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A large conference such as Pittcon challenges you in your quest for information. But for that matter, you can even return from a small conference without all the information you planned to obtain. Here are some preparation tips.

Prepare Your Route
At some point, you will receive a map of the conference, complete with the layout of which booth is positioned where. At a small conference, you can typically wander back-and-forth between booths if you want to ask more questions. At a large conference, this is not the case. Pittcon has created a Laboratory Informatics area on the exhibition floor, and the LIMS product and service vendors are now mainly grouped into that area. You can almost treat that as a small conference. One word of warning, though, is that you can't count on all the LIMS vendors and LIMS service providers that have booths ending up in this area. If you are going to Pittcon to see more than just the LIMS vendors, you will see by looking at the map that the exposition floor is massive and getting between booths is not trivial.

At a large conference, it is helpful to take a look at your map and mark the booths you would like to visit. Using a highlighter pen works well. If the map has a bit of space for aisles, that will give you some room to write, and you can even check-off the booths you have been to and make notes to return, if necessary.

Prepare Your Questions
Think about what types of information you are looking for. Plan which vendors you would like a demo from. Keep in mind, though, that some vendors will give a demo on-demand, while others will post schedules. If you cannot see a demo when a vendor has scheduled it, some of those that post schedules might give an on-demand demo, depending on the situation. It never hurts to ask, of course.

Choose the questions you want to ask. You will not have the time or energy to ask every question on your RFP (Request For Proposal). You will also find that, as you ask your questions of a number of vendors, their answers will lead you to think of some new questions. Write these questions down. Consider whether you will go back and ask this question of other vendors to which you have already spoken, and consider whether it is necessary to go back to every vendor to which you have already spoken.

If you have an idea which vendors you would like to speak with, you might consider requesting their brochures or taking a look at their web-site before the conference. That might help you narrow-down your questions.

Ask for Information
If you are interested in a product, make sure that you ask for information to be sent to you. There is sometimes information in the brochures that you did not think to ask for. For these purposes, it is easiest if you present the vendor with your business card, except for conferences such as Pittcon, where the vendor merely swipes a plastic card that you'll receive when you check into the conference. Even when my card is swiped, some people will still ask for a business card, for various reasons.

If your position does not allow you to have a standard business card, see if your corporate rules will allow you to print your own. Plain business card stock for laser printers can be purchased at any office supply store. If your company does not allow this, either, you might see if you can get a stack of business cards from someone that could receive the information for you, such as your manager, or you can cross their name out and write-in your own, which is much faster than writing your corporate contact information down for each vendor.

Save Money by Planning Ahead
You can usually save money by planning ahead. Some conferences have a pre-registration fee. This is the conference fee that you pay if you get your payment in by a certain date ahead of the conference and is cheaper than the fee you will pay after that date.

You probably know that you're likely to save money on airfare if you plan ahead. You might save money on your rental car, as well because they sometimes go up in price when there is a big conference in town. You might pay a higher fee to the hotel if you wait, as well, as the reduced-rate rooms sometimes sell-out. It depends on the conference, but some conferences can only get a certain number of rooms at a discount. Another tip on getting a good price on a hotel room is to check with your corporate travel agent. American Express was once able to get me a room cheaper than the conference rate for the conference hotel.

Pace Yourself
These conferences are an opportunity to see the most, do the most and get the most information. You will have opportunities to network with other people in your own situation as well as the vendors. It is tempting to attempt to fill every moment of the day with these activities. In fact, you might feel pressured to come back with every piece of information that you can.

Think carefully about what it is that would be useful to bring back to your company. This is a better alternative than bringing back everything you can get your hands on, returning to work with so much information that you can't possibly get through it all.

Some of you are afraid that you will miss a vital piece of information and you operate under the idea that if you bring back more information than you need that you are less likely to miss something. No matter how much information you bring back, though, it is always possible to miss something. The vendors are not going anywhere but back to their offices. They and their web-sites will still be around to provide you with information after the conference. Think of the conference as just one tool to gather information. Beyond that, try to enjoy yourself.

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