Meet Me At The Bar
I am fully exhausted from a 14 hour day at a conference being hosted by my department. The meeting site is a forty-five minute drive from my house and--although, I am thankfully carpooling with our post-doc--it's a long drive. To be there at 7:30 AM, we had to leave at 6:45; we left at 9:10, getting me home at 10-ish. So, I'm tired.
But, here are ten of my favorite things about scientific conferences:
10. The unmitigated dorkiness that goes on. Today, I met someone else who loves the Nobel prizes as much as me--it was so exciting!
9. The chance to meet and speak with the "rock stars" of your field.
8. When someone who is presenting simply answers a question with, "Oh yes--we answered that question in 1977. You should read our papers!"
7. When two people have discovered the same things twice in the past two years. And as one walks back to his seat, the other simply yells: "We should speak more often!"
6. How much more palatable data--good, bad or otherwise--becomes when you have a beer in your hand.
5. The sudden insights you have into your own work, when you start writing ideas frantically in your notebook.
4. The pained look on a moderator's face when the presenter is 10 minutes over and people are squirming in their chairs with impatience.
3. Watching a seasoned presenter give a talk and answer questions--seriously, it's so goddamned beautiful.
2. When arguments break out in the questions portion of the last presentation of the night, when it's 10:00 PM and 97% of the people in the room just want to go home...
1. And when those arguments are resolved by the presenter's flourished wave of the hand as he yells, "Just meet me at the bar!"
But, here are ten of my favorite things about scientific conferences:
10. The unmitigated dorkiness that goes on. Today, I met someone else who loves the Nobel prizes as much as me--it was so exciting!
9. The chance to meet and speak with the "rock stars" of your field.
8. When someone who is presenting simply answers a question with, "Oh yes--we answered that question in 1977. You should read our papers!"
7. When two people have discovered the same things twice in the past two years. And as one walks back to his seat, the other simply yells: "We should speak more often!"
6. How much more palatable data--good, bad or otherwise--becomes when you have a beer in your hand.
5. The sudden insights you have into your own work, when you start writing ideas frantically in your notebook.
4. The pained look on a moderator's face when the presenter is 10 minutes over and people are squirming in their chairs with impatience.
3. Watching a seasoned presenter give a talk and answer questions--seriously, it's so goddamned beautiful.
2. When arguments break out in the questions portion of the last presentation of the night, when it's 10:00 PM and 97% of the people in the room just want to go home...
1. And when those arguments are resolved by the presenter's flourished wave of the hand as he yells, "Just meet me at the bar!"
posted by Another Chance to Get It Right at
11:11 PM
2 Comments:
I am quite familiar with 4, 3, and 2.
Um, and #10. There's no such thing as a non-dorky library conference.
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