Upon reading my post about Friday, it crossed my mind that I was too negative. When in truth, I had a really good day. The sessions were a bit of a let down, but it was more in general really. I think what bothered me overall about the sessions was this:
- The audio was torture. The mics were equalized completely wrong for women's voices, most of them were too hot, and the speakers and the audience didn't know how to use them. Covering a mic with your hand when it is feeding back is terribly ineffective, people.
- The topics were far too broad to try and facilitate a conversation in a room of 50-100 people. For a 90 minute session that centers around discussion, I would have only one speaker, and three main points. There were too many people that wanted to comment on each topic, and the panelists were often just left to sit in the front of the room hoping that their mic didn't start squealing. Plus, a discussion means that you go back and forth between commenters, and that didn't happen so that everyone who wanted to say something got a chance.
- In reality, panels could have been run more than once so that if there were two you wanted to attend at the same time, you would have another chance to get to one of them later.
- The panelists didn't seem to know from session to session whether or not they were supposed to talk or moderate.
I think I even answered my own question. I blog because I love to write. I love to tell stories. I write because it helps me organize my feelings. Writing is cathartic. It is entertaining. It is freeing. I can say things with the written word that I would never be able to find the words to speak. And I blog because I enjoy the community it has created.
