But don’t miss the conversations!!!
A few months ago, while in WI, I was persuading my friend, John Pederson, to come to the TechForum conference in IL, and especially to spend the night so he could join us for dinner.
He was reluctant, he would be traveling with a colleague, he could not say a “YES” for sure.
But as the date got closer, things changed, and he booked a room.
We both arrived to the Tech Forum conference and had a grand time……chatting with people we both see not often enough…and then we went to dinner — with 27 friends — and then we went to the hotel lounge — with 6 friends……and about 10pm, he turned to me and said “Thank you for asking me to stay over.”
And I just smiled.
Luckily, I have realized that it is not the conference but it is the conversations that are important.
So – if you are headed to NECC or DEN or Lausanne Laptop or BLC or or or……….don’t let the conference become your focal point.
Take the time to linger a bit with conversations. Strike up a conversation with someone you don’t know. Invite someone sitting near you to join in a conversation you are a part of…….or mosey yourself into a conversation that is already going on.
Please — Don’t be too busy that you don’t have time to talk!
And PLEASE — Don’t be talk so much that you don’t have time to listen!!
Go head and miss some of the conference.
The sessions can wait…and hopefully they will be blogged, ustreamed, twittered, and archived.
But take the time to have a conversation WITH someone –
You will be glad you did!
Jen
I completely agree and for myself last year at NECC so many sessions were closed because of space limitations I ended up going back to the blogger’s cafe. Ultimately my favorite part was the conversations and face to face interactions. No longer were my interactions with my PLN mediated by some tech tool. It was quite liberating and there’s nothing like going out to lunch or dinner with a group of people with whom an intense conversation and discussion is going to happen on topics related to learning that we are all passionate about.
I couldn’t agree more. The conversations are the best part for me. I enjoy getting to know the people behind all the good ideas. I later view their session, or read a blog post in a much different light. It also gives me the confidence to comment on their blogs, tweets and plurks. Learning is a very human endeavor and l love to get to know the humans I am learning with.