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GETTING TO KNOW THE INTERNATIONAL GEEKSCA WORLD: My first Computer Conferenceby Madelyn Miller
So when Computer Associates invited me to CA WORLD, their annual conference in New Orleans, I was flattered. And curious. Could I pass as a technology journalist? They told me they had invited 500 international journalists so I thought this must be big news. The theme of the conference was computers are fun and they certainly delivered on their promise When I boarded the plane from Dallas to New Orleans it was very clear that the passenger mix was unique. EVERYONE had a laptop. And almost everyone was going to the CA WORLD conference. When I got to baggage claim I found the first way to tell the first timers from the regulars. People with vintage CA World luggage tags had been there before. 1997 looked like a good year for luggage tags. Since this is the largest annual conference held in New Orleans and is second only to Comdex, I can’t image what it would be like to come to New Orleans when the city is over-run by CA Worlders. At first I felt like I was at a family reunion and I was new to the family. My seatmate on the bus to the hotel, Reggie Penn, filled me in on the background of CA. He was so easy to understand. It wasn’t hard to talk to Geeks, I thought. Then I learned that he trained the tech support people. I took his card because it is always good to know someone in tech support. In the registration line at the press desk, I felt a bit like I was at the United Nations. I heard people speaking German, Portuguese and French. The first official activity was a press breakfast at 7am. Left brainers are prompt, I thought, so I made an extra effort to arrive on time. A huge ballroom elaborately set for 500 was virtually empty. I was told one of the highlights of the conference was the artificial intelligence. Was this a virtual breakfast and I was one of the last to know? Was there a time difference? Was I in the wrong place? No, it turns out that most of the journalists were smarter than me and they slept late. Two men sat at separate tables at opposite ends of the ballroom I sat down next to Igor, who turned out to be a Russian correspondent. He determined with a nine hour time difference, he was actually eating a late lunch. It was interesting to talk to him. He complimented me on my English. It is nice to have foreigners say they can understand you speak your native tongue. I told him his English was good (Certainly better than my Russian) We bonded. But both decided we would sleep a little later the next morning. Through the week I got zillions of T-shirts, hats, pens, cuts, free software, disc holders, fanny packs and more. There were hourly drawings for Palm Pilots and you could win all kinds of trips and even a car. Statistically, even though there were 25,000 attendees, it would be impossible to go home empty-handed. For more information about CA WORLD |
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TM
I am not a Geek. Although all my friends think I am a wizard
of email, I am not techno-savvy.