My Conviction on Conventions
I love conventions!
Slice over. Just kidding!
Unlike sports events and music festivals, which are usually for entertainment, conventions bring people together for more of a professional purpose.
Also known as conferences, expos, shows or seminars, conventions are truly awesome, bringing together like-minded individuals. All the cool kids are doing it. In almost every industry, there is a convention.
This weekend, I went to my first World System Builder (a division of WFG) convention at the San Jose Convention Center. I’m not going into details about that right now, but instead I wanna showcase the awesomeness of conventions. Stay tuned until Wednesday to hear about what I did experience at WSB.
Conventions can change lives as it has for me. I worked at Chabot College’s school newspaper, The Spectator. I was undeclared at the time. I then went to an annual conference held by the Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC). Hearing speakers talk about the industry and attending workshops anchored my decision to major in journalism. I was gung ho, writing articles weekly, helping with production and eventually winning awards for my work. Great times!
Attending conventions are like Lays. Once you go to one, you’ll be wanting to go to more. I was sort of addicted, but in a good way. Conventions offer a great deal of knowledge and can bring about much inspiration.
Because conventions attract throngs of people, it’s the perfect place to network. Some people you meet may be lifelong friends and for the rare occurrences, you may meet your spouse. Not only do you meet a bunch of interesting people, but you may have the opportunity to meet celebrities.
When I attended San Francisco State University, I had a magnificent opportunity to be a part of the student project team at the UNITY convention in Chicago. I didn’t expect to, but I met a few TV newscasters from the Bay Area. ‘Cause I’m a journo nerd, I was stoked to meet the alluring Laura Garcia and Vicky Nguyen.
For me, an added bonus about conventions, especially in college, was the socializing. The fun doesn’t have to end when the workshops and sessions end. That’s when you congregate with new-found friends and hang out and/or party the night away. If you’re like me, business before pleasure.
Some conventions mix the two. You may have heard of Comic Con, CES, E3, MacWorld, Dreamforce and Adult Entertainment Expo even. Either way, people travel from across the globe to attend these memorable events. Lastly, conventions are more than conventional, they’re fun-ventional. Cheesy, I know. Ha!