I’m at a conference this week, for work. I didn’t particularly want to be here. The content (thus far) looks to be of limited use at work (our customers don’t want a lot of the features being presented), and I can’t do fun stuff at home this week.
But I’m very glad I came.
Because of the people. I see how others are using their systems, and I see how productive and charged and successful they are. And I don’t mean “success” in the phony sense of charging down hallways while gripping a binder.
Folks are doing useful things with their software and systems. I want to be like them. I’ve now got pages of scribbled notes, full of neat ideas for things we can do with our software. I’ve also got the email addresses of helpful people.
The same is true of most conferences and conventions I’ve attended. They’re worth attending for reasons completely separate from the actual content of the events.