3 Tips for Choosing Your CrimeCon Sessions

NOTE: If you're reading this in preparation for CrimeCon 2018, please note that the sessions and speakers referenced below pertain to CrimeCon 2017 in Indianapolis, but the handy-dandy tips will still help you set your schedule. Check the full schedule here and tweet me with questions!

"There's so much going on! How am I supposed to choose between all of these sessions?!"

I feel your pain. Having been unsuccessful at my attempts to time travel or master astral projection, I'm resigned to choosing only one session at a time, too.

It took me a few drafts to keep my FOMO to a minimum and I still change my mind on some selections every couple of days. But since many, many, many of you have asked, here's how I'm approaching it. This may help you settle on a game plan for CrimeCon.

1. Think about what you want to get out of CrimeCon. When you first heard about CrimeCon, what excited you the most? What was your first "I hope they have ______!" reaction? Who did you hope to meet? What did you want to learn?

Did you want to try your hand at investigative techniques? Then don't miss sessions like CSI: Indianapolis , C rime Scene Reconstruction , or Wine & Crime (Gold VIP).

Want to find a new case to obsess over? Check out sessions similar to the Long Island Serial Killer with A&E's Rachel Mills, Josh Zeman, and Ellen Killoran; Cathy Scott's panel with survivors and families of Golden State Serial Killer ; or The Mannina Files with homicide detective Christine Mannina.

Want to meet your favorite true crime personalities? Check out the meet and greets with Josh Mankiewicz , Nancy Grace , Aphrodite Jones , Jim Clemente , or Erin Moriarty. Don't forget to stop by Podcast Row to meet your favorite true crime podcasters.

When in doubt, my advice is to look for things you're interested in but don't know much about. It'll come in handy for the criminal investigation career you're gonna want to pursue after CrimeCon.

2. Be flexible. I have my preferred sessions and backup sessions ready to go. Some sessions will be packed to fire code capacity. Not saying I wouldn't walk through fire to get to some of these sessions, but I'd rather just have a second choice in mind. Less burny, more learny.

Additionally, many sessions and the Jury Experience, Escape Room, and Interrogation Experience are offered multiple times over the course of the weekend. If you simply can't choose between two, look for another time slot when you could attend.

3. Don't feel like you have to fill every hour. The CrimeCon team has done a great job at packing a lot of opportunities into relatively short days (compared to the 14-hours-per-day conferences of my former corporate life). But with SO much action and SO much to see and do, these will still be long days. Build in some time to take a break in the VIP lounge or grab something to eat from one of the terrific JW Marriott Indianapolis restaurants. Or to grab a disco nap in your room. Of course, you can always bring some Red Bull or grab a coffee to power through the pain.

There's a LOT to do at CrimeCon. If you simply can't manage to squeeze everything you want into your schedule, keep an eye on our Instagram and Twitter pages. We'll post images, updates, insights, and interesting info from most sessions.

Hope this helps! If you'd like more information to help make your decisions, tweet me and I'll use my super-double-top-secret intel to help you decide.