Last-minute packing, travel, planning, social media and other logistical tips for SND STL

• WEATHER LOOKS GREAT, PACK A JACKET OR SWEATER FOR THE EVENINGS THOUGH
  This weekend is looking pretty nice — 70s and sunny during the day!  Maybe bring a light coat or sweatshirt for the late evenings, lots of bars and restaurants on Washington Ave. (the popular entertainment district the hotel is next to) have nice outdoor patios and the City Museum has the “MonstroCity” creation that is outdoors too.
• CARDINALS PLAYOFF AND/OR TIE-BREAKER TICKETS
  Yes, the Cards are on the cusp of making it into the playoffs by snagging the other wildcard spot from the Atlanta Braves. Here are details about the tickets and when the games might be if the moons align (and they are after so far the Cards beat Houston on Tuesday and Atlanta lost)  to Philadelphia). You can buy tickets here (good seats are still available as of Tuesday night).
• WEAR COMFORTABLE CLOTHES TO THE OPENING RECEPTION
  Speaking of the City Museum, if you want to get the full experience, wear comfortable clothes and shoes to the opening reception. There’s all sorts of fun things to climb, slide and play on at the City Museum.
• HOTEL DETAILS
  Hopefully, you’ve already secured accommodation because the hotel is PACKED this weekend, but if you need an address or want to scope it out we’ve included the info in this list.
• METROLINK LIGHT RAIL
  This offers a super easy and cheap way to get to the hotel from the airport, as well as connect with other public transport to get around the area and see other neighborhoods.
• DOWNTOWN TROLLEY
  This is a great way to get to the Opening Reception at The City Museum if you are running late or don’t want to walk the 8 blocks, or around downtown and Washington Ave., in general.
• HOTEL LAYOUT & REGISTRATION DESK
  Yes, getting to the registration desk involves tunnel. It’s not as crazy as it sounds, there’s a ‘hotel’ building and a ‘conference/concorse’ building. Make sure you review this map to avoid the snake pit though.
• LOCAL FOOD, DRINK, ENTERTAINMENT & SND STL MAP
  We’ve build a very handy travel/logistics/food/drink details and posted it to the site digitally (this will be included in the print program guide, but you might want to check it out beforehand to get your bearings).
• SAVE YOUR DIGITAL SCHEDULE
  For real, bookmark this on your mobile device: http://schedule.sndstl.com You can also create an account and customize, save and share your own personal schedule with friends. Or stalk your future employer and what they’re going to!
• FOURSQUARE LIST OF SND STL LOCATIONS & TIPS
  I’ve created a recommended list of 33 food, drink and area attractions (including the train stops to get to the hotel, opening reception, pub crawl, trivia night and happy hour locations, as well as dozens of more favorites). The number 33 is selected in honor of SND STL being SND’s 33rd annual convention. Thanks to Bill Couch for suggesting this!
• MORE ST. LOUIS INFO/TRIVIA/FACTS/BACKGROUND THAN YOU COULD EVER WANT
  If you need some light reading for your flight, Instapaper some of our local guide info: http://sndstl.com/category/blog/st-louis/ We have oodles of interesting info about the city, attractions, culture and more — we’re even teaching people from here things they didn’t know. It might also save you from burning the roof of your mouth on a certain popular St. Louis food. (You’ll have to read the guides to find out which one to watch out for though.)
• SERIOUSLY, READ CHARLES APPLES’ SND STL GUIDE
  Print it out, Instapaper it, just do it. There’s lots of good networking and logistical tips to prepare you for SND STL (or any conference) .
• HASHTAG & SOCIAL MEDIA
  #sndstl everywhere! There will be a gaggle of people posting to Twitter (especially to twitter.com/sndstl for breaking conference news updates) as well as and to Facebook, Vimeo, Youtube, Flickr and Storify. Please join in and share your thoughts, photos/vids/tidbits or follow the stream. You can also follow the Twitter list of SND STL speakers (or at least about 64% of them).
• REST UP TONIGHT AND ON YOUR FLIGHT OR RIDE HERE!
  We have a bunch of exciting events in the Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, so get ready to party and network until the early morning. Many bars in St. Louis don’t close until 3 a.m. (And across the river some don’t close at all.) So get some sleep, pack some Red Bull and get ready to enjoy an amazing event we’ve worked really hard pulling together.

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