This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Java Buzz by Simon Brown. Original Post: JavaOne tip #5 : Choosing the right sessions Feed Title: Simon Brown's weblog Feed URL: http://www.simongbrown.com/blog/feed.xml?flavor=rss20&category=java Feed Description: My thoughts on Java, software development and technology. Latest Java Buzz Posts Latest Java Buzz Posts by Simon Brown Latest Posts From Simon Brown's weblog

With so many technical sessions and BOFs to choose from, how do you decide which ones to go to? Also, Matt is asking a similar question about how do you organise your time during the week?

I used to just pick the topics that I was working with (mostly J2EE) and turn up to those sessions. However, last year I found that I learnt much more by instead choosing sessions with topics I was interested in but didn't necessarily work with. For example, I attended some great presentations on J2ME, Jini, JavaSpaces, JXTA and grid computing. Of course, I also went to some of the J2SE 1.5 and J2EE 1.4 sessions but I didn't just try to stick to technologies that I was using on a day to day basis. My tip here is to use the conference as a way to learn about new and emerging technologies, trying not to pick too many sessions about stuff you already know.

The other question about how to organise your time is very much a personal thing. Some years I've spent days beforehand planning which sessions I want to go to, and others I've pitched up to a session just before it started. For me, what seems to work is to plan one day at a time. After going to a few of the sessions, I generally find that I'll change my mind anyway and end up re-planning each morning before the conference starts. Whatever you do, always have a backup plan in case tip 4 goes wrong. ;-)