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I recently attended the annual conference for Rotary District 6450. Since it was put on by volunteers over a weekend, and my other weekend volunteer-based activity is going to science fiction conventions ("cons"), I thought I'd compare the two events.
Food: In science fiction cons, food is an afterthought. A lot of cons don't have meal breaks, and other than a somewhat-sparsely-provisioned con suite, nourishment is on your own. At a Rotary conference, all or almost all meals are baked into the price. This means banquet or buffet feeds for around 400 attendees.
Programming: Cons have multiple tracks, with a lot of relatively small breakout sessions ("panels"). Conferences have very few such sessions. Most programming at a District Conference is in the form of general sessions, held after meals and in the same room. Part of that is Rotarians are used to working meals - all of our club weekly meetings are working meals.
Entertainment: This varies widely in both cons and conferences. For example, at Confluence, a small Pittsburgh-area con I attended, they had a formal skit on Saturday night and few (if any) room parties. Chicago-based cons tend to skip the skits and go room-party mad. Conferences also vary. Most years it has been "on your own" but this year we had the option to attend a show.
The show option was largely because the hotel we were at has a theater in it. The show was the very amusing The Drowsy Chaperone. I was a bit concerned when I heard the name, because it's marketed as a "madcap 1920s musical." That's technically true, but it's actually a parody of those musicals, done in a show within a show.
he show opens with an old man sitting on stage, and he tells the audience he's going to play a recording of his favorite musical. At various points in the playing, he "stops the record" - usually in mid-stream - and interjects comments about the "actors" and/or the script. The overall effect was very funny.
Now, having done my Rotary thing for the year, my next event will be the science fiction con Duckon in mid-June.
Food: In science fiction cons, food is an afterthought. A lot of cons don't have meal breaks, and other than a somewhat-sparsely-provisioned con suite, nourishment is on your own. At a Rotary conference, all or almost all meals are baked into the price. This means banquet or buffet feeds for around 400 attendees.
Programming: Cons have multiple tracks, with a lot of relatively small breakout sessions ("panels"). Conferences have very few such sessions. Most programming at a District Conference is in the form of general sessions, held after meals and in the same room. Part of that is Rotarians are used to working meals - all of our club weekly meetings are working meals.
Entertainment: This varies widely in both cons and conferences. For example, at Confluence, a small Pittsburgh-area con I attended, they had a formal skit on Saturday night and few (if any) room parties. Chicago-based cons tend to skip the skits and go room-party mad. Conferences also vary. Most years it has been "on your own" but this year we had the option to attend a show.
The show option was largely because the hotel we were at has a theater in it. The show was the very amusing The Drowsy Chaperone. I was a bit concerned when I heard the name, because it's marketed as a "madcap 1920s musical." That's technically true, but it's actually a parody of those musicals, done in a show within a show.
he show opens with an old man sitting on stage, and he tells the audience he's going to play a recording of his favorite musical. At various points in the playing, he "stops the record" - usually in mid-stream - and interjects comments about the "actors" and/or the script. The overall effect was very funny.
Now, having done my Rotary thing for the year, my next event will be the science fiction con Duckon in mid-June.
