Trade Show Day 4's a Wrap. Headed Home.
Dec. 5th, 2024 06:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerTrade Show Travelog #8
LAS Airport - Thu, 5 Dec 2024, 6:15pm
Another year of AWS re:Invent is a wrap. The exhibitor show closed at 4pm today. I'm now at the airport awaiting my 7:15pm flight home.
I worked the full day at the show today, 10am-4. I was only on the duty roster to work 'til 1pm. In the morning I checked with Southwest Airlines to see if I could change to an earlier flight. The option was there to confirm a seat on the 4:20pm departure... but I decided, "Enh, I'll see how things are going at the show at 1pm and check again later." That was a mistake. By 1pm all the confirmable seats were gone.
But staying through 4pm was also a good thing, for the team. The booth got busy in the afternoon, even after other people peeled off to travel home. The last 8 of us were often all tied up working. And people responded well to Jenkins the Butler being in the booth.
Yes, I dressed as The Butler again today. I drew a lot of traffic into the booth just by people recognizing me— or, should I say, my persona. They'd walk by, do a double point, then point and laugh (in a good way!). I'd wave them into the booth. Lots of people took selfies with me.
I also had a good conversation with an overseas partner while dressed as Jenkins. This was an executive meeting with one of our VPs... and the partner VP recognized me from Jenkins World conferences as far back as 2018! We also compared experiences from 2022 getting out of Orland, FL when Jenkins World was canceled last-minute due to an oncoming hurricane.
The end of the show at 4pm might have felt like the end of the workday. But, ugh, it was not. First, I stayed to help the team tear things down and box them up until about 4:30. Then it was a loooong walk back to my hotel's bell desk where I'd left my suitcase. Then it was a long wait, 15-20 minutes, for a car via Uber and Lyft. Oh, and prices were high. Uber wanted over $80. Lyft was under $50... until I clicked for the ride then it was suddenly $65. This isn't the first Lyft has been thieves. But still they were cheaper. 🤷 Oh, and traffic made things take a long time to get to the airport. The ride was almost 25 minutes. It's less than 5 miles.
At the airport my first order of business— after getting through security, that is— was to get dinner. Dinner at 5:30pm was the first food I've had since before 8am today. Yes, I was so busy at the show I skipped lunch today. But now I've eaten, and I'm sitting, and I'm finally unwinding. So far my flight home to SJC is showing on time. Fingers crossed Southwest doesn't find a way to disappoint as usual.
LAS Airport - Thu, 5 Dec 2024, 6:15pm
Another year of AWS re:Invent is a wrap. The exhibitor show closed at 4pm today. I'm now at the airport awaiting my 7:15pm flight home.
I worked the full day at the show today, 10am-4. I was only on the duty roster to work 'til 1pm. In the morning I checked with Southwest Airlines to see if I could change to an earlier flight. The option was there to confirm a seat on the 4:20pm departure... but I decided, "Enh, I'll see how things are going at the show at 1pm and check again later." That was a mistake. By 1pm all the confirmable seats were gone.
But staying through 4pm was also a good thing, for the team. The booth got busy in the afternoon, even after other people peeled off to travel home. The last 8 of us were often all tied up working. And people responded well to Jenkins the Butler being in the booth.
Yes, I dressed as The Butler again today. I drew a lot of traffic into the booth just by people recognizing me— or, should I say, my persona. They'd walk by, do a double point, then point and laugh (in a good way!). I'd wave them into the booth. Lots of people took selfies with me.
I also had a good conversation with an overseas partner while dressed as Jenkins. This was an executive meeting with one of our VPs... and the partner VP recognized me from Jenkins World conferences as far back as 2018! We also compared experiences from 2022 getting out of Orland, FL when Jenkins World was canceled last-minute due to an oncoming hurricane.
The end of the show at 4pm might have felt like the end of the workday. But, ugh, it was not. First, I stayed to help the team tear things down and box them up until about 4:30. Then it was a loooong walk back to my hotel's bell desk where I'd left my suitcase. Then it was a long wait, 15-20 minutes, for a car via Uber and Lyft. Oh, and prices were high. Uber wanted over $80. Lyft was under $50... until I clicked for the ride then it was suddenly $65. This isn't the first Lyft has been thieves. But still they were cheaper. 🤷 Oh, and traffic made things take a long time to get to the airport. The ride was almost 25 minutes. It's less than 5 miles.
At the airport my first order of business— after getting through security, that is— was to get dinner. Dinner at 5:30pm was the first food I've had since before 8am today. Yes, I was so busy at the show I skipped lunch today. But now I've eaten, and I'm sitting, and I'm finally unwinding. So far my flight home to SJC is showing on time. Fingers crossed Southwest doesn't find a way to disappoint as usual.
