I used to look forward to attending conventions…traveling to new and interesting places with my company covering the cost. My company still pays the bills, but I now pay an unexpectedly heavy personal price at these events.
Arrival
There are occasions when a convention I’m attending is in my same time zone, yet all too often my external clock shifts by two or three hours while my internal clock struggles to catch up. I always try to schedule a flight that gets me to the hotel prior to my intended bedtime. Even so, it’s difficult when the clock shows it’s time for bed but my brain thinks I’ve got two or three more hours to go. Here’s where I’ll give my brain and body the assistance they need at a time like this… a time release melatonin supplement followed by a cup of valerian root and passion flower tea, then a calming meditation before I head off to bed.
Even so, a strange bed, unfamiliar noises, and the awareness that I really need to get to sleep can serve to keep me from drifting off as quickly as I’d like. Sleep interruptions through the night from people talking in the hotel hallway as they pass my room, as well as sirens and sounds from the street coming in through the window cause morning to arrive much too early for me.
The Breakfast Experience
In-room coffee, shower, dress, meditate, and I’m out the door and off to the event. The convention breakfast venue is a crowded line through a buffet with minimal food choices – little that you’d consider healthy, and everything unfamiliar to my body. I pick what I think will sit well and go find a place to squeeze myself in at one of the hundreds of overcrowded tables in the dining area. This begins the sensory overload that I’ll experience through most of the day. Too many people, too much going on, too much noise, too many smells…too much of everything.
Best case scenario is where no one engages me in conversation, I briskly eat my food, clean up after myself as I leave, and find someplace less crowded to be until the morning event. But typically, someone will engage me in conversation and the breakfast experience becomes a little more taxing.
Kicking Off the Day
Shortly after breakfast, the general session starts. Picture a huge room with half a dozen huge displays, loudspeakers, and a few thousand folding chairs – most filled with other conference attendees. The overpowering din of conversation in the room before the first speaker starts is almost enough to push me out of the room.
Then, the first speaker shows up with rousing music, colorful flashing lights and displays, and the inundating impact from the applause of thousands of attendees – I’m so thankful for my earplugs, but it’s still overwhelming. I hold out as long as I can, but it’s too loud, it’s too much so I migrate out the auditorium doors, and find a seat where I can still hear everything at a more tolerable volume. As it wraps up and people pour out of the auditorium, I make for the exit. According to my step counter on my phone, my walk around the convention center is just over 2000 steps. Slow and mindful, my walk puts me in a much better place to come back in and wend my way through the crowds in time to locate the right room and sit down for my first class of the day.
The Group Lunch
Back to the dreaded dining hall, I pick through the offerings and make my way to an empty table. Score. Well, for a few minutes anyways… I quickly find myself at a full table with a group that knows each other, and from their speaking volume I wonder just how big they think this table is. The woman next to me apparently decided she needed to refresh her perfume on the way to lunch and it’s more than I can take. My lunch is no longer appetizing, so I pick up my plate, grab my roller bag, and head for the nearest garbage can. Another mindful walk helps and with time before my next class, I find a dry spot to sit outside and do a little writing.
Afternoon Classes
Getting through the afternoon training is challenging, all new material coming in hard and fast. By the time I get into my last session of the day, my brain has had enough and begins to rebel. There are two tools I employ to allow me to ensure that I don’t miss out on valuable content: first, is taking pictures of all the important slides; second, is ensuring I always have a flash drive with me that I can ask the presenter to download the training content to for my review later. Still, by the end of the last session, I’m mentally exhausted. Unfortunately, my day’s not over.
Evening Activities
Our software resellers are at this convention, and they’ve put together a customer appreciation event with free dinner at a great local restaurant – and yes, I’m hungry, so I go. The event starts at 7 PM, so I figure I can eat and be headed to my hotel by 8 PM at the latest… but it doesn’t work out quite like I’d hoped. Instead, our dinner actually arrives just after 8 o’clock. Dinner is a conversational event, I’m as social and pleasant as I’m able to manage.
Somewhere past 8:30 they take our desert orders, against my better judgement I order the strawberry cheesecake and hope it’ll be quick. Desert arrives just past 9 PM. I eat a few bites and I’m full, but it was good. The walk home was probably the best part, with the exception of a few noisy bars I passed it was quiet and uneventful. In my room, I meditate then sip a cup of valerian root tea and, as I crawl into bed, I consider just how much sleep I’ll be working with tomorrow.
Day 1 is done. Two more to go, followed by a full travel day. Once I’m home, I just may sleep all weekend.
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