John's Pittcon Chicago 2009 Survival Guide
John's Pittcon Chicago 2009 survival guide.
Food – My Dad loves seafood, meaning if he see’s food he eats it, use this theory at Pittcon and you can gorge your way threw the exhibit floor on chocolate bars, suckers, and a couple of years ago Ocean Optics even served sushi! But be careful in the new “Green” exhibition area of the floor, they may try to push some Tofu on you! If you are a carnivore like me, make sure to stop by Labconco’s booth #2677 for a free bottle of their awesome BBQ spice rub. And if you have the leverage, hit up your favorite sales rep for a breakfast at Shor Restaurant in the adjoining Hyatt at McCromick place, nice atmosphere and good food.
Clothing – If your not Gellin’, you better head down to CVS and pick up a pair of those Dr. Scholl’s gel inserts to save your feet from the beating they will take walking the massive exhibit floor; or if you are like me, from jumping up and down with all the Pittcon excitement. You can even count how many steps you will take if you stop by booth #942 pick up a free pedometer from PerkinElmer and EcoAnalytix. Don’t worry about bringing a bag, many booths will be handing them out and they will come in very handy for stashing everything from LabX’s light up yo-yo’s to the entire years worth of branded office supplies you can pick up from the exhibitors.
Communication – One of the best things about Pittcon is the ability to connect and network yourself with other like minded peers, but how do you communicate about what’s going on, and who is going where on the Magnificent Mile? It’s easy if your using the free online and mobile phone application Twitter, just do a twitter search for #Pittcon, the official hash tag of the show, and watch for “Tweets” from other attendees letting you know what they are up to, it is a truly amazing way to connect with people at a trade show where you may not know many people, or are just looking to meet new ones. If you are new to Twitter here are some good people to “follow” who will be at Pittcon @EcoAnalytix, @KenGrantDE @DrNeilRavenhill, the official Pittcon account @Pittcon and make sure to also add @LabManager and myself @Sci5net then you can watch for show updates on your mobile phone, blackberry, iPhone or laptop and get out there and meet up with new people.
See everyone in
John.