- No Carb Sugar Free and double strenghth (120 mg caffeine) is my drink of choice at Pubcon. I seriously drink way too much of this stuff but you’ll need it at Pubcon if you plan on making it to the morning keynote after a Vegas night.
Three short years ago I attended my first Pubcon and knew almost nobody there. This year I’m speaking and very much looking forward to connecting with friends and collegues and meeting even more new people. This guide is for the Pubcon newbie with little to no conference experience.
Pubcon is for me my favorite of all the online marketing conferences. My observation is that attendees are more social at the show and the attendees have more role up your sleeves practical experience than at the other shows. This means you can talk shop and share and learn.
One reason I speculate for the show’s sociability is that it’s in Vegas and unlike New York, Silicon Valley or Chicago shows, almost everyone – except for the Zappos crew are out of town. So you don’t have the expo-hall drop-byers who have half a million other things on their minds and are distracted by what’s back at the office, what’s for dinner tonight with the family, taking kids to soccer practice at night, etc.
Pubcon attendees are just in a better mood since we’re all out of town. And it’s Vegas.
Hotel
The room blocks for Pubcon Vegas started at Treasure Island and then more opened up at The Wynn. I personally favor TI because it’s a better location on the strip and the Wynn does not have the monorail. However, I pinged Joe Morin and it appears most attendees are moving over to the Wynn. So I expect that’s where the action will be. The Wynn is I think a better hotel (no disrespect to TI) and its restaurants are far stronger than TI in my opinion. If you stay at the Wynn, you should consider eating at Daniel Boulud’s restaurant.
Transportation
Take a taxi or rent a car to get to your hotel from the airport. If you have not been to Vegas before, all casino parking is free – they want you to gamble. To get to the show, Pubcon is at the Las Vegas Convention Center North Hall. From TI your choices for transportation include either a cab or monorail. Walking is not an option. The Wynn is much closer to the convention center and it’s about a mile away to the west. Too long of a walk for me. I have not seen any news yet about a conference shuttle for the Wynn. If you take a cab, remember that it’s North Hall. For me, I like the monorail and I find it just as fast as cab and this is especially true if you’re coming from the MGM end of the strip. Just remember that the monorail is on the east side of the strip so you’ll gain access through the back side of these casinos. See the monorail link above to see which casinos have stops – not all do. If you go with a monorail, you’ll probably use it more than you think so buy a nice size pass at a better discount.
Getting Social
No matter your choice of hotel, it’s a good idea to stop by the main bar at either TI or the Wynn. Seriously. This is where most Pubconners will be. The worse thing you can do is act like a loner at Pubcon – don’t do that. If you go to Pubcon alone, there is simply no reason that you can’t meet up with other interesting attendees. Keep your eyes and ears open to what’s going such as any Pubcon sponsored parties.
If you do not have a web enabled phone or SMS texting plan you’ll be at a bit of a disadvantage. A lot communication about what’s going on and where people are going will take place on Twitter. To stay connected, it’s helpful to follow the Pubcon crew such as @BTabke and @joesephmorin. You should also consider following many of the ‘ususual suspects’. Sorry I can’t say who they are because then I’m a groupie. Also you should join the Pubcon group on LinkedIn. Finally, monitor #pubcon to see what’s happening and be sure to explore Twitter monitoring tools such as monitter to make this easier. I would suggest networking ahead of the show as much as possible. Figure out who’s going who has shared interests with you and start building the relationships now.
Food & Hydration
Get to the morning keynote early and there’s continental breakfast, coffee, tea and juice. Box lunch is provider at lunch time. Midday there is usually in the expo hall a refreshment area that opens up with cold bottled water. I know it sounds silly to mention these basics but every year I see people buying coffee at the Starbucks in the expo hall lobby when right inside is free coffee. Ok, so maybe they know that and really want Starbucks but I bet about half don’t and are just looking for their morning jolt.
About hydration, you’ll want to stay hydrated as it’s a lot of walking, talking and drinks at night. I tend to not eat too much during the day and I like to be packing some protein bars. Two things I do not go without at Pubcon are Rockster and Bourbon. It’s pathetic I know, but I’m sadly known for this. So if you like a sip of Kentucky corn whiskey – find me for a drink. I’ll sound like a drunk saying this, but sometimes I pack a bottle of bourbon if I really want to bring my favorite brand which is of course Evan Williams Single Barrel. This is not to be confused with the regular Evan Williams which is about $11 bucks and it just awful – not even good when put into an over-sweetened Manhattan.
As a Tirey who's family comes from Owsley County Kentucky, when I want to show my Pubcon peeps some love, I bring this.
There we go, I’m feeling the Pubcon love now…and no, Matt Cutts, real Kentuckian’s drink bourbon. At least while at Pubcon Vegas. It’s called PUB-con for good reason. The best conversations and networking often happen over drinks.
Chotskies - Chotskies are the free crap at the booths. Only on rare occasion is it not crap. With the recession and all, I have certainly seen a down-turn in chotskies this year on the trade-show circuit. If you stop by our booth, Mongoose Metrics, you’ll find no chotskies because we don’t believe in them. I just said they were crap didn’t I? Why would I want to give you crap when we can have a glass of definitely-not-crap corn whiskey together after the show? c’mon! If you still want chotskies go directly to the expo hall on day 2 right after keynote to get anything good before it’s gone. You’ll see the chotskie-train rolling on into the station right after the keynote. Most people head over to Google, SEOMoz and other well booths that have made good reputations for non-crap chotskies.
The reason chotskie’s are crap to me is because I’m not clever enough to think up one that isn’t crap. Despite my chotskie bashing, there are some which are cool. Here’s my list of past Pubcon non-crap Chotskies:
1. Acquisio’s “I Hate This Shit” t-shirt. (I have two)
2. SEOMoz’s Ladies T-Shirt (For the dazzling Mrs. Tirey of course and she looks great in it – thanks Rand!)
3. Google’s LED yo-yo (I was playing with this just yesterday)
*Everything else I have was either a pen or I forgot about it.
(Chotckies rule #1 for those who have kids -get IDENTICAL chotskies or you’ll have a war.)
What To Wear – Pubcon Style Guide For Men
Vegas can be cold at this time of year. Keep that in mind. My suggestion on what to wear is to first just be yourself. It’s not at all a business culture so you’ll see the whole board from jeans and t-shirts to suits. For me, I like to wear a blazer. The blazer and designer blue jeans with leather loafers can’t be beat. A blazer gives me some extra interior pockets for business cards, pen, and whiskey flask and I’m covered if I end up that evening at a nice restaurant with a dress-code. But if you like to kick it with jeans, t-shirt and a backpack that works too. Travel light. Be prepared.
Wrap Up
Okay, so that’s the end of Part 1. Next time I’ll step it up and talk about how to make the most of the conference. I’ll discuss the importance of showing up early for the keynotes, networking at the sessions, session etiquette rants, being a Cuttlett without looking like one, and some closing comments . Hope you enjoyed this and please leave additional Surivival Guide comments on anything I have left out.
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Totally agree on the chotskie’s… most are crap, but the t-shirts make for awesome gifts for my daughters. A longsleeve BOTW black t-shirt (from a New York conference to remain unnamed) is my youngest daughter’s favorite pajama… that and the UT t-shirt I picked up at Pubcon Austin in March. Both made me a hero to her! Hey, it’s the little things that count.
Hmmm, highend bourbon… nice.
The little things.. they are indeed what counts.
I don’t see bourbon as highend. It’s beautifully simple. Just corn beer with the water removed and then aged in a charred wood barrel. Evan Williams SB is mid range in price but for me, and I have had them all, the best tasting by far.
Nicely written, Tirey! I can feel the Pubcon love coming through your words. Going to be a great conference this year, looking forward to sharing a bit of bourbon together and maybe even a cigar.
Cigar… see I tried hard not to mention tobacco in this post for fear of appearing like a total party-goer. You blew my cover. But yes, since you mentioned it, I’ll be packing that too and we’ll get Carter and smoke up the TI lounge again
@Jeff,
Congrats on speaking this year as last year was my first PubCon & this year I am speaking as well on several panels.
For hotel Hilton is great location wise and simply walking over to the conference, but after my speaking panels I will be moving over to the Wynn
The best chotskies from last year was the free USB headsets as well the cash you come out from the MarketLeverage Money cage.
Look forward to part 2 as u hit on the sweating nervous Cuttlet Groupies crowding around Matt as well the drink(s) of choice for this years conference
Jeff, thanks for the tips.
This is our company’s first Pubcon and looking forward to it.
AS for me, I have inexplicably developed a taste for ….absinthe!
-Brad
Good stuff man…though I think I’m going to pack the 5 hour energy drinks this time…Rockstar takes you too high and then make you crash too hard.
BTW, I’m staying at the Sahara…cheap rooms on the monorail which means I have more money for drinks :.)
@Brad – I have never had absinthe, but I would probably like it since it’s a high strength spirit. Do you cut it with water?
@Todd . Hey Todd, I don’t think I ever get the rockstar crash but I have had them too late at night and then I can’t sleep. Good call with the Sahara. The monorail makes it just too easy to come and go from the convention center.
I don’t think TI has monorail access, unless you want to walk across the strip and catch it. I’m staying at Bally’s because it is directly on the monorail. Much easier.
See you guys there. This is my first year there.
Hey David,
I re-read my post, and I didn’t make that very clear. Yes, for TI you have to walk across the street and go through Harrah’s.