Back from the CCCC
So I was in California for a few days. I went to the College Composition and Communication Conference (CCCC), which is essentially the biggest conference in my field.
It started on an odd note, when I realized as I landed that it was 8 times warmer in California than it was in Minneapolis. My flights out weren't great: first I was in the very back row of the plane (couldn't put my seat back), then I was in the middle of two other people, which I hated.
But the conference started with some pretty decent stuff. First, I got a bunch of business cards from important people (like the VP of NCTE, the parent organization of CCCC, who twice insisted that I submit something to a conference she is putting on in Orlando in 2010, or the editor of Kairos, an online journal, or the head editor of Computers and Composition online, etc). I also volunteered to be the guest editor of a special issue of Computers and Composition (no idea what that means exactly), and I got a bunch of cool swag (mostly pens, but a couple of books too).
Then came my time to present. I wore a three piece suit, and while I did take some time to make a power point presentation, there wasn't a projector, so I ended up talking off the top of my head anyway.
Only half my panel showed up.
To a standing-room-only room. There was seating for maybe 70-80 people. And there were more people than that. The only session I saw at the whole conference bigger than that was the opening session with the keynote speakers.
And most of the questions they asked were aimed at me. And I got them to laugh several times.
And after, someone came up and asked if she could review my panel for Kairos. I said yes, asking what that meant. She said it meant that she would write about it so people who missed the conference might get a better idea of what happened beyond just the titles of the papers.
No one else I talked to had someone ask them if they could review their panel.
I'm a rockstar.
Other panels were great, by the way. I saw Dawn, a friend in the program, along with Kim (another friend in the program farther along than Dawn and I), and they were great (would've been better if they'd gotten the tech they asked for...) And Logie, my advisor, is always very entertaining. Cbd was good, but his other panelists bailed on him, so it ended up very informal.
All in all, a great and productive time.
It started on an odd note, when I realized as I landed that it was 8 times warmer in California than it was in Minneapolis. My flights out weren't great: first I was in the very back row of the plane (couldn't put my seat back), then I was in the middle of two other people, which I hated.
But the conference started with some pretty decent stuff. First, I got a bunch of business cards from important people (like the VP of NCTE, the parent organization of CCCC, who twice insisted that I submit something to a conference she is putting on in Orlando in 2010, or the editor of Kairos, an online journal, or the head editor of Computers and Composition online, etc). I also volunteered to be the guest editor of a special issue of Computers and Composition (no idea what that means exactly), and I got a bunch of cool swag (mostly pens, but a couple of books too).
Then came my time to present. I wore a three piece suit, and while I did take some time to make a power point presentation, there wasn't a projector, so I ended up talking off the top of my head anyway.
Only half my panel showed up.
To a standing-room-only room. There was seating for maybe 70-80 people. And there were more people than that. The only session I saw at the whole conference bigger than that was the opening session with the keynote speakers.
And most of the questions they asked were aimed at me. And I got them to laugh several times.
And after, someone came up and asked if she could review my panel for Kairos. I said yes, asking what that meant. She said it meant that she would write about it so people who missed the conference might get a better idea of what happened beyond just the titles of the papers.
No one else I talked to had someone ask them if they could review their panel.
I'm a rockstar.
Other panels were great, by the way. I saw Dawn, a friend in the program, along with Kim (another friend in the program farther along than Dawn and I), and they were great (would've been better if they'd gotten the tech they asked for...) And Logie, my advisor, is always very entertaining. Cbd was good, but his other panelists bailed on him, so it ended up very informal.
All in all, a great and productive time.