"I suppose
I'd better get my suit out for EPCA," said one US petrochemical conference veteran
on the phone to me yesterday. "It's all casual for US conferences, unless
you're giving a presentation."
What a
sartorial gulf there is between the US and the rest of the world.
Our team
returning from the Southwest Fertilizer conference in San Antonio told me that it was all
open-necked checked shirts and cowboy hats. And Stephen B in our Houston office tells me that business casual was the dress code at the National Biodiesel Board annual conference and the Renewable
Fuels Association's ethanol conference.
But I'm not
sure I believe in the all-casual theory of American conferences. It's
definitely all suits at the NECA Winter Meeting in New York. And although most of the suits at
the annual NPRA conference in San
Antonio are sported by Asians and Europeans, I'm sure
I've spotted a few suited-and-booted Americans too.
If you've
scaled back your wardrobe to just one suit, there's a lot of pre-conference
pressure to fit into it. And it seems a bit rash to be stuck with just one suit
for both meeting and eating. What if you spill egg down the front? What if you
are caught in the torrential downpours which are so much a feature of Monte Carlo conferences?
One shipbroker
told me that he had to run out and buy a new suit on the Saturday at EPCA in Berlin last year, because Air France had lost his luggage on the
way there. That's all right on the Kurfürstendam, but you don't want to have to
do that in the millionaire's playground of Monte Carlo.
From bitter experience, always remember to include important items as hand luggage - mobile phone chargers, biz cards, toothbrush and toiletries, and maybe even a change of underwear and socks for that first day. It is SO depressing lining up, usually late at night after all the shops have closed to receive the obligatory T shirt and minimal toiletries from the airline, knowing that you will have to cancel your first morning's meetings to go shopping. And that's assuming shops are open on Sundays, and those that are stock your size!
From my experience, the airline does not quibble, even when presented with a big bill for a smart suit, especially if the luggage has not turned up after several days. Treat yourself to an extra suit, shirt etc. Wish I had had the nerve to do it.