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Collin vs. RSA

From all accounts, this year's Rhetoric Society of America conference was quite good. Alas. I was not.

First, a stunning blow was dealt to my internal sense of geography, as I learned, quite the hard way, that Memphis was a good deal further away from Syracuse than I had thought. How could I tell, you ask? Every time I mentioned having driven: "You drove?!?!" Yes, yes I did.

And as a result, I spent the first half of the conference on the road, arriving not until Saturday night. And for various reasons, I had not prepared my presentation. So, that night, and much of the next day, I ended up writing my talk. I went to a single session on Saturday morning, and spent most of Sunday writing. I did finish in time to be able to go out Sunday night. Sunday night turned into Monday morning, and didn't "end" until roughly 3:30.

Did I mention that my talk was scheduled for 8:00 am Monday morning? Oh yes.

I should also mention that I wasn't in the conference hotel, having made my reservation too late. I got up at 6 am Monday morning, and hoofed it to my hotel, showered, caffeinated, etc., and managed to wobble my way through a presentation that was assisted greatly by the smart papers that followed it.

I had a nice time, but the long drive, the dislocation, and the lack of responsible preparation on my part all left me feeling like my conference could have been a lot better. Ah well. Nobody's fault but mine.

That is all.

Comments

Not to add insult to injury, or to rub salt in an open wound, or to look a gift horse in the mouth, or anything, but: I guess you didn't quite grow up knowing that Memphis was the biggest city in Mississippi?

Which is a snarky way, I guess, of saying "you drove?!?"

Yikes. That's a rough conference, and beats my RSA nightmare of four years ago hands down. Which is saying something.

Here's the worst part: I grew up in a town on the Mississippi, and that fact was a great source of civic pride. One might think that such pride would extend to some basic awareness of the other riverfront cities.

One might think.

Well, every conference can't go perfectly. I've seen really famous people have a bad day at a conference or speaking engagement, and that always cheers me up considerably.

But, really, folks: as one who had the pleasure of seeing Collin Sunday at 8am, I can attest that he hardly seemed to be having a bad day.

Alas and alack, your presentation was up against Lois's, which I also wanted to see. Why is it that sessions pass by with nothing I *have* to go to, whilst two or three time slots are jampacked with must-sees?

I'm sorry I missed you in Memphis. Adam and I checked out early Monday morning (and spent much of Sunday afternoon/evening on Beale St). In any case, hope to run into you next conference 'round.

tsk, tsk. what would our 39th president have to say about this?

You even need to ask? Of course, he'd say, "Yes!"

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