Thursday - when several things start to go pear-shaped
I've done this conference all wrong. I have learned at previous conferences that under no circumstances should you attend every session, every plenary, every event. However, I wasn't smart enough to take a break on Wednesday, and Thursday proved no better. I went to the plenary (you read about that yesterday), then had to chair a session. It was at that session that all hell broke loose, unfortunately. It started with a fire alarm. Ian was presenting first, and that chopped into his time a little, even though I pushed everything back. I was fascinated by most of the presentations in that particular stream, talking about software for visual research. There were 5 in a row, each half an hour long, making a 2.5 hour stream. After the last one, research presented by two relatively young students, they were attacked by an established methodologist (who is really a developer) about their use of terms. Worse, it was a very aggressive and personal attack, and it was indicated in no uncertain terms that the aggressor thought the presenters' research was crap. (For the record, it wasn't.) The presenters defended well, and I was desperate to let them have the last word, but the aggressor jumped in again and said some awful things. At which point, I said, "Well, thank you both for your excellent points. I think this is a worthy debate, but one that needs another forum for discussion, so thank you all for coming, and let's go to lunch." I then went over to the presenters to try to cheer them up. OY. Interestingly enough, several of the people attending that session came up to me separately throughout the rest of the day to compliment my chairing. Fiona (QSR) said I had "a lot of presence" (that's a good thing). So that was cool. Duncan, who was attending that session, also said that I had done very well. (That's even cooler because Duncan is a fantastic chair, and I aspire to chair things as well as he does!) You wouldn't think chairing a session would be so hard - introduce people, keep track of time, and call on people to ask questions, but the moderator thing is really hard.
Then we had lunch, then I would have skipped the afternoon plenary, but given what had happened in the AM, and the topic of the plenary (something on digital visual ethnography), and the fact I was leading a workshop in the late afternoon about use of video, I decided I needed to attend. Her plenary was good enough, and she obviously knows her field and her work, but she completely fell apart during the questions when it was revealed she knew nothing about existing software, despite the fact she had proposed an "ideal software" during her talk. With that ending, she was basically discredited by the audience. Not a good way to go down.
Then, I was chairing a second session. That one, thankfully, went much smoother. And immediately after that, I was leading a workshop. I had asked Duncan to come to my workshop and bail me out if I got in trouble because of the discussions that had happened earlier in the day. Ann also said she was planning to attend my session. As it turned out, I had about eight people show up, four of whom I knew previously as "established" (and hence, probably not needing my session) including Ann and Duncan. Still, we had a good discussion, and things went along without incident.
I walked with Duncan back to the residences to put my bag down, and sat on my bed for about 5 minutes, before heading up to book launch and gala dinner. When I walked onto the balcony (see this pic of Ian on the balcony earlier in the day), Fiona snagged me - "You've just missed it!" she said. I thought she was kidding. Turns out she was serious. I had just missed the toast and the book launch. :( Fiona grabbed me a glass of wine, asked how my workshop was, and congratulated me on handling the difficult chairing session well. As we chatted, the other two QSR folks drifted over, and as we explained the earlier situation to them, the agressor appeared to talk to me about Boston. Thankfully, she was quickly distracted by someone else. Chris and Jason came over, Duncan appeared, and Chris re-introduced me to her parents. Then, as we walked in for dinner, Chris made it clear she wanted to sit with her parents, Jason, Ann, and me. We found a table, and populated it, leaving two chairs free. A few moments later, Ian arrived, and sat with us as well. We had nice chats over dinner as we listened to the three piece jazz band. Several people came over to get Ann and Chris' autographs on their books.
After dinner, we took a bunch of pictures, and then Ian, Duncan, and I walked down to the bar, along with a new hanger-on. We took over the large round table, and were soon joined by Chris, Ann, and about six others. We got Ian ranting a few times (very funny), and then Duncan came over and sat by me for a couple hours and we talked about all sorts of stuff until they threw the lot of us out of the bar around 12:30 since they were closing. (One topic was how old everyone was. He was very surprised at my age, having thought I was mid-30s - "You're younger than my baby sister!" he said. I wasn't suprised at his (41), but we were both surprised by Ian's (35). Ian gives off a much older air. I had thought he was early-mid 40s.) Ian had left about half an hour earlier, but the rest of us walked down to the residences together. The last conference night is always hard. "It's like a play," Duncan said, noting the similarities between the sudden bonding that occurs after a group of people put in a lot of effort and focus to one thing only to have it disappear nearly as soon as you get there. And he's right. I was grinning this morning after I saw Ian and we said good morning only with eye contact to each other across the dining hall. Ann looked up from her tray - "What are you smiling at?" she asked. "Ian," I said. "What about him?" she said. "Many things," I said, "I'll miss him."
This morning, I'm sitting in the plenary (a highly theoretical talk), then will go to the stream that Ian's chairing, although I'm both dreading and looking forward to it. I think the topics are interesting, but both the agressor and the presenters from yesterday have reason to be there and both are presenting again. I wished Ian good luck.
The conference ends at lunch today. Then, Chris and I will drive up to Stoke-on-Trent for the night before my presentation in Manchester tomorrow.
By the way, check the flickr site linked yesterday for more pictures, most of actual people!
Then we had lunch, then I would have skipped the afternoon plenary, but given what had happened in the AM, and the topic of the plenary (something on digital visual ethnography), and the fact I was leading a workshop in the late afternoon about use of video, I decided I needed to attend. Her plenary was good enough, and she obviously knows her field and her work, but she completely fell apart during the questions when it was revealed she knew nothing about existing software, despite the fact she had proposed an "ideal software" during her talk. With that ending, she was basically discredited by the audience. Not a good way to go down.
Then, I was chairing a second session. That one, thankfully, went much smoother. And immediately after that, I was leading a workshop. I had asked Duncan to come to my workshop and bail me out if I got in trouble because of the discussions that had happened earlier in the day. Ann also said she was planning to attend my session. As it turned out, I had about eight people show up, four of whom I knew previously as "established" (and hence, probably not needing my session) including Ann and Duncan. Still, we had a good discussion, and things went along without incident.
I walked with Duncan back to the residences to put my bag down, and sat on my bed for about 5 minutes, before heading up to book launch and gala dinner. When I walked onto the balcony (see this pic of Ian on the balcony earlier in the day), Fiona snagged me - "You've just missed it!" she said. I thought she was kidding. Turns out she was serious. I had just missed the toast and the book launch. :( Fiona grabbed me a glass of wine, asked how my workshop was, and congratulated me on handling the difficult chairing session well. As we chatted, the other two QSR folks drifted over, and as we explained the earlier situation to them, the agressor appeared to talk to me about Boston. Thankfully, she was quickly distracted by someone else. Chris and Jason came over, Duncan appeared, and Chris re-introduced me to her parents. Then, as we walked in for dinner, Chris made it clear she wanted to sit with her parents, Jason, Ann, and me. We found a table, and populated it, leaving two chairs free. A few moments later, Ian arrived, and sat with us as well. We had nice chats over dinner as we listened to the three piece jazz band. Several people came over to get Ann and Chris' autographs on their books.
After dinner, we took a bunch of pictures, and then Ian, Duncan, and I walked down to the bar, along with a new hanger-on. We took over the large round table, and were soon joined by Chris, Ann, and about six others. We got Ian ranting a few times (very funny), and then Duncan came over and sat by me for a couple hours and we talked about all sorts of stuff until they threw the lot of us out of the bar around 12:30 since they were closing. (One topic was how old everyone was. He was very surprised at my age, having thought I was mid-30s - "You're younger than my baby sister!" he said. I wasn't suprised at his (41), but we were both surprised by Ian's (35). Ian gives off a much older air. I had thought he was early-mid 40s.) Ian had left about half an hour earlier, but the rest of us walked down to the residences together. The last conference night is always hard. "It's like a play," Duncan said, noting the similarities between the sudden bonding that occurs after a group of people put in a lot of effort and focus to one thing only to have it disappear nearly as soon as you get there. And he's right. I was grinning this morning after I saw Ian and we said good morning only with eye contact to each other across the dining hall. Ann looked up from her tray - "What are you smiling at?" she asked. "Ian," I said. "What about him?" she said. "Many things," I said, "I'll miss him."
This morning, I'm sitting in the plenary (a highly theoretical talk), then will go to the stream that Ian's chairing, although I'm both dreading and looking forward to it. I think the topics are interesting, but both the agressor and the presenters from yesterday have reason to be there and both are presenting again. I wished Ian good luck.
The conference ends at lunch today. Then, Chris and I will drive up to Stoke-on-Trent for the night before my presentation in Manchester tomorrow.
By the way, check the flickr site linked yesterday for more pictures, most of actual people!