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OOW Advice

Jeff Smith offers up some excellent advice for those traveling to OOW 2010.

As a more-than-I-can-count-time attendee of OOW, here's a few additions to his list:

  • Don't eat dinner anywhere near Moscone.  
    Sure, it's easy, especially after a long day or sessions, but most of San Francisco's best restaurants are not adjacent to Moscone.  Head to North Beach or the Marina instead.
  • Attend a session or sessions on something that you have never heard of.
    You don't know what you don't know...
  • Talk to strangers.
    As Jeff said, this is one of the best places to network.  If you don't talk, then you may as well catch the sessions online.  No where else will there be as many people with similar technical interests than OOW.
  • Don't jaywalk.  Seriously.
    The SFPD was giving out jaywalking tickets around Moscone the last couple of years, and I know a couple people who were "lucky" enough to get them.  Not fun.
  • Come early or leave late.  
    Take a day to explore not just San Francisco, but the surrounding area.  Often, airlines will give you a better rate if you have a Saturday night stay included in your ticket.  See if your company travel policy allows for reimbursing your hotel Saturday night if you can get a fare that makes the overall cost of the trip less.
  • Download TripAdvisor or Yelp to your smartphone.
    Either of these sites offer decent opinions of local restaurants and the like, and it's handy to have when you get a recommendation from a concierge.
  • Visit the Union Square Hyatt's Grandviews Lounge
    For a drink, dinner of only for the view.  Try to get there around sunset - you won't be disappointed!

Comments

hillbillyToad said…
Yelp is a great resource! I always make sure to visit Scoma's seafood down by the Embarcadero/Ghiradeli (sp?) square.
August 24, 2010 at 5:55 PM
Byte64 said…
I agree with your advices Scott.
Speaking about food, in SFO is a no-brainer: go to the Mission district (take the tube and step down at either of the Mission stops), and you'll have a choice of almost any kind of ethnic food, except chinese.
If you like chinese, there are lots of restaurants inside China Town.
There are a lot of relaxing activities, take the ferry to Alcatraz or to Sausalito. Or take the tube and have a walk in Berkely, there is plenty of good restaurants also up there. One of my favourite destinations on saturday morning is the farmer's market at the Ferry Building, you can have a great meal over there too or just enjoy the good smell of fresh fruit, cheeses, wines and so on.
Too bad i won't be there this year, but i'll try to be back at OOW in 2011.
August 25, 2010 at 5:24 AM
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