About this article:Take a peek inside the work-travel adventures of marketing leaders who spend a good amount of the year on the conference circuit. Whether you’re heading to your tenth event or prepping for your first, what you pack—and how you travel—says a lot about how you show up.
Our What’s in My Travel Bag? series highlights the must-have gear, routines, and mindsets that make conference travel feel more fun and rewarding.
With all due respect to Obele Brown-West’s system, I LOVE the actual BAG that houses my travel lifestyle. So I have to start there.
7 years ago – 1 year before conference travel got completely squashed for a pandemic – I invested in a new “laptop bag.” It was actually my first backpack since college. I’d been doing the “cool kids” over one shoulder bag and my neck and back muscles were paying the price.
Enter: my Everki Slim Studio Backpack. I have actually brought this bag up at dinner parties (unprompted, sorry dinner party friends) as one of my favorite purchases for myself that’s made my life easier. (They do not pay me commission, but Everki, if you’re reading: call me.)
This bag got me to Dublin and Bucharest in 2019. I’d pit it against Carolyn Cohen’s Dagne Dover any day. ;)
I’m a lover of a checklist, so I keep a ColorNote on my phone with my packing checklist. Whether I’m just headed to a meeting in my hometown of KC or on the road around the world, the backpack always has:
I pair this NASA-level under-seat preparedness kit with my trusty international-sized carry-on (Briggs & Riley, if you’re interested). My other Secret to a Life of Frequent Travel (especially as a speaker) is proven road-tested outfits:
Seriously, I pick my shoes first and then decide if I’m going with a blue, black, or burgundy color scheme for a trip.
This is because I always pack running shoes (and I’m at a 2-shoe max usually in that carry on). Sneakers are my airport shoes – even if I have to travel “dressed and ready for stage,” but I also always make time for a workout on the road. It helps my body wake up whatever time morning is where I’m going. And it calms my energy before I meet a room full of fun new people.
I’ll usually pack 1 more outfit than # of days on the road, just in case the temperature is hotter or colder than I expected or I spill something on the blazer I was gonna wear all 3 days or whatever other catastrophe awaits.
My one travel “must” isn’t really about what’s in my bag at all. It’s giving myself at least one meal in each city. Not conference boxed lunch. Not “I shoved a banana in my bag on the way to the tradeshow floor.” A sit down meal at a place with a menu that makes me drool. I love to dine with friends (old or new!) but I’m just as happy to have something delicious by myself.
My FAVORITE city for this is Chicago. It’s a foodie town, with plenty of variety, and no matter how many times I go back, there will always be a new neighborhood or chef concept to try.
I know most travelers listen to music, both for long flights and to get pumped up (or calmed down) before they step on stage (if they’re speakers like me). I try to use flying time to turn off my devices and the always-on sounds of an airport.
And most importantly: right before I speak, the only thing I need is to get back into my body. Sometimes that means stretching out as BIG as possible backstage and filling up my belly with deep breaths. Just letting the silence prepare me. Sometimes, it means starting a conversation with the A/V team about what they’re up to this weekend. Because human-to-human connection is the ultimate foil for being too in your own head.
Either of these gets me out of that little tickle of nerves right before I speak. Because I know that once I’m out on stage, it’ll all be good energy. And I genuinely can’t wait to share what I know with the audience. Travel can be tiring, but the payoff of sharing with a room full of people is worth it!