How to Plan Your Schedule to Attend Every Relevant Session
The BYU Management Society Asia Pacific Conference combines the Believe & Achieve business plan competition with talks, breakouts and networking. A strong schedule does more than fill every open hour: it protects the sessions that advance your business idea, creates time to absorb them and leaves space for valuable conversations.
Begin with outcomes, not a wish to attend everything. List the two or three problems you want to solve, then match them with conference tracks, speakers and competition phases. Sessions tied to those goals become priorities, while peripheral material remains optional.
Treat the plan as a sequence of decisions. Record start and finish times, identify clashes, reserve travel and reflection breaks, and create alternatives for overlaps. This method helps you cover every priority without relying on a timetable that collapses after the first venue change.
Define your priorities before choosing sessions
Download the official programme and mark items against your outcomes. Give the business plan phases, award categories and speaker appearances particular attention, because some activities have fixed entry, judging or presentation times. Add compulsory items to your calendar before anything optional.
Label each session essential, useful or optional. A business-model workshop may be essential if it changes how you frame your Believe & Achieve entry; a leadership talk may be useful only if it connects with your industry; a duplicate topic can remain optional. The ranking resolves difficult choices when two useful sessions overlap.
Check the venue location details before fixing your daily order. If rooms require a substantial walk or different buildings, include a realistic transfer buffer. Accommodation close to the venue can also prevent early-morning journeys through Ulaanbaatar traffic from consuming valuable session time.
Build a conflict-free daily run sheet
Build a time-blocked run sheet rather than a simple list. Put high-priority talks first while your energy is fresh, leave 10 to 15 minutes between sessions for navigation and questions, and schedule a proper meal break. A short unstructured gap is more useful than rushing from one presentation directly into another.
Set every time in Ulaanbaatar time, then convert it for Australian travellers. Mongolia stays on UTC+7 without daylight saving. During Australian Eastern Standard Time, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are three hours ahead, while Perth is one hour ahead; check the date because daylight-saving changes affect conversion. Put the converted time in your phone calendar as well as the local programme.
Use two calendar alerts, one before each session and another five minutes before its room should be reached. Carry the run sheet offline as a screenshot or printed copy because venue connectivity may be unreliable. Nominate a backup session for each major clash rather than assuming an extra chair will appear.
Protect learning and networking time
Protect networking time instead of treating every break as empty space. Australian business travellers often plan tightly around appointments, yet conference breaks can produce the most useful contacts. Programmes such as the ISDE 2021 programme can also help identify discussion formats that suit your learning style, such as cases, panels and focused breakouts.
For an Australian attendee, the commercial lens matters too. Australia’s small and medium-sized business market rewards concise value propositions and evidence that a concept can reach customers. Ask about distribution, regulation and procurement rather than exchanging generic praise. If an Australian employer or chapter is covered by the Privacy Act 1988, it should handle attendee information consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles.
If you are entering Believe & Achieve, protect the full rehearsal, judging and feedback cycle. If you are not, attend the presentations, prize announcements and award discussions to learn how judges assess commercial logic, clarity and feasibility. Those insights can improve your own proposal or an idea you plan to develop later.
Learn from comparable conference programmes
Earlier conferences provide a useful reality check. The past Taipei conference shows how a regional BYUMS event can connect competition stages with broader conference activity. Review its programme structure for the balance between technical learning, team interaction and awards, then use that perspective to spot gaps in your own priorities.
Compare the scale and format of each event rather than assuming every session is equally applicable. A large plenary may provide the strategic context you need, while a smaller breakout may offer more practical value. Use previous agendas to identify recurring themes and current events to decide where your limited time will have the greatest effect.
Finalise logistics and build a backup plan
Check payment and connectivity before departure. Cards are common in major hotels and business venues in Ulaanbaatar, but smaller cafés, taxis and some event suppliers may still expect Mongolian tugrik, so carry a modest amount of local cash. Notify your Australian bank of travel dates, keep receipts and avoid relying on a single internet connection for schedule changes.
Review Australian government travel advice, passport validity and Mongolia’s entry conditions well before departure. Airlines or immigration may request onward travel and accommodation evidence. If you book through an agent, read its refund and cancellation terms carefully; an overseas booking may fall outside the Australian Consumer Law, so written terms and card protections deserve attention.
On the final review, confirm that each priority has a fixed time, room and buffer. Share the finished run sheet with a colleague travelling with you, identify the two sessions you would sacrifice in an emergency and keep the official conference contacts handy. A flexible plan protects relevance better than an overloaded calendar.
| Session format | What it offers | How to plan it |
|---|---|---|
| Keynote or plenary | Shared context and strategic ideas | Arrive early and schedule it before specialist sessions |
| Breakout | Focused discussion of a specific issue | Rank by relevance and prepare one question |
| Competition phase | Feedback, exposure and judging insight | Protect the entire block, including rehearsal |
| Workshop | Hands-on methods and practical tools | Bring notes and reserve time to apply them later |
| Networking break | Partnerships, referrals and regional contacts | Set a few priority conversations while keeping one period open |