DevTeach2004 OT : THIS is not my beautiful presenter group!
How? How did I get here?
I've always been a solitary conference animal. More to the point, I'm a solitary animal, period, but at conferences I become a social animal in spite of myself.
I arrive at beautiful Montreal on a Saturday evening, check in to the Montreal Sheraton, drop my bags in my room, and scurry back down to the lobby to see if I have the opportunity to engage fellow nerds, network, reach outside of myself and be a social animal.
In the lobby is a guy making an analogy about asynchronous behavior, comparing it to making a frozen pizza.
“Synchronous behavior requires the user to sit by the stove watching the cheese melt; asynchronous behavior allows the user to watch the first two segments of a Star Trek episode until the oven timer sounds.”
"Hey, this must is the place!" I thought.
I recognized the fellow talking as a presenter from last year. Then others joined in the circle that I also recognized as presenters from last year. This was confirmed when one of them added to the asynchronous soliloquy, "Yes, but if the oven timer doesn't ring, then you have burnt pizza. So you have to properly handle your callback procedures!"
"Whoa, this is definitely the place!"
When there was a break in the action I introduced myself.
"Dave Burke. Hi!"
No one said they liked my blog. No one said they read my blog. But they said "Hi!" back. So it was a start.
More and more nerds appeared. Then the conference organizer showed up.
I quickly approached him. "Dave Burke. Hi!" and we shook hands.
"Hi! Okay, I can fit five in my car."
This was when it hit me. This was the Presenter's Only Dinner meeting place. And here I was, saying "Dave Burke. Hi!" to everyone like some schmo off the street looking for a free meal.
It's a weird feeling to be in the middle of a group of 20 presenters assembled for a Presenter's Only Dinner, chatting away like they went to kindergarten together, and you're the only one in the group who is not a presenter.
I was in control of the situation though. Not a problem. "Dave Burke. Bye!"