Message-ID: <33DD2C6B.4921@yale.edu>
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 1997 19:34:03 -0400
From: Dan Ryan <daniel.ryan@yale.edu>
Reply-To: daniel.ryan@yale.edu
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To: socgrad <socgrad@csf.colorado.edu>
Subject: reprise: how to enjoy a convention...
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Comrade Sisters and Brothers,

Back by popular demand (ask me about the funny story behind that
someday), is my moderately smart-assed, sociologically (?) informed
guide on how to have fun at ASA. It's actually hard to do the first few
times, and so it might be more accurate to say that this is about how to
minimize the alienation that is a natural part of showing up at a party
where you don't know anyone.  This was written for Socgrad a few years
ago and re-published on various lists over the last few years.  An HTML
version can be found at the personal web site listed in the sig.  See
ya'll in Toronto.  And are Beth and I still the only folks going to the
ball game on Friday night?

Cheers,

Dan

--

How to Enjoy a Convention

Dan Ryan (Yale University/Mills College)
daniel.ryan@yale.edu


o	Never pass up an opportunity to go out with a group to eat, 
	especially in favor of a gathering with "more important people"
	that may or may not occur.

o       Don't get cynical about schmoozing.  This IS what the meeting
	is about and that's not a bad thing.  It is common for 
	beginners to feel left out, that they don't know anybody, and
	that "it's all just a big reunion of people who don't care
	whether a nobody like me lives or dies."  It's all true.

        The secret, though, is that that IS all that it is, and the
	only reason you feel that way is because you don't know too
	many people YET.  Give yourself some time. Slipping too
 	quickly into the defensive wall-flower frame of mind is a sure
	recipe for prolonging the period in which you feel
        like you don't know anybody.

o       Related to this, don't get too turned off by nametag gazing.
	It is what people do at these things.  Yes, people will check
        yours out, discover that you are nobody, and then move on. 
        Some of these folks are bozos looking for famous people to
        kiss up to or simply stargaze at.  Don't sweat it.  Don't let
	the turkeys get you down.

        Think about this sociologically.  You have a gathering of
	several thousand people from one profession.  Most of them
 	work in middle of nowhere places with two colleagues, one of
	whom they loathe.  They spend all year teaching books written
        by other people, some of whom are their heroes, the reason
	they went into this work to begin with)to 19 year olds.  Some
	of those heroes are walking around the hotel.  Of course
	they're looking at the name tags.

        Alternatively, here you have a gathering of several thousand
	people in the same profession.  Profession and job are among
	the most common	categories for sorting the people in one's world.
	If everyone around you is in the same profession, you need some
	other status markers to help you order the crowd.  Look at the
	nametags.

o       Remember that it's OK to engage people in serious conversations
	about what they do, what they think about, etc.  This may be the
	only time all year that you don't have to explain what sociology
	is or that it is NOT the same as social work to the person who
	says "oh, my brother is a social worker."

o       Don't worry about money -- that's what plastic is for.  In the
end,
	you are going to spend more than you intended;  no use wasting
	emotional energy fretting about it

o       Stay in the main conference hotel whenever possible.  The idea
of 
        staying with a friend who lives just twenty minutes outside of
town 
        is almost always a bad one.

o       Recognize and celebrate the fact that the most important and 
        enjoyable part of the annual meeting is the stuff that occurs 
        OUTSIDE of the sessions.

o       After you've heard your fourth or fifth poorly presented paper,
ask
        yourself how someone who teaches for a living and talks in front 
        of groups 4 to 8 times a week can fail to have ever gotten good
at it.

o       Upon checking in, locate the health club or fitness center in
your 
        hotel and see what their hours are.  Then look around to see if 
        they have a decent breakfast buffet in one of the restaurants
(or 
   	locate a nearby bagel shop, Dunkin' Donuts or McDonalds, as you
like).
 	Next, scan through the index of the program to see if there is anyone
	whose talk you absolutely don't want to miss.  (Keep this list short.)  
        Draw a little time chart and note where these talks are and
when.  
        If you're not doing anything else, you can try to catch them.
After 
        this, make a list of all the people you want to say hello to,
have 
        a meal with or meet.  These two lists are your agenda for the
meeting.

o       Remember that almost everyone else is feeling like they don't
know 
        anyone too.

o       Always remember the first law of socializing: act like a host. 
This 
        means taking the initiative and introducing yourself to others. 
It 
        means keeping in mind the people you know and have met so that
when 
        you meet someone new, even if your interests are a million miles 
        apart, you can always say "Have you met so and so?  You should.  
        I'll introduce you when I see you together."  And then, when you 
        do, they'll possibly be grateful for the intro, but definitely 
        remember the service.  All of this is based loosely on good
network 
        theory: weak ties are all -- be one whenever you can.

o       If you have the opportunity to introduce someone big and someone 
        small, do it by asking the big person if they've met the small
one, 
        not vice versa.  It's a wonderfully pleasant way to go against
the 
        standard status inequalities.

o       Be as socially generous as possible.  It almost never "costs" 
        anything to invite someone along, bring them into a
conversation, 
        introduce them to a colleague, connect them to someone of common 
        interests, etc. and (a) these things are always remembered, and 
        (b) what goes around comes around.

o       Buy some books.

o       If you're giving a talk, just tell us what you did, why you
thought 
        it was interesting and what we should remember about what you
found 
        out or showed.  The point of the talk is to help me decide
whether 
        I might want to read your work or not.

        Do not read your paper (though you can read a talk you've
written 
        based on the paper -- remember your limit is about 12 (not
single
        spaced!) pages).  Do not fight with the organizer over time.  
        Do not be convinced that the audience will be enthralled if only
you 
        can get this one last point in.  Do not edit out whole sections
on the 
        fly as you notice time running out. If you find yourself falling
in 
        love with your own prose, exercise caution.

        All of these things will serve only to make you look inept, 
        unprofessional, immature and uninteresting.

o	Practice reading/giving your talk OUT LOUD by yourself several times
	before hand.  Time yourself.  Cut material out.  Repeat.  Spend a 
	total of just few hours and improve your performance by 2.345 letter
	grades (research has proven this!) This really does make a tremendous
	difference.  Try it and find out for yourself.  

o       Don't join your nutso colleagues in the mad rush to grab books
at a 
        discount as the book exhibits close.  The behavior of some folks
in 
        this situation is truly embarrassing -- best not to join them.

o       Remember, you are going to spend a few days with 3 or 4 thousand
	people who are, perhaps, better at analyzing the social world than 
        participating in it.  Be kind.  We're all in this together.


-- 
Dan Ryan
Yale University
Insitution for Social and Policy Studies
P.O. Box 208209
New Haven, CT  06520-8209

daniel.ryan@yale.edu
http://pantheon.cis.yale.edu/~danryan
New Haven On Line http://statlab.stat.yale.edu/nhol