I haven't really talked about the conference very much, as I've been trying to wrap my head around the whole experience.
I go back and forth — some days I'm like, "I'm awesome! I held my own and did really well." Other days I'm like, "I should have done it differently." Whatever. I'll talk about my presentation, and my feelings about it, later. The bottom line is that it was something I had never done before, and not only did I go out there and do it, I did it all by myself* in a foreign country. So I'm proud of that, regardless of however my presentation went over.
Overall, I was incredibly impressed by this conference. Mostly, I was thrilled to meet a whole group of passionate, intelligent, fun people. I was totally impressed my fellow academics/presenters. Listening to the exchange of ideas, the debates, the fanwanking...it was all so stimulating. There were times I felt like I was in over my head, of course (I know nothing about Foucault, other than he has a pendulum — oh wait. Wrong Foucault), but overall, it was fun to be in the mix.
Of course, there were times I was really intimidated by all the other smarties. The first presentation of the conference was done by a student from Toronto, Jessica Frey, on the Doctor's Canadian identity. She did such a bang-up job, right out of the gate. Her paper was well-crafted and thoughtful, and she presented so well, even in light of some technical glitches. Immediately I thought, "I'm fucked." It wasn't until more people presented that I felt comfortable enough to be like, "Well, they won't throw rotten vegetables at me, so I'll be OK." Not to sound too girl-crushy here, but I was just impressed by Jessica full stop, because not only was she whip-smart, she was also vocal, opinionated without being brash, organized, well-spoken, and confident. In a word, she is the nerd I strive to be.
At the first tea break (we had many tea breaks) I went up to Jess and told her how impressed I was with her paper and how high she had set the bar for the conference. She was very nice and we chatted for a bit. She gave me her business card and it turns out that she's an academic correspondent for a site called HardCoreNerdity.com. What a sweet-ass job!
Jess is a part of the GeekU podcast, and the latest episode is about her experience at the conference. Again, she speaks very well about the highlights of the conference and what an academic conference is all about. Imagine how chuffed I was when Jess briefly references my paper! So if nothing else, I was memorable. You can listen to the podcast here. (Spoilers for the entire New Who series, natch.)
* Well, Tammi was there to see me do it, but you know what I mean
I go back and forth — some days I'm like, "I'm awesome! I held my own and did really well." Other days I'm like, "I should have done it differently." Whatever. I'll talk about my presentation, and my feelings about it, later. The bottom line is that it was something I had never done before, and not only did I go out there and do it, I did it all by myself* in a foreign country. So I'm proud of that, regardless of however my presentation went over.
Overall, I was incredibly impressed by this conference. Mostly, I was thrilled to meet a whole group of passionate, intelligent, fun people. I was totally impressed my fellow academics/presenters. Listening to the exchange of ideas, the debates, the fanwanking...it was all so stimulating. There were times I felt like I was in over my head, of course (I know nothing about Foucault, other than he has a pendulum — oh wait. Wrong Foucault), but overall, it was fun to be in the mix.
Of course, there were times I was really intimidated by all the other smarties. The first presentation of the conference was done by a student from Toronto, Jessica Frey, on the Doctor's Canadian identity. She did such a bang-up job, right out of the gate. Her paper was well-crafted and thoughtful, and she presented so well, even in light of some technical glitches. Immediately I thought, "I'm fucked." It wasn't until more people presented that I felt comfortable enough to be like, "Well, they won't throw rotten vegetables at me, so I'll be OK." Not to sound too girl-crushy here, but I was just impressed by Jessica full stop, because not only was she whip-smart, she was also vocal, opinionated without being brash, organized, well-spoken, and confident. In a word, she is the nerd I strive to be.
At the first tea break (we had many tea breaks) I went up to Jess and told her how impressed I was with her paper and how high she had set the bar for the conference. She was very nice and we chatted for a bit. She gave me her business card and it turns out that she's an academic correspondent for a site called HardCoreNerdity.com. What a sweet-ass job!
Jess is a part of the GeekU podcast, and the latest episode is about her experience at the conference. Again, she speaks very well about the highlights of the conference and what an academic conference is all about. Imagine how chuffed I was when Jess briefly references my paper! So if nothing else, I was memorable. You can listen to the podcast here. (Spoilers for the entire New Who series, natch.)
* Well, Tammi was there to see me do it, but you know what I mean
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