My very first business trip, wrap-up
Sep. 25th, 2011 04:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eveglassI'm sitting in business class on a train headed back to Montreal, so I suppose that means the conference is really and truly over. I thought at this juncture it might be useful to wrap up with some thoughts I've collected over the course of the week.
Thoughts on Living in a Hotel
- The thing about waking up before sunrise, ending work after sunset, and having the registration desk placed in the interior of the hotel is that I could go days at a time without seeing natural light. I'm sure that did nothing for my mental state.
- Temptation abounds, both in terms of food and amenities. There was always something else I could be paying for. Thankfully, I'm a naturally frugal person, so I didn't take advantage of most of them, though the (free) hotel bathrobes were very comfy.
- Despite paying $15 a day for internet (or, rather, having my organization pay $15 per day for internet), it wasn't a very good connection. I think I've got better service here on the train, and that's saying something. I have a ton of bookmarks to check out when I get home because it was useless trying to access any sort of video from the hotel. I expected better.
- One of the consequences of staying in a business hotel is I saw almost no children all week. I didn't realize that until I saw a few today sitting in the lobby and it struck me how odd I found the juxtaposition.
- Even though the hotel makes a big deal of their eco-friendly restaurants, I found the housekeeping to be not terribly eco-friendly. They'd do things like replace my towels by default, which strikes me as odd in this day and age.
- The hot tub was great, and I'm sorry I made it out to use it only once, but in the end it was just a hot tub.
Thoughts on Hotel and Conference Food
- Oh, dear God, I ate too much sugar! I really miss my breakfasts of toast with peanut butter. I don't understand how people can start the day off with a muffin or danish. And then there were the desserts with lunch and dinner, and also the mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks. Even if I didn't eat everything, I still consumed far more sugar this past week than probably the previous month combined.
- I don't think I drank enough water.
- I felt guilty about leaving food, which was a bad mental state to be in, given that they just kept bringing us more. If I do this sort of thing more, I need to learn to not feel guilty about leftover food.
- All the food was very expensive. $30 breakfasts, $30 hamburger from room service, etc. You know it's expensive when Starbucks seems like the cheap option. Despite that, I still can't figure out how my counterparts last year managed to spend $3,000 on food and drink in a week.
- Unusually for me, I drank alcohol this week. Three whole glasses. I'm a lush, I know. (Seriously, I don't remember the last time I had three glasses of wine in a week.)
- Lots of chicken and fish this week, not so much beef. The hamburger on Friday night was divine.
General Thoughts on Working the Conference
- Travelling on VIA One is awesome. I could definitely get used to this.
- Working the conference was very tiring. The 5:45 mornings were killers. I'm really, really glad I'm not an event planner; Christian the Event Planning Coworker was routinely putting in 18-hour days.
- As a direct result of the above point, I came to appreciate the power of naps.
- The hotel staff were extremely helpful, especially our liaisons. Our morning guy, Abdul, was just great and always made sure we had everything we needed. I imagine if we had a different (less helpful) set of staff, the week would have been much more difficult.
- One of the consequences of working a conference is that I got into lots of discussions comparing us to other conferences. There was apparently a conference of oncology nurses last week that was much lower budget than us, making us look really good. On the flip-side was the Sibos conference, running at the same time as us, for international bankers. They had million-dollar exhibition booths that flew in a barista from Amsterdam to make morning coffee, and gave out free briefcases as swag. That made our conference feel kind puny. As with everything, it's what you compare it to.
- I apparently have different expectations of business travel from Agneta the Boss and Christian the Event Planning Coworker. Whereas I was awed by the pre-con meeting (in which we had 15 department managers standing to greet us), Christian and Agneta were annoyed that the general manager wasn't there and they didn't serve coffee. I thought the hotel room was pretty standard, they complained about the cramped bathrooms. I actually caught myself doing something similar as I boarded the train just now, wondering where the greeter was to lift my bag onto the train. It's like Louis CK says: everything's amazing and nobody's happy. Gotta watch out for those creeping expectations.
- When people got things wrong (e.g. our exhibitors thinking the set-up time was 4:00 instead of 8:00, or our poster presenters assuming they had two days, not one), Christian and Agneta said that they "need to learn to read." My grandfather once told me that if someone doesn't understand you, the fault isn't on their end, it's on yours. I don't think that reflection would have gone over well with my coworkers right at that moment, though.
- I didn't see much of the guy who's gonna be my new boss in November. I sorta wish he'd found the time to exchange more than three sentences with me over the course of the conference.
Thoughts on Working the Registration Desk
- I had a very minor power trip in being one of only three people in the hotel with access to our boardroom. On the other hand, it meant a lot of interrupted lunches as I had to keep getting up to open the door.
- It was very useful to have a wifi-enabled computer and printer at the registration desk, allowing me to print extra badges on the spot and access our database. It also let me check my mail when things were slow and show the news segments that featured us to people who were interested.
- After the initial Wednesday-morning rush, most of my job consisted of sitting around, chatting with my staff, and answering questions. I needed to be there, but we didn't do much.
- As a corollary, ten hours of small talk a day is tiring!
- Though I wasn't working with "the public," per se, I did have to deal with the occasional angry "customer." I got quite good at deflecting the ones I couldn't deal with to someone who could (usually Christian). That said, it's true what they say: you can't always get what you want. Some people just have unreasonable requests.
- Given that we were serving more as an information desk than a registration desk for most of the conference, it was annoying that Christian didn't keep me up-to-date on the latest developments, like time changes to the schedule. It was fun learning answers to questions as I went, but it would have been nicer to learn them beforehand.
Thoughts on Managing My Staff
- If anything, working with my staff felt like organizing the servers at an SCA feast: they're all volunteers so you can't really boss them around much, and you have to play nice. That said, they were all friendly and willing to help, so things worked out well.
- I apparently need to be more clear in giving out instructions, or have a five-minute briefing with my staff before they come on. I blame myself for the fact that the exhibitor packages didn't get handed out like they were supposed to (though we worked it out in the end).
Thoughts on Managing My Boss
- I learned very early on that I should only approach my boss with an issue after it's been resolved, or after every possible other avenue has been explored. When Christian the Event Planning Coworker walked by, I always had a list of questions for him. When Agneta the Boss walked by and asked how things were going, the answer was always, "Things are great!"
- It was interesting going behind my boss's back to do what she wanted done but was too nice to say, like setting up the registration table in the Imperial Room on Saturday, where all the people were but far from our boardroom. (She had wanted me to set up my table near the boardroom and far from the people, "Because I don't want you carrying heaving things all the way across the hotel.") Sometimes you just gotta do the right thing and take responsibility for it.
- Dealing with a diabetic boss at a conference is challenging. She gets distracted or busy and forgets to eat, and that added to the stress meant that her sugars were going wonky all week. Christian and I needed to keep an eye on her to be sure she was eating.
Thoughts on People-Watching and People-Meeting
- Particularly because of the Sibos conference, I saw a lot of extremely well-put-together people. You can really tell who's used to being in formal business clothes (i.e. international bankers) and who isn't (e.g. lab techs and nurses).
- As a corollary, I need to rethink my business clothes. I was certainly well-enough put together for this conference, but if I ever work at a professional office again, I'll need more.
- Most people wear blacks or greys. It was fun being "the lady in red," even if it did stain my t-shirt.
- I actually had someone present me his business card with two hands. (Like this.) It was so weird, and was the single gesture of the whole week that made me feel like I was ten pay grades higher.
Thoughts on Seeing Friends
- Trying to maintain a social life while working a conference is extremely tricky. At least I ended at a reasonable hour every day. I couldn't have done it if I were the event planner.
- After a long day of small talk, it was wonderful for my mental state to geek out with friends about sci-fi and gaming. It let me feel like I was really me, instead of the social face I put on for the conference.
So, all things considered, would I do it again? Probably. Though I would very much like to have evenings off, as I did this week. I'm glad I went, and I'm glad I experienced it, and I'm especially glad I got to see some friends and family I'd neglected for two years, but I'm also glad I've got next week off.
Thoughts on Living in a Hotel
- The thing about waking up before sunrise, ending work after sunset, and having the registration desk placed in the interior of the hotel is that I could go days at a time without seeing natural light. I'm sure that did nothing for my mental state.
- Temptation abounds, both in terms of food and amenities. There was always something else I could be paying for. Thankfully, I'm a naturally frugal person, so I didn't take advantage of most of them, though the (free) hotel bathrobes were very comfy.
- Despite paying $15 a day for internet (or, rather, having my organization pay $15 per day for internet), it wasn't a very good connection. I think I've got better service here on the train, and that's saying something. I have a ton of bookmarks to check out when I get home because it was useless trying to access any sort of video from the hotel. I expected better.
- One of the consequences of staying in a business hotel is I saw almost no children all week. I didn't realize that until I saw a few today sitting in the lobby and it struck me how odd I found the juxtaposition.
- Even though the hotel makes a big deal of their eco-friendly restaurants, I found the housekeeping to be not terribly eco-friendly. They'd do things like replace my towels by default, which strikes me as odd in this day and age.
- The hot tub was great, and I'm sorry I made it out to use it only once, but in the end it was just a hot tub.
Thoughts on Hotel and Conference Food
- Oh, dear God, I ate too much sugar! I really miss my breakfasts of toast with peanut butter. I don't understand how people can start the day off with a muffin or danish. And then there were the desserts with lunch and dinner, and also the mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks. Even if I didn't eat everything, I still consumed far more sugar this past week than probably the previous month combined.
- I don't think I drank enough water.
- I felt guilty about leaving food, which was a bad mental state to be in, given that they just kept bringing us more. If I do this sort of thing more, I need to learn to not feel guilty about leftover food.
- All the food was very expensive. $30 breakfasts, $30 hamburger from room service, etc. You know it's expensive when Starbucks seems like the cheap option. Despite that, I still can't figure out how my counterparts last year managed to spend $3,000 on food and drink in a week.
- Unusually for me, I drank alcohol this week. Three whole glasses. I'm a lush, I know. (Seriously, I don't remember the last time I had three glasses of wine in a week.)
- Lots of chicken and fish this week, not so much beef. The hamburger on Friday night was divine.
General Thoughts on Working the Conference
- Travelling on VIA One is awesome. I could definitely get used to this.
- Working the conference was very tiring. The 5:45 mornings were killers. I'm really, really glad I'm not an event planner; Christian the Event Planning Coworker was routinely putting in 18-hour days.
- As a direct result of the above point, I came to appreciate the power of naps.
- The hotel staff were extremely helpful, especially our liaisons. Our morning guy, Abdul, was just great and always made sure we had everything we needed. I imagine if we had a different (less helpful) set of staff, the week would have been much more difficult.
- One of the consequences of working a conference is that I got into lots of discussions comparing us to other conferences. There was apparently a conference of oncology nurses last week that was much lower budget than us, making us look really good. On the flip-side was the Sibos conference, running at the same time as us, for international bankers. They had million-dollar exhibition booths that flew in a barista from Amsterdam to make morning coffee, and gave out free briefcases as swag. That made our conference feel kind puny. As with everything, it's what you compare it to.
- I apparently have different expectations of business travel from Agneta the Boss and Christian the Event Planning Coworker. Whereas I was awed by the pre-con meeting (in which we had 15 department managers standing to greet us), Christian and Agneta were annoyed that the general manager wasn't there and they didn't serve coffee. I thought the hotel room was pretty standard, they complained about the cramped bathrooms. I actually caught myself doing something similar as I boarded the train just now, wondering where the greeter was to lift my bag onto the train. It's like Louis CK says: everything's amazing and nobody's happy. Gotta watch out for those creeping expectations.
- When people got things wrong (e.g. our exhibitors thinking the set-up time was 4:00 instead of 8:00, or our poster presenters assuming they had two days, not one), Christian and Agneta said that they "need to learn to read." My grandfather once told me that if someone doesn't understand you, the fault isn't on their end, it's on yours. I don't think that reflection would have gone over well with my coworkers right at that moment, though.
- I didn't see much of the guy who's gonna be my new boss in November. I sorta wish he'd found the time to exchange more than three sentences with me over the course of the conference.
Thoughts on Working the Registration Desk
- I had a very minor power trip in being one of only three people in the hotel with access to our boardroom. On the other hand, it meant a lot of interrupted lunches as I had to keep getting up to open the door.
- It was very useful to have a wifi-enabled computer and printer at the registration desk, allowing me to print extra badges on the spot and access our database. It also let me check my mail when things were slow and show the news segments that featured us to people who were interested.
- After the initial Wednesday-morning rush, most of my job consisted of sitting around, chatting with my staff, and answering questions. I needed to be there, but we didn't do much.
- As a corollary, ten hours of small talk a day is tiring!
- Though I wasn't working with "the public," per se, I did have to deal with the occasional angry "customer." I got quite good at deflecting the ones I couldn't deal with to someone who could (usually Christian). That said, it's true what they say: you can't always get what you want. Some people just have unreasonable requests.
- Given that we were serving more as an information desk than a registration desk for most of the conference, it was annoying that Christian didn't keep me up-to-date on the latest developments, like time changes to the schedule. It was fun learning answers to questions as I went, but it would have been nicer to learn them beforehand.
Thoughts on Managing My Staff
- If anything, working with my staff felt like organizing the servers at an SCA feast: they're all volunteers so you can't really boss them around much, and you have to play nice. That said, they were all friendly and willing to help, so things worked out well.
- I apparently need to be more clear in giving out instructions, or have a five-minute briefing with my staff before they come on. I blame myself for the fact that the exhibitor packages didn't get handed out like they were supposed to (though we worked it out in the end).
Thoughts on Managing My Boss
- I learned very early on that I should only approach my boss with an issue after it's been resolved, or after every possible other avenue has been explored. When Christian the Event Planning Coworker walked by, I always had a list of questions for him. When Agneta the Boss walked by and asked how things were going, the answer was always, "Things are great!"
- It was interesting going behind my boss's back to do what she wanted done but was too nice to say, like setting up the registration table in the Imperial Room on Saturday, where all the people were but far from our boardroom. (She had wanted me to set up my table near the boardroom and far from the people, "Because I don't want you carrying heaving things all the way across the hotel.") Sometimes you just gotta do the right thing and take responsibility for it.
- Dealing with a diabetic boss at a conference is challenging. She gets distracted or busy and forgets to eat, and that added to the stress meant that her sugars were going wonky all week. Christian and I needed to keep an eye on her to be sure she was eating.
Thoughts on People-Watching and People-Meeting
- Particularly because of the Sibos conference, I saw a lot of extremely well-put-together people. You can really tell who's used to being in formal business clothes (i.e. international bankers) and who isn't (e.g. lab techs and nurses).
- As a corollary, I need to rethink my business clothes. I was certainly well-enough put together for this conference, but if I ever work at a professional office again, I'll need more.
- Most people wear blacks or greys. It was fun being "the lady in red," even if it did stain my t-shirt.
- I actually had someone present me his business card with two hands. (Like this.) It was so weird, and was the single gesture of the whole week that made me feel like I was ten pay grades higher.
Thoughts on Seeing Friends
- Trying to maintain a social life while working a conference is extremely tricky. At least I ended at a reasonable hour every day. I couldn't have done it if I were the event planner.
- After a long day of small talk, it was wonderful for my mental state to geek out with friends about sci-fi and gaming. It let me feel like I was really me, instead of the social face I put on for the conference.
So, all things considered, would I do it again? Probably. Though I would very much like to have evenings off, as I did this week. I'm glad I went, and I'm glad I experienced it, and I'm especially glad I got to see some friends and family I'd neglected for two years, but I'm also glad I've got next week off.
