Annie's convention survival guide: Part 2

Going to your first convention? Need some help pacing yourself and keeping your energy levels high? Here are more tips from yours truly:

• Stay hydrated
  Keep a bottle of water on you. Spending a long day on your feet, with lots to see and do and lots of cool people to talk to, it's easy to forget to stay hydrated. But it is vital to keep drinking water to keep your energy up.
• Eat
  It seems obvious, but with all the excitement, sometimes it's easy to get caught up and forget to stop, take a break and eat a regular meal. Again, you need to keep your energy up...and if you plan on drinking in the evenings, having plenty of food in your stomach will help mitigate the effects of alcohol.
• Carry hand sanitizer...and use it frequently
  You'll be shaking a lot of hands. 'Nuff said.
• Carry your cell phone and laptop charger
  This goes double if your hotel is far away. Your electronic devices will likely drain faster because you'll probably be using them more often than usual.
• Only grab the swag you actually want
  Consider how many t-shirts you really need. Everything you grab, you have to haul around with you for the day...and will have to haul home. Carrying too much can be a real energy drain.
• Prioritize sleep
  "But the parties are so great!" I know. And this goes back to the idea of knowing your priorities. Are you there to network? Networking is about making a good first impression, and personally I don't do that well when I'm short on sleep. You know how much you need to be at your best...try and get that much every night if you can.

And speaking of networking, the next set of tips will revolve around ways to make networking easier! Stay tuned!