I’m attending the Women in Travel Summit (WITS) in Québec City! It’s taken me more time than I care to admit to pack my suitcase and carry-on back for the conference. I really wanted to pack light for a conference and travel carry-on only, but my personal item (a camera backpack) is too long, unfortunately.
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Reasons why I Feel Like I Have no Idea how to Pack Light for a Conference
- There will be a variety of activities over the 11 day trip. For instance, there will be outdoor excursions planned during a 3-day press trip I’m going on to the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean area. I will also be indoors for two full days in a hotel during the conference. I know indoor air conditioning is often set pretty high (which means that I’ve planned to wear cardigans layered over a light dress or blouse for those days). For the rest of the days I’ll be either flying to or from Québec City for most of the two days, or walking around the city with tour guides.
- I’m admittedly indecisive. I keep going back and forth with the items that I’ve picked out to bring. Will I look too casual? Should I bring more blouses?
I’ve only been to one conference (Alt Summit during June in Salt Lake City, Utah) prior to going to WITS (Women in Travel Summit), so learning how to pack light for a conference will be a work in progress for a while.
For Alt Summit I didn’t have money to purchase items of clothing specifically for the conference and I also really don’t like wearing hot weather clothing (shorts, short skirts, tank tops). I feel like I have plenty of clothing options for WITS, but still feel unprepared.
What to Pack for a Conference
There are a few pieces of luggage/accessories that I wish I owned. I keep hearing about packing cubes. Packing cubes are soft mesh cubes that hold and organize clothing. I have some mesh laundry-style cubes I’ll be using until I can get my hands on these:
I have a camera/laptop backpack but wish I had something else for my carry-on luggage, since the backpack doesn’t fit clothing or much else. There are SO MANY laptop backpacks out there and I have found so many on the eBags website. This Browning Jackson Carry-On Backpack below looks promising, though:
What do you pack when you’re going to a conference? Once I’ve been to a few more and feel more confident, I’ll share what I bring with me.