Trade-Show Tips

It's all about survival of the well-prepared.

James A. Martin

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Feature: Tips for Surviving Trade Shows

It's officially autumn. The nights are getting cooler; the election is heating up; and you're probably heading to Las Vegas. Or Orlando. Or someplace else where there's a convention or trade show.

With summer's end, the trade-show calendar begins to fill up. Attending or exhibiting at trade shows can be extremely rewarding. Where else can you meet so many other potentially valuable contacts in your profession in one place? But when you have to haul a notebook, PDA, mobile phone, and other gear, not to mention a few changes of clothes, the experience can be draining.

Having attended Comdex, Seybold, and many other big computer conventions, I know a thing or two about trade-show survival. Here are some of my tips for making your trek as painless as possible. I'd love to get yours, too; send me e-mail.

Planning Your Stay

If you'll be attending an out-of-town convention, get a list of the hotels nearest to the event location. Usually the trade show's Web site will offer this information. Then call your first-choice hotel; tell the clerk you'll be attending the trade show; find out if they have space left; and, most importantly, ask if they're offering special rates for attendees. You could do this all online, of course, but if you're getting close to the trade show's dates, you're better off picking up the phone.

Other questions to ask hotel staff: Is there an in-room safe large enough to accommodate a notebook? (Have the dimensions of your notebook ready, in case the hotel clerk is unsure.) Do they offer high-speed Internet access in the room? If so, is it wired or wireless, and is it included in the room rate? And is there a refrigerator or minibar in the room? After a long day of walking the trade-show floor, you'll need one--if only to store an ice pack for your throbbing tootsies.

You can search for hotels with broadband Internet access at WiredHotels.com; and Wi-Fi-FreeSpot has list of hotels offering free Wi-Fi Internet access.

If you're like me, you want some quiet time after a long day at a trade show. In that case, don't book a stay at the conference's officially sanctioned hotels, because you're bound to run into other conventioneers who want to gab, tell you about their product, or worse, go out to dinner. For an added bonus, find a hotel beyond the perimeter of the convention hall but still within walking distance--that way, you can get exercise and some privacy.

Prepping Your Gear

Many trade-show attendees and exhibitors pack a notebook, a PDA, and a mobile phone or smart phone. But will you need to carry everything to the convention floor? If so, take a rolling notebook bag that's big enough to accommodate all your gadgets, plus the inevitable press kits, brochures, business cards, and trade-show trinkets you'll accumulate.

Don't have such a bag? Head to EBags.com, where you can compare multiple bags side-by-side to help you pick the right one. Luggage Online is another good resource. Recently, I bought a hard-shell Samsonite suitcase there and paid no taxes or shipping fees, which made the total less than what I would have paid at EBags.

If you don't need all that gear at the show, leave your extra equipment in the hotel. If there's no in-room safe large enough to accommodate your notebook, you have a few options. Ask the front-desk clerk if your notebook can be stored in the hotel's safe. Or put your notebook in a large suitcase and lock it. Granted, these strategies aren't foolproof, but they're better than leaving an unattended, unsecured notebook in a hotel room.

Giving a presentation at the convention? Then I have three things to tell you: Back it up, back it up, and back it up.

When I queried Mobile Computing readers for their tips on giving presentations on the road, nearly every tipster wrote about their backup strategies to prevent presentation disasters.

Are you planning to give product demos on your notebook in a trade-show booth? Get to the booth as early as possible; the day before the show opens is ideal. Set up your equipment and go through your routine to make sure everything's working properly. Keep the phone number of a techie colleague nearby in case something goes wrong. And bring all the discs that came with your computer--system-restore CDs, application-installation CDs, and so on--in case of a hard drive crash or other disaster. Better yet, pack an external portable hard drive that mirrors your notebook's internal drive. Should your hard drive crash, you can boot from the external drive and keep going. One such option is CMS's ABSPlus Portable; you can read more details about it at the bottom of page 3 in "Better Backups."

Don't assume that the hotel, exhibit hall, or other area where you'll be using your computer will have what you need. Pack an AC adapter, an extra (fully charged) notebook battery in case there's no power plug nearby, an ethernet cable, a USB cable--in short, anything you might possibly need.

General To-Dos

Manage Your Time. Plan in advance the booths you need to visit, the people you must meet, and the conferences you should attend. If you do, you may be able to complete the show in two instead of three or more days.

Bored With Your Job? A trade show is an excellent place to put your face in front of some potential employers. Make sure you're dressed well, and have your elevator pitch (about why you'd be an excellent hire) memorized.

Take Breaks. Step outside for fresh air, especially if it's sunny. Spending too much time in a windowless convention center or meeting room can quickly make you weary and, at least in my case, a tad cranky.

Restrain Yourself. Think twice before loading up on all the free tchotchkes. Why lug all that junk around, only to throw most of it away later?

Keep Healthy. Drink plenty of water, and pack nutrition bars, slivered almonds, or other healthy snacks in your trade-show bag. Wash your hands frequently, to keep from getting cold germs. And for crying out loud, wear comfortable business shoes. On a crowded trade-show floor, few people will see your feet, so leave the Pradas at home.

A number of shoe makers produce conservative, business-like shoes with excellent cushioning. Check out the men's and women's styles at Cole Haan and Ecco--especially the models featuring Nike Air soles. They're not terribly stylish, but they're comfy. The Walking Company is another good place to shop for shoes. Its Web site is under construction, but you can find store locations there.

Notebooks & Accessories

Review: ThinkPad R51 Strikes the Right Balance

The IBM ThinkPad R51 recently earned PC World's Best Buy for an all-purpose notebook. It's slender, weighs 5.5 pounds, comes loaded with features, has an excellent keyboard and long battery life, and is extremely expandable. It's a bargain at $1700, even though it doesn't include business software or a DVD burner and the sound is tinny.

News: Trace Your Notebook

Absolute Software recently announced Computrace Personal, a service designed to help you track down an AWOL notebook. The service works through a software agent that regularly communicates, in stealth mode, your portable's location to a centralized server when it's connected to the Internet. If your notebook is stolen, Absolute Software's recovery team works with local law-enforcement agencies to get it back, according to the company. Absolute's service is backed by a guarantee: The company pays $1000 for any notebook not recovered within 30 days of its reported disappearance. The service costs $120 for three years.

News: Read Your Local Paper on the Road

Sure, you can keep up with your town's news when traveling by visiting the local newspaper's Web site. But PressDisplay.com, a new subscription service, goes it one better, providing online versions of select newspapers that retain the paper's actual layout and design. It currently offers some 200 national and international newspapers. The service works on notebooks, desktop systems, and Tablet PCs. Newspapers offered include Die Zeit, Il Giornale, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, and others. Subscription rates range from $10 to $30 per month.

Gadgets & Services

Review: Latest IPod and Zen Touch

PC World's Eric Dahl finds that although Apple's updated IPods (20GB, $299; 40GB, $399) offer some valuable improvements, such as easier navigation and an improved battery life now rated at 12 hours, they're not quite perfect. Music fans with WMA, Ogg Vorbis, or FLAC files are out of luck, as the IPod doesn't support those formats.

In the same review, Eric looks at Creative Lab's newest hard drive player, the 20GB Zen Touch ($270). It's smaller, and features an easy-to-use touchpad control. But the inability to move songs around within a playlist, as you could on previous Creative models, is one of several disappointments.

For details, read "New Apple IPods vs. Creative's Zen Touch."

News: Altec Lansing Speakers for the IPod Mini

Altec Lansing's InMotion speaker set/docking cradle for regular-sized IPods has become one of the hottest IPod accessories--with good reason. For their size, the foldable, compact speakers produce great sound. Now Altec Lansing has come out with an even smaller set of portable speakers, designed especially for the IPod Minis. The IMmini speaker set ($130) provides clear sound and deep bass, according to the company, in a foldable package that measures only 7 by 1 by 4.4 inches and weighs just 10 ounces.

News: Streaming Media on Sprint Phones

Sprint recently announced a new 15-frames-per-second streaming video service that runs on a Samsung MM-A700 mobile phone ($400 or $250 after rebate, with a two-year agreement).

The Sprint PCS Vision Multimedia Services, which includes streaming audio and video, plays video clips faster than the 1-frame-per-second offered by the Idetic MobiTV service that Sprint began offering last year, according to a Sprint spokesperson. PCS Vision Multimedia Services is a pure streaming service, while MobiTV requires you to download the video to your phone before playing it.

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