IN FLOOR area, there's the space of 22 Olympic-sized swimming pools to cover. Or, over 300,000 sq ft.

Plus, if you intend to land the "die, die, must buy" goodies - from printers to LCD monitors - there'll be lots of lugging around to do.

So advice primero uno: Wear comfortable shoes.

Also, take stock of these tips:

Do the paperwork

This may seem like so last century, but the non-digital way of browsing brochures and pamphlets works best in the rush to grab good buys.

You can compare offers quickly, throw away the ones that do not excite
you, and quickly mark out the best prices and bundles - as opposed to going on the Web using a 3G smart phone and squinting at the latest price lists on a small screen. Not a good idea in the middle of the bustling crowd.

And don't sweat not being able to collecting the brochures. There will be enough eager hands shoving the leaflets at you.

Mark the meeting spot

To avoid getting lost or losing your mates among the crowd, pick the most conspicuous booth as a meeting point.

The taller booths with banners, flags or balloons flying high are your best bet.

Should you get lost, just scan the horizon for the said logo, and reorientate your bearings. (And, you will get lost.)

Have a mental map of the aisles in the big halls: Think of them as streets that criss-cross each other in a small city, and you'll be able to navigate the IT Show.

Level up or down

The show takes place on levels 1, 3, 4 and 6 of Suntec's exhibition halls, so be sure to get the right booth numbers for any particular vendor or brand - as well as the correct floor to spare yourself any additional unnecessary exercise!

On the other hand, climbing up and down the various floors - forget about the slow-moving elevators - can be a boon if you desperately need to shed some weight.

Don't miss the small things

The smaller booths are usually found at the back of the big halls. These are the to find interesting gadgets, devices and services that you won't find at the bigger vendors.

Often, they give generous discounts, too. Look out for things like video editing cards, TV tuner devices in the form of a USB flash drive, stock photo libraries on DVD-Roms, cooling kits for overclocking processors, and spindles of blank DVDs.