Five Steps to Surviving a Conference

They can give you a career bump, or be an awkward boondoggle. Here’s how to make the best of conferences.
Photographer: Cayce Clifford/Bloomberg
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Work meetings at hotel bars, making small talk with total strangers, and waiting in line to use the restroom: It’s that time-tested corporate ritual, the conference. In theory, conferences should help the brightest lights in a corporate field share knowledge, enhance their industry, and advance their career. In practice, they can be an awkward boondoggle.