A busy week for the LCA 2015 team
I guess that it’s time that I caught up properly, and I promise to try to keep a more regular blog from now on!
It’s been an amazing week for all of us involved in LCA 2015. NetHui was held in Auckland this week with Girl Geek Dinners timed to coincide, then there was also NZGather on Saturday.
Most of the team made it to NetHui at some point or another, and they took great advantage of the time to talk up the conference. I went to GGD where I bumped into Jef Vratney who, it seems, knows absolutely everyone – especially the women. No wonder he and Steve get on – they’re both the same! Not only was Jef was able to make the introductions that I needed to bend arms about LCA, there were also women there who I already know and I was able to discuss the conference with them.
The presentations that night centered around the idea of being lucky enough to be doing the sort of work that you love. They reminded me that I am so very lucky in many ways. I have always held the view that the day you don’t want to go to work is the day that you find another job. I am doing something that I love and that terrifies me, but I am confident that this is something that I can achieve – I wouldn’t have it any other way!
Maybe there will be a path to a real, paid job here somewhere as well.
NZGather is an event that I have been sending Steve off to for years. I even remember one time driving him there, taking Chevelle shopping for the day, then collecting him afterwards. This year I was determined to go along, and with some magic performed by the wonderful organisers I did. I am now a total convert and I expect that I will become a regular at the event from now on. As an ‘un conference’ it actually has a very similar vibe to a real conference, and it certainly isn’t small. I can’t say what the numbers were, but the place was busy!
There were some great presentations, very relaxed styles, and I have to say that I’d happily have any of the presenters at LCA if it were up to me. I certainly told them so whenever I could, so I hope to see some of those names repeated in our final program. When these people asked what I expected of them for LCA the answer was ‘what you have just done’.
Speaking of which, our Call For Papers closes tonight, and yesterday marked 6 months to the day the conference begins. Sometimes it feels as if we aren’t achieving much at all, but then we reach our milestones: website going live, CFP going out, the stuff that I know is happening in the background that will bloom at just the right time – these are what give me my ‘feelgood’ factor.
Only 6 months to go…