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<\/p>\nAttending a conference can be a great move for your career, with all the opportunities for learning and networking that these events offer. However, if you have sensory sensitivities, these events can also be overwhelming and draining. This article covers some tips for how to get the most out of your conference experience while balancing your sensory needs.<\/p>\n
When you have concerns with sensory overload, it is always a good idea to do some preparation. In this section I will cover a few of the things that I consider essential.<\/p>\n
To be able to tailor your conference experience to your own needs, it\u2019s important to know those needs first! If you\u2019re not already intimately familiar with your own sensory profile, spend some time before you go thinking about which sensory experiences cause you the most discomfort \u2013 bright lights, loud noises, crowded environments, strong smells, uncomfortable clothing.<\/p>\n
As well as identifying areas of sensory hypersensitivity, it can also be worth considering any areas where you benefit from additional sensory input \u2013 you might enjoy the sensory stimulation of noisy places, seek out specific types of movement, or benefit from the pressure of tight clothing.<\/p>\n
Before attending an event, it\u2019s also worth researching the venue to get a sense of the space where the conference will be hosted and the types of rooms that sessions and social events are likely to be held in. This can help you understand and manage any specific sensory needs that might arise from the event\u2019s location.<\/p>\n
This information may be available on the conference website, the venue website, or from the event organizers, and it may also be possible to find images online from sessions and socials from the previous year\u2019s event.<\/p>\n
Understanding what you\u2019re most hoping to get out of attending the conference, and which experiences will be most valuable, can also help you manage sensory overload. Depending on the extent of your sensory sensitivities, it might not be possible to attend everything you\u2019d ideally like to, so think strategically ahead of time to maximize the value you can experience from the event.<\/p>\n
Study the program and think about your own goals. Are you mainly attending to build your network? Is there a vendor you particularly want to discuss your situation with or receive a demo from in the exhibitors\u2019 area? Are there specific sessions you want to prioritize because they\u2019re particularly relevant to your learning and development needs?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also worth thinking about things like the times of day when you\u2019re at your best and trying to plan key activities relevant to your goals around those times, assuming they line up with the conference schedule. It can also be beneficial to find out whether any of the speaker sessions will be available on-demand after the event \u2013 more on that later!<\/p>\n
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Live karaoke at PASS Summit can be fun, but it might be one to avoid if you\u2019re sensitive to loud noises or crowded spaces\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n In this section, I will cover some of the things that can help you as you navigate the conference.<\/p>\n Unless you\u2019re lucky enough to live in the event\u2019s host city, it\u2019s likely that you\u2019ll be travelling to attend \u2013 potentially sleeping in an unfamiliar space like a hotel, where you have less control over your sensory environment, or even dealing with issues like jetlag and acclimatizing to a different time zone if you\u2019ve travelled a long way.<\/p>\n Maintaining all the habits that help you manage sensory overload at home \u2013 such as nutrition, managing caffeine or alcohol consumption, sleep hygiene, and exercise \u2013 are even more important when you\u2019re travelling for an intense event like an industry conference. It can be tempting to treat a conference trip like a vacation, but you\u2019ll feel fresher, and be better placed to take advantage of everything the event has to offer and achieve your own goals, if you try to keep on top of the habits that help you stay on an even keel at home as much as possible while you\u2019re away.<\/p>\n It also helps to manage other sources of sensory stress as much as possible \u2013 wear your comfiest clothes and shoes, and don\u2019t be afraid to make use of helpful sensory aids.<\/p>\n There are a wide range of sensory aids available to help you manage overstimulation, depending on your needs.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re sensitive to sound and noise, bringing ear defenders can help, as can seeking out any designated quiet spaces at the event if you need a break. Wearing sunglasses or tinted glasses can also help with light sensitivity.<\/p>\n Tools like eye masks, melatonin and white noise or familiar meditation apps can all help maintain your sleep cycle when you\u2019re away from home, allowing you to conserve more energy so that you can participate in the most valuable sessions and social events.<\/p>\n And if you find it helpful to signal your needs more visibly, you could consider wearing something to flag this to other attendees \u2013 a sunflower lanyard to subtly communicate hidden disabilities, or a pin badge that indicates how much social battery you have right now.<\/p>\n Personally, I\u2019m always a little jealous of dogs who get to wear those \u2018I need space\u2019 harnesses!<\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to get overwhelmed by the sights, sounds, people and buzz of an in-person event. To avoid sensory overload, it\u2019s important to keep your priorities in mind. Remind yourself of the list you made beforehand of all the things you most wanted to get out of the event and commit to spending most of your sensory energy on the must-haves from that list.<\/p>\n Or it might be reasonable (and sometimes more realistic!) to decide you\u2019re going to let some things slide \u2013 accept a higher level of sensory overload, or the fact that you won\u2019t sleep as well in a hotel as you would at home and make a conscious trade-off to participate in things you wouldn\u2019t normally have the social or sensory battery for. You could choose to take time off to relax and recover at home afterwards if you know you\u2019re going to have a hard time saying no to specific activities while you\u2019re attending the event.<\/p>\n The conference is over, and you\u2019re back home. As well as taking time to rest and recover, there are still opportunities to make the most out of the event experience after the in-person component has finished.<\/p>\n If there\u2019s on-demand content available after the event, this can be a great way of consuming information in a way that meets your sensory needs \u2013 for example, you can watch video content with captions enabled, or at a faster or slower speed than the session was delivered live. This can also be a great way to prioritize your energy on site, knowing that you don\u2019t have to attend every session on your list in person, since you can catch up on some sessions after you get back.<\/p>\n And if in-person socializing seems overwhelming, there\u2019s still time to build connections after the event. Consider reaching out to people you met during the event through LinkedIn or other social media platforms or sending a message to a speaker whose session you enjoyed or another attendee whose work you admire, even if you didn\u2019t get a chance to connect with them in person.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Attending a conference can be a great move for your career, with all the opportunities for learning and networking that these events offer. However, if you have sensory sensitivities, these events can also be overwhelming and draining. This article covers some tips for how to get the most out of your conference experience while balancing……<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122036,"featured_media":103968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159155],"tags":[],"coauthors":[159140],"class_list":["post-103966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learning-resources"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/122036"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103966"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103971,"href":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103966\/revisions\/103971"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103966"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=103966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}While you are at the event<\/h2>\n
Manage your schedule & routine<\/h3>\n
Make use of sensory aids<\/h3>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/a-dog-wearing-a-vest-description-automatically-ge.png\")
<\/p>\nKeep prioritizing while you\u2019re on site<\/h3>\n
Once the conference is over<\/h2>\n