Last year I achieved a personal best at the 2011 Perth Writers Festival, attending 20 one hour sessions. Admittedly the last few sessions were listened to from the floor at the back of the room, as I stretched out my back … backs just aren’t designed to sit in straight back conference, or rounded plastic chairs for 20 hours. This year I took a different strategy … this time I’d have a plan.
Four days before the 2012 Perth Writers Festival I straightened out the program on my desk and considered what I wanted to see, adopting a KISS strategy. After a while however there were too many names jockeying for pole position in my head. So I went back to the beginning re-read all the titles and author profiles, this time placing a small dot next to the items that made it through my Festival Filter (more on that later) and a line through those that didn’t. Then the computer beeped announcing an email from an author I’d been trying to reach for six months.
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© The Ponder Room
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The next day during a brief work interlude I looked at the program again determined to lock in my choices using Strategy 2 – Asterix. Crude asterix were drawn next to the items I still found interesting. Then the phone rang … the caller pleading for help with a proposal into indigenous mental health across Australia. The proposal was due the next morning and it still needed some costing and methodological refinement …sure.
One day to go, I read the list again and the result …most of the asterix items were still of interest (at least I’m consistent), and so Strategy 3 – the sheep dog was employed. This time the items were caged in by solid ink squares like wayward sheep being herded into pens. This was good, they stood out from those already marked up in Strategies 1 and 2. Ignoring the ringing mobile phone to my right I picked up the landline, made the call, bought the tickets and wrote the words ‘bought’ in big letters on the penned in, asterixed, dotted titles … no room for ambiguity there. Done!
Finally I made it to the Perth Writers Festival where mid morning some fairly new acquaintances asked me what I was going to see next. My mind went blank. I had no idea. There was nothing to do but sheepishly pull out my patchwork program. As I ran my finger down the list and pointed out what was next I looked up to see them just looking at me …
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© The Ponder Room
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When they didn’t answer I said …
‘Oh … yeah … the paper … what can I say I’m a researcher?’ trying to smile. When they still didn’t reply I added ‘someone looked at it and said I was anal’. To which one of them replied … ‘they’ve got a point.’
So what strategies do you use to get the most out of a festival?
More Perth Writers Festival to come.
2 Comments
Hee hee! I can so relate to your tale. Just too many good choices. My system was about the same although I lost the program and needed to get a new one and start over again.
Oh no Rae!! That would have instantly put me into a foetal position for at least half an hour. Agree way too many good choices. Perhaps we’ve found another common denominator amongst bloggers