WAM 2009
Yep, I am winding down from my third (?) year attending the Women, Action, & the Media conference.
It’s difficult to know what to say about it. On one hand, I go to this conference for the same reason I go to every other conference – because of the people. Some of my friends from around the country are there, and there are usually some people I’d like to meet. But, as I’ve said in the past, I think the conference is a challenge because it appeals to several constituencies – women who make their own media, women who are employed (or want to be) by corporate media, bloggers and reporters, students and mavens, etc. In many ways, this diverse community is a benefit, I meet people I never would have otherwise, hear different perspectives, etc. But it’s also difficult for me to find people who I truly connect with politically, whose work closely aligns with mine. Tomorrow I’ll post some links to some of these great women.
I also have criticisms of the conference that are the same ones I have for every other conference.
1. This one is very simple. PowerPoint. If you are a presenter and you use it, don’t read, word-for-word, what is written on the slides, unless you know there is a visually impaired person in the audience. It’s boring.
2. Panels. Put some effort into them. It’s not enough to invite like 3 smart people to be on the panel, give them a topic, and expect magic to happen. When there’s little or no prep for the session, it’s kind of a waste of everyone’s time.
3. Unless your conference is clearly for people new to your issue/cause/whatever, acknowledge that there are a lot of attendees that are savvy/sophisticated, and provide content that is beyond the 101 level.
OK. So, about this conference in particular? Though the facilities at MIT are great, there are some logistical problems that I wish they had worked out already, since they’ve been doing this for several years (food = not so good, Saturday night party was pretty far away from the conference site, etc).
This year’s conference felt like a lovefest – and that supportive environment was great for a lot of people, especially those who are typically isolated in their work. A perfect example was during the Friday night keynote, there was a panel of three women talking about their experiences reporting from Zimbabwe, Colombia, and Iraq. The first person who got up to ask a question was Latoya from Racialicious.com, and when she introduced herself before her question, everyone cheered her. And while Latoya is awesome, it’s kinda unusual for people to cheer when someone gets up to ask a question, so you see what I mean about the love going around.
The other highlights of WAM are that it is a good place to learn about new technology, and how to use it to your advantage, like Twitter and other social media. I saw lot of nice people (more on them in the next post, I think), and they made a really good choice by having Sarah Haskins as the Saturday night keynote. It can also be really refreshing for many people to be in a space that is dominated by women (though there are a few men who attend).
But really, although I enjoy this conference, politically it is not where I want to focus, because I want more emphasis on the “action” part, and personally, I’m more interested in interacting with people who have a radical/anti-authoritarian/anti-capitalist perspective because it helps me move forward in my own politics. And while some of that message is present (distrust of corporate media, empowering women to make their own media, etc), the conversation is often not explicit. I definitely see the value in being a more radical voice in a space, but for my personal growth, that’s not as exciting. I do think WAM is a great conference for women (esp. young women) who are becoming critical of corporate media, who want to know how they can plug in, or meet other women who are making their own media or working within corporate media. The conference is moving next year to Chicago, and I think that will change it significantly. I’m interested to see what happens.
OK. I’ve rambled on long enough. A few other thoughts:
1. The must have fashion accessory? Knee-high boots. Of course I’m sure this is just a reflection of larger fashion trends, but man, everyone had them on. (Yes, me too. I love my new boots.)
2. Food recommendation in Cambridge: Emma’s on Hampshire. Seriously the best fancy pizza I’ve ever had, and while slightly spendy, not overpriced. I went there with Josh Breitbart (People’s Production House) and Ben Mauer (Quilted), and we had two pizzas: bacon-scallions-roasted tomatoes-gorgonzola-mozzarella, and spinach-feta-garlic-thyme roasted mushrooms-mozzarella. Really.
jenna said,
April 5, 2009 at 9:42 am
Great post, Jen. I agree with possibly everything you said, and it well summarizes why I attended last year and loved it, but part of why I didn’t feel compelled to go back.