Standing in your skivvies in front of your closet, wondering what to pack for NARTS Conference? Me too.
From experience honed over many resale industry conferences:
- Business cards. 100-200 of them. If yours don’t have city, zip, area code…add them by hand.
- Photos. Printed out, in an album. Caption your photos (Lucky Ladies Evening Event Spring 2008/ increased day’s sales by 600%!), label your album (in case it gets lost!) and share it with others.
- 8 printouts of your PDQ file, Visiting Other Resalers, from TGtbT’s Lunch with Kate. A mini field guide to gather all the intell you can during the Resale Bus Tour.
- Empty index cards. I’m a nut for these: one good tip or idea or resource I hear/see per card, so I can shuffle/organize them later.
- A filled-out index card, or maybe more. On this, you’ll write the question you REALLY want to get input on (Getting stuff onto floor faster/ What to put on my web site/ Better way to do pulls) You will pull this card out of your pocket maybe every couple of hours, to remind yourself to diligently search, ask, pry into others’ ideas on the topics most pressing for you.
- Cash and business checks. Whether at a bus tour shop or in SourceMart, your purchase will go faster and you will save your resale peers the credit card fees. Believe me, you’ll thank me for this tip. And you’ll thank the dozen people in line ahead of you, too.
- Patience. There are hundreds of folks there. Don’t act like your own worst nightmare of a ME*ME*ME customer. (Besides, what other line could you stand in where you have a hundred things to talk about with the person next to you?)
- A sweater. (Ooohh, I sound like your mom!) Air conditioning shivers interfere with learning.
Still with me?
- What I wrote 2 years ago on the same topic: Just ONE week! or, if you’re still hungry for tips and hints, everything I’ve blogged about NARTS Conference over the years.
By the way, skivvies? There’s two schools of thought on that:
My stepsister’s: Buy all new. You deserve to feel pampered and treasured when you’re out of town.
Mine: Take the rattiest and toss as you travel, leaving more room in the suitcase for new-to-me purchases.
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
[…] Here’s a checklist for Conference. […]
Kathy Lee says she only packs an empty suitcase and her credit card!
Hey, listen, most of us could do that too, since we’ll be on the Bus Tour on Friday and I’m sure the hosting shops will be plum FULL of terrific wardrobe additions!
[…] find this blog post that gives me some hint of what I might possibly be packing. Couple that with my up close and personal suggestions (just switch “Palm Beach” for “Scottsdale”) and there you have […]
Hah ha ha! Now every time I see you, I’ll imagine you in your worn out skivvies!
I have a friend who carries that tip one step further: EVERY piece of clothing she takes on vacation is stuff destined for the garbage, so she can wear it, dump it, and have room in her suitcase for her new purchases. I LOVE laughing at her vacation pics.