I go to a lot of conferences. As a trade magazine writer, I spend time at trade shows covering them for clients or gathering information I can use in future assignments. Whether the topic is gastroenterology or freelance writing, I'm happy to sit in sessions, meet others in the field, and collect pens from vendors.

I am a cheapskate, you know.

I'll tell you how I'm approaching ASJA 2006 after the jump. The short answer: talk to people, take notes, and prepare to follow up when the conference is over. It's that last part that is most important.

The conference starts today, Friday, but despite my cheapness, I came out on Wednesday. I'm staying at the Hotel QT, and I want to give its writer-friendliness a shoutout. As if its relatively inexpensive rates, free breakfast, free wi-fi, and laptop-sized in-room safes were not enough, it's laid out for great laptop use. There's a picture of it, above.

Since my arrival, I have met with editors, visited Media Bistro headquarters, and attended a human resources conference also in town this week, where I met some potential contacts and collected story ideas. I've had fun, too, but even that has been work-related (e.g., going to dinner at an historic steakhouse with two smart freelancers, attending a launch party for Rachel Weingarten's new book Hello Gorgeous).

Now that the conference is in session, I am saying hello to writers I know from past events, introducing myself to people I know from online boards, and congratulating people whose bylines I've seen on great stories but who I do not otherwise know. I'm also just talking to anyone who happens to be around - hey, no one likes being left out, and that includes me.

There are some good sessions, too, and I've been taking notes. I've given up on the electonic PDA; instead, I have a running narrative of things that I need to do when I get home. (I'm a slave to David Allen's Getting Things Done system.) And that's key. Ideas are worthless if you don't act on them. If an editor tells me to send a query, I'd better do it. If someone offers to send me a copy of a paper but wants me to email the request, I should do that. If I hear about a new book related to something I'm working on, I'd better add that to my bookstore list. The key to success is following up.

Today's sessions are for ASJA members only. They include such great things as one-on-one meetings with editors and such mundane matters as annual budget discussions. Important, but not compelling. Of course, I'm on a panel about blogging this afternoon, and I'll put my presentation here.