As PDC is fast approaching, Jeff Atwood asked me to summarize my tips and recommendations on attending this conference. PDC 2003 was my first Microsoft conference, so if you're a verteran conference goer this stuff may be old hat. Here are my top ten tips:
10. Pack light on day 1. In fact, don't pack at all--when you get there, they're going to load you down with a brand new bag, which will be sufficiently bulky and heavy so as to make you really regret the bag you brought along with you on the shuttle. It's generally a long way back home from the conference center, and you'll be walking a lot, so come as you are, and let them load you down.
9. Laptops are for people with ethernet cables. I did not see, nor have I heard of, anyone successfully achieving a reliable wireless connection at one of these conferences. If you plan to lug a laptop, give yourself the gift of wired connectivity and bring a handy dandy cable along.
8. This is just like college--pick your sessions (and keynotes) by speaker, not subject. At PDC 2003, Indigo was the least interesting track to me. But after sitting through several mind-numbing seminars on the WinFS object model, I found myself overjoyed to see Don Box playing his guitar and singing about SOAP. Unfortunately, the wallet-sized schedule they give you doesn't list speakers, so do some research ahead of time.
7. If you didn't follow tip #8, sit on the aisle. Your ticket is too expensive to sit through a boring session playing solitaire. Get the heck out! and go find a hands-on-lab or other session to keep you busy. But beware, laptops are the extra-large popcorns of PDC auditoriums, so if you're in the middle of a row, you're going to have a hard time leaving.
6. Speak, don't just be spoken to. This is your best chance to meet and talk to the people who shape your technical world. Give them feedback--that's really why they're there.
5. Arrive early. Popular speakers generate loads of crowds, so arrive at these sessions plenty early. Also, per #7, aisle seats are the first to go.
4. Skip...and don't feel guilty. Session burnout is a serious concern. If you don't see any compelling sessions (or even if you do), don't feel bad just heading to a couch and chilling out. Save your energy, concentration, and enthusiasm for the sessions you came to see. It's quality, not quantity, that counts.
3. Remember, they're on DVD. Many of the sessions are published on a DVD included in the price of your ticket, so let this be one more reason to follow tips #4 and #8.
2. Don't miss the (first) bus to Universal Studios. You'll find yourself waiting three hours in line for the 214th bus. I hitched a ride with a tablet-PC designer when I couldn't take it anymore.
1. Make friends. Like any technical convention, introverts abound. Say hi to the guy (most of the time it's a guy) next to you.