My First WPA Conference

Day One:
I really didn’t want to eat hotel fare my first night in Baton Rouge, but as I wandered a bit away from the hotel, I realized it probably was not a good idea to be out alone, so here I sit.

Day Two:
WPA breakfast. Sightseeing.  Old friends and new ones.  At the WPA banquet, I admired Amy Kimme Hea’s beautiful necklace—beads—so she GAVE it to me!  (Hey, gee, I really like your computer!)

I discovered there wasn’t much open at night or on the weekend around the hotel.  The downtown area was pretty much closed up when the workers in downtown businesses go home.  That plus much construction work going on in the area made for slim pickings.  However, I did manage a bit of “fun” sightseeing on this lonely day, when I hadn’t yet run into anyone I knew who wasn’t busy.  I found the old State Capitol building, and took lots of amazing pictures (well, amazing for me—even if my photography skills stink).

Day Three:

I enjoyed attending all the sessions.  Lots of fresh perspectives and very interesting questions!

Day Four:
Exhausted.  But my flight out isn’t until tomorrow morning, so after the half day of sessions, I ventured out again.  Found some more “fun” sightseeing things to do:  a casino that thinks it’s a boat (but doesn’t go anywhere), a planetarium/science museum (didn’t allow pictures), an art museum (I didn’t take pictures because most art museums don’t allow them, so I didn’t even ask), and a ship/veteran’s memorial (yes, I took pictures).

Day Five:
Finally, I’m home.

All in all, WPA is an amazing conference, but somehow I felt “out of the loop.”  I did know many of the people in attendance—and I’m going to be hosting the WPA conference in 2013—but perhaps since I don’t usually attend the conference, or perhaps because technically I’m not  a WPA, I really didn’t get the warm/welcoming/nurturing feeling that I expected from a conference of this (small) size.  Everyone seemed to be too busy, too otherwise engaged, or whatever.  It just is NOT the kind of conference that welcomes “newbies” with open arms.  Sorry, but that’s the feeling I got.

I’m glad I went for two important reasons.  One, since we will be hosting the conference, it’s good to have a sense of it, of the expectations and needs of the attendees, etc.  And, even more important (to me), I really did get a lot out attending the sessions.  There  are some very smart people out there in WPA-land!