

The Best Conference Hack - clayhebert
https://medium.com/life-hacks/808159b4cf81

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gk1
Between this and the "productivity hack" post today, are we now calling simple
suggestions "hacks"? This is a good suggestion, sure, but nothing is being
manipulated in any original manner.

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unimpressive
I've already gone on this rant, maybe more than once. I'm almost at the point
of thinking of "hack" as a standalone word to be a negative indicator of
signal.

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cruise02
> I'm almost at the point of thinking of "hack" as a standalone word to be a
> negative indicator of signal.

Cool English hack!

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asah
I usually try to sit near the back: \- I can see the audience, and who I want
to network with \- I can leave if the talk isn't appropriate for me \- you're
last to be "called on" and can choose your answer wisely \- if you do want to
participate, you can usually move closer-- but once you're close, it's hard to
move back. \- there are other, more powerful ways to indicate that you're
hungry, smart, aggressive, etc.

Sitting in the back directly contributed to my first $MM: I said something
pithy and then networked with the perfect two people, who I then brought into
a deal that later IPO'd.

Pretty much, the only time I want to be in front, is the line to leave a
burning building (or failing company).

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impendia
It's interesting observing behavior at math conferences. Typically the
bigshots sit either in the very front or the very back.

I also recommend Keith Johnstone's book _Impro_ ("Impro" being the British
word for what is called "improv" in the US), especially the section on status.
You can learn to deliberately play low or high status, i.e. act like you're
important or not, and see how people treat you differently. Really the same
hack in a broader context.

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theorique
_Typically the bigshots sit either in the very front or the very back._

Interesting. I guess the high-status behavior in the front is, "I need to pay
close attention to pick apart this nonsense".

The high-status behavior in the back is, "I'm so important I will have better
things to do very soon, so I want to be polite when I leave early".

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impendia
Close, but more like:

The people in front want to interrupt and ask lots of questions. (It won't be
nonsense, because the speakers will have been pre-vetted. If everyone decides
the talk sucks, then they will just be quiet.)

The people in back will stick around for the whole talk, but might have
brought something else to read or do. My postdoctoral advisor Kannan
Soundararajan brought other work, and never visibly appeared to be paying
attention to any of the talks, except when I talked to him afterwards and it
was obvious he had understood much better than I had!

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carlob
Keep your hands off your cell phone, stop tweeting/chatting/browsing and pay
attention. That's another wolderful 'hack'...

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goostavos
I work in the conference industry, and thus usually attend about 25-30
difference conferences each year. The cell phone/tablet/laptop thing boggles
my mind. No matter what the subject matter there always seem to be a group of
people that are just dicking around on facebook in the back of the room.

Some of the conferences we handle have crazy high registration fees. Why would
you pay the massive fee to attend, then show up and not listen to the
presentation? Just walk out if you're not digging the talk!

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clayhebert
Agree completely.

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supercoder
Great tip. In return here's a great writing hack for you - stop calling
everything a hack when it's just advice.

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duckandcover
I think this is very good advice, and I will remember that in the future, even
as I wish that in classes I had sat near the front.

Regardless, I think we need to admit that Adria Richards has one of the best
conference hacks of all time! One of the best conference hacks of all time!

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orik
why is this comment made hard to read? Was it not well received and this is
how HN handles this?

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eru
Yes. Downvoted comments get grayed out.

I am not sure why someone downvoted that comment, though.

