Friday, October 06, 2006

Day 2: A New Lease on (Conference) Life

My session choosing strategy has changed completely from Day 1. I'm D-O-N-E done with the Corporate Leadership and CEO workshops, and focusing on the cool HCI + NLP PhD forum this afternoon to get research ideas.

Google, Microsoft, IBM and a whole bunch of other conference sponsors are throwing a big, sexy bash tonight, to themes such as Mardi Gras, Cosmopolitan, Tropical... and plus there'll be a big Carmen Sandiego-inspired scavenger hunt with prizes to win!

But I'm not going.

I got a last-minute chance to volunteer run a booth during the party. That gains me volunteer hours, which gains me an unexpected $240 in conference fee reimbursement! Not too shabby, considering I still get to pick at the appetizers every once in a while anyway. I'll network with those courting companies next year. (DID I MENTION GRACE HOPPER IS GOING ANNUAL!?! Next one's in Orlando!! YAYY!)

BTW I will go to *one* corporate talk. Marissa Mayer, a former AI prof who is now a VP at Google... she's my American Idol.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What booth are you working?

Anonymous said...

It sounds like the conference has been a little life altering (or life focussing) for you! Great to hear! Greg and I just want to know how we are going to keep you at SFU to inspire future like-Angelica's?