Finance

Your Guide to Being a SAPPHIRE High-flyer

Before you go

Verify! Your tickets, schedules, and agenda. Things can change last minute and you don’t want to be late, miss an important meeting, or worse still - to find that a meeting has been cancelled and you now have a large block of time to kill wondering what you could have been doing instead. Using the Agenda Builder or Mobile App can help you avoid these issues and select the best sessions. We recommend Beat the Clock on IFRS. We also recommend to learn the map to understand the distances and travel times between meeting locations beforehand.

What to pack

This advice goes for most shows but it’s true for SAPPHIRE more than most – get comfortable shoes. The venue is massive and the exhibition hall alone is over a million square feet! Attendees can expect to walk several miles in a day. Temperatures can be warm in the convention center due to the doors being open during setup and cold when the air-conditioning is running. Average daytime high temperatures in June are 90°F/32°C with an average evening low of 71°F/22°C. You know your ideal temperature best so make sure you dress for it. Being too hot or too cold can drain your energy and focus. Above all – DON’T FORGET YOUR CHARGER(S).

When you arrive

Save time by picking up your conference badge in the baggage claim area of the Orlando International Airport (MCO) to avoid a longer wait time at Hyatt Regency Orlando. If you use your bar code from the mobile app or the SAPPHIRE preparation e-mail, you can often save over 30 minutes of waiting and admin time.

During the conference

There are a lot of transportation options available. We have found that the shuttle from the hotel to the convention center can take up to 45 minutes and has many long stops. We recommend taking a taxi or other private hire service to the venue with an average taxi fare of $15 one way depending on how far you’re staying.

A conference this large has many logistical peculiarities. A key thing to remember is to time your lunch carefully. You might want to consider leaving early because the volume of people all trying to eat at the same time, with meetings before and after, can affect your timing – even with their use of “lunch traffic controllers.” Some booths will live stream keynotes, so if you don’t want, or can’t attend in person, check the show floor for TVs streaming it. If you like to collect cool swag from the many vendors, do so early on day-one. Many will run out long before the end of the show!