After I've had a bit of time to collect my thoughts, I wanted to give a more complete impression of my time in Madison. As I said, this was my first real conference, so I didn't know what to expect. I can only imagine my dear readers have no idea what I am talking about. While my naive impression was that conferences are where the nerds go to get their "Sitting Through Lectures" Merit badge, this was a lot more about networking. And a lot less about sleeping.
I went with Dr. Rockstar (who left me to my own devices) and one of his undergrads, and we fared Quite Well. I did see every talk that was even remotely relevant to my work (a small chunk of the 120 talks given), presented my own work at a poster session and met a lot of people. I met (among others) the guy who discovered one of the first viruses in our family in 36 years, the guys who actually found the (other) virus in cancer cells, the lab that had been studying the cancer and were surprised to find out they were virologists, Dr. Rockstar's fav grad student and his lab, the FDA lab that historically studied our virus after its release into the human population (this was an accident), Dr. Rockstar's wife and Dr. Rockstar's band. I wouldn't call him that for no reason.
The band actually came to play at the final banquet/ball. They are a cover band, and they took audience requests so long as well all kept dancing. And Dr. Rockstar's undergrad and I couldn't stand the possibility of having attended the "most sedate meeting ever" (according to the Old Guard), so we endeavored to get a lot of the people we had met dancing with us. And we did. Believe it or not, there is nothing a famous scientist likes more than a big dance party. We kept a private tally of all the famous people who would dance with us. And we danced until the banquet hall kicked us out. It was a great party, and I think Dr. Rockstar no longer thinks I am such a nerd.
Update on the scoop: my (now favorite) collaborator pulled me aside at the banquet to tell me she had talked to Dr. Bigbucks to see how far along they were on MY PROJECT, and gave me some really good advice/ things to tell my boss. And then she said she would go talk to the editor of the journal that we submitted our paper to and cheer lead a bit. What a wonderful woman.
Final Score: Days in Madison: 5
Talks heard: 80
Icecreams eaten: 9
Poster presented: 1
Nights out past bedtime: 3
Famous Scientists Danced with: 4
Improved interest in my science: 5X
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