Going analog at a digital conference: #scio13

When I’m on the floor of Science Online 2013 in the next few days, this and a pen is the only thing I plan to have with me.

I’ll leaving my smart phone and tablet in the hotel room. I won’t be live tweeting. I may do a couple of end of day summaries here on NeuroDojo.

At other conferences, I am usually one of very few online. I have learned that people enjoy getting conference updates, so I do it partly out of a sense of service. But at Science Online, instead of being in a very tiny minority, it’s going to be 449 other people like me. This is probably going to be themost documented conference I will ever attend.

The point of a conference is to do something different. I interact with many of these people online regularly. Why would I do the same when I have them right here in front of me?

I don’t want to get to the conference and feel like Buzz Aldrin after Apollo 11. Aldrin watching a video of the press coverage of the Moon landing while in quarantine after splashdown, turned to Neil Armstrong, and said:

Hey, we missed the whole thing.

At Science Online, I want to be, as actors say, “in the moment.” Fully present, paying attention, and listening.

Update, 6 February 2013: Thought I was kidding about everything being documented at Science Online?

From here.