Has anyone been to an ANIA conference?

[Clovery]

I am registered to attend the American Nursing Informatics Association national conference in Philadelphia next week. I am considering pursuing a MSN in Informatics and I figured checking out the conference could help with that decision.

I have never attended a conference before, so I'm not really sure what to expect. I selected the sessions I want to attend, so I assume I'll be moving around to different rooms. Are these usually just rows of chairs or do they provide tables? I would love to be able to bring my laptop and take notes (I type much faster than I write). Considering it is an informatics conference will others have laptops?

Business casual attire is okay? Any other tips about attending the conference? I don't want to be a wallflower but I'm a little nervous about the social/networking aspects as I'm not really in the profession yet. I am a superuser at my job, and had two informatics courses as part of my BSN... That's the extent of my informatics experience.

Thanks for any replies!

[Clovery]

Since no one replied to this, I'll answer my own question in case anyone else searches here:

All of the lectures/sessions were held in rooms that had tables, so it would have been easy to type on a laptop. There were some non-table seats towards the back of the room so if you are planning to type on a laptop, get there early to get a table seat. Maybe 1 in 5 people had a laptop. All of the tables also had a complimentary pad and paper from the hotel and pitchers of water with glasses (no need to lug around a water bottle all day). They also provided a shoulder bag for folders/literature/info that was given at registration, so carrying your own messenger bag is unnecessary. A small purse will do. Some people at the conference were dressed very casually, in jeans. Most were in the business casual realm.

The conference was awesome and totally confirmed my desire to pursue nursing informatics!