Well, I'm back from the conference and subsequent Nowson European Vacation in the Swiss Alps, and it was very thoroughly enjoyable. Just what one needs to recharge the batteries before the final big push on the thesis.

For me the conference is as much about getting me out there, as it is my work. I've not always been the most confident person, and I tend not to talk to people at events like this. This time however I knew I had to. And so I did.

I spent most of the two hours of my poster session discussing my work with all the people that read my poster (which I shall endeavour to make available when I'm next in the office). After the disappointment that was our departmental poster session, I was surprised by just how many people were interested in my blogging work. Turns out there were a fair few bloggers among the Cognitive Science crowd - one even took a picture of my poster to stick on their blog apparently.

What most interested people was not what the poster was actually about, although I did have some very informed discussions about formality in blogging. No, what piqued much interest was that I had gathered personality data on bloggers. Everyone had their own theory on what sort of person a blogger is, most relating to Extraversion. Actually, I might make a small survey post about that...see what people think.

Anyway, I managed to confidently talk away to lots of people, and I think it was a very successful session. I had A4 copies of my poster hanging up for people to help themselves to, and despite the paper being on a CD everyone received that morning, a good few were taken. Easier to digest than a whole paper I guess.

Of course, I didn't get to speak to everyone I would have liked. Looking through the schedule, here were a couple of people whose work I had cited in the paper, and I was particularly keen to talk to them. But they weren't there. Likewise one of my first tutors at University, who helped me a lot before he left, was second author on 3 posters. But again, nothing but a blank space, taken over by someone who blatantly didn't follow the poster size guide lines.

So, in summary, it was a god conference, both in terms of boosting my work and myself.