Our Mozilla work week just ended with an amazing evening. We had a private Mackelmore concert. Just check out Twitter with the #mozlandia tag and feel the vibe. example.
When they got on stage I must admit I did not know who Mackelmore was. yeah sorry. I live in a Spotify-curated music world and I have no TV.
At some point they played a song that got me thinking: ooohhh yeah that song, ok.
Anyways.
During some conversations a lot of folks told me that they where overwhelmed by the work week and har a very hard time to keep up with all the events. Some of them were very frustrated and felt like they were completely disconnected.
I went through this a lot in the past but things improved throughout the years. This blog post collect a few tips.
1. List the folks you want to meet
This one is a given. Before you arrive, make a list of the folks you want to meet and the topics you want to talk about with them.
Make that list short. 10, no more.
2. Do not code
This is the worst thing to do: dive into your laptop and code. It's easy to do and time will fly by once you've started to code. People that don't know you well will be afraid of disturbing you.
Coding is not something to do during your work weeks. If you need a break from the crowd that's the next tip.
3. Listen to your body
A work week is intense for your body. By the end of the week you will look like a Zombie and you will not be able to fully enjoy what's happening. If you are coming for a far place, the jetlag is going to make the problem worse. If you're a partygoer that's not going to help either. All the food and drinks are not really helping.
I've seen numerous folks getting really sick on day 3 or 4 because they had intensive days at the beginning of the event. It's hard not to burn out.
Some (young) folks are doing fine on this. I know I am not. What I did for the Portland work week was to skip everything on day 2 starting at 5pm, ate a soup and went to sleep at 8pm. Skipping on all the cookies and beers and goodies gives your body a bit of rest :)
That gave me the energy I needed for day 3.
4. Don't hang with your team all the time
You talk to those folks all the time. Meet other folks, check out other sessions, etc.
This is especially important if your native langage is not English. I got trapped many time by this problem: just hanging with a few french guys.
5. Walk away from meetings
Don't be shy of walking away from meetings that don't bring you any value. Walk out discretly and politely. You are not in a meeting to read hackernews on your laptop. You can do this at home.
People won't get offended in the context of a work week - unless this is a vital team meeting or something.
What are your tips?