Beatrice Writes

Best Conference of 2009

I can’t pick one best conference that I attended this year! I have two best of this year. Let me explain, and I think you’ll agree, too.

First was the BlogHer Conference in Chicago at the end of July. Chicago’s one of my favorite cities to start with. One of my friends had been to a reach-out tour last fall and loved it. She talked me into signing up, too. She didn’t have to talk it up very much to get me to agree! The two of us drove up in her Prius and dealt with heinous traffic on the way. About as bad as Los Angeles’s, actually.

We made it there and checked in, then proceeded to look for our roommates. I was slightly apprehensive about them since they weren’t anyone we knew but rather people she had met on the bulletin boards there. It could have turned out to be a horrible situation. Thankfully, it was spectacular! We roomed with LeeAnn, a diabetes blogger who has a great, sarcastic sense of humor and Julie who works with a mother’s online encyclopedia. Julie and I bonded over being childless and single, but still liking kids and The Sun Magazine. She was one of those people who I connected with immediately. I love it when that happens.

The conference was amazing. There were so many fantastic, fantastically interesting women. They all had such stories to tell! My RSS feed grew to epic proportions when I returned. I even got a paid writing job out of the conference simply because I sat down next to the “right” person at lunch one day. The food was delicious and vegetarian-friendly. There were a lot of freebies, which is cool but not necessary by any means. The bed was the softest one I’ve ever slept in.

There were two highlights of the conference. One was the scholarship session that I attended. The BlogHer founders brought ladies from other countries who were blogging for change in the world. I was amazed listening to the stories of women who blogged for activism. I would be so lucky as to have my blogging change the world. The other highlight was listening to the selected essays at one of the keynotes. I especially loved the absolutely hilarious Knotty Yarn! This is the entire list of keynote selections, and you can view the videos here if you are interested!

The other conference that I attended was DragonCon. Yes, I am a geek. At DragonCon I learned that not only am I not nearly as geeky as many of the people in the world, I also learned that I have MAD social skills. I thought I would be in the minority as a woman there, but it was a pretty even split. I wore my geeky t-shirts every day, but there were quite a few people who had elaborate costumes. There were wookies, a couple of slave girl Leias, Predators, Trekkies and a plethora of others. There was such a wide variety of costumes that I was boggled.

DragonCon had something for every sort of geek. There were sessions with actors from your favorite TV shows and movies, your favorite authors, comic book artists, fantasy artists, and even sessions for your uber-geeky sort who want to know about the science behind the special effects. I attended one of those geeky sessions about synesthesia–the mixing of the senses. It was really interesting. I once read a novel that had a main character who had been in an accident and ended up with synesthesia.

There were so many amazing moments at DragonCon. I got to see Patrick Stewart speak. I saw Leonard Nimoy, and my opinion of him shot up by so much. He is a magnificent photographer in addition to being an amazing actor. Visit Leonard Nimoy Photography to see some of his work. William Shatner crashed the panel, but that was no big deal since the Shat has a horse farm in my home state. I saw him ride one year at the Junior League Horse Show. I missed out on meeting Charlaine Harris and getting a book signed, but I happened to have a book written by Diana Gabaldon that I was reading at the time and got to meet her and get it signed instead. Turns out that her grandmother shared my name. It was a very cool connection.

The best moment was getting a chance to meet my favorite author, Peter S. Beagle. It was emotional for me, even a little teary about it, honestly. Here’s what I wrote on my book review blog here back in September: “The most awesome experience was meeting my favorite author, Peter S. Beagle. If you haven’t read The Last Unicorn, please go pick up a copy now! The movie made from the novel is the one thing that I think I can point to in my life and say that it was the most influential thing in regards to molding my readerly interests. I love fantasy novels, and I think that The Last Unicorn is the one book I have read more often than any other.

I had no idea that Mr. Beagle would be at Dragon*Con. I was so excited once I found out by chance that he would be signing shortly thereafter. I purchased another of my favorite books that he’s written and waited for my turn to speak to him. I told him that he was such an influence on me. He noticed that I was from Kentucky and asked if I knew two notable Kentucky writers that he had attended Stanford with. I knew of both of them and had taken a class from one. The other has recently passed away. I got to be the one to break the news about his old friend’s passing to him. As a friend pointed out to me, I will be memorable. I was very, very sorry to have to tell him the news, though.”

Which sounds like the better conference? Which sounds like the conference you would have rather attended?