I can't count the number conferences I have attended over the years. For a while I was going to six or seven every year. In those days, it was all about radio training with college students. Over ten years, my conference time was spent speaking on panels or schmoozing with attendees, but planted in the newsroom managing a team that was working to help students write, edit and produce the story they were working on that week.
I don't do that any more but still find myself registering and going. As I have always said, you have to be "in the room" when there is talk of the next big thing. I went to the South by Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSWi) in Austin this year for just that purpose.Remember, Twitter was launched at SXSWi just a few years ago.
Shortly after returning from SXSWi, I was chatting with Anna Tauzin, the Web and Social Media editor for J-Lab at American University here in Washington, D.C., who said something that clarified why I continue to attend a lot of conferences even after retiring from student media projects: I shared my observations and she responded that they are like a "they see" and "I see" thing. They see a useless panel about working virtually; I see that one person who asks a poignant question."
Bingo!
The 2011 conference season is underway. If you plan on attending one or-- like me, several--think about what you want before you go. Your takeaway may be as little as a business card or as significant as learning a new tool.
But always get out of one room, go to another. Stop, look and listen.
*Chantal de la Rionda edits this blog
