With only a few days to go until many adult webmasters are going to be leaving for the Florida Internext Expo show at the Westin Diplomat i figured it would be a good idea to post a quick reminder for everyone to make sure that they have everything they need for the show.
With that said here is the checklist of items you SHOULD bring with you to the show.
Clothing
Ideally you will need to ensure you have a three changes of clothes as an absolute minimum. These should include a swimsuit, pants, shorts, t-shirts, a formal shirt or blouse (with collar) and footwear. With the footwear make sure you bring comfortable shoes to wear, either sneakers or sandals as you will be doing a LOT of walking around the hotel itself and also the showroom floor. In any case, make sure your clothing is of a casual but not 'scruffy' nature. Make a good impression on the people you are going to meet :thumbsup:
Business Cards
If you are looking to get some business done at the show and to make new contacts make sure you bring a supply of business cards. They dont have to be anything special so long as they contain your sites name, url, your email address and any other contact information you want to put on it. It is also a good idea to have a space on the cards if you are still waiting to have them printed so that people can jot notes down on the back of them.
Pen + Paper
Make sue you bring a couple of pens and some notepaper with you. There will inevitably be some pens handed out at the show by AVN during the seminar topics but also most likely by some of the sponsors at their booths. You wouldnt beleive the amount of people who always seem not to have pens or paper with them at the shows even though they need to write stuff down at almost every show. Save yourself the embarrasement of not having to ask that potential business client for a pen and keep one with you at all times.
Cigarettes + Lighters
Specifically for the smokers amongst us, the prices of smokes at the hotel and surrounding stores ar extortionate if you know you will want to smok make sure you bring at least 5 packs or more, especially if you are going to be hanging around with other smokers as you will get asked for smokes by other people and the chances are if you have a single lighter, you will lose / have it stolen it within 30 minutes lol
Water + Snacks
This is only a suggestion but if you plan on spending your time hydrated bring a bottle or two of water with you or, alternately, a block away from the Westin there is a store that you can buy a couple of 2 liter bottles of water at. Again as with the prices of smokes, the water costs at the hotel are extortionate.. be prepared to spend upwards of $4 for a half liter bottle of water at the hotel / showroom floor.
Showroom Floor Map
Make sure you spend a couple of minutes to visit the Internext Expo website and print out a hardcopy of the showroom floorplan. Once you have printed this out be sure to make a note of the companies you wish to visit during the show as well as their booth number (mark this clearly on the showroom floor map).
Itinerary
If you have arranged to meet certain individuals / companies at the convention make sure you dont forget to pack your itinerary. Keeping potential clients waiting because you have forgotten you were supposed to be somewhere isnt good, trust me on this one ;)
Watch
If you dont usually wear a watch make sure you have one for the show. Often you will only hear about certain meetings / events at the last minute and, where you dont hear of these at the last minute you will be told a certain time to be somewhere, from what i recall the hotel doesnt have any clocks in the main lobby.
Photo Identification
You will need this to collect your show pass from the registration booth. I have seen people having to pay for another pass because they never had any I.D with them when they went to collect their show passes and, the prices of the tickets are higher at the show than if you had ordered them online.
Travel Itinerary
Make sure you have 2 copies of your itinerary so far as travel and hotel reservations go. Keep one ALWAYS in your hand luggage and one ALWAYS in your suitcase.
Advil
Better safe than sorry :) If you arent used to the Florida weather and / or excessive late nights and drinking then make sure you have a couple of Advils available. If not for you then for a friend.
Camera
You might want to take some pictures of the show. A lot of people bring cameras with them for this purpose.
Laptop
If you are going to bring a laptop with you make sure you bring a telephone wire with it. Also make sure that if you are out of your hotel room the laptop is NEVER left unattended or in plain sight. Put it away in a drawer or under a pillow on your bed.
Gum And / Or Mints
Avoid the feeling of camels mouth after a night of indulgence ;)
Thats pretty much it however i am sure there will be things that you will all need on an individual basis. If there is only 1 thing you can do to make sure you are prepared for the show ensure you write a list of the items that you will need to take with you. Keep this list on the top of your suitcase right up until your bags go in the trunk of your transport. Everytime you put something in to the suitcase / handluggage mark it off / on the list. Before you close your baggage check the list one final time.
Finally, sometime in the next few days we will post our cell phone numbers so that if you need to contact any of us during the show you will be able to. If all else fails you will at least know there will be three of us you can call on incase you need any help with finding your way around the hotel or of course, if you just want to get drunk at the pool bar with us :thumbsup:
Hopefully everyone attending the show is going to have a great time and i know that both Gary, Chris and I are looking forward to meeting those GGW'ers that we havent yet had the pleasure of meeting :thumbsup:
See you all next week :)
Regards,
Lee
