Toolie Business Travel Newsletter April 2009In This Issue:
Toolie's Monthly Travel Tip: Economizing on Business TravelAs a business traveler, I'm always thinking about ways to make your travels easier, but it occurs to me that I haven't talked lately about things you can do to make your activities at your destination a little more comfortable. What do you need to carry besides your suitcase and computer case for special business scenarios? You may have noticed that most of my recent travels have been for training purposes. I thought I'd start by sharing some techniques I've used for surviving less-than-optimal seminar situations where you're the student instead of the presenter. The Fine Art of Furniture Arranging We business travelers have very specific demands around productivity, and we'll do almost anything to keep our productivity high. If you're an entrepreneur, time is money, so you're always trying to keep working while you're in transit. If you work for a corporation, you're probably expected (even unreasonably) to be as productive on the road as you are sitting in your office, so anytime you can sit still for more than 15 minutes at a time, your laptop is open and you're working. During any period shorter than that you'll find both entrepreneurs and corporate travelers madly texting on our Pocket Pcs, iPhones, or Blackberries. The working setup in our hotel rooms is just as critical as the tables and chairs in the seminar or meeting room. The absence of a decent work table at my hotel in Las Vegas was cause for great consternation on my part during my visit last week. Okay, yes, this is Las Vegas we're talking about; I am supposed to be out enjoying the city, not working in my room, right? No, I was there on BUSINESS. This was a concept that was difficult to explain to the front desk personnel, especially when I requested a banquet chair to use in my room instead of using the cushy side chairs (too short) with the too-tall round side table. I'm accustomed to rearranging the furniture (literally) in my hotel rooms, no matter where I am. I like to have the desk facing the TV, and have the TV on while I'm working (unless I am writing), even if the TV is on mute. I remember the first time I tried moving the desk into position. I had to stretch out some of the cables and swing the desk around to be able to see the TV. The next morning I left for my business meeting and came back to find the desk back where it "belonged." I again rearranged it. After 3 days of this, the maid finally gave up, and left the desk where I wanted it. That was all the encouragement I needed; after that I was unstoppable. No cord was too short, no angle too steep. The only time I recall ever NOT arranging the furniture this way was in Hong Kong, where for 5 days I had the desk facing Victoria Harbor. There I watched in wonder as big container ships were unloaded by cranes on barges. That was a far more amazing and entertaining sight to see! While I am less successful at arranging furniture in seminar rooms where I am the student, I do look for seats on the end so that I can park my bags to the outside of my chair. I find most banquet chairs uncomfortable to sit on for long periods of time, so sitting on the end gives me the freedom to get up and move around if needed without having to crawl over other people. I also look for chairs near electrical power sources, which leads me to my next topic. Power Splitters and Extension Cords I remember the first few trip I made for Microsoft in 1995. I visited 4 countries in South America, and stayed in some lovely hotels there. I was first confronted with the difference in electrical power (110 vs 220), including an episode with a power transformer the ended in a puff of smoke and an acrid burning smell I hope never to encounter again. Thankfully, my laptop was NOT fried. Ever since that first trip I've also carried a variety of power accessories: the foreign plug adapters of course; a 3-prong, 3-way splitter; and a 3-prong extension cord. The 3-way splitter is a godsend when you're trolling for power plugs in the waiting areas in airports. If you see two people with their laptops plugged into the only available power source, you can approach one of them and offer to plug in your 3-to-1 splitter so that you can share the electricity. The same can be done with inconveniently located power sources if you use an extension cord. You'll instantly acquire new friends in a seminar room if you offer to share your electrical connection via your 8- to 12-foot extension cord. This part is tricky though: you will NOT be popular with the hotel personnel. They do NOT like exposed or loose extension cords running across the aisle. Either you need to bring a small roll of duct tape with you, or you need to admit that you plan to use the extension cord to the staff in the room, and ask that it be taped down. Most hotel staff will tape the extension cord down for you if you ask well in advance of the start of the event. Translation: get there early and ask. Jackets, Sweaters, Scarves, and Shawls You're likely to have a business suit jacket with you for meetings you're conducting, but if you're a seminar attendee, that may not be the case. It's always a good idea to have a light jacket or sweater with you in large seminar rooms; typically presenters like to keep the room cool because they're working and moving around. This means that you, who are sitting still, may end up being cold. I never knew HOW cold a seminar room could get until last summer in Las Vegas. I already know that I'm unintentionally good at locating the drafty parts of the room, but at this seminar I was sitting under the most powerful blower in the ballroom. I spent 4 days wearing two short-sleeved shirts (hey, it was 100 degrees outside), a sweater, my jacket with the hood up, and a neck scarf/shawl around my neck. I looked like I was ready for Alaska. It FELT like I was sitting in Alaska. At least I HAD a sweater with me; that's a tactic I learned a while back. I always have an oversized sweater with me that I can layer with either long or short-sleeved shirts. I usually wear the sweater on the plane to save space in my suitcase. That sweater has kept me from becoming ill more than once. Snack Food and Beverage Strategies I've written in previous newsletters about my habit of carrying food bars. The brands of bars have changed over the years, but I almost always have some with me for my morning meal. I am rarely hungry when I first wake up in the morning, but by lunchtime I'm really hungry if I don't have a food bar mid-morning. I typically put the food bars into my carry-on personal bag so that the weight of the bars doesn't tip the scales over the limit at the check-in counter. Having a food bar is also a great way to get past the mid-afternoon slump. You've got to pay attention to the caloric count and the contents of the food bars. Always go for high-protein, low- or no- sugar food bars; they're the most satisfying. On previous trips I've taken a collapsible insulated tote bag with me to carry ice, drinks, and snacks to and from the seminar room. I forgot to grab it for this last trip, so I used some alternative techniques. I always carry a zip-out tote bag, so I just carried the drinks in the tote. I have a rule about liquids near computers: every beverage that comes within 5 feet of my laptop must have a lid. I do this at home too. I don't even know how many insulated hot/cold beverage containers we own; I've lost track. It's annoying too, because I never seem to remember to bring one along. On this trip, I managed to find an insulated cup with a screw-on lid and a water-tight closure at a Peet's airport coffee shop. That cup turned out to be a great purchase ($8 or so). Every morning I filled the cup with ice from the icemaker and sealed the lid. I grabbed my orange juice and soda from the gift shop, and chilled the liquids with the ice in the cup. The water-tight closure meant that I could carry the cup in my tote bag instead of my hand, and the drinks stayed cold because of the insulation. It's far drier in Las Vegas than in Seattle, so with this technique I could stay properly hydrated. I also carried an empty quart Ziploc® bag which I filled with ice from the icemaker each morning. The condensation made the bag drippy, but at least the ice and resulting water was enclosed in the water-tight bag. I was able to refill my cup with ice throughout the day, and drink the leftover cold water when I got tired of soda. Seminar Room Survival Kit Summary So the items I added for seminar room survival included: an oversized sweater, a neck scarf or shawl, a zip-out tote bag, a water-tight insulated cup, a quart Ziploc bag for ice, my beverages (purchased locally), and the food bars I brought along. Now, if I could just do something about writer's cramp. Oh yeah, the computer! That requires (optionally) a power splitter, an extension cord, and some duct tape. Not bad. You could be quite comfortable during a multi-day seminar using these techniques; I was! View This Newsletter Online TooMy ToolieTheTravelGuide.com website got a facelift last month. I hope you've taken time to check it out! http://www.tooliethetravelguide.com I mentioned that a number of you had asked to be able to view my current newsletter online. Just click the link at the top to see this newsletter on my website. Over time, I will be converting previous newsletters so that you can view any you might have missed in the last 6 months. Toolie's Travel PlansI just returned from attending James Malinchak's Speaker Boot Camp in Las Vegas. It was a very informative seminar. I have so many great ideas for my speaking career that I hardly know where to begin! So, I will be home for a while, making plans to re-launch my speaking career, talking about technology topics for the time being. I'll have more information about that in upcoming issues. My next planned trip isn't until this summer, but I may have travel opportunities prior to that time. Stop by my web site, http://www.tooliethetravelguide.com and say 'Hello,' especially if the Live Chat icon says I'm online. I love to hear from my subscribers anytime! Toolie®
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