I feel much less intimidated now.  That Best Practices conference is small, almost cozy. Thanks to social networking–and the blog, in particular–I already know a few people here.  It makes the conference so much easier to deal with. Instead of getting first-day jitters, I can fall right into conversations I’ve been wanting to have for a long time.

It’s a small conference, and maybe that’s why most people don’t have their laptops open during sessions. So, no liveblogging for me today. I’ll try braindumping to a voice recorder after the sessions. If I think of it as blogging for other people who couldn’t make it to the conference, then I think there’ll be plenty to write.  I don’t know if there’ll be transcripts, or even recordings of each presentation, but at least I can get the interesting points.

IBM Palisades is a beautiful conference center.  I don’t think I’ve been to another conference center with such a large koi pond, and I love all the old IBM machines and da Vinci replicas scattered throughout the guest wing. The facilities are well-appointed, too.  I exercised in my room a little bit today, but I plan to take advantage of the exercise room tomorrow. The queen-sized bed and bed frame are about 3 feet thick combined, which made me feel a little like the Princess and the pea, sans pea. The only downside is that I forgot my toothpaste, and this is one of those hotels where they don’t provide you with those little toothbrush kit. They do however provide you with soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, a shower cap, mouthwash and shoe polish, and you can buy toothpaste from the front desk for two dollars. Must remember to bring my own next time.

Looking forward to today’s sessions!