Sorry New Yorkers, but yes, the rumors are true, a wild Paddy was let loose in The Big Apple on the company dime last week. Apologies for the imminent Kahlua shortage, but I did give advance warning this was likely. But don't worry, the mayhem is over and I'm out of your city.
For anyone remotely interested, I attended a work conference in New York last week. Thought I’d share some little trinkets of wisdom I gained during the conference from day 1 as well as serve up some of the juicy extracurriculars. For those of you who have never attended a conference or are attending one for the first time in awhile, let this serve as a handy little guide for how to successfully balance out partying while on the clock at events.
Night 1
(Sunday): Our sister company hosted a cocktail party. It was a private event at
a sick lounge. Some clients/vendors came and it turned into a shit show. There were about 300 people in attendance and the booze was flowing quickly. There's a
certain point in the night where you can feel a massive shift in energy.
Everyone is conversing, they've let loose, and most have lost some degree of
their surroundings. For me, that point was around 11:30. The alcohol slapped me across the face like a redheaded step child. If you looked into my eyes, my soul had left my body. The lights were on, but nobody was home. At this point, any “networking” I had hoped to achieve was purely social.
Moral of night 1? There's really no more business to discuss past 11pm. Past 11, it’s purely just fraternizing with prospects and clients, but nevertheless, don’t underestimate the power of getting liquored up with clients. Ultimately, people are more likely to buy from people they bond with.
Conference Day 1 (Monday)
I was up till 2am partying with clients. I went way too fucking hard and I probably used an entire bottle of Visine to clear the redness from my hungover eyes. It was a fucking struggle. I was not motivated to talk to clients on the first day and I couldn’t put a coherent sentence together if you pointed a gun to my head. Day 1 of any conference is arguably your best chance to find business, and if you’re not on your game, you’ve fucked up. There are less attendees at each day of a conference, so day 1 is your most important.
Moral? Buy Visine and don’t party too hard the night before day 1 of a conference.
Conference Night 1 (Monday night):
Lobster dinner for a big client I just signed. These guys were fucking animals. They themselves were feistier than the lobsters we feasted on. I'm 26, so I never thought that keeping up with 40 year old dudes would be hard, but these guys pushed my limits and tested my will. They ordered shot after shot and I was tanked halfway through my lobster tail. By 11pm, I told them I needed to go to bed after they incessantly asked to party more and keep the night rolling. They were understanding given I had to be up at 7am the following morning to man the booth at the conference. I gave them some good recs for some clubs/bars to go to and we parted ways. They were happy.
Moral? Call it in when you need to. Clients are fucking annoying sometimes and as much as your job is to entertain them, you can’t let them get in the way of your other job which is to be on top of your game to find other clients.
I'll post some day 2 wisdom at some point this week when I feel like it.
-paddy
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