Browse the agenda after signing in and locating a seat. Note the timing of events, when you might want to step out and give yourself a quick break or use the restroom. Identify which presentations peak your interest the most and which ones you don’t mind missing. Pro-tip: always have a backup plan in case you get to the presentation of your choice and the room is full!

Conferences generally start with what’s called a keynote presentation. Keynotes are guest presenters of esteem or ranking in the larger community and are experts in the topic of the event. They give a longer motivational presentation to kick off the event and provide background on the overarching theme of the conference. Often times they also offer smaller presentations later on in breakout groups.

Breakout groups are common at conferences. After the keynote speaks and the host gives introductions, the entire audience will disperse in a giant mass of activity and head towards smaller, classroom sized rooms with guest presenters and workshops. At any given time during a conference, there could be multiple (3-6) workshops happening at once.  Pro-tip: bring two notepads and three pens. You never want to run out of supplies in the middle of your favorite presentation!

Personal story: I recently attended a conference with multiple presentations happening at the same time. After my speaker began their presentation for our breakout group, the overhead intercom came on and the voice of the presenter from another room was accidentally broadcasting their entire speech to our group. My presenter had to talk OVER the intercom. I thus learned about cultural competency in prevention messaging + how to be an effective program manager at the same time. Needless to say it’s important you always have patience, give grace and expect the unexpected during huge events like this.

As you progress through the day it may be harder to remain energetic. These events are usually draining and presenters are aware of this. Having said that there is etiquette you should be aware of and follow as best you can in addition to the other pro-tips included in this post:

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I asked him what it was like in Guatemala and KaUa said, “The people are nice there and the people in the village talk with you. They have an old life style and live by traditional values; here we are constantly developing.” 

He shared with me how the villagers have a different perspective on how people spend time together. KaUa connected with a lady who ended up being his favorite person in town. She had a 21 year old son and he said she was always "reaching" and wanting more than what the traditional lifestyle offered. There was a language barrier so they spent a lot of time communicating on their phones through Google Translate, laughing at the process and making jokes.

At one point, a community member got upset at them for spending so much time together because in Guatemala when two people spend so much time together alone it means you want to be together (like courtship). KaUa described how he had to explain his innocent intentions and address this misunderstanding head on all while communicating through a big language barrier.

I asked KaUa if he could highlight some lessons he learned from his travels. He said the following:

• Utilize everything. “Make the most of everything, including friendships, scraps of material, and more. Keep everything in circulation, no matter how strenuous it may be to do so. No food goes to waste in Guatemala. Whatever they don’t eat they feed to the animals.”
  
• Appreciate what you have. “I feel more humble. I can’t complain about anything in America. I have friends who just complain about their lives but life in Guatemala is [hard] and I never heard anyone there complain about anything. Just live with it and don’t focus on your problems all the time.”
  
• Support your family/community network. “In America, if someone's family can’t support them people run away or escape. Families in Guatemala stick together. They support their families financially. One man drove in a cattle truck all the way from Colorado to Guatemala to bring his family money. I like their family values.”
  
• Be willing to haggle. “Don’t let your Spanish speaking friend help you when buying things because language can get in the way. Just speak money. I gave merchants a calculator and they would enter their price. I would take it back, delete it then enter my price. That’s how we shopped.”
  
• Prepare yourself for travel. “Drink lots of water and don’t sleep too much on the plane. We took a three hour flight from Portland to Houston then a five hour flight to Guatemala. On the way back, we had a five hour layover.”
  
• Have patience. “At one point we boarded a boat and when we arrived at this village there were tons of kids wearing bracelets that followed us around the entire two hours we were there. One little kid asked if I wanted to buy a bracelet and he didn’t like the price I offered. Later, the same little boy tried to steal my wallet and didn’t think I would feel it, but I caught and stopped him. I was shocked that someone so little would do this and use such bad language (excluded from this blog post). If my little brother acted that way he would be punished. You have to be patient though to understand that things are different there.”