I’m going to Seattle

Today is getaway day for me for Midwinter, that is last day in the office. Then it’s off to conference town. I’m going to do my best to be aware of what city I’m in, they have a way of blending into one another.

I’m reminded of a piece on conventions from Ira Glass’s radio show “This American Life.” He interviews a woman who works at a bakery counter in Chicago’s McCormick Place, and she talks about how overwhelming it is to serve hordes of people from one profession. To paraphrase Glass: If one Mary Kay salesperson walks up to the counter, you’d think nothing of it. But when 90 come, it’s a different story. The woman tells how her math anxiety from school days resurfaced when an association of mathematicians was in town.

According to a Moscone staff person, all conventions have a life cycle. The first day people come as individuals, there is excitement, perhaps anxiety. By the second day, people are joining groups, finding their peers. In the third phase, people start getting sick of it. It sounds like there is no getting around the third phase, though striving for balance might help. I recall one of our authors told me that she likes to leave early, before she gets burned out.

Jenni is in town already for ALISE. I’ve recommended that she take time off between her conferences.