conferential: May 2006 Archives

From all accounts, this year's Rhetoric Society of America conference was quite good. Alas. I was not.

First, a stunning blow was dealt to my internal sense of geography, as I learned, quite the hard way, that Memphis was a good deal further away from Syracuse than I had thought. How could I tell, you ask? Every time I mentioned having driven: "You drove?!?!" Yes, yes I did.

And as a result, I spent the first half of the conference on the road, arriving not until Saturday night. And for various reasons, I had not prepared my presentation. So, that night, and much of the next day, I ended up writing my talk. I went to a single session on Saturday morning, and spent most of Sunday writing. I did finish in time to be able to go out Sunday night. Sunday night turned into Monday morning, and didn't "end" until roughly 3:30.

Did I mention that my talk was scheduled for 8:00 am Monday morning? Oh yes.

I should also mention that I wasn't in the conference hotel, having made my reservation too late. I got up at 6 am Monday morning, and hoofed it to my hotel, showered, caffeinated, etc., and managed to wobble my way through a presentation that was assisted greatly by the smart papers that followed it.

I had a nice time, but the long drive, the dislocation, and the lack of responsible preparation on my part all left me feeling like my conference could have been a lot better. Ah well. Nobody's fault but mine.

That is all.

I'm not going to Computers and Writing this year, having opted instead to attend the Rhetoric Society of America conference that's going on in Memphis next week (and that I would be able to link to, were they running a slightly friendlier system for internal links--go to the RSA page and select Conferences.). If I remember, I'll bring a mic along so I can record my talk--I'll be doing a riff on the "database and/or narrative" thingamajig, read across disciplinary self-knowledge. I've been rereading my abstract, and reacting with mild surprise at how much I promised to talk about in 15 minutes, so I've been working on figuring out what 2 or 3 main points I want to make.

Anyhow, I mention all this, because Dan's got a "trailer" up for his C&W presentation, which is really quite clever. Similarly clever, imho, is the format that he created it for: C&W this year is holding an opening session called @get info, where literally dozens of presenters will have 1 minute each to preview their presentations. The idea being, of course, that people will have a better idea of what presentations and sessions are more likely to suit their interests and needs. Makes eminent sense, and even sounds fun.

Maybe if it works well, they'll do it again next year in Detroit (which will be my next visit to C&W)...

(hint, hint)

That's all.