They say you always remember your first time ...
The conference was great. Rode up with Akaka[01] (Kama and Dancerfish were in Kama's car) and had a good long talk about our early education experiences (lots of homeschooling, lots of science fair), our wonderful times as Gillian's students, a brief and awkward divergence into personal matters, from which we recovered to go back to those earlier topics. The four of us arrived at the hotel at the same time and checked in. Kama and Dancerfish and I settled into our room, checked into the conference (which consisted of going over to the table and picking up a nametag and program book ... no bureaucracy at all) and we all headed off to dinner at Subway before the first evening of talks.
The conference was very intimate. About 100 people, only one session at a time. This made for a huge difference in feel compared to the Marine Mammal Conference. I liked them both. With only one session, you could count on pretty much everyone seeing your talk. You didn't have to worry that you'd miss something you really wanted to see because it was at the same time as something else you really wanted to see. Everyone there now has a set of shared experiences. On the other hand, there was a lot of social pressure to, well, see every talk (which in fact I did). Mostly a good thing, but to be honest, I think it's inevitable that there will be a few really technical talks at a conference in a field that a conference goer is not ... particularly interested in. With concurrent sessions, people are leaving between all of the talks (generally to go to other talks, but sometimes just to take a break), so it doesn't feel rude. Back on that first hand, we didn't have to obsess about how long our talks were. If a bunch of them ran shortish, we'd get early/longer breaks or finish early (... yes, that actually happened. Shocking.) If they ran little long, (a minute or two), the audience didn't necessarily notice. Very relaxed.
This conference was drastically cheaper than MarMam, and they provided food during one of the breaks each day, which was a social plus and a keepin' the energy up plus. Also, this conference had pretty much a student's schedule ... things got started around noon (except for the first day) and ran until 8 - 10 (although actually, MarMam got started around 7 and ran until 8 - 10, so ...). Very relaxed.
Well, that's enough comparison.
I enjoyed the vast majority of the presentations. I was really glad to have taken learning theory, as many of the presentations would have been difficult to follow without that background. (In 5 or 10 minute presentation to a specialized audience, there aren't many gentle introductions.) I'd talk about content, but the abstracts are published on the website and you can go read them yourself. Herbert Terrace gave a very good presentation. Alan Kamil gave what was probably my favorite (out of those not given by people I know). But again, I liked almost all of them.
Gillian and Gary snuck in during the first presentation that first night, holding food boxes. That was the series where some presentations ran short (and there were some no shows too), so there was ample break time for socializing. Gillian introduced me to her implementing-her-research person from the dolphin facility in Vegas, and we all chatted for a while. I couldn't help but envy her a little ... everything I've heard about that facility and those dolphins has been fabulously positive. There's a lot of money there, and a lot of autonomy there (and honestly, I still haven't gotten tired of jobs that consist of doin' stuff for Gillian.)
The night finished on an entertaining note, with two talks back to back on the same subject, about which they had conflicting results, and the last one was Sally Boysen, who is a memorable speaker.
Kama and Dancerfish and I stayed up late talking, slept in late, had pizza for breakfast and then back to the conference. Wendiops had been sick and thus absent on Wednesday, so I was relieved to see her when we arrived on Thursday, as she was scheduled to present. She was feeling much better, and we talked a bit, and there were more talks, and Wendiops and Vegas gave dolphin presentations right after each other, and both were great. Then there was the poster session. Three hours, 30 posters, very small room. It was crowded and intense. I got to see all of the posters, at least cursorily, and talk to several friendly grad students, but after two hours I was pretty tired.
Thursday night we went out for dinner with Akaka and EM & his wife IM (who'd just defended her doctoral thesis on Monday - the dinner was a celebration) and two scientists, both of whom had already given really good presentations (one had probably the most memorable slides, with entertaining locust animations). I was pretty quiet. There weren't really any vegetarian options at this seafood place, so I had the mediocre, overpriced salad bar. I was sitting in the middle of the table. I listened to everyone else talk, pretty much. Akaka, EM & IM on my right, the two scientists, Kama and Dancerfish on my left (Dancerfish was actually across from me, but that's how the conversations split up). I never really had much to say (I had to bite my tongue when one of the scientists, who seemed partially kidding and partially not, started dissing dolphin research in general (at a table with five marine mammal researchers? a bit rude), and then later object oriented programming in general. Grr.)
We were very tired during dinner, but somehow we stayed up late anyway, the three of us wandering out late at night to walk along the dark beach. Real waves. Real waves! It was really windy sometimes, cold even. The Gulf doesn't get real waves.
Friday was sandwiches for breakfast and many more talks, including a tribute to Don Blough (who, my associates and I admitted shyly to each other, we hadn't previously known much about. But now we do, and he's really cool. Lots of great work with pigeons, pioneering use of computers for learning theory work). Then there was only a short period to change for the banquet. I dressed up a bit because I felt like it. The four of us got there a few minutes after most everyone else, and had to get our own table up on the mezzanine. The food was decent, but I would have gladly eaten more than twice as much as I got to. There was very little mingling.
Finally, Saturday. I woke up early (for some reason ...) and preened and practiced and then had nothing to do but sit and go through files on my computer (records of my own life are endlessly entertaining to me). After just about forever, Kama and Dancerfish started stirring. I showed them an amusing video that Platypus and Wheel and I made. It has music, and throughout the rest of the day the two of them would occasionally hum a snippet of certain catchy video game music and glare accusingly at me.
The talks were moved out of the bigger, darker room they'd been in the first three days, which was adjacent to the break/snack room and into the smaller, brighter room that the poster session and banquet had been in. (Brighter is generally good, but not when you're projecting something.) (A wedding reception was being held in the bigger room.) I was in the first session, on acoustics, as was Gary (his was very good).
My talk went extremely well. After an awkward start ... I should've known better than to even -try- to project instead of using the mic. I have no excuse. But it was a very small room, and most other people weren't needing the mic. And I should have put down the remote before clipping it on, 'cause I accidentally squeezed it and flipped through a few slides before I'd gotten the mic in place. But after that I was fine, and I hadn't started talking yet, so I just flipped back to the beginning ... everything went according to plan. Slides looked fine. I didn't forget anything. I didn't talk too much (not talking too much is by far the hardest part). Smooth, clear, loud, eye contact. I got one question, and it was easy to answer.
The socially legitimizing thing was really amazing. As y'all know or will quickly figure out, generic socializing isn't really my thing. I can't stand small talk. I'm capable of going up to strangers and introducing myself, but only if I have to. So now imagine how wonderful it was during the breaks that day, to have other scientists approach me, not to make lousy polite conversation, no, but indeed to talk intelligently to me about the topic of most interest to me in the world. I was in heaven. I got to give someone my business card. I got compliments from strangers. I rather wish I had presented earlier so that such things would have had more time to happen than the couple breaks that day before it all ended.
Akaka's presentation was that day, and was great. I really like listening to her, and rather wish I'd gotten to take a class from her, although her meeting me as a graduate and treating me as a jr. colleague is good too. (We were both advisees of Gillian, we had many similar experiences. I feel pretty close to Akaka, especially since I've spent relatively little time with her.) She had these great line drawings in her slides.
Gillian's presentation was also that day, and was wonderful. Clear, entertaining, fascinating material. I love her combination of entertaining, cute examples and rock solid research (and defense thereof). It would seem brash in someone else, but her gentle mannerisms make it delightful.
The whole New College/marine mammal contingent gathered briefly at the very end of the conference. I wanted dearly to get a photo, but Dancerfish slipped away, and then Gillian and Kama said she should be in it, but before we found her we had to leave for dinner with Akaka, EM & IM (again). So I didn't get it , which was a disappointment. And the conference being over was also rather a downer. I was totally ready to give another presentation or two. (Still am.)
Kama and I decided to head home that night, which worked out well for Dancerfish, who needed to get home that night.
The six of us had sushi outside, in the dark and wind (the restaurant was crowded and we were impatient). The sushi was good. We ate for a long time, and talked a little.
We roomies packed everything up, and then ... Akaka showed up. She'd realized we were about to leave, and she'd wanted to spend more time with us. It was mutual. We chatted and chatted and all ended up sitting on one of the hotel beds, talking for hours. It was a very happy time, and will remain one of my fondest memories of the trip.
Finally, getting on around midnight, Akaka headed to sleep and Kama, Dancerfish and I shoveled our things into Kama's car for the 3 hour ride home.
[01] The practice of referring to people exclusively by pseudonyms seems much less common amongst my LJ buddies than my diaryland buddies. I wonder why that is? Anyway, I'm going to do that, although it's really easy to figure out who most of my people are, if you try. At least I'm consistent. I might publish a cast of characters at some point, if I feel like it. I did not extend this rule to people that I don't know.
The conference was very intimate. About 100 people, only one session at a time. This made for a huge difference in feel compared to the Marine Mammal Conference. I liked them both. With only one session, you could count on pretty much everyone seeing your talk. You didn't have to worry that you'd miss something you really wanted to see because it was at the same time as something else you really wanted to see. Everyone there now has a set of shared experiences. On the other hand, there was a lot of social pressure to, well, see every talk (which in fact I did). Mostly a good thing, but to be honest, I think it's inevitable that there will be a few really technical talks at a conference in a field that a conference goer is not ... particularly interested in. With concurrent sessions, people are leaving between all of the talks (generally to go to other talks, but sometimes just to take a break), so it doesn't feel rude. Back on that first hand, we didn't have to obsess about how long our talks were. If a bunch of them ran shortish, we'd get early/longer breaks or finish early (... yes, that actually happened. Shocking.) If they ran little long, (a minute or two), the audience didn't necessarily notice. Very relaxed.
This conference was drastically cheaper than MarMam, and they provided food during one of the breaks each day, which was a social plus and a keepin' the energy up plus. Also, this conference had pretty much a student's schedule ... things got started around noon (except for the first day) and ran until 8 - 10 (although actually, MarMam got started around 7 and ran until 8 - 10, so ...). Very relaxed.
Well, that's enough comparison.
I enjoyed the vast majority of the presentations. I was really glad to have taken learning theory, as many of the presentations would have been difficult to follow without that background. (In 5 or 10 minute presentation to a specialized audience, there aren't many gentle introductions.) I'd talk about content, but the abstracts are published on the website and you can go read them yourself. Herbert Terrace gave a very good presentation. Alan Kamil gave what was probably my favorite (out of those not given by people I know). But again, I liked almost all of them.
Gillian and Gary snuck in during the first presentation that first night, holding food boxes. That was the series where some presentations ran short (and there were some no shows too), so there was ample break time for socializing. Gillian introduced me to her implementing-her-research person from the dolphin facility in Vegas, and we all chatted for a while. I couldn't help but envy her a little ... everything I've heard about that facility and those dolphins has been fabulously positive. There's a lot of money there, and a lot of autonomy there (and honestly, I still haven't gotten tired of jobs that consist of doin' stuff for Gillian.)
The night finished on an entertaining note, with two talks back to back on the same subject, about which they had conflicting results, and the last one was Sally Boysen, who is a memorable speaker.
Kama and Dancerfish and I stayed up late talking, slept in late, had pizza for breakfast and then back to the conference. Wendiops had been sick and thus absent on Wednesday, so I was relieved to see her when we arrived on Thursday, as she was scheduled to present. She was feeling much better, and we talked a bit, and there were more talks, and Wendiops and Vegas gave dolphin presentations right after each other, and both were great. Then there was the poster session. Three hours, 30 posters, very small room. It was crowded and intense. I got to see all of the posters, at least cursorily, and talk to several friendly grad students, but after two hours I was pretty tired.
Thursday night we went out for dinner with Akaka and EM & his wife IM (who'd just defended her doctoral thesis on Monday - the dinner was a celebration) and two scientists, both of whom had already given really good presentations (one had probably the most memorable slides, with entertaining locust animations). I was pretty quiet. There weren't really any vegetarian options at this seafood place, so I had the mediocre, overpriced salad bar. I was sitting in the middle of the table. I listened to everyone else talk, pretty much. Akaka, EM & IM on my right, the two scientists, Kama and Dancerfish on my left (Dancerfish was actually across from me, but that's how the conversations split up). I never really had much to say (I had to bite my tongue when one of the scientists, who seemed partially kidding and partially not, started dissing dolphin research in general (at a table with five marine mammal researchers? a bit rude), and then later object oriented programming in general. Grr.)
We were very tired during dinner, but somehow we stayed up late anyway, the three of us wandering out late at night to walk along the dark beach. Real waves. Real waves! It was really windy sometimes, cold even. The Gulf doesn't get real waves.
Friday was sandwiches for breakfast and many more talks, including a tribute to Don Blough (who, my associates and I admitted shyly to each other, we hadn't previously known much about. But now we do, and he's really cool. Lots of great work with pigeons, pioneering use of computers for learning theory work). Then there was only a short period to change for the banquet. I dressed up a bit because I felt like it. The four of us got there a few minutes after most everyone else, and had to get our own table up on the mezzanine. The food was decent, but I would have gladly eaten more than twice as much as I got to. There was very little mingling.
Finally, Saturday. I woke up early (for some reason ...) and preened and practiced and then had nothing to do but sit and go through files on my computer (records of my own life are endlessly entertaining to me). After just about forever, Kama and Dancerfish started stirring. I showed them an amusing video that Platypus and Wheel and I made. It has music, and throughout the rest of the day the two of them would occasionally hum a snippet of certain catchy video game music and glare accusingly at me.
The talks were moved out of the bigger, darker room they'd been in the first three days, which was adjacent to the break/snack room and into the smaller, brighter room that the poster session and banquet had been in. (Brighter is generally good, but not when you're projecting something.) (A wedding reception was being held in the bigger room.) I was in the first session, on acoustics, as was Gary (his was very good).
My talk went extremely well. After an awkward start ... I should've known better than to even -try- to project instead of using the mic. I have no excuse. But it was a very small room, and most other people weren't needing the mic. And I should have put down the remote before clipping it on, 'cause I accidentally squeezed it and flipped through a few slides before I'd gotten the mic in place. But after that I was fine, and I hadn't started talking yet, so I just flipped back to the beginning ... everything went according to plan. Slides looked fine. I didn't forget anything. I didn't talk too much (not talking too much is by far the hardest part). Smooth, clear, loud, eye contact. I got one question, and it was easy to answer.
The socially legitimizing thing was really amazing. As y'all know or will quickly figure out, generic socializing isn't really my thing. I can't stand small talk. I'm capable of going up to strangers and introducing myself, but only if I have to. So now imagine how wonderful it was during the breaks that day, to have other scientists approach me, not to make lousy polite conversation, no, but indeed to talk intelligently to me about the topic of most interest to me in the world. I was in heaven. I got to give someone my business card. I got compliments from strangers. I rather wish I had presented earlier so that such things would have had more time to happen than the couple breaks that day before it all ended.
Akaka's presentation was that day, and was great. I really like listening to her, and rather wish I'd gotten to take a class from her, although her meeting me as a graduate and treating me as a jr. colleague is good too. (We were both advisees of Gillian, we had many similar experiences. I feel pretty close to Akaka, especially since I've spent relatively little time with her.) She had these great line drawings in her slides.
Gillian's presentation was also that day, and was wonderful. Clear, entertaining, fascinating material. I love her combination of entertaining, cute examples and rock solid research (and defense thereof). It would seem brash in someone else, but her gentle mannerisms make it delightful.
The whole New College/marine mammal contingent gathered briefly at the very end of the conference. I wanted dearly to get a photo, but Dancerfish slipped away, and then Gillian and Kama said she should be in it, but before we found her we had to leave for dinner with Akaka, EM & IM (again). So I didn't get it , which was a disappointment. And the conference being over was also rather a downer. I was totally ready to give another presentation or two. (Still am.)
Kama and I decided to head home that night, which worked out well for Dancerfish, who needed to get home that night.
The six of us had sushi outside, in the dark and wind (the restaurant was crowded and we were impatient). The sushi was good. We ate for a long time, and talked a little.
We roomies packed everything up, and then ... Akaka showed up. She'd realized we were about to leave, and she'd wanted to spend more time with us. It was mutual. We chatted and chatted and all ended up sitting on one of the hotel beds, talking for hours. It was a very happy time, and will remain one of my fondest memories of the trip.
Finally, getting on around midnight, Akaka headed to sleep and Kama, Dancerfish and I shoveled our things into Kama's car for the 3 hour ride home.
[01] The practice of referring to people exclusively by pseudonyms seems much less common amongst my LJ buddies than my diaryland buddies. I wonder why that is? Anyway, I'm going to do that, although it's really easy to figure out who most of my people are, if you try. At least I'm consistent. I might publish a cast of characters at some point, if I feel like it. I did not extend this rule to people that I don't know.