Midwest Management Summit 2018 - Day 5

You caught me.  There is no Day 5 to the Midwest Management Summit - but as I'm getting ready to depart the Mall of America this Friday morning, I'm going to share a quick list of things that I'd like to share about the overall conference over the week.  So in no particular order . . .

1. The venue is a fantastic choice.  I'm so spoiled being able to wake up in the morning, get ready, leave at 7:57am, and be seated in my session by 8am.
2. Get on Twitter.  I can't stress this enough for most conferences.  Catching #MMSMOA posts from others was how I kept up on everything all week.  If you're not signed up, what are you waiting for?
3. Network Network Network.  I can't stress this enough either!!!  I met some really great guys this week who were just regular attendees like me, running into the same problems I am, and there were some really creative solutions out there that I'm going to take back with me.  The badges were barcoded with contact information, so snap a picture!  On top of this, the speakers and MVPs are super approachable.  Lot's of great conversations on the best way to do things.
4. There are 15 minute breaks between each session - this wasn't really clear when I was picking my sessions, and I think it's good for potential attendees to know.
5. There is no official lunch in many (most? any?) of the noon sessions, but there are plenty of places to eat quickly.  If you sign up for a session that doesn't include Lunch, plan accordingly.  Plenty of people actually brought food from elsewhere into the session.
6. Nerds of a Feather - come prepared with some things to bring up.  Even if you never get your question out, these are attendee driven and they're going to be very boring if no one has anything to discuss.
7. Most of the rooms get really cold.  I'd prefer this over a bunch of geeks sweating it up next to each other, but carry in something light to wear.
8. The WiFi doesn't quite "suck", but it's not your home or work network.  This is true of nearly every conference.  It's not unusable, I could get email and get to twitter most of the time, but don't plan on fast and consistent connectivity.  Thankfully all of the presenters were prepared for this, and when connectivity was lost, they had something to fall back on.