 It's conference season. We're all hitting the road and packing up for some conference and business travel. I'm going to give you my packing essentials that will hopefully make your life a little bit easier on the road. Pantry where I provide productivity tips and resources for hotel sales professionals. And speaking of hotels, I am heading out on the road next week to IMAX America in Las Vegas. Large trade show for meeting planners and hotel sales professionals and destination professionals alike. And so I was thinking a couple weeks ago, you know, I have a lot of great little tips for business travel. I do spend a lot of time on the road. So I want to share those with you guys. Hopefully keep your suitcases a little better organized when you head out on the road. The first thing I do when I'm hitting out on a road trip is literally take a piece of paper and start to map out all of my outfits required for the week. This kind of acts as my base for packing up my suitcase for business travel. So as you can see here, I've got all the outfits I'm going to wear during the day and during the evening of my conference next week actually. And not only will I not forget to pack all the essentials for each outfit, but also the shoes, the hosiery, even the jewelry that would coordinate with all of these outfits. Oh, the purses, don't forget the purses, that would coordinate with these outfits. So I'm not going to miss any of those little elements. Now this is just one list of many that I use when I'm packing up to head out for travel. Another list I use or rather combination of lists is through one of my favorite apps called Listmaster. It is an iPhone app and you can download Listmaster and make multiple lists for multiple different things. But what I like about Listmaster and I have yet to find another app that does this is it keeps the list. So when you actually check things off, they don't delete. And when you want them all back, you can mass bulk them back to being unchecked. So I can use the same list every time I travel and I don't have to replicate anything. And it does it very quickly. For whatever reason, I cannot find another list app that does that. So if you know of a list app that will let you bulk uncheck items so that when you're packing up, you can now just start checking things off very quickly again. Will you please let me know. But in the meantime, I'm going to continue to use Listmaster. And it has lists for my workout gear, my toiletries, my clothing, what to put in my computer bag, what to put in my purse. And then of course my documents like passport, out of office email, out of office phone message, etc. So Listmaster that's what I use to keep me organized when I travel in combination with my outfit inventory. Okay, now that the lists are done, we're going to get down to some of the more tangible things, things you should be packing in your suitcase and in your laptop bag. And I have been waiting to do this video to show you my newest laptop bag. Every woman should have this bag and Matt and Nat are going to run out of these bags, hopefully at this video ever goes viral because I have searched everywhere for the perfect laptop bag that's stylish and roomy enough for all of my crap. And I have found it. So at a local store here in Kelowna, I stumbled on this Matt and Nat diaper bag. Now, yes, it is a diaper bag, but wait, it's so much more than a diaper bag. So where are the diapers thing goes? That's where I can hold all of my files. So they slide right down right there so easily. But it still has a laptop sleeve. So it's for the mom on the go, definitely. But there's so many pockets and it's so sleek. And I just I love you. I love this bag. So there's other laptop bags, I'm sure out there and make sure you have a sturdy, good quality laptop bag. And don't make the same mistake I made for years in buying cheap laptop bags because they were pretty. But then they fell apart right away. And with the amount of travel I do, I need something that's going to stand the test of time. So Matt and Nat, great quality stuff. And this bag, it's just I love this bag. Okay, so now for the interior of your suitcase and you've got a whole bunch of little bits and pieces, especially if you're a woman with different hosiery and makeup and jewelry to go with all of your outfits need to keep all those bits and pieces organized. Now, there's a lot of companies out there that have these great little packing modules. They are fantastic. But to be honest, I've used some not as impressed as I am with my good old Ziploc bag. Waterproof, dispensable. I can throw it away if it gets dirty. I don't have to try and clean it. I can see through it. So I use large Ziplocs for all kinds of things. Oh my goodness, sunscreen swimsuits. Sometimes all my hosiery will fit in here. Then of course, you've got the size that fits in your laptop bag, the liquids bag that you have to give over at security. So this is the perfect size for that. And then the Dollar Store has these amazing tiny, tiny little Ziplocs, just teeny tiny little guys. These are good for jewelry. So to keep your necklaces from getting all tangled. Again, you might have one of those fancy jewelry organizers. I tried one and it just it wasn't working for me. But these work for me. I put all of my outfits jewelry in one little bag where it doesn't get all tangled up with the other necklaces and away I go with the exception of one bag, which is given to me by a friend as a gift. And I love this bag. It's by 31 gifts and it's monogrammed with my initial on it. And I use this for my underwear. So so now you know what's in it. If you ever see me pull up this bag. But I love this little bag and 31 gifts does have a lot of these cute little travel bags. So the only I guess the only thing with this bag is I can't see through it. So I got to unzip it to kind of take a look around and see what's inside. So yeah, cheap Ziploc bags are the way to go when you're traveling. So at the beginning of the video, I mentioned packing purses for all of those outfits that you've outlined on your outfit outline. Oh my gosh, that's what we're totally calling this outfit outline. And purses can take up a lot of space. But let me backtrack and explain a little bit more about the purses. Over the years, I've been able to accumulate purses that are easy to pack and of course coordinate with a majority of my outfits. Again, going back to my outfit outline, that's right, that's what we're calling it. I wear a lot of red. So this is my packable red purse. It's not big. It's not wide as you can see. And it goes to be honest with the majority of my outfits. Now if I have to throw another little purse in there to go with one of those rogue outfits, I can slip in one of the wristlets. So gentlemen, a wristlet is kind of a purse with a wrist strap. It's not very wide. You got to be careful what kind of phone you use, that's why I use an iPhone 5 so I can fit it in all my purses. But anyway, a wristlet can then fit inside of my tiny little purse and away we go. So I literally have six of these in different colors. This is my gold one. I have a cute little blue one here from Coach, which is really cute. Oh no, fossil, sorry. Fossil, cute little blue purse. And then of course my favorite, but doesn't go with all of my outfits. My Duny and Burke Blue Jays one. So anyway, that's a wristlet that's easy to pack, easy to store, and then you've got a purse that coordinates with your outfits, especially in the evening after all of the business during the day. Getting to the more practical side of packing your suitcase and your laptop bag, do not forget to pack your notebook. Now yours doesn't need to be as fancy as mine, but I am a productivity geek, so I have a notebook with tabs and paper, etc. This is by the ARC notebook system from Staples. But make sure you pack a notebook, especially if you don't know where you're going to have some Wi-Fi access to jot down all of your notes. You still stay creative on the road, so you need a place to put that creativity. All right, a few more utilitarian items that I make sure I pack when I'm hitting the road. My pencil case, not so much about the pencils, although there are a lot of pencils in here. But what's inside my pencil case, like this handy dandy extra outlets, because the hotel for whatever reason never has enough outlets where you need it. Now they are getting better. Some hotels have tons of outlets now, but they're not all there, so make sure you pack some outlets if you need extra space. I also have a stapler in here, so this gets through security, by the way. I don't know why, maybe because the staples are the size of my fingernail. But I do have a stapler more so for my receipts, my travel receipts, and business cards that I need to staple to note. So I always have a stapler with a few staples in it. What else is in here? Oh, my pencil sharpener, obviously, and my spork. Again, I'm on the road quite often, and eating on the road is horrific if you live on the road you know what I'm talking about. So I try and buy a fresh meal every now and again so now I can eat my salad and my yogurt in the comfort of my hotel room with my handy spork. You don't need a fancy spork, you can just take a plastic spoon or fork and stick it in your pencil case and away you go. These next essentials are more so for the ladies in the house, although I don't judge, gentlemen, if you use these items, good on you because they're amazing items. We're talking about makeup and how to pack makeup so it's not overwhelming your suitcase or your carry-on. In all honesty, I do carry my makeup in my carry-on more so because I don't want it to get banged around and broken. Makeup can be very expensive, and sometimes if you put it in your checked luggage, it will come out really broken. I've broken a few pallets that way. So saving on space in your carry-on or in your laptop bag, there's a few pallets. There's multitudes of pallets, but what I'm trying to show you is get a palette that has a ton of different colors so that you just have to pack one as opposed to like 18 eye shadow pots. This is Urban Decay's Naked Palette. It's a great palette and it's got all the colors you need for the week. Another one Smashbox makes some good pallets as well. My ultimate favorite though has to be this tiny, tiny little palette by Bobby Brown. I mean they've got a few different colors. This happens to be the brown one, but it's got the four colors that you need and a blush all in one. And look how skinny this is. I can't tell you how many times I've lost this because it's so small. It's perfect. So I pack this one a lot when I go on just those overnight trips because I can stick it anywhere. And then of course the makeup brushes. Again, women should have a few good quality makeup brushes, but they're hard to pack and they take up a lot of space. My mom got me this amazing set of minis from I think Merle Norman and it is actually surprisingly awesome. With the exception of one brush that I always pack, this is all I need to go through all of these tiny cute pallets when I'm doing my makeup on the road. So those are my makeup essentials. Last but certainly not least is my workout gear. I'm not going to show you my workout gear because I have zero style when it comes to working out, but it's more so about the hotel that you're going to visit and if that hotel has a workout program. Some hotels and hotel chains now you can pay a nominal fee of five bucks and they will bring workout gear complete with running shoes up to your guest room, which saves you on all of that luggage. So for those trips where all you want to take is a tiny roll on suitcase and your laptop bag, those programs are perfect because I size 10 feet, my running shoes are not tiny. So for those overnight trips, I can just rent shoes from the hotel and get my workout in for five bucks and I don't have to check any of my luggage. If you're looking to source any of the items that I've mentioned in this video, I am going to put the links below in the video as well as on the accompanying blog post on my website, productivitypantry.com. And if you're still having trouble finding these items, especially that mat and mat diaper bag, send me a note or a comment or an email and I will send you the website to get this diaper bag. It does come in three colors. So if black isn't your thing, there's a few other colors to choose from. Okay guys, so now I need to go and get packed up for my trip next week. If you're heading out to Vegas, I hope to see you there safe travels and our thoughts and prayers are with everyone in Vegas this week and of course next week in light of the tragedy last Sunday night. As I mentioned at the beginning of my video, I do a lot of different videos and blog posts on productivity and posts for hotel sales professionals. Check out my blog at productivitypantry.com and if you sign up for my newsletter, I'll send you a handy making choices with your time self evaluation worksheet. Lots of fun for the plane. So hopefully you enjoyed these tips and we'll see you next time. Bye for now.