Online Post-conference Happy Hour

The stars congratulate each other…

Michael: It was great.

Charles: Everybody offered something. Just like Stone Soup.

Michael: Yes, some presentations were like meat and potatoes, others exotic like pineapple tiramisu dessert.

Charles: The best?

Michael: That had to be you on character arcs. Closely reasoned but absolutely brilliant.

Charles: Oh no. It was you on secondary characters.

Michael: But everyone was good. Karen on memoirs. And so many others. Nothing disappointed.

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Voice-over

The upside of Zoom conferences: not having to go out to attend face to face. The downside of a Zoom conference: not being able to go out to attend in person. However, by choosing sessions carefully, no presentations disappointed. And all achieved without stepping outdoors.

Typhoon 19: Disruption to a conference

The day after the typhoon…

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Serious precautions

Walker: The constant warnings all day to relocate to evacuation centers probably helped keep the casualty numbers low. And people took precautions like seriously taping over their windows.

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Sittagong: I heard trains were all cancelled on Saturday. How did you get to the conference?

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Walker: The Saturday sessions were called off and moved to Sunday.

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Sittagong: They fitted?

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Walker: It looked like a good plan, but then some Sunday morning train lines didn’t start until after midday. I went to the station but it was deserted. No coffee shops, no bakeries open. The host of the event got there by a mix of taxis and trains.

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Sittagong: But the conference went ahead?

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Walker: It did. Surprisingly successfully. I finally got there by train and took in four great sessions. Pretty big turnout too.

_______

Voice-over

In a disruptive event like a major storm, and in trying to keep calm and carry on, we glimpse a torn world whose seams have become unstitched.

...

Après an alliterated academic address

Reflecting on a conference…

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Maria: Take a lot of notes?

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Maurice: Did indeed. Facts. Figures. Arguments. Some masterful metaphors too.

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Maria: I liked that that social media manager of a power station. The one who used The Three C’s.

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Maurice: The one who leaned on alliteration. Content, Creativity, Credibility.

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Voice-over

Alliteration, the deliberate repetition of an initial letter as a literary device, in poetry or prose. Speechwriters make use of it. Songwriters too. Or as here, a workaday memory aid.

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Conference scaling: From collegial to colossal

Following two conferences in a row…

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Erich: ASCJ was navigable with 300 participants.

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Jean-Paul: Right, and at most half a dozen parallel sessions over two days.

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Erich: Whereas at ICAS, there were more navigational choices because of the 1200 participants, running to 25 parallel sessions over four days.

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Jean-Paul: I sense a coefficient coming on.

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The plenipotentiary
takes the stand...

Erich: So at ASCJ, you could potentially attend 12 percent of the presentations.

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Jean-Paul: And at the bigger ICAS, you could potentially attend only 4 percent.

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Erich: Assuming you only stayed in one session and didn’t float or hop between rooms.

_________

Voice-over

Academic conferences range from the small group of colleagues (maybe 20 or 30) who meet to exchange ideas. Use of one of the member’s university teaching rooms: gratis. Everyone chips in 300 yen for coffee and scones. Single sessions, so everyone gets to speak and be heard. Audience: 20 or 30.

Go a little bigger and an institution might ask for some payment. Conference fee a reasonable 3,000 yen. Reception dinner, optional, 3,000 yen. See 10 to 15 percent of the presentations if there are no distractions. Audience in each session: 20 or 30.

Then go international and rent a crowd. Hotels, transport, international conference centre, book publishers as sponsors of coffee breaks. Conference fee from 14,000 yen to 30,000 yen (including reception). Audience in each session: 20 or 30.

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Only see you once a year

Maurice and Ben meet at a conference

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Maurice: Every year we meet, like this.

Ben: A long time, old friend. I often think about what you do for the rest of the year.

Maurice: I prepare. Then every year in June, I come to this conference and present my research.

Ben: And at the reception, we run around the room like it was a chariot race.

Maurice: An existential question. Are our once-a-year hyped-up conference selves the same as our everyday selves?

­­­­­­­­­­­__________

Voice-over

When you take the podium, mind you don’t let slip a loose roof tile.

When Douglas Adams gave the answer to the meaning of life as “41” had he been watching the less than benign galley scenes in Ben Hur where Judah Ben Hur is given that number? Quintus Arias: “Your eyes are full of hate, 41. That’s good. Hate keeps a man alive.”

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Identity and media

Mary is a little worried about Alexander’s presentation at next month's conference.
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Mary: You’re going to talk about what?

Alexander: Identity.

Mary: But it’s a media conference. Bit off-topic, wouldn’t you think? What’s identity got to do with media?

Alexander: Well, some people who are not normally aggressive, get quite insulting when they’re emailing or texting someone they don’t know, never met before. Others make up multiple identities, and seem to gain confidence. Media changes the concept of identity.

Mary: Hmm.

Alexander: And it might lead to a book. Even a documentary film. “Talk. We can all do it better.”

Mary: Use media and find a new you?

Alexander: I think you are making fun of the idea.

Mary (peels into peals of laughter): Oh, no. Oh no. Alexander, never.
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Voiceover

Topics for discussion at conferences often cover a broad range of subjects. Perspectives from scholars in slightly removed fields of study can throw light in dark corners. Putting it another way, burrow too deeply into a subject, and you can end up not being able to see the wood for the trees.

But Mary, who writes a popular geek blog, doesn’t quite appreciate Alexander’s poetic approach.
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