Attending a Conference Without a Laptop
October 19th, 2007 by Michael Gray in conferenceIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Read my top posts or learn more about Michael Gray. Want more frequent updates follow me on Twitter. Thanks for visiting!
Since I am now smartphone equipped I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to roll like a rockstar test how powerful a smart phone is ,and if I could live/work/function without a computer for two days while at SMX social.
The scariest part of the whole thing was my presentation. I put a copy on a USB key, but just to be double sure I emailed my Gmail account a copy of the file. Even if my USB key failed (which it didn’t) I could beg/borrow/steal someone elses key and laptop and get my presentation. Even if conference access went down I was reasonably sure I could find somebody with a laptop card.
Unlike my house NYC is fully 3G so I was surfing and pulling up email in high speed. I was able to get emails for the two days and not come back and have to declare email bankruptcy like the person who sat next to me.
The most difficult part came on day two of SMX, which totally rocked (see SMX Social Teaching an Old Dog Some New Tricks). There were enough interesting things I wanted to make note of and look at when I had more time. So I wrote my info, bookmarked some URL’s and sent myself some emails. This actually worked out better than hand notes, which I usually make in the conference manual, and almost never get looked at when I get home.
Since this was a two day conference and not a three day one, the AFK time was definitely more manageable. The fact that I live in NY and there wasn’t an extra travel day on the front/back or both ends of the trip helped. Next conference I’ll be bringing my laptop but don’t expect it will make it’s way to the actual conference with me. As long as I’m able to get on a 3G network and can surf and email, I’m comfortable I can get my work work done from a smart phone.
Sphere It
October 19th, 2007 at 8:18 am
Well, that’s the beauty of technology!
October 19th, 2007 at 8:32 am
Funny, you sound like a little kid with a new toy.
>I was able to get emails for the two days
I find it very useful myself. being able to check emails and reply to them without having to be in the office is great!
>The scariest part of the whole thing was my presentation.
You could have always used the sim memory card the blackjack. I have a 1gb, but come in 2gb if not mistaken…
October 19th, 2007 at 8:42 am
yeah I got the 2GB one but you need to carry a converter and not every computer can take SD/HD/XD cards, especially conference/presentation computers. Of course I could have always done my presentation early and sent it via email, and not had to worry at all, but where’s the fun in that
October 19th, 2007 at 10:30 am
Survivor “Smartphone”
…coming to a SMX near you!
October 19th, 2007 at 11:27 am
yup, and by emailing it to yourself it would be accessible from your smartphone anyways, so no need to use the 2gb … like a self fulfilling cycle… pretty cool.
October 19th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
I plan on having nothing but my smart phone for work one day…not sure how far off that it, but I’m getting close.
Not sure if at that point I’ll be calling it work though.
keep the updates coming on your “mobile” thoughts.
October 20th, 2007 at 4:45 am
Yes, it makes work and life more easily.
October 20th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
…although it sometimes bring issues with the wifey…. eergh.
October 22nd, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Michael I recorded all the sessions with my iPod mic system just in case you need a recap on something. Let me know.
I listen to them in the car now to spark new ideas.
Nice meeting you there.