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Home » 5 Tips For A MegaDO Newbie

5 Tips For A MegaDO Newbie

November 20, 2012 By Debra Schroeder 5 Comments This post may contain affiliate links. Traveling Well For Less has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Traveling Well For Less and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author's alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. Read my disclosure and privacy policies.

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Having just returned from my first MegaDO, StarMegaDO4, and with OneWorldMegaDO around the corner, here are 5 tips for a MegaDO Newbie.

5 Tips For a MegaDO Newbie:

 

packing light
Photo Credit: Diane von Furstenberg

1. Leave Home Without It

a) Guys have it easy, a polo shirt, some button downs and you’re good to go. It’s a little bit harder for a woman.  Here’s a tip for the ladies: a MegaDO isn’t the Miss America Pagent so multiple outfit changes are not needed. Pare down your wardrobe to one outfit a day. Or even better, one basic piece that works with multiple items such as a solid color pair of slacks or skirt and four shirts.  This gives you four days of outfits but only five pieces and lots of extra room in your suitcase for swag, auction items, and of course, shoes.

b) Business Casual is the norm.  Most MegaDOers dress casually.  Wear comfortable clothes and shoes.

single flyers xpatloop.com
Photo Credit: xpatloop

2. Match.com

MegaDOs are a social event. If you’re a little shy, you’ll want/need to break out of your comfort zone and meet people.  You already have one thing in common: travel/flying, so start a conversation.   “What’s your alliance?”, “What’s your hotel?” “Whose your rental car?” (My husband believes these are standard pickup lines conversation topics for all members of Milepoint or Flyertalk.

3. Bust a Move

Because you’ll meet lots of people you may want to keep in contact with, consider bringing business cards to exchange.  Or better yet, save a tree (and money) by using Bump to exchange contact information and photos.  Bump is a free app and works with iPhone and Android, and can even cross platform allowing you to Bump an iPhone with an Android.

paper or plastic credit card or cash
Photo Credit: mssparky

4. Paper or Plastic

Bring credit cards for the auction and raffle opportunities.  Some of the auctions at StarMegaDO4 included: Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond Status through February 2015, 3 Night Stay at Hyatt Orlando, Hyatt Gold Passport Points, an autographed guitar by the surviving members of the band Firefall, and a NASCAR package.

Cash is also accepted, but why lose out on points/miles.

5. Changes

Go with flow. If you need a detailed itinerary that does not change, a MegaDO is not for you.  I’m all for structure and organization, but with any group event, especially one as large as a MegaDO, stuff happens.  The organizers (Tommy, Ed, Gary, Randy, Melinda, Nathan and countless others) did an AMAZING job with both the StarMegaDO and the changes.

For example, when schedule changes dictated earlier wakeups than scheduled, the MegaDO organizers called every room, arranged for wakeup calls, and sent an email regarding the change.

Schedule changes should be expected on any group event because there are things that are outside of your control.  Besides, which one of us has never experienced a schedule change to a flight?

The schedule changes were handled immediately and efficiently.  I was very impressed with the effort made to ensure that everyone knew of the changes so that no one was left behind.

One last thing to keep in mind, you’re not going to get a lot of sleep.  Even if you think you are, you’re not.  You’re going to be too busy having fun and socializing to want to go to bed.  It’s only a week, you can catch up on your sleep when you get home.

I’m working on a series of posts about my StarMegaDO experience so stay tuned.

Did you like this post? Don’t want to miss any posts? You can Follow me on Twitter or Like me on Facebook. Simply sign up via the subscription links below. If you’d rather receive post updates by email, please use the box below.

 

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Traveling Well For Less has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Traveling Well For Less and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.


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Filed Under: BLOG, MegaDO, Miles and Points, Travel Tagged With: featured, SMD4, StarMegaDo

About Debra Schroeder

Debra is a former 12-year travel industry executive and has traveled the world using airline miles and credit card points since 1994. She'll teach you the secrets of traveling well for less.

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  1. The below responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
  2. W Brian Duncan (AKA IPBrian) says

    November 20, 2012 at 1:19 pm

    Congrats on getting to go! I am holding our for the OneWorldMegaDO! 😉

    Reply
  3. Debbie Schroeder says

    November 20, 2012 at 1:30 pm

    I’m hoping to get lucky and get to go to OWMD2 also. 🙂

    Reply

Trackbacks

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    February 27, 2013 at 9:58 am

    […] year I chose Hyatt for my hotel program.  The simple explanation: they sponsored the SMD4 and gave attendees Diamond status for four months.  The wonderful treatment we received at each […]

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  2. Star MegaDO 4 Review | Traveling Well For Less says:
    April 25, 2013 at 10:47 am

    […] Not sure what to expect on a MegaDO? Read my 5 Tips for a MegaDO Newbie post. […]

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  3. StarMegaDO 4 Tshirt | Traveling Well For Less says:
    December 22, 2013 at 9:37 pm

    […] Milepoint hasn’t announced a MegaDO for 2014 yet, but in case you want to know what to expect, here’s my post on 5 tips for a StarMegaDO attendee. […]

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Debra Schroeder is a travel writer with 26 years of experience using miles and points to travel the world. A former 12-year travel industry executive, she knows how to find the deals and how to creatively finance trips, like getting a trip to Hawaii for practically free or a $26,000 trip to Australia for $208. She’s always looking for the best deal, whether it’s a hostel, luxury resort, or somewhere in between.

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