Hell Is Your Feet During Conference Season

New York, Denver, New York, Boston, Phili, San Francisco, New York, and then New York again... and then some. Recession be damned, this fall conference season was insane. If the economy actually gets better, ever, it will only be worse on my poor feet.

(On the other hand, my pet-sitter is going on a luxury vacation in January with what she earned from me.)

So here are my rules for your feet during conference season:

- When traveling, pack some slippers or slipper-socks in your carry on to wear en route. Don't stay in your shoes, no matter how nominally comfortable!

- Wear disgustingly comfy shoes or boots for the 'to the station/airport' and 'to the hotel' part of the trip. Slip ons (clogs or Uggs are great) if possible. You don't have to look spiffy when you check in to fancy conference hotels, only afterwards.

- Bring at least one pair of shoes per day of event -- don't think you can wear a pair twice in a row! (Sharon, you know what I mean.)

- Buy event shoes in a size larger than your normal office shoes. Your feet may swell on concrete-over-thin-carpet floors, or due to excess flying or standing. Also if you need to add insoles, you'll need the extra room. (Thanks to Hope for this tip.)

- Carry a spare pair of shoes in your bag to change into when your fellow attendees insist on an after-event drink or three. Most of them are either (a) male or (b) 20-somethings, so they have no idea of the physical pain you'll go through just to follow them down 6 city blocks to the 'cool' bar for refreshment. (Better yet, learn to say 'no thanks.")

And I might add, don't share a hotel room, to save money, with your decade-younger COO, because you'll be wracked by jealously of her sophisticated younger-woman's wardrobe and then make bad shoe decisions as a result... but I won't because surely you know better. Right?

Research, Rename, Relaunch! Dispensary Business News Is Now MMJ Business Daily

Pride goeth before fall.

I've always had a knack for new publication development. Now I've learned I can't depend on it too much. Market research kicks knack butt.

This summer we launched Dispensary Business News for professionals running (legal) storefronts serving card-carrying medical marijuana patients. It seemed like a good idea because these pros have very few sources of relevant business information; the news changes daily, often dramatically so; and it's a booming billion+ dollar industry.

In reality, it was a crappy idea because people who run MMJ storefronts rarely read news online. Some don't even have email addresses - not for work, nor for personal email. And, some just weren't professionally-minded enough to care much about professional news.

So, in October with help from another publisher in this market, we launched a formal market research survey asking a wide variety of industry pros what they wanted from an online trade journal in this niche.

The result launched today -- Medical Marijuana Business Daily, featuring exclusive news analysis for legal and financial pros, as well as vendors in the industry. Lesson learned - always run a survey prior to launch. Don't just count on your "knack".