In my second conference appearance of the week, I’m at the Canadian Association of Journalists event. It’s an interesting feeling being here. Obviously I’ve written a reasonable amount of opinion on blogging and journalism, but it’s not exactly the kind of thing I think about every day.
Meeting professional journalists in “their lair”, so to speak, is also an interesting experience. Conversations typically go something like this:
Them: So, who do you work for?
Me: I’m a blogger.
*They squint their left eye, lean their heads forward and tilt it slightly*
Them: Really? (as if to say “you mean they still exist? I thought we’d gotten rid of that menace” or “Oh… You’re wearing clothes. Well done then”)
Me: Yep.
Them: Oh, you’re wearing clothes. Well done then.
Actually, it isn’t too bad. I half considered live-blogging the event, just so that next time various journalists ego-surfed they’d find me, but decided my time would better be spent writing about the XBox 360 and trying to catch up on email. I think it was a good decision.
I have a panel this afternoon on blogging and how “the computer is changing the face of journalism”. Interesting way of focussing the issue, but I’m hoping it’ll be a fairly popular event. My past journalistic appearances have always been lively. If this one isn’t I may have to run through the room naked.
So, there you have it. I get to spend time with some of the least receptive people on the planet (with the exception, so far, of the guy moderating the panel and the executive team from the CAJ, all of whom have been absolutely fantastic).
Don’t think my life is all glamour though. Please. I’ll be arriving home tomorrow evening at 3am, which will cause me to be cranky for at least a week