So, I’ve totally drunk the NTC kool-aid. Oh, you say you don’t know what that means? Non-profit Technology Conference in the hizzouse, babeh! I just got back from Atlanta and boy, are my arms tired! Thank you, I’m here all night.
(Note: just typed that as “hear all knight.” Because no one at the Round Table will be overlooked.)
I've been to conferences before and had some eh sessions and some pretty stellar (hurting the next day, have to vomit in a trash can on the street [sorry, Mommy]) off hour good times, but I think this is the first time where I was engaged both in personal conversations with new folks AND with the actual work part of the conference. Who woulda thunk?
Maybe it isn't fair to compare NTC (relates to work I'm actually doing every day) to AAM in Philly last year, which was all about work I wanted to be doing but would have little hope of doing it at all in the near future, hey, here's a beer to cry into. Instead, I found myself taking notes and marking in the margins what I wanted to do when I get back to work. I was exchanging business cards and saying we should follow up and because I'm a nerd about being a nerd, this excited me.
Y'ALL, I WAS RECOGNIZED.
As in, I was walking down the street on my way to a happy hour outside the conference center and someone stopped me and said , "Hi, are you Tatiana? Do you work for Oceana? I GET YOUR EMAILS [emphasis mine because!!]" She was awesome (hey, Lori!) but honestly - who would have thought that little pic of me at the end of an email asking you to nominate the next ocean hero (until April 18th) would land me in the public eye. Well, social media do gooder public eye.
All of this is to say that I'm so excited that NTC is in DC next year. The good times, they won't be stopped.
As for the social side of the conference, let me just say: Thursday night was a fantastic dinner, where I broke sushi rolls with Wendy Harman aka American Red Cross Twitter lady. During the meal, she was just cool. Friday, after the party [roof top, basil gin lemonade, lunging with new Aussie best friend], was the after party [Coca Cola museum, dancing, whiskey sours, splits, had director of the whole shebang comment on my skillz, zomg], and then an after after party [beers, pizza that I don't think we bought, detailed retelling of epic love stories]. Cut to a four hour nap and I cried at lunch because I was so tired.
Tired little nerd goes to sleep with images of next year's conference dancing (literally, there is dancing) in her head.
