Thing 12: Attending Conferences

Not only am I the only archivist on this course, I also seem to be the only sad individual who has never in her life attended a conference in a professional capacity!  One of the reasons I guess stems from being self-employed and not being in a position to ask for somebody else to cover the cost of travel and attendance.  Ironically, for the likes of me networking would be a really good idea so not attending conferences is probably not a very smart move to make.  On the other side of the coin, archival conferences in Ireland aren't exactly ten a penny (no pun intended!) and the ones that are held usually centre on topics such as records management or digital preservation which bear little or no relation to my particular line of work.  Archival conferences can also be on very specific themes such as scientific archives, archives of world faiths, community archives and so on which again would have limited application to me.

And then there is of course the bottom line that just about the worst thing I can imagine is sharing knowledge with a hundred strangers!

I subscribe to an electronic mailing list for archivists, and about a month ago I came across a notice of a three-day interactive conference in the UK which kind of tweaked my interest.  The conference is aimed at community groups, museum curators, academics, local historians, independent researchers and anybody else interested in exploring or showcasing recent research relating to the First World War, particularly everyday life on the home front during the war years.  Contributors can choose what form they want their presentation to take - for example a talk, round table discussion, workshop or poster - and on what topic they want to centre it.

The reason I became interested in this event is that since 2012 my colleagues and I have been working on a web project which follows the lives of a single family throughout the war years through weekly posts of diary extracts, letters and photographs.  A large-scale event of this nature would give a fantastic platform for us to showcase our work and gain new followers.  However, this is not the only - and not even the most important - reason for my interest in attending. Putting together the weekly posts is hard work, particularly to somebody like me who at the start of the project knew nothing about the First World War saving the fact that it took place a hundred years ago.  It would be great to make contact with experts with a strong knowledge of the subject area to save us the pain of wading through multitudinous and often contradictory accounts of events and trying to make sense of it all.

LIkewise, we don't always have suitable photographs, documents or artefacts to use as illustrations and often have to turn to external sources which can be difficult to unearth.  It would be wonderful to create a network of contacts who might be able to point us into new and previously unexplored directions!  It would also be interesting to find out what other groups and organizations are doing to commemorate the centenary of the Great War, what challenges they have encountered and how they have overcome them.  I would hope that the conference would also act as a springboard for other exhibitions or events unrelated to the First World War that we may like to host in the future.

I think my only fear about attending this conference would relate to the presentation - how to pitch it, how to make sure it stays within the 20-minute time limit, how to ensure that technology won't break down half-way through, and of course overcoming the blinding panic of talking to a large audience!  However, as there is no way I could ever afford a three-day jolly in London, and safe in the knowledge that the deadline for submitting proposals has almost passed, I think I can sleep easy!