So, I’ve been to two music conferences (and a conference-ette!) this year so far, and what I have to say about them is, they are all-consuming.
You step inside a hotel, and that is the end of the outside world until you step out again several days later. At least, that is my experience.
I do occasionally see other conference goers maintaining their tethers, taking photos and texting and updating their status (statuses? stati?), and hats off to them for their business acumen. I should follow suit, I know I should… but I like the immersion in the ‘now’.
It’s refreshing to be engaged in looking, listening, talking, singing — inter-personal interacting, live, in the original 3D! — and not gazing down at our separate dumb smartphones, compulsively checking to see if we’re sufficiently in the loop.
This year I went to two new (to me) regional folk conferences; SERFA in North Carolina and FARM in St. Louis. Lovely people, great music, terrific organizers. A grand time was had by all. You’ll have to believe me – I have nothing to show you.
I mention all this because I’m off soon to the grand-daddy of the regional conferences, the North Eastern Regional Folk Alliance Conference (NERFA).
I’ll try, for a change, to take a picture, maybe even eke out a Facebook update, and report back. For you. Because You’re Worth It.
But no promises. There’s a whole lotta ‘now’ ahead.