Thank you for sharing your experiences. It is very informative to have first-hand knowledge like yours posted so everyone can learn from it.

In my opinion, you did a very good job at keeping your head throughout the panic. The only snafu you exhibited was grabbing your emergency gear before you evacuated, but you redeemed yourself by keeping your head straight from that point forward (i.e., taking the stairs instead of the elevator and considering different possibilities during and after evacuation).

As far as grabbing your emergency gear, I really cannot think of anything that will help you remember to grab it when you need to. Other than doing the regular checkup/resupply of your emergency kits so they can be "fresh in your mind" (as opposed to a bag that's sat in a drawer for years), I'm not sure there's anything else that will help you remember to grab it when you need it.

One thing I can suggest, if it's not the case already, use something like a fanny pack (or backpack if you have a lot of stuff) for your emergency kit. Briefcases are unwieldy as hell during an evacuation.

One thing that surprises me about the evacuation (other than hordes of people taking the stairs despite all the signs) is that no one pulled a fire alarm switch on the wall. I would think that who ever is in charge of the P.A. announcement would also do this. Fire alarms are linked to the elevator controllers (as per NFPA regulations, I believe), so that elevators automatically travel to the primary floor and stay there during alarm. Simply pulling the fire alarm would prevent people from using the elevator when they shouldn't and it might also make any response by emergency personnel much faster.

Otherwise, it sounds like you're pretty well covered.

-- Addition --

One other thing I can suggest is to scout the exits on buildings you frequent in the future, that way you know what location you'll be going to before you open the exit doors.