National Trust Conference in Nashville. Click to go to the site.
How wonderful it would be to be in Nashville, TN this week. After all, historic preservation, country music and cowboy hats, some good southern food, and typing preservation with sustainability, with many other activities in between – it sounds great, huh? (Not to mention, I love the conference banner above.)
For anyone who hasn’t heard, those of us who cannot go are able to “attend” virtually. Unless I’m missing something, the webcasts and live session feeds are free to anyone who would like to listen. Simply go to the webpage at the time of the session that interests you. Just remember, Nashville is the Central Time Zone. And if you’re a part of the Twitter crowd you can join the National Trust team – see Preservation Nation for a list of who is twittering. Afraid you’ll miss handouts, etc? Check out this page for handouts that correspond to some of the webcasts.
Of course, unless you’re incredibly savvy with twitter and other electronic means of communication, and even then, getting the true experience of being at a conference cannot be had. Tours, nights in Nashville, and face to face interaction will be missing. However, as education remains a main mission of the conference, this idea of a virtual attendee is a great step for the National Trust. Conferences can be very expensive and thus do not cater to the younger professionals or those in the smaller, lower budget organizations. But this new opportunity will be a useful tool for everyone. Now everyone can talk about the conference, which will be especially helpful for organizations or schools that can only send a few people.
The conference begins tomorrow, October 13 and continues through Saturday October 17. If you’re going or if you’re virtually attending, let me know and we’ll talk! Have fun in Nashville!
Preservation in Pink 