So my first impression from my first-ever visit to an academic conference (even though I ain’t no academic) is that my employers should take greater care when printing name-tags. Or maybe they did take due care, and I have in fact become trapped in a bubble in the space-time continuum, catapulting me forth some eighteen thousand years. (whoa, dude!)

Curiously enough, the keynote speaker made mention of “realising potentialities latent in human consciousness”, which had me thinking I’d heard that before. Sure enough, he was quoting writings of the Bahá’í faith, which I’ve encountered in the past (yes Mum, I did learn something in that philosophy of religion class!). His ideas certainly have merit — according to him, for example, the Future of TV ™ is interactive (yay!) — but I have to say, that choice of words seems just as dodgy now as when I first read them.

Overall, the day was mostly non-eventful; not the exciting version A that I predicted yesterday, but also not the boring version B. Even though the conference is about teaching uni students using computers, I’ve actually managed to learn some stuff that’s relevant to my work as a tech support person, like how research confirms that academic staff don’t like centralised training and support organisations. And I get free food, so it’s hardly a complete loss

I have also re-learned the principle that was first taught to me by three years of watching lecturers struggle with lecture theatre gear: just because they’re smart and all, doesn’t mean they understand the concept that when you stand back from a microphone, it will fail to pick up your voice. But then, I guess that’s why I’m there.