Irony

Posted by Tara C. Smith on February 20, 2007
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So, I’m back from AAAS, and starting to catch up on everything. The conference flew by, and I still have a few posts in the wings on the evolution symposium that took place on Friday, as well as some other tidbits from sessions I attended. Overall, I thought the conference was very good from a networking perspective. In addition to those I already mentioned (Janet, John, and Jeremy), I also ran into Chris Mooney and Ewen Callaway at a reception Saturday night, and met up with Eugenie Scott and several other NCSE folks during various sessions (more on that in the aforemetioned upcoming post). However, I found a lot of the sessions I attended to be somewhat repetitive, and I’m not coming home with that “wow, my brain is stuffed with so many ideas I can’t wait to get them all down on paper” feeling that I usually have after conferences. Still, I knew that AAAS wasn’t a research-heavy conference, so I suppose it was a good experience for what it was–discussing science in general.

However, along the lines of the “networking” idea, I was browsing the program Friday night and noticed a networking breakfast that looked interesting, to be held Saturday morning: “women and minorities in science.” Great, right up my alley, I thought.

I read the next line.

“Invitation only.”

So, maybe next year I’ll have done enough networking to snag an invitation to the networking breakfast…

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Comments

  1. #1 J-Dog
    February 20, 2007

    You should have crashed it…

  2. #2 Francis
    February 20, 2007

    You should have crashed it…

    Actually, that would be quite a good idea – a crashers-only networking event.

  3. #3 Tara C. Smith
    February 20, 2007

    Yeah, I could’ve crashed it, but when the point is to actually *meet* people and you’re crashing their breakfast…well, it just didn’t sound like such a good idea.

  4. #4 J-Dog
    February 20, 2007

    Tara – You just take a lesson from all our elected politicians – Get a little “truthiness” going for you!
    For Example:
    You: Hi! Sorry I’m late! I’m Dr. Tara Smith, so pleased to meet you all! (Big Mega-Watt Smile)
    Them: Ahhh, but… I mean,..
    You: Oh, that’s all right! We’re all friends, and just networking, right? (Another BIG Mega-Watt Smile)
    Them: OH. Well glad you could make it Dr. Smith!

  5. #5 JanieBelle
    February 20, 2007

    Dr. Tara: Hi, I’m here.
    Them: You’re not invited.
    Dr. Tara: Don’t make me call Janie and Kate.
    Them: How do you like your eggs?
    :)

  6. #6 ewen
    February 21, 2007

    Don’t let those pesky “invitation only” signs stop you next year. I didn’t and ended up at an open bar reception with David Baltimore and all the AAAS brass.

    Good to see you!