I’ve been going to the Mobile World Congress for many a year. My first appearance was pre-Cannes, on the Athens stage. Over the years I’ve given presentations, chaired panels, judged the awards and partied the nights away! My main interest is in Security, having been in it from the start, but I also like to check out the main theme for the year which in the past have been GPRS, 3G, Apps, LTE and M2M.

I have to come early, as there are lots of meetings before the main event begins, so will be arriving on the Thursday before. Because I booked just after the last one, I have IBIS rooms at 50 euros a night. You should think about planning for next year now!

I usually work out a few things beforehand, as otherwise you waste a lot of time: Key note speeches to attend, talks to go to (in my case the security ones), and talks to give (this year just the UK Cybersecurity one), people I must see (arrange appointments), exhibits I must see (security related and gadgets!). I go through the plan of the exhibits and make a list, and the important evening events to attend. The evening events are most important, as these are where you meet other useful people to catch up with them. I usually have a few invites, and there are some I have to attend where I am a minor functionary (such as ETSI). Others, like the whisky tasting at the Scottish Stand are where everyone meets!

I carry as little as possible, but take an umbrella and water bottle. I also bring my small teddy bear along, and try and blag a pass for him, a sort of security test! Comfortable shoes are a must, as well as stacks of business cards. I also have a Spanish SIM with prepaid data which I recharge every year – the WiFi is not always the fastest. Most of the faces are the same, but everyone moves around companies so you have to keep up with them! I always take time to look through the daily newspaper every day to catch up with the announcements, press releases and themes. Afterwards I type up a small report, and try and follow up the key contacts and ToDo list.

My security tasks for this year? Thinking about Embedded SIMs and Machine to Machine; are people building in security to devices yet? How useful is the latest blast of publicity we get on malware and viruses? I am hoping none of it is too exaggerated! And of course I will be spreading the message about the importance of security in products and services as it has a direct influence on your profit……. too often I see the technology used wrongly, with unrealistic expectations, leading to insecure networks, products and services. Mind you, it keeps me in a job!

So get ready for long treks, long nights and tired feet and heed my top tip – you will get the most out of it if you plan.