Business and Conference Travel

In just a little over 24 hours, I’m hopping on a plane first class to Atlanta.  Yes, I’m flying in style that is if I score the upgrade.  We’ve been sharing tips, tricks, and hints all this week about the 2012 SHRM Annual Conference.  The 3 plus days of the conference are action packed filled with parties, sessions, and conference swag out the wazzo.  Business conferences like these are great educational, professional, and personal opportunities.  But here are 5 things you may have forgotten, overlooked, or just spaced out when it comes the annual HR Conference.

• Download the Mobile App.  Just do it now because I guarantee when you actually do remember, you’ll be low on memory or your 3G just won’t seem to connect.  So take a proactive approach and download the conference app for your phone NOW.  Download for apple, or Google, or the interactive web version.

• SHRM Hotel Shuttle Schedule.  Bookmark this bad boy some way some how.  Because I guarantee if you don’t, you’ll forget and you end up paying for an overpriced cab and your boss is probably a stickler when it comes to expense reports.  Better yet, check out the Marta Train Schedule.  That’s the Atlanta Subway.  It’s clean, on time, and can get you where you need to go. You a travel to your hotel from the airport in style.

• SHRM Childcare.  If you were brave or crazy enough to bring the kiddos, check out the information on childcare for the conference.  You may laugh but at least one of my friends is turning her conference trip into a family vacation.  For us small business owners, that’s a taxable business expense.

• Meet to Eat.  SHRM is a great networking opportunity and the conference creates opportunities to do so.  Meet to Eat is an organized dinner during the conference at a type of restaurant of your choosing with complete strangers who also happen to be attending the conference.  Taking advantage of Meet to Eat gets you out of your comfort zone and allows you a structured way to meet new people.  I highly recommend it.

• First Aid Kit.  I recommend stocking up on a few items before you leave for the conference like Advil, band aids, sewing kit, tissues, and anti-bacterial wipes.  These come in handy for a number of reasons.  Every single conference I have attended the past 3 years, I’ve needed one of these things.  And given my recent track record of random conference allergy attacks, it doesn’t hurt to bring some Zyrtec too. You can always check out some more tips on conference travel here.

See you at the SHRM HR Conference in Atlanta!