Smarterware

The Introverted Nerd’s Conference Survival Guide

Pulling your gaze from your shoes, making eye contact with an ugly bag of mostly water, and communicating via spoken word is a much more difficult undertaking for the introverted nerd than it is for a normal person. Extroverts feed off of social interactions and conversation; it energizes and inspires them. On the other hand, socializing taxes introverts to the point that when all's said and done, they're wrung dry.

This makes attending conferences--what with their all-day sessions, nighttime social events, and sharing a hotel room--a serious mental drain on the introverted nerd. Since I'm one of the many introverted nerds heading to the South by Southwest Interactive festival this weekend, I've got a few conference survival tactics to share.

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