Swarm Cells

Preventing (and utilizing) swarms is a BIG topic, one that is probably best explored through conversations with local beekeepers.
Having said that: one very small but practical aspect of monitoring the swarm impulse in your hive is to watch for swarm cells (also called "Queen cups") on frames in your brood boxes. The cup shaped cells on the bottom of this frame indicate that my bees are thinking about raising another queen to take over in the existing colony, after a bunch of the bees take off with the older queen in a swarm event.
I've heard that some beekeepers will scrape these cells off; my personal inclination is to let the bees do their thing but try to encourage them to stick around by giving them more space to expand in to (by 'checkerboarding' blank and brood frames, adding an extra brood box, etc.) and, as a backup, leaving an extra Western in my yard scented with lemongrass oil. Lemongrass oil (and the smell of wax, if you have drawn comb) can entice a swarm to move into this kind of 'swarm trap.'
Remember: swarms aren't bad! Except maybe for you... (and your neighbor, if they don't like bees). Swarming is the honeybee's natural method of propagation. I've heard it described as "the ultimate act of self-sacrifice": the queen and a retinue of workers leave behind a healthy, functional home to head out into the great blue yonder and try their luck. Feral colonies of bees that survive are often- by default- varroa-resistant, and provide a useful asset to the honeybee gene pool.

Hydration

It took me two rounds of LCBA Bee School to realize that yes, it probably was a very good idea to provide a water source for my bees. I copied the simple design recommended by Morris: putting out a shallow pan with some rocks in it for the bees to stand on.
I put it right next to my hive on an upturned two-gallon pot. Couldn't be any easier, and the bees have been all over it!

Successful Smoking

The first step in my hive check process is to get my smoker fuel well-prepared and lit: few things are as frustrating as cracking the hive open and then finding that your smoker has gone out. People use all kinds of materials for smoker fuel: cotton, cardboard roles, pellets of compressed wood, etc. The combination that works well for me is a slip of burlap, lit and dropped into a 'nest' of ponderosa pine needles. If I'm going to do a thorough hive inspection, I'll fill my smoker all the way up with pine needles to ensure it'll stay lit through the whole process.
Use the smoke judiciously: three or four puffs of 'cool' smoke (i.e. no sparks!) through the hive entrance as you begin, then three or four more puffs per hive body as you work your way through the boxes.
With some gentle smoke, the bees will start gorging themselves on honey- you'll see a bunch of workers with their heads stuffed into a honey cell. The evolutionary mechanism at work here is that the smoking mimics a wildfire, compelling the bees to load up on honey to transfer to a new home if the fire approaches a hive's tree.