Just returned from my yearly geekfest. This year's excursion was different because I was part of the organizing team. I shared duties with Prof. John Shen of University of Central Florida. As it turned out we were a perfect pairing, he is a nervous type A and I was a calm type A. John would worry and I would sleep on it. We were able to get 1262 digests reviewed and formed into a coherent program of 662 papers. I didn't quite believe we were able to pull it off, but we did, and the conference, Energy Conversion Conference and Exposition 2010 went quite smoothly.
This conference has a history of long drunken evenings and early technical sessions. This one was no different. I would be up by 6 AM so that I can get to the author's breakfast by 7, do my schtick and then be in the sessions by 8. Since the conference was in Atlanta, we had to go to some of my old haunts or else the trip would have been anticlimatic.
I have always enjoyed this conference. It all started when I was a mere gradual student, and I attended as a rite of passage, to worship at the feet of my elders and to pay homage to what they had wrought in my chosen profession. Then I came as a technologist seeking ideas for development and confirmation. Now that I am more involved with the IEEE, the conferences have become a blur, whereas I once went to soak up the knowledge and attend sessions, my days are filled with organizational meetings and preparation work. More stressful but also more rewarding. I can see why people would want to get into this line of work, it is very addicting. I am now retired for the enxt two years, but I am to return in 2013. Lookout people, here I come.
