'It's like Faith +1, but backwards.' by Kara
Wednesday, May 9, 2007 at 7:20 AM

You know, it amazes me sometimes how much business conferences are like cons.

Our marketing department (i.e., the girl who sits opposite me) went to a conference in New York earlier this week, and while her trip sounds lofty and businesslike, I couldn't help noticing a few things ...

1. Late-night parties. She mentioned 'cocktail parties' on the first night, room parties on the second, and invitations to bar outings all weekend. I've heard of such things, albeit bigger and 'fancier,' at other conferences, but it's the way she talked about it ... 'Well, I went and had a couple drinks, but I was really tired and it was pretty crowded, and I didn't know anyone, so I decided to just go back to the room. And then people kept asking me the next day where I went.'

2. Rubbing elbows. There are celebs in anything you do, of course, and apparently she met some biggies. She even squeed -- squeed -- about sitting in front of the majority of the Netflix marketing department, went on about a couple of people I'd never heard of, and other various behaviours that generally you only think would be lavished on Seki Tomokazu, Crispin Freeman, or inexplicable con personalities. You see ... fangirls are everywhere.

3. Post-con(ference) stories. I didn't get to hear all of them, but I feel like I caught traces of drunk/late-night sillies.

At this point I got caught up in other work, but really, doesn't matter. While they may come back with their little PDAs and notebooks full of stuff they can use at the office, there's no way in hell I'm convinced that the conferences people at work go to are any more 'elite' than anime cons. Well, except that there are no Narutards there ... I don't think. Seeing as I saw one in the Panera near a local college ...

Also, at some point, I will make my Auntie D understand that art shows really are a lot like cons, too.

If you have been, do it now!!!