I attended 10 conferences this year, spoke at 6 of them, and I'm not in DevRel. Here are are my top 10 tips - one for each conference!

1. The Hallway Track

Leave time in your schedule to talk with people, visit booths, and decompress. Your brain can only absorb so much technical information at once, and networking is important too.

2. No Two Conferences Are the Same

Every conference organizer prioritizes different things. Not every conference is going to be your cup of tea, and that's fine.

3. Support Your Local Organizers

Community events are struggling. Go to events. Share you're going. Bring friends. Volunteer. Talk to your company about sponsoring.

4. It's a Small World

Be kind, because you never know who knows who. There are multiple people who I saw at four or more conferences this year. This also means speaking and socializing at conferences can lead to speaking opportunities!

5. Wear What Makes You Feel Comfortable

Be you. If you're more fabulous than everyone else, someone's going to compliment you. Easy networking.

6. Plan an Easy Way to Connect

I make stickers. You can do business cards or even a QR code. The networking continues after the conference is over.

7. Have We Met Before?

Especially as a speaker, you talk to dozens of strangers at a single conference. Don't expect people to remember you, and you don't have to be embarrassed if you don't remember them. If you haven't interacted with someone since the last conference you saw them at, reintroduce yourself and mention the last time you met.

8. Travel is Hard

Even if you're practiced and enjoy it, you're always in danger of dehydration. The best conference provides water and snacks, but plan like they won't.

9. Read the Emails

Speaking of planning, at least read the schedule before you show up. At some conferences, after-hours events fill up before the conference starts.

Conference organizers will love you if you read the emails. This is also how you find out if there are days when you are encouraged to wear costumes, and costumes are a surprisingly good networking tool!

10. Shoot Your Speaking Shot

When I was peer pressured into submitting talk ideas to tech conferences' call for proposals (CFPs), I did not expect so many to get get accepted. Now, I pass that pressure on to you. Check out confs.tech/cfp to find some CFPs and submit! If you have no idea where to start, read So You Need to Give a Talk...!