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What Are Some Travel Tips When Heading to Conferences?
Episode 40 • 2nd May 2023 • Ongoing Mastery: Presenting & Speaking • Kirsten Rourke
00:00:00 00:19:35

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In this week's episode of Ongoing Mastery: Presenting & Speaking, Kirsten and Kellie share some travel tips for speaking at conferences and talk about being an LGBTQ+ ally when there are travel advisories because certain locations are unsafe. 

Our favorite moments::

  • (03:01) Kirsten plays music and dances around before a session starts
  • (04:49) Arrive before 7 p.m. the day before your session
  • (07:34) Bring only a carryon if you’re staying less than a week
  • (08:25) Bring medication for at least a few extra days and carry it in your purse or tote
  • (10:41) Allies need to show up for those in danger or at risk
  • (11:08) Leverage memberships in organizations with large national conferences
  • (14:20) Having privilege is having responsibility
  • (14:58) Kirsten’s takeaway tip
  • (17:13) Kellie’s takeaway tip
  • (19:15) Choose your footwear carefully
  • (20:19) Throat Coat Tea is essential

If you enjoyed this conversation about travel tips, check out Season 1, Episode 4: “NSA Influence 2022: Notes from a First-Time Attendee,” when I went to Nashville. Link is in the show notes. Link is in the show notes.

Rourke Training’s webpage: https://www.rourketraining.com/

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Read a transcript of this episode:  

For the video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/Glwjkb7RcuU

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Transcripts

Kirsten:

This week, Kellie and I share some travel tips from my recent

Kirsten:

trip to Orlando for the Learning Solutions Conference, and we also

Kirsten:

talk about being an LGBTQ+ ally when there are travel advisories

Kirsten:

because certain locations are unsafe.

Kirsten:

Let's jump into it.

Kirsten:

Hello everyone.

Welcome to Ongoing Mastery:

Presenting & Speaking, the podcast and the chat.

Welcome to Ongoing Mastery:

Hi Kellie, how are you today,

Welcome to Ongoing Mastery:

? Kellie: I am well, Kirsten.

Welcome to Ongoing Mastery:

How are you?

Welcome to Ongoing Mastery:

Good.

Kirsten:

Hanging in.

Kirsten:

Hanging in.

Kirsten:

So today we are talking about conference travel.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

Yeah,

Kellie:

I wanna hear about learning solutions.

Kellie:

You were just in Orlando.

Kellie:

. Kirsten: Yes.

Kellie:

And one of the interesting things, and the people in the learning and development

Kellie:

community can get a chuckle out of this.

Kellie:

There is Learning, there's Learning Solutions, there's

Kellie:

Training, there's Tech Learn.

Kellie:

So after a while you're like, which one was this?

Kellie:

So Learn Tech Dev Solutions.

Kellie:

Yeah,

Kirsten:

that's it.

Kirsten:

Learn Tech.

Kirsten:

Yes.

Kirsten:

That's the one I need to go to next.

Kirsten:

So it was a lot of fun.

Kirsten:

I definitely need to plan accordingly because I waited to book.

Kirsten:

. And so I booked late and I was being cheap, so I just booked the day

Kirsten:

before and the day after, and then the day of my speaking, and I'll

Kirsten:

explain why I do that in a minute.

Kirsten:

And then afterwards was like, oh, okay.

Kirsten:

You know what?

Kirsten:

I actually really wanna see my friends.

Kirsten:

I wanna spend some more time at the conference.

Kirsten:

So I went and then reached back out, expanded my airfare, and then reached out

Kirsten:

to the hotel and they said, we are full.

Kirsten:

We are a hundred percent full.

Kirsten:

You are SOL, sorry.

Kirsten:

And so I showed up just as most of my friends were leaving, and so

Kirsten:

I got to have a wonderful dinner with two people and it was great.

Kirsten:

It was an amazing, oh my God, an amazing, amazing, amazing meal.

Kirsten:

But it was also like, oh, oh, okay.

Kirsten:

But.

Kirsten:

Here's, you know, finding the, the silver lining in every cloud.

Kirsten:

Because of that, I decided, you know what, I'm gonna go ahead

Kirsten:

and treat myself to the spa.

Kirsten:

So I had the most decadent, ridiculous, like hundred minute everything

Kirsten:

wrap you up like a burrito, the whole nine yards spa treatment.

Kirsten:

That was wonderful.

Kirsten:

My session was great.

Kirsten:

It was on building engagement and online learning events and online

Kirsten:

sessions, and it was, Oh God, I'm trying to think of how many people.

Kirsten:

It was a pretty decent size group and like 30 some people and yeah, there was

Kirsten:

two new folks and a lot of experienced people, so we got to have a good

Kirsten:

discussion about how people handle things and you know, what the differences are

Kirsten:

between in-person presenting and online.

Kirsten:

Yeah, so it's good.

Kirsten:

Good.

Kellie:

And it sounds like you had good engagement for an

Kellie:

eight o'clock, or was it 8:30

Kirsten:

session?

Kirsten:

8:30 in the morning.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

So yeah, people who've seen me present will not be surprised by this.

Kirsten:

But those of you who haven't, I always put on music and I always dance around

Kirsten:

and act like an idiot before I present because I want people to come in and see

Kirsten:

what exactly the experience is gonna be.

Kirsten:

So there I am.

Kirsten:

It's 7:30 in the morning, I'm down getting set up, and I'm like, Oh God.

Kirsten:

Okay, . So I'm gonna put on my music.

Kirsten:

And I started blasting it and realized there were still some sessions

Kirsten:

going like right across the hall.

Kirsten:

So I turned my music off and waited until like 8:15 and then cranked it up and I'm

Kirsten:

dancing around being a complete goofball and people are like, okay, all right.

Kirsten:

So this is what it is.

Kirsten:

I'm like, yes it is.

Kirsten:

Welcome everybody.

Kirsten:

And doing just the over the topness of it all, because I need to be

Kirsten:

showing people what they're gonna get and also, It's 8:30 in the morning.

Kirsten:

Come on.

Kirsten:

You gotta have some energy.

Kirsten:

You gotta have some passion.

Kirsten:

Otherwise, your, your attendees are gonna be dying.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

And I will recommend to all presenters and speakers if you travel on

Kirsten:

the day of your speaking, you are begging for karma to just whack you.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

Don't do it.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

Travel the day before, come home the day after, or at least that evening, you know,

Kirsten:

like, give yourself a break because it took me an extra five hours to come home.

Kirsten:

Like it does.

Kirsten:

Yep.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

And

Kellie:

how much time would you recommend given, say your example of

Kellie:

speaking in a morning session, early time slot, what would you recommend

Kellie:

about arriving the day before?

Kellie:

Can one get in on what amounts to the last flight of the day?

Kellie:

Grab a couple hours and be good to go.

Kellie:

or what do you recommend for timing that arrival.

Kirsten:

Thank you.

Kirsten:

Yes.

Kirsten:

I have learned from experience that getting in any later than

Kirsten:

7:00 PM is just begging for pain.

Kirsten:

Mm-hmm.

Kirsten:

Getting in at 8:30 and then getting to the hotel at all of

Kirsten:

that, something's gonna go wrong.

Kirsten:

It's just, that's how it is.

Kirsten:

You're gonna be late, you're gonna be delayed, you're gonna be exhausted.

Kirsten:

Something's gonna frustrate you.

Kirsten:

That's gonna be the one time where you have a karaoke band that is staying in

Kirsten:

the room next door, and they're all drunk and very, very, you know, exuberant.

Kirsten:

Also coming back out.

Kirsten:

I travel the next day because I have learned from my husband who

Kirsten:

travels every single, well, not every month, but practically every month.

Kirsten:

Like he travels a lot.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

That if I'm traveling home at eight o'clock at night, I'm

Kirsten:

gonna end up on a red eye.

Kirsten:

. That's just how it is.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

Something's gonna go wrong and sure enough, sure.

Kirsten:

My flight was canceled in the morning and then I was bumped

Kirsten:

to a flight two hours later.

Kirsten:

And then we got there and the plane landed and the stewardist that I had

Kirsten:

seen on the way out and was chatting with who, who is now a buddy of mine,

Kirsten:

because you know, like you do, you chat with people, came off the plane and

Kirsten:

I saw her and I was like, how is it?

Kirsten:

She's like, we're not taking that plane anywhere.

Kirsten:

And sure enough it got pulled and it's like, Nope, that plane's gonna get fixed.

Kirsten:

I'm like, okay.

Kirsten:

So that got bumped.

Kirsten:

Then it got bumped.

Kirsten:

Then it got bumped.

Kirsten:

So five hours later.

Kirsten:

Yeah, it was, yeah, it was an experience.

Kirsten:

So just plan accordingly, everybody, because airline travel is now

Kirsten:

one of the circles of hell.

Kirsten:

It just gets

Kellie:

a reason to add to that about arriving early enough in the

Kellie:

evening because if your baggage gets lost, you still have time to shop

Kellie:

for an outfit to wear the next day.

Kellie:

, this happened to me heading to a conference.

Kellie:

I was in Los Angeles without my stuff.

Kellie:

I had toiletries in my carry-on, but I didn't have my conference outfit.

Kellie:

And I had to buy top to bottom outfit support under things to go

Kellie:

with, and shoes the whole outfit.

Kellie:

And luckily I had gotten in in the afternoon, and so I had time to do that.

Kellie:

But if I had arrived at 10 or 11:00 PM and my session was at something

Kellie:

like 9 the next day, I'd have been.

Kellie:

Well presenting in comfortable airplane wear.

Kellie:

Mm-hmm.

Kellie:

, but not academic appropriate.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

I now I do not check a bag unless I am going anywhere for longer than a week.

Kirsten:

Like if it's a week or less.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

I am bringing a carryon and the way I pack, I'm the Garanimals

Kirsten:

mix and match clothing thing.

Kirsten:

, you know, hundreds of pairs of underwear, and then mix and match

Kirsten:

clothing and a bunch of funky jewelry.

Kirsten:

And there we go.

Kirsten:

But I pack my suitcase and then a little backpack that just jams in there.

Kirsten:

And then that backpack and my purse, my purse goes into the

Kirsten:

backpack and my stuff goes on it.

Kirsten:

So that's my carry on.

Kirsten:

And if they then say, you can only have one bag.

Kirsten:

, it goes into the suitcase, like Gotcha.

Kirsten:

I do not wanna check a bag at all if at all possible, because

Kirsten:

your stuff can go missing.

Kirsten:

Yep.

Kirsten:

That's just what happens.

Kirsten:

And for the love of all things holy in your purse or tote or

Kirsten:

whatever, have your medication.

Kirsten:

Yes.

Kirsten:

Have extra medication for at least a few days.

Kirsten:

Have Yep.

Kirsten:

At least something that you can wear to present in.

Kirsten:

Like something, you know, your airplane wear should be comfy, but you know,

Kirsten:

do something so that you're not up there in your ready jeans and your

Kirsten:

rock and roll t-shirt if that is not the kind of look you wanna be giving.

Kirsten:

Mm-hmm.

Kirsten:

, personally, that would work for me, but I still, like I said, Garanimals mix and

Kirsten:

match wear, so, So I wanted to ask . I

Kellie:

wanted to ask if you had some concerns about going

Kellie:

to a conference in Orlando.

Kellie:

As you know, there's a travel advisory because of the Florida Governor's policies

Kellie:

and kind of war on Disney right now.

Kellie:

And I just want you to know your thoughts as someone who's an

Kirsten:

ally.

Kirsten:

Yeah, it's a strong concern for me because I, I worry about our friends.

Kirsten:

and how unsafe it is for them and how unsafe it is for

Kirsten:

their kids and their family.

Kirsten:

And right now Disney seems like, you know, sort of the safe haven in all of Florida.

Kirsten:

And you know, Florida and Texas right now are very, very difficult places

Kirsten:

to go to conferences in if you're, if you're not a straight person.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

And as an ally, I get concerned about the fact that it's like, well, at

Kirsten:

what point are we gonna stop going to these conferences because Yeah.

Kirsten:

It's just so dangerous for our friends and family because I have

Kirsten:

family that lives in Florida.

Kirsten:

I am not pissing all over the people of Florida.

Kirsten:

I am specifically pissing on the rules about Florida and the fact

Kirsten:

that they are just ungodly insane.

Kirsten:

It's ridiculous, and it's one of those things that as an

Kirsten:

ally, it's even more important.

Kirsten:

That we show up for the people who are in danger or at risk because putting

Kirsten:

all the pressure on them to be the only one saying, Hey, this is not cool.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

Is completely unfair.

Kirsten:

We have the advantage of not being the ones in direct danger, so therefore

Kirsten:

it's more important that we speak up.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

And, and leverage

Kellie:

our memberships in organizations to say, stop booking conferences there.

Kellie:

Stop supporting.

Kellie:

States whose policies are so damaging to so many of this organization's Very

Kellie:

members, much less the general public.

Kellie:

Yeah.

Kellie:

And sometimes conferences are booked and you can't get out of it.

Kellie:

In terms of the refund cost would be too much.

Kellie:

But going forward, you can make plans at the conference.

Kellie:

You can have dedicated sessions to address the topic.

Kellie:

There are ways that organizations that have large scale meetings that are in

Kellie:

places that are risky for people who, in the l LGBTQ spectrum and other identities,

Kirsten:

there are

Kellie:

things organizations can and should be doing around

Kellie:

their national conferences.

Kirsten:

Yeah, and it's really, you know, it's really a matter of standing

Kirsten:

up for the people in your, in your tribe if you're an organization.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

Like most of the learning and development conferences happen at one of the

Kirsten:

Disney or Disney related hotels.

Kirsten:

Mm-hmm.

Kirsten:

, it happened that the hotel for Learning Solutions, Rosen, something

Kirsten:

was really one of the nicest hotels I've been in in years.

Kirsten:

Like, it was amazing.

Kirsten:

Nice.

Kirsten:

The staff was great, the rooms were great.

Kirsten:

The food was unbelievable.

Kirsten:

, like I'm used to conference food being kind of, you know, it's conference food.

Kirsten:

Disney does better than most, but this was insanely wonderful.

Kirsten:

Mm-hmm.

Kirsten:

, my friend Debbie, introduced me to a friend of hers and we went to dinner

Kirsten:

at this Italian place and it was a high end, you know, so it was our, basically,

Kirsten:

I'm using all my, all my per diem as it were, you know, for this one meal,

Kirsten:

and it was the best lamb I've ever had.

Kirsten:

Oh, that's like I could have picked up the bone and shaken it

Kirsten:

and the lamb would've fallen off.

Kirsten:

It was amazing.

Kirsten:

It was just so good.

Kirsten:

And I'm right now eating the Whole 30, so I have to be super careful

Kirsten:

because I can't have all the fun things I normally eat because I'm trying

Kirsten:

to lose weight and be more healthy.

Kirsten:

So I was prepared to suffer.

Kirsten:

Nope, no, it was wonderful.

Kirsten:

It was amazing.

Kirsten:

Excellent.

Kirsten:

So really good time.

Kirsten:

Well, and it's

Kellie:

great to be able to support Disney.

Kellie:

, right by way of conference attendance and have that be a wonderful experience.

Kellie:

But in a way, it's also a shame that there's this sort of oasis.

Kellie:

Yeah.

Kellie:

That is this stark contrast to the rest of the environment that it's in.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

It's, it's, it's one of those things where I'm now trying to be

Kirsten:

more mindful of, especially in the places that are, you know, legally

Kirsten:

risky for our friends and allies.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

I'm trying to be more aware to see if there's, you know, things where I can

Kirsten:

help out, because honestly, I've got the privilege and that, with that comes

Kirsten:

a responsibility, you know, of stepping up for the people who Absolutely.

Kirsten:

Who have, so, yeah.

Kirsten:

It's conferences are interesting.

Kirsten:

I would strongly encourage everybody to, you know, really think in terms of

Kirsten:

not only you're planning in advance, how you're gonna be there, give yourself time.

Kirsten:

Like conferences can be really overwhelming, especially

Kirsten:

if you're not used to them.

Kirsten:

So, yeah.

Kirsten:

Make your plans and then do one less thing than what you planned.

Kirsten:

Because otherwise you're gonna be fried when you come home and you're

Kirsten:

gonna be coming home and go chimping right back into work or whatever.

Kirsten:

So, you know, yeah, give yourself some grace.

Kirsten:

And I gotta say, if you get a chance to do the spot treatment thing, I could strongly

Kirsten:

recommend it being wrapped up like a human burrito was a hell of a lot of fun.

Kellie:

Is that your takeaway for today's conversation that you know,

Kellie:

Do the planning and then do what less?

Kellie:

And if you can do the spa treatment, human burrito,

Kirsten:

you should do that.

Kirsten:

Yes, definitely.

Kirsten:

Because I, I'm pretty ex, we're both pretty experienced hands at this, but when

Kirsten:

I did the National Speakers Association conference last year, I didn't Yeah.

Kirsten:

Think in terms of, because it was my first time going to a conference in

Kirsten:

which almost everybody was speakers.

Kirsten:

Normally there's 30 of us and there's hundreds or thousands of attendees.

Kirsten:

In this, all the attendees were speakers and I didn't factor the energy change.

Kirsten:

That would be, I was exhausted by noon on the first day.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

And luckily I had Dani with me who works with us and you know, I was kind of able

Kirsten:

to be like, I need to go back to the room.

Kirsten:

And she's like, yes, you do.

Kirsten:

You know, so it was, it was great.

Kirsten:

But I had, you know, Dani shepherding me via the internet basically going,

Kirsten:

yes, you will do this, you will do that.

Kirsten:

And I'm like, thank you for giving me permission to be

Kirsten:

saying . But it was just, My God.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

Really factor in how draining it can be, especially if you're new to it.

Kirsten:

You know, if you're a new speaker, you're already dealing with the fear of failure,

Kirsten:

the nerves, the wanting to make sure your message gets across all of that.

Kirsten:

Plus the tech that might go wrong, plus all the things.

Kirsten:

And then there's the conference itself, so, you know, plan accordingly.

Kirsten:

It would be my message for this one.

Kirsten:

, and

Kellie:

my takeaway is related that whatever your schedule is, whatever

Kellie:

you've picked and decided, I'm gonna go to this and go to that.

Kellie:

Also identify where's the coffee shop or where's the short little walk, where you

Kellie:

are going to take your breaks so that you don't spend half of the break trying to

Kellie:

find it and then squander that downtime.

Kellie:

that you'd planned because you were planning ahead, but now you're

Kellie:

scrambling to find the place.

Kellie:

Yeah, right.

Kellie:

I find it so much easier when I know, okay, we've got a half hour break and

Kellie:

this particular place is the closest and everybody's gonna go there.

Kellie:

So there's gonna be a huge line.

Kellie:

So I'm gonna go one block away.

Kellie:

To that other place and not spend the entire break in line.

Kellie:

Mm-hmm.

Kellie:

Yeah.

Kellie:

So do yourself that favor.

Kellie:

Do a little advanced scouting so that you can use your plant time to relax.

Kellie:

to actually relax.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

And if you're a speaker, you might have a speaker room.

Kirsten:

Not every conference does, but like Training Magazine, the last conference

Kirsten:

I went to for them, they had a dedicated speaker room with, with the

Kirsten:

coffee and the tea and all the things.

Kirsten:

And if they have that, make a point of telling them how grateful you are for it.

Kirsten:

Because not every conference does that.

Kirsten:

And it is so nice to have just this little cave that you can go to because

Kirsten:

when you're a speaker, , every moment that you're on the floor, when you're

Kirsten:

not in your hotel room, you're on duty.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

Like you're on stage, you're on duty and you're yourself, but you are

Kirsten:

still representing the conference, you're representing your business.

Kirsten:

You are on.

Kirsten:

Yep.

Kirsten:

So you gotta be able to unplug and have a moment where you essentially like, you

Kirsten:

know, undo the jeans and kind of go, Ugh.

Kirsten:

Kind of, you know, in the corner and where nobody can see you.

Kirsten:

Cause it's just, that's how it is.

Kirsten:

You don't find these comfortable.

Kirsten:

I do.

Kirsten:

So I will say that footwear is super important.

Kirsten:

I use Fuego dance sneakers, but Kellie tried them on and they didn't have any

Kirsten:

arch support so they didn't work for her.

Kirsten:

So find the shoes that work for you.

Kirsten:

But Fuego dance sneakers are my conference shoes.

Kirsten:

Because I'm on my feet and I am bouncing around and being a goofball,

Kirsten:

and I have to be comfortable.

Kirsten:

So make sure you plan your shoes.

Kirsten:

Definitely.

Kirsten:

So I think, yeah, I think that's a lot of good tips.

Kirsten:

Yeah.

Kirsten:

Okay.

Kirsten:

Awesome.

Kirsten:

Please, everybody in the socials on YouTube, in all

Kirsten:

the things, leave a comment.

Kirsten:

Tell us your experience.

Kirsten:

What is your best go-to conference story?

Kirsten:

What is your worst go-to conference story?

Kirsten:

If you got tips and tricks for people, I will throw one more at the wall if

Kirsten:

I can bring my little, there it is.

Kirsten:

If you are a speaker and you do not have this Throat Coat Tea.

Kirsten:

Yes.

Kirsten:

Get some Throat Coat Tea and put it in your bag because

Kirsten:

all speakers should have this.

Kirsten:

It is amazing.

Kirsten:

Um, I carry

Kellie:

it in my bag along with all a variety of tea because I'm a tea

Kellie:

snob and I don't like just generic

Kirsten:

teabag.

Kirsten:

You're not a tea snob.

Kirsten:

You are, you are a, a tea respecter.

Kirsten:

I do respect the leaf.

Kirsten:

Respect the leaf.

Kirsten:

That's gonna be the a message from today.

Kirsten:

Respect the leaf.

Kirsten:

All right.

Kirsten:

Fantastic.

Kirsten:

Thanks for watching.

Kirsten:

Thanks for listening.

Kirsten:

We will see our catch up with you next time.

Kirsten:

Cheers.

Kirsten:

If you enjoyed this conversation about travel tips, check out season one,

Kirsten:

episode four ,NSA Influence 2022: Notes from a First Time Attendee.

Kirsten:

This is what I went to Nashville, and the link is in the show notes.

Links