There are lots of ways, it kind of depends on how you work best.
I normally go through all the sessions, adding everything to my agenda that I think might be interesting. Then, pick your two (three if you qualify) hands-on sessions
Method 1 (Get your must-attends in without too much stress): Find all your must-attends. Find time slots where you can attend each of those as well as your hands-on sessions (to lesson potential conflicts, pick times that are more sparse on your list). For the times you do not have a hands-on or must-attend, get down to no more than 2-3 sessions in each slot. Attend your must-attends and hands-on sessions. During other times, attend a session you have in the slot, check out the trade show, grab a snack, or just get a bit of a break.
Method 2 (Optimize your learning, but drive yourself crazy with scheduling - sadly, this is what I actually do): Dump your session list to Excel. Sort, color-code, filter, etc. until you have determined the most optimal use of your time, keeping in mind that some sessions are held twice and that any decision you make will have seemingly endless ramifications. Wish that someone would provide a tool that let you rate each session from 0-5 and calculate this stuff for you. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Finishing: Review your list to make sure you have time for lunch somewhere. If there are more empty spots than you'd like, go back to the session list and add something (this is a good time to add something that may be a side-interest for you).
