Ansley’s Guide to the AV Summit

Hello friends!

Welcome to AV Summit week, where the workforce behind our movement gathers together to learn, grow, and go to happy hours. We’re about to be in rooms with the absolute smartest people in our movement, and I’m so excited to see what other folks have cooking for this wild and crazy election year.

Don’t tell the others, but this is absolutely my favorite conference of the year. I’ve been to AV Summit a few years in a row now, so I’m happy to impart some wisdom that I’ve gathered to help you navigate this truly awesome event.

Ansley’s Guide to AV Summit

DO have a plan: There’s a lot to see and do at AV Summit! Download the app and make a list of who you want to see, and what panels seem interesting. Reach out to folks in advance and set up meetings. And pick 1-2 happy hours a night, knowing that the ones farther from the conference will be slightly less crowded.

DON’T say yes to everything: AV Summit is a marathon, not a sprint. If you go too hard nights one and two, you’ll be cooked by night three. You owe it to the folks working hard to make this event happen to keep it together until the end.

DO go to the breakouts: While the main stage will have incredible information about the big picture, the breakouts at AV Summit have been some of my favorite conference programming I’ve ever been to. That’s where you meet the people doing the work, and their stories from the field are a gift.

DON’T work in the sessions: You paid money to be at this conference, so be at the conference! Resist the urge to be on your phone during panels and plenaries and definitely don’t pull out that computer. I promise you, it can wait. Or if it can’t, find a spot outside the rooms with people talking to answer that email.

DO take advantage of the relaxation room: Last year, it had several massage chairs in it. If you need 30 min of not being around people, this is your spot.

And lastly, DO come and find me! I’ll be there all week handing out samples of our smelly mail, and I will happily talk your ear off about this experiment we did last year.

Pace yourselves, we’ll get through this together.

– Ansley, ansley@cn4partners.com