EU Affairs
How to survive a party conference
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Work out where you’ll sit for meetings. Some lobbying shops run lounges, but you need to register in advance to use them. Plan for this three weeks before reading this piece (sorry).
Block out time to eat. I avoid the cooked breakfast, because it makes me feel sluggish, and make sure I get lunch. Others go for the cooked breakfast and last all day. Spoiler: All the food in the conference center is measly, overpriced and unsatisfying.
Book a dinner somewhere you can sit down. It doesn’t matter who with, or even if you eat alone — your blood sugar needs you. Keep something small and sweet in your bag, too.
Stay hydrated. No, coffee doesn’t count. Beer definitely doesn’t, although it does seem to help in other ways. Alcohol-free beer tastes almost like the real thing these days.
Bring painkillers, Berocca, Strepsils — and some kind of jumper. The conference venue can be home to its own strange kind of dry chill.
And always prepare for rain — and howling wind. Liverpool and Brighton (home to Labour conference) are far less forgiving than Manchester or Birmingham (home to the Conservatives), but they can all be brutal. In early fall, that midnight rain is cold. Cobbles make it worse.
