Are you going to be at the E-listers/Bibliobloggers meetings?

Very cool mashup. I’d add Cambridge 1 (on Boylston street) to the list of restaurants, I haven’t been, but I’ve heard its good. I also highly recommend Bella Vista (288 Hanover St), going there would require a ride on the blue line, but its worth it.

I would agree with Calvin. As a lifelong native of Mass, you can’t forget all of the amazing restaurants (and pastry shops) in the North End. Mike’s Pastry and Modern Pastry are on the same street as Bella Vista as well.

Looking forward to meeting more of the biblioblog community while I am there!

You know, I’m not great at networking, but what you suggested may work for me next time I go to SBL. People I don’t know are ALWAYS asking me for directions. I must have a knowing look on my face.

Thanks for sharing Ferrazzi’s pointers. He has some good advice, but seems a bit…uh…overboard. As if my whole career depends on one conference.

To the Boston natives–thanks for your great suggestions; I’ve added them to the mashup.

Danny, Ferrazzi is a bit overboard; his personality is over the top sometimes, but I think that his overarching message is a good one.

After reading Ferrazzi’s tips, I feel ill. And a little dirty.

Trust me, bibliofolk: Do not attempt to be a player if you are not a player. And maybe one percent of our field has the gifts to be players.

Here’s an alternate list of conference commando tips:

1. See your old friends from graduate school. Assuming you went to good program, lots of your peers now have jobs, but you don’t keep in touch as well as you should. Catch up with them. Smoke cigars with them. Whatever.

2. Don’t bother sucking up to “famous” people. (“Famous” is in quotes because no one in biblical studies is really famous, except to a handful of people who watch the History Channel and Discovery Channel too much.) The “stars” of the field are not there to meet you, and unless you have something meaningful to talk about with them, they’re just going to be looking to get away from you. The really nice ones will not let you know this while they are doing it.

3. If you are looking to get into the star’s Ph.D. program, re-read #2.

4. If you want to hang out with the big names in your field, do good, significant work. The field is small; people will notice. Unfortunately, then you will have a bunch of Ferrazzi-trained conference commandos sucking up to you! The good news is, Halloween just passed, so disguises are likely to be on sale.

Anti-Ferrazzi, I can see how you might feel dirty after reading this. Academics normally don’t think in these terms and he is a bit exuberant. However, in his book he make a big deal about the fact that relationship building should not be done for exploitative purposes, rather, relationships should be mutually beneficial.

Furthermore, since the relationships are mutually beneficial you shouldn’t be sucking up. And of course, people have to act in accord with their personality so some of his stuff would need to be adapted to the tons of introverts in academics.

However, you have some very good alternative rules, but most of these are actually quite similar to Ferrazzi’s approach.

Charles wrote: “Most people think that conferences are about the papers. This couldn’t be farther from the truth.”

I think it’s a tad closer than you give it credit for. In our field, the only source of new data is the field work–and there is a lot of it going on. Conferences are one of the best places to hear a little about a lot of what is being found in the field. Other areas of our disciple simply rehash the same data, and every once in awhile stumbling on an important new idea or observation. But in the field, there is always new stuff coming up.

The other thing about conference papers is the slideshows. You don’t always get to see all the beautiful, color pictures and graphics in the published or e-mail versions.