The 2018 NAIS Annual Conference begins Wednesday in Atlanta. Every year I write a post about my hopes going into the conference, and they've remained fairly similar for the past few years. But this year I'm taking a different approach to my conference experience. That's a bit ironic and/or coincidental as, while I haven't spent much time in Atlanta, but it was the location of the very first one of these I attended, some time back in the 1980s.
Like any conference, this one depends almost entirely on the people attending and presenting. For me NAIS is usually a great time to catch up with people I've known a long time, perhaps used to work with, whether over a meal or when we happen to bump into each other. I hope some of that still happens.
But my real goal this year is to strengthen some loose connections and make some new ones. Perhaps they will be people I know only through social media; maybe they will be people I know only through reputation or role. It was kind of magical when I met some actual flesh-and-blood folks I knew mainly through Twitter the last couple of years. I've already scheduled time with several folks, and I hope to encounter some others. If I see a familiar name on an ID badge, I may even fight through my shyness and go up to that person.
It feels strange--and rather un-conference-like--to be planning my NAIS experience this way. Usually I've studied the program and struggled with choosing which sessions to attend. Following on Twitter while there, I'll rue missing certain ones. Yet I suspect I will gain much more.
No comments:
Post a Comment