It’s the start of the conference season. So where will you be going? Geneva maybe, or Florence; perhaps Helsinki or even the Mediterranean island of Malta. Wherever you are going you will have a number of motives: get more business; learn new things; meet new people; have new experiences. Over the years I have done a great deal of all of the above, but it does seem sometimes that today the balance has been skewed in favour of the commercial over the therapeutic.

We all want to get some new business when we travel to conferences; we need to pay the bills and attending these events can be expensive. But I do think that to focus on this one aim can sometimes mean we miss what might be even more important. Those of us who have been part of the organisational side of conferences will know for example, how hard it can be to prize people away from yet another one-to-one meeting to take part in an industry discussion. Yet the meeting, at best, might give you another container or two of reciprocal business; the discussion, by contrast, might give you a new idea that will multiply that benefit many fold. 

Meeting people is great fun, and if you feel the need to monetise everything, consider this. The people you meet today may well put bread on your table tomorrow. Remember the adage: ‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know’. You might not reap the benefits of hours in the bar until 4am straight away; but I predict that one day the contact you made over a third Margarita will pay you back. Think not what they can do for you, but what you can do for them (sorry JFK – he stole it anyway apparently). People in the moving industry have long memories. 

Justifying a day off on your own might be more difficult, especially if you have a boss. But you do need to be reasonably gentle with yourself if you are to perform well. If an afternoon of ‘me time’ brings you back into the cauldron of business fresher and keener, it’s probably worthwhile. That’s my story anyway. 

Oh, and a theory of mine. The reason we all feel so knackered after a few days on the road is not because of the hard work or the booze, but the lack of water. I urge you to drink more water this conference season and I bet you feel better on the flight home.