefited from turning off the laptop, silencing my phone, and listening. There is no way you will grasp everything that is covered at a conference, and especially so if you aren't paying 100% attention to the presentations. A little dead-tree notebook and pencil/pen is enough. Learned that the hard way toting 10lbs of gadgets around my first year at DEFCON.

On a networking note, bring business cards of some sort. People forget your name, forget your face, but its hard to forget something physically given to you when you're genuinely interested in talking to the other person.

GFischer
How are business cards done these days?

Besides email, do you list your twitter/linkedin or whatever social network account you use? Blog or website?

Any neat tweaks on business cards you've seen? (USB business cards? I remember the CD ones - people weren't going to use them as a CD anyways so I guess it's not such a great idea)

some bluetooth-enabled contact info from a cellphone app?

abyssknight
On mine I listed my email, urls to related sites or projects, twitter id, and my Google Voice account phone number. Most of all, if you can make your cards relevant to the event, do that! Much easier to remember where you got the card from that way, which leads to better ROI of sorts.

At DEFCON 17 I saw people use Bump on their phones to achieve this sort of thing without cards. At that same conference I actually came across a very cryptic card which ended up being a crazy puzzle game of sorts. That held my attention for a good 2 days.

mikebradshaw
your call :) but they need to remind the person you give them too of you, so copying the "classic" look is not a great plan imho. I use Claimid.com (there are others out there like about.me) as a "home" URL so that people can link up in a way that best suits them. I would check out moo.com whatever you decide. Simple, low cost and classy looking (oh and the small ones stick out)

Couple of ideas;

- include your picture also the one you use as your avavtar on social media if it is different

- if you have some graphics skills make a set of cards for each event you attend

gaustin
The talks will be fun and informative. Enjoy them, but don't get distracted taking notes.

Talk to everyone. Ask them about what they do, and what they're interested in. If you make any sort of connection, add people on Twitter, Facebook or whatever they prefer. Keep up with what they're doing, and help out if you can/want.

Go to the hackfests. Find different folks to eat with at every meal.

Notice how much I'm talking about people? Yeah, they're the most important part of a conference (and life in general).

jwhitlark
Twitter work great at conferences, (actually, it's about the only time I use it), for getting/posting msgs like "I'm hacking on Z in room X."
jwhitlark
Going way back, and in no particular order:

Have an offline copy of the schedule, and don't count on the wifi staying up.

If it's not already, make sure your dev environment is fully set up.

Review the schedule, downloading, and perhaps installing any software/libraries mentioned in talks you find interesting, (saves you missing 10 minutes of the talk)

Realize that for a lot of things, a simple note that X exists and what it's called is enough for future research.

Roomshare. You'll learn a lot, and meet people you wouldn't otherwise.

Go to the sprints if you can. Go out with people in the evening.

Have fun!

edw519
Start your preparation now. You only have 6 days left.

Be well rested, mentally and physically prepared. Forget about drinking, drugs, coffee, soda, junk food, and late nights, starting now. When you get there, go to as much as possible, day and night, and take it all in. Get there early and stay late. Take advantage of related events and get-togethers (at night, especially). Minimize drinking, coffee, and junk food while you're there. Let your mind and body take your notes for you. Don't allow yourself to end up in crashing and missing anything. There will be plenty of time for that on November 14. Most of all, have fun. Don't wonder what could have been if you had planned properly.

ScottWhigham
I think I'm the opposite of edw519 - I'm going the conference to hang out, absorb as much as I can, and have fun. Nothing about edw519's advice appeals to me - makes it like work. A conference should be fun and yes, crashing is part of it. You can't absorb everything and if you go into a conference thinking that you must "prepare" or your will forever "wonder what could have been if you had planned properly", you will get depressed/upset when you find your brain has turned to mush at 4:15 on day three.

Have caffeine if you've found that it helps you stay alert or be perky/whatever. Eat junk food for the same reason. Lots of carbs and proteins both work for me.

I don't know - I guess I just don't think of a conference in the same way as a marathon (which is what edw519's advice would apply to).You should absorb what you can but you should meet lots of folks and hang out.

Brush your teeth and have good hygiene. No one enjoys smelling you from 10 feet away. Smile. Wear your nametag. Take pictures with people and connect afterwards.

Enjoy and congrats!