I was privilege to attend Google I/O 2018, and it is such an enriching experience. From it I learn better not just technically, but also how to be more ready for it in the future. Might be handy if you’ll be attending it for the first time in the future.

Preparing for the Conference

Accommodation and logistic

Once you get the Google I/O ticket, first thing to do is to get a hotel. Google does has some recommended hotels nearby, and they will provide free shuttle to and fro the hotel.

Unfortunately I got the ticket later, so those hotel has been booked out. Fortunately, I book a hotel near to Mountain View Train Station (MTV Caltrain). It turn out to be a great place to stay, where I’ll elaborate further with the map below.

The train station is where people will be if they come from San Francisco or other places by taking train. So Google also provide shuttles there daily.

Near the hotel is Mountain View Downtown that has places to eat. Also Safeway supermarket in case you need to get anything. If you want to buy electronic stuff, not too far away (I jog there), you have Bestbuy electronics.

In case you have extra day, you could go visit the Computer History Museum nearby (walking distance), which amazingly shows you how computer has evolved until today. More time still? visit Googleplex and have some selfie with the various Android SDK Droids along the way.

Data and Connection

As I landed at San Frans Airport, the first thing I need to get is my data to get an Uber to go to my hotel. The hotel data package is ridiculously expensive!! i.e. almost $100.

Fortunately the Airport does have free WIFI, where I get connect to call an Uber. And took me to the nearby places where I could get my data from T-Mobile for less than $35, with unlimited call and text in US, and data (2GB at 4G LTE, then unlimited for 2G LTE). Some other people buy the data ahead before going.

Booking the Sessions

About a month before the Google I/O starts, an email will be sent to inform you of the schedule is available. You should check it out and book the sessions you would like to go soon. Else you’ll be in the waiting list (which is almost as good as not booking, unless someone release the room later).

One mistake I did is, I book all those sessions that is most related to me. On hindsight I should have spread out more to some other sessions too, for wider exposure, especially those unrecorded sessions (Most sessions are recorded though).

You can book from 8:30 am till 7:30 pm (i.e. day 2). But that’s not the best thing to do, as your brain need to stop and rest in between. Consider doing other things, like Visit the Codelab, Office Hours, the Demo Booths… and not forget to get your lunch, and time to mingle with some friends (both old and new!) — Hi Faruk Toptaş, my pleasure to know you there.

Prepare your questions, issues etc

This is one of the thing I regret not doing. I have filed many issues on Stackoverflow and Issues on Google Developer site, some are not moving as well as I hope to. Google I/O is actually the best time to bring your questions there.

This is where the Office Hour corner is, where expert of various content is located there. You could bring your question there and ask them, report the bugs issue you found. It is so much better to have the face to face contact of sharing this with them, and you might get an immediate solution, or request as feature for the next release.

If you issue is on the Codelab, you could pick to attend the Codelab and do it there. You could bring your own laptop there as well to do it. And there will be assistant helping you if you’re stuck. If you could complete 4 Codelabs, you might get a chance to get Google I/O ticket for next year (this is what they offer this year).

The Google I/O

Registration

This year the registration will determine your keynotes session seat section. The early birds will get to the closer to the stage, and have a good view of Sundar Pichai and others 😝. Not only that, that would be a well shaded place, so you’ll not get strike by the burning sun ray directly (i.e. 101 to 103)

Sunscreen, sunglasses and water

This year, Google provides a free sunscreen, sunglasses and a water bottle. It is very handy as at times you might be under the ray of sun, and this is useful. I got sun burned by just walking around.

Google gave me water bottle, but I didn’t bring along, thinking there’s water with paper cups provided in various locations. However the paper cups at times would go finish, so bring along the water bottle would be handy.

Though it could be hot at times, but do bring along a jacket as in the morning or evening, it would get chilly.

Attending the session

Get a good seat — I know you have reserved the session, same for many others. So it’s still good to be there early if possible to get to the seat area. Each sessions usually ends 15–20 minutes ahead of the next session, so you have time to go out earlier.

If you happen to be slightly later, that’s fine. Just look around for empty seat in between, and usually there are some in between the crowd. Don’t be shy to ask your way into the seat if it is not occupied.

One note. Don’t sit and wait in the room if your next session is in the same location. You’ll need to go out and prove you have registered. If you wait until the staff ask you to go out, you might then need to queue a longer queue.

Taking notes — Don’t worry about taking picture or recording the session, as Google will record and post it on youtube most of the session. But for nice and important slides, if you are at a good location, you could snapshot it. This is because the video shows by Google might not show it in a full screen of the projected slide well as below.

Asking question — Not all session does open up for question after the presentation. But if you have questions, after the sessions, I see people walk to the presenter. They are really friendly in addressing your questions, unless they are busy, and have to rush off to another place. I manage to have a chat with few of them e.g. Yigit Boyar and Jake Wharton.

Optionally, you could also go to the demo booth of the relevant presented area. If you are fortunate enough, you’ll find the presenter there (i.e. I met Ian Lake at the booth, and he is so generous and patience to answer all my questions. Top bloke). If not, there are still other staff there waiting to take any questions you have, and also feedback.

Surprise goodies

During Google I/O, they often announced surprise goodies for all. This year, Google gave away Google Home Mini, and AndroidThings Development Kit. So watch out for the announcement and email they send you each conference day. There’s also free .app domain for a year and a free Kotlin Ebook.

For this year, one could get the AndroidThing Development Kit a day earlier if they do the scavenger hunt. But everyone could get it next day. If you are planning to get it, my recommendation is to get it later part of the day (closer to the time you go back to hotel), so you don’t need to carry around entire day.

Also, for some sessions, there might be surprise Goodies for those attend the session. This year, my friend attended the Chrome session, and got offer a PixelBook 75% discount voucher. It’s not for every session, so you have to get a six sense of which will have that 😉.

Other things to do

As mentioned earlier, try not to attend sessions after sessions. If you do so, you’ll be finishing your 3 days attending sessions that you could still get to see from Youtube in the future.

So instead, my recommendation is to spare some time to

Visit the demo booths, even for area not related to your domain. You’ll be surprise to learn something interesting.

Go a little in-depth on the area you just learnt about by asking the expert at the demo booth or at the Office Hour, do some practice on the codelab.

Make some new friends around, and get to know more about how other company does things similar to yours. I bounce into some developer from big company like Whatsapp , ING Insurance, SAP etc…

Misc. Items

During lunch time (especially first day), everybody might grab for food, and it seems a little chaotic. But stay clam, there will be plenty of food refill, and keep coming. You’ll definitely get fed well.

There are coffee, tea, waters, soft drinks all over the places. If you want pure water, it’s good to have your own water bottle as the paper cup might not be available later time of the day.

If you like to charge your devices, there’re some charger area in between the front and back section of the amphitheater, where you could even put your laptop on the desk.

All over the places do have various things you could also play. Ping Pong table, Futsal table, giant checker board, etc. Those might be handy for you to make something different, to re-energize your brain again.

If you would like to buy some Google souvenir, there are some stalls around too.

After Hour

The first 2 days of the conference, there are some after hour activities. If you don’t go around and check it out, you might miss out some of the fun. For Google I/O 2018, we know there’s a magic show and a concert. There’s also arcade games, and places where people just dance and have fun. I like the AI room, where some AI stuffs to play around. Quite a bit of things. So try to stick around, and explore the areas for awhile, before deciding you need to rest. You might discover some nice nostalgic, or futuristic fun stuff to do.