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business travel smart

Glenn Brooke | July 8, 2015 | 3 Comments

Smart Business Travel Rhythms – Glenn Brooke

 

Business travel is fun, exhausting, disruptive, exciting, boring, time-consuming, distracting, mind-expanding, enlightening, tiring, and necessary. There are many travel tips, checklists, and articles about how to do business travel. I wish someone had coached me earlier about business travel rhythms because they can make or break you. I’ve made many poor choices in years of business travel – please learn from my mistakes!

You should have three objectives for your business travel:

[Read more…] about Smart Business Travel Rhythms – Glenn Brooke

Glenn Brooke | June 10, 2015 | 4 Comments

How Bad Was This Trip, Really? – Glenn Brooke

 

Not long ago I traveled from Des Moines, Iowa to Wilmington, Delaware.

On my way to the dentist that morning for a routine cleaning I received a phone call that my flight was moved up. I changed my dentist appointment, zipped down to the airport, and was told my flight was now delayed by an hour.

The flight attendant accidentally spilled a Coke on me when we hit turbulence. Nice big stain on my dress shirt. The baby near me cried inconsolably most of the flight to Atlanta. The guy in front of me dropped his seat back all the way, leaving me almost no room to write in my notebook.

[Read more…] about How Bad Was This Trip, Really? – Glenn Brooke

Glenn Brooke | October 8, 2014 | 5 Comments

The Well-Equipped Laptop Bag for Travel – Glenn Brooke

 

Many leaders I know are out of their regular office more than they are in it, moving around between conference rooms or multiple sites. You are facilitating meetings, taking notes, giving presentations, and trying to keep up with everything else going on outside the meeting you’re involved in. Set yourself up for success with a well-stocked bag.  (Note: Use whatever brand preferences you like, and whatever makes you effective.)

Here’s my current checklist for what goes in my laptop bag:

Local presentations and meetings where I take my laptop

  • Laptop, power cord
  • Portable mouse (with spare battery)
  • Paper notepad for taking notes
  • Documents for use in meetings
  • My current task-tracking checklist
  • Index cards for making/leaving notes – I like the Levenger 3×5 cards for this
  • Flash drive – use for backups of presentations/documents, or transferring files if a network is not available
  • A fresh whiteboard marker, because the ones in the conference room are often dried out
  • LAN cable – I like this style of compact retractable LAN cables
  • Remote control/laser pointer (I’m pleased with this Keyspan unit)
  • Security tokens
  • Spare pens, highlighter
  • Mints

 

Add for travel — so I can work effectively from anywhere

  • Flight/rental car/hotel information
  • Driving directions to key locations
  • Small notebook (I’m fond of Moleskines!)
  • Digital copies of documents under development
  • Tablet for Kindle reading and work when a full laptop is just too much– I have used both iPads and Surface Pro devices.  I load up the Kindle books before a trip.
  • Business cards
  • List of contacts, phone numbers, email addresses, help desk contact info (printed, as backup)
  • Printed calendar (again, good backup if there are smartphone problems)
  • Chargers for all devices
  • Envelope for storing receipts
  • Post-it notes
  • Pencil (for writing on bumpy flights or cars)
  • Chapstick, dental floss, vitamins, Tylenol + prescriptions
  • Spare shoelaces
  • Spare AAA batteries for devices
  • Rubber bands and spare ziplock bags
  • Spare change in a ziplock bag
  • Foam ear plugs for work in noisy spaces
  • Some small snacks that don’t require refrigeration
  • Cheat sheets for how to do VPN, wireless, other connections – because the Help Desk isn’t always easily available
  • Backup charts for presentations
  • An extra Flash drive I can leave with someone if necessary
  • Headset mic for Skype calls (optional)
  • My “On Return” checklist for things to do when I’m back in the office
  • Extra reading materials: Trade magazines for catchup reading, Printouts of blog posts and articles.

Do you have other recommendations and suggestions?

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Hi, my name is Adam Smith and welcome to asmithblog.com. I am the author of the new book, The Bravest You. Because of my work as an entrepreneur, consultant, writer, and speaker, I have been named a top industry influencer by American Genius. I live with my wife, Jasmine, and three children in Shenandoah, IA.

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