working at a training & consultancy company (i was a trainer, and used to standing up in front of a lot of people):
sales: we need you to give a talk at yaddayadda conference.
me: aw, noah!
you had to create a load of foils (this was pre powerpoint) for whatever bullshit idea the conference organisers had. then go to the conference (i hate traveling) and then be accosted by friendly people who i had taught and could not at all remember (worst memory in the world for faces). and then find that the office staff had not separated the foils from their backing paper (it was glued on to the top edge) - ripping this off while doing a presentation makes you look like a complete prat. and then...
but you get my drift.
as for actually attending conferences, i have mercifully blanked most from my mind. i do remember one on MS COM (which is an OK tech, but it was OLE back then, which confused everybody) presented by MS programmers. after about half an hour of uninspired, maundering nonsense i turned to the guy i was there with and said:
sales: we need you to give a talk at yaddayadda conference.
me: aw, noah!
you had to create a load of foils (this was pre powerpoint) for whatever bullshit idea the conference organisers had. then go to the conference (i hate traveling) and then be accosted by friendly people who i had taught and could not at all remember (worst memory in the world for faces). and then find that the office staff had not separated the foils from their backing paper (it was glued on to the top edge) - ripping this off while doing a presentation makes you look like a complete prat. and then...
but you get my drift.
as for actually attending conferences, i have mercifully blanked most from my mind. i do remember one on MS COM (which is an OK tech, but it was OLE back then, which confused everybody) presented by MS programmers. after about half an hour of uninspired, maundering nonsense i turned to the guy i was there with and said:
"fuck this, i'm going to a pub"
and did.