When you travel across the six states within Australia for business, it can take a toll on your physical well-being and time with family and friends. Attending an important business expo in Sydney when you live elsewhere requires flying and staying for a duration. Attending is easier than being an exhibitor, but there are still some preparations involved.
Here are some tips about how to prepare and travel smarter when going out of state.
Travel Light
When traveling on an Australian airline and moving around, it’s important to travel as light as possible. While you can certainly bring a carry-on as well as having stowed luggage, for a short multi-day trip for part-business and part-pleasure, that’s likely to be overkill.
One way to handle it is to adopt the popular one bag approach. That is, flying with only a carry on and purchasing a suitable piece of luggage that’s ideal for the task. Usually the proper bag will have multiple pockets and sections to keep things organised. When making use of packing cubes and maximising both the space, along with adherence to the carry-on weight limit, you’re all set.
When you “one bag it”, being studious about what you travel with reduces the pack size and weight too. Toiletries and other items can be purchased upon arrival to avoid airport hassles. Traveling light also makes it much easier to move quickly and cuts out having to wait for stowed luggage before heading out for the next leg of the journey.
Book in Advance
Make a list at the start of the year with the names, locations and dates of the upcoming Australian business expos you’ll be attending. Use the fact that they set the event up months in advance to do the same with your travel plans. Sometimes there are ‘early bird’ discounts when booking domestic flights, which are worth looking out for.
With hotel rooms, they may or may not offer a discount for booking ahead. However, all the local hotels near where a major event is being held get booked up solid as the time draws nearer. When you are organised enough to book months ahead, you get the pick of the nearest hotels to the event with useful amenities like a gym or good restaurants nearby.
Order Identifying IDs for Expos
When you’re attending expos and other business events, especially out of town or out of state, it’s a good idea to use promotional lanyards. One of these hangs around your neck making it easy to identify business people.
Attending expos even when you don’t have a trade booth is great for marketing. It puts you out there to socialise and introduce yourself to other business people. This can lead to new opportunities, an expanding contacts list, and sometimes new orders. Using a lanyard (along with a business card to hand out to interested parties) is a good way to legitimise yourself even without a booth.
A little preparation goes a long way when traveling for business. Even when seeing the sights in your downtime, being organised means you can relax and enjoy yourself when you hit the town.
