meeting organization

Just got back from a pretty large meeting. Last time I went to this meeting it sucked. I went essentially alone and had no idea what i was getting myself into. I was hoping that it wouldn't be as horrible this year since I was going with a big group of people. Much to my dismay I was pissed off about 2 hours into the 5 day event.

Normally with meetings you show up and nothing happens until about 6pm on the first day. With this meeting talks were going on almost immediately. The issue is these first day things are not organized by the meeting organizers and instead by other people. This means that when you show up to a talk 1/2 hour before it is supposed to start and catch the end of the previous talk, it is mighty surprising to find out that the talk you wanted to see was the one you just walked in on. To do this again in a different session just down the hall is even more annoying. At least they could put a sign outside the door with the updated schedule so you can update your itinerary.

The rest of the meeting was fun and not so infuriating (for the most part).