me at City Hall in Philadelphia... it is a gorgeous building!
a couple interpreting friends and workshop presentersAs you know, last week I attended a conference in Philadelphia. These conferences take place every two years, and this is the third one I have attended. This year may have been my last national conference. I'm not sure. This year I felt so worn out by it all! I don't know if that is my age, the fact that it came only one week after my son's wedding, or because it was my third one so the novelty has worn off. Luckily, some of the workshops were excellent, so my interest was piqued. (Some weren't so excellent; I'll just ignore those.)
included an interesting panel.
Here is my list of what I learned and what I appreciated about attending this conference:
1) I totally admire the people who put so much energy into working at the national level in our professional organization and/or doing research to learn more and more about our career and how it works. They amaze me, and I am so thankful they have the interest and ability to serve in those ways.
2) I learned some things that may help influence my decision about what to do on a part-time basis after I retire.
3) I saw some people I had met at our conference two years ago. We had very little time to talk, but it was great to see familiar faces.
4) There is always more to learn about American Sign Language and about how the process of interpreting works. It fascinates and humbles me. (See #1 again. Thank you, people who have super brains.)
5) Back when our organization was new, these conferences drew a few hundred attendees. This one had 3,000! It has been exciting to be in such a changing and growing field.
6) I was reminded that I need to keep working on my skills and keep learning how to be an interpreter. Even though I have been doing this for nearly 27 years, I am nowhere near the "end point" and nowhere near the level of mastery that I would like to be. I need to remember not to be complacent about my skills and my professionalism.
7) Being in the presence of greatness was very inspiring.
2) I learned some things that may help influence my decision about what to do on a part-time basis after I retire.
3) I saw some people I had met at our conference two years ago. We had very little time to talk, but it was great to see familiar faces.
4) There is always more to learn about American Sign Language and about how the process of interpreting works. It fascinates and humbles me. (See #1 again. Thank you, people who have super brains.)
5) Back when our organization was new, these conferences drew a few hundred attendees. This one had 3,000! It has been exciting to be in such a changing and growing field.
6) I was reminded that I need to keep working on my skills and keep learning how to be an interpreter. Even though I have been doing this for nearly 27 years, I am nowhere near the "end point" and nowhere near the level of mastery that I would like to be. I need to remember not to be complacent about my skills and my professionalism.
7) Being in the presence of greatness was very inspiring.
My pal, Barack, dropped by to ask myopinion on some education questions. Cool.
3 comments:
Maybe you should be a presenter!
Barack is as handsome as ever!
Holy Cow....and you make a good couple too! An excellent report on the conference...good points..
Wow, ASL interpreter...I'm jealous. I took a semester in college and loved it!
Glad you enjoyed the conference!
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