August 31, 2009

Bringing your significant other to a business conference

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I was in San Diego last week, speaking at a conference for independent professionals. My significant other had some vacation time he needed to use, and flights to Southern California were fairly inexpensive, so he decided to join me on the four-day trip.

As my beau and I quickly discovered, there are a number of pros and cons to piggybacking on a partner's business trip and trying to squeeze in a couple of shared vacation days (or in our case, afternoons). First, the plusses:

Familiar face in an unfamiliar city. Traveling for business -- and spending all your downtime solo or with industry counterparts you just met -- can get old after a day or two. Breaking away from the conference throng for an afternoon at the pool or an evening walk on the beach with my significant other was a welcome respite.

Tax-deductible getaway for me, cheaper trip for my guest. Happily, my flight and hotel stay were comped by the conference. Any other business-related expenses from the trip were tax write-offs for me, including transportation to and from airports and meals between conference sessions. As for my boyfriend, the free lodging greatly reduced his own tab for the trip.

Now for the minuses:

Difficult to fully immerse myself in the conference. Usually this would be a plus for me, as I tend to hit conference overload after half a day. But this happened to be a particularly innovative conference with an especially ebullient group of attendees, and at times I found it hard to tear myself away, despite the allure of frolicking among the palm trees and margarita menus with my guest.

Nowhere near the same as a real vacation together. My beau and I are in agreement here. For one thing, I brought my work stress and alarm clock with me. For another, he spent more than half the trip entertaining himself while I was busy with my conference duties. In his words, "The slow, coffee-drinking, newspaper-reading morning got old around 10 a.m."

Still, my beau and I agree that a workation is better than no time off together at all, and that if the price and schedule were right, we'd take a similar trip in a heartbeat -- especially if it were the only way we could afford to get out of town.

Readers, how about you? What's your take on traveling with guests when you attend industry conferences, trade shows, and other events? Better than no vacation at all? Or not worth the effort?

Michelle Goodman is the author of "My So-Called Freelance Life" and "The Anti 9-to-5 Guide." E-mail Michelle at mgoodman@nwjobs.com

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2 Comments

Joe Ninja on September 3, 2009 10:24 AM | Reply

Another plus as a tag along for someone who's very introverted like I am, is that it gives guaranteed time alone, which is something which often annoys my significant other when we vacation.

theantibush on September 3, 2009 10:38 AM | Reply

Taking off with your SO on business has some risk. The corporation may decide to postpone or cancel altogether. If it’s a conference, and the research to be presented has changed in focus (for example, from a mathematical to a biological research perspective) the speaker(s) could be substituted, leaving your impromptu mini vacation on the curb.

I would say to keep the scope of any such mini vacation limited, and time together directed to the corporate objective, such as presentation practice. You and your SO should already have a good history in joint preparation. Don’t make a business trip the first time you help your SO prepare for a meeting or (especially) a stage presentation.

Personally, when I travel with my SO it is in secret with a refundable ticket. My role on such excursions is as personal assistant, and the confidentiality affords maximum flexibility for the company who can reschedule / cancel with impunity.

And when its all over and Im spotted at the cocktail table, all went according to corporate plan, a plan that I like to facilitate...at a distance.

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