Some tips for getting the most out of AWE (or other VR events)

AWE US is kicking off very soon and this year’s edition is expected to be one of the best ever. Lots of people are going there and there will be some very special guests like Palmer Luckey. For some people, it will be the classic XR event that happens every year, while for others, this will be the first edition they participate. This is also true because this year the event is happening in LA and no longer in Santa Clara, so I think there will be a lot of new visitors from the LA area. This will be my 4th AWE and some of the young people asked me how to prepare for this event, so I decided to write about all this short post with some tips to follow if you are attending AWE for the first time.

There are a few things you can do to get the most out of your AWE. The most important of them is to go there with a clear purpose. You couldn’t know if your event was a success or not if you had no idea why you were going there. A goal is one that influences all the choices you make and, in the end, makes you glad you were there. The goal can be very business oriented, but it can also be something more comfortable like just meeting as many people as possible. There is no right or wrong answer, only the answer that is true for you. Why are you going to AWE? Why are you investing your time and money to go there? The answer to this question is your top priority.

Organize yourself before the event to do the things you need to do to achieve your goal. The AWE website has a list of all speakers and exhibitors. There is usually also a networking application where you can contact everyone in attendance. Go through the list of people there and see who are the most interesting to you. Again, there is no hard rule, you just need to look for people who match your goals. In my case, to make an example, I usually look for three things:

• Companies with cool gear to try that I can review on my blog
• People from companies with whom I could start a professional cooperation
• People I look up to in our industry that I don’t know personally yet but would love to meet

(Remember: these are my goals, don’t try to copy them). So I just look at the list of exhibitors and pick the most interesting ones for a review on my blog. Then I take a look at the list of speakers and do the same. It is important not to choose too many names… prioritize your goals. Stick to 3-4 names you want to meet (there must be), then maybe a dozen you want to meet (good to have) and then be open to connecting with people who weren’t on these lists as well. AWE is unpredictable, so it’s important to have clear priorities so you know what to do even if your plans need to be changed. Do everything you can to meet the people on your top priority list.

The easiest way to meet the people you care about is visiting them in their booth, or following their talks and waiting for them to leave the stage (even if you sometimes end up following the speaker like I shamefully did with John Riccitiello). If these strategies can’t work with the person you care about, try contacting them through Linkedin, or on the event’s networking app (but remember that not everyone uses the network application), or ask a mutual acquaintance for an introduction. If none of this works, you can still hope see that person in the hallways and stop talking. Remember that AWE is an event with good positive energy and most people are happy to stop for a chat.

If you can, organize your days into blocks of time with a similar purpose: for example, you leave the whole morning for the exhibition and then the afternoon for the meetings. Otherwise, since the talks and exhibitions are in different areas of the bar, you run the risk of constantly going up and down the bar, wasting a lot of time. In my case, for example, I have Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, which are basically free for visiting the show booth, while I have a lot of appointments scheduled for the afternoon.

Do as much work as you can before the event, trying to get there with a few appointments already on your calendar. But don’t make the mistake of already filling your entire calendar. LGive yourself some time to go around and enjoy the typical AWE “weird reveal”. One of the coolest things about AWE is just walking down the halls, meeting people, and then letting those people introduce you to other people. And then maybe these people invite you to do some fun activities together. This means you don’t even have to be too strict with your plans: if you don’t have an appointment, it’s good to cancel some things you’ve decided to do because you’re invited to do something else. I still remember what happened to me my first year: I had decided to participate in many conversations, but instead I spent the entire morning just meeting random people in the hallways. I watched the keynote and then nothing else: I just met some good friends and met new people standing alone in the corridor in front of the main conference hall. And it was literally amazing: doing this, I also met superstars like Tony Parisi or Philip Rosedale.

Throughout the event, always maintain a positive attitude, and be open to talking to everyone. This is very important. If you see an opportunity, take it! I got to try Mojo Vision contact lenses because I happened to see their private room and went there begging to be allowed to see the device. And if you can do something fun and crazy, do it! People will remember you even more positively. Do not forget that one of the priorities of the event is fun!

Speaking of fun, don’t forget the parties. Evening parties are a very important part of the networking experience, this is where you really become friends with the people you talked to during breakfast. This year there is a Google Sheet document listing some of the parties happening over the three days of the event: you can find it here.

The topic of food also deserves a special mention: food at exhibitions is always expensive, so if you want to save moneybring something from home. If you are a speaker or part of the press, don’t forget that you have salons where you can find free food for you. And then all parties have food included. So try to make the best of these opportunities: free food is always tastier than paid food! As for drinks, I don’t know about this year, but in past years the place has always been full of free water dispensers.

The last tip is: No matter how well you organize your event, in the end, you will always feel like you missed something. AWE is so big that it’s impossible to do everything you want: there are many interesting conversations and some of them are happening in parallel and all of them are parallel to the exhibition. The exhibition is quite big and you can’t try all the products that are there. It’s normal that you can’t enjoy all the cool things that are out there. That’s why in the beginning I suggested you prioritize: if at the end of the event, you’ve met the key people you absolutely wanted to meet and tried the XR products you were curious about, you might be happy with your experience. As my friend Charlie Fink says, at the end of the day you’ll still suffer from FOMO, but at least you’ll know you’ve achieved your goals.

And that’s it for my list of suggestions. I am preparing to have an amazing AWE, and one thing I would really like to happen is taking a picture with Palmer Luckey, because I have never met him and it would be an honor for me to take a picture together with him.

This post comes from what I’ve learned in my own experience, but if any more seasoned AWE attendees have some more tips to add, feel free to do so in the comments of this post!

And to everyone coming to AWE… have a great event!

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