I spy a great networking endeavor
OK, the Spy Museum rocked socks. Not only did we have a great lunch (mostly Atkins-based, although it hurt to pass up the creamy, cheesecakey, whipped-cream-and-berries-topped dessert), but the speakers were excellent and we got story ideas for a future edition of the Veggie Patch Gazette.
What I loved was how worshipped the journalists were. Usually, we’re considered to be the scourge of the earth, but I could not believe how well-respected my publication and my career really are — in the right company. I guess I don’t realize that influential people actually are reading our work and admiring it from afar. I was seated at a table with other editors of comparable papers (circulation and topic-wise), and they knew my publication. What was weird was that people there actually had heard of me. And they didn’t run screaming. 😉
At my workplace, my varied career background, for some reason, is considered a handicap if I expect to proceed in the editorial field. I had a few years of fund-raising/grantwriting/gala-planning/public relations/communications experience under my belt before I returned to journalism, and I’ve always been treated like such an oddity. But I had conversations with no fewer than six people who did exactly what I did or who wear all those hats at their current jobs. Sometimes I feel like, at the Veggie Patch, when I toss them ideas for how to do quick and cheap promotional activities, they look at me like I’m mad — like, “No, that’s not your job. We already overpay someone to sit on her ass and claim to do P.R. Stay in your corner.” In fact, they don’t think it — they tell me as much. And it was so refreshing to trade horror stories with my peers — it made me realize, in a big way, that I am pretty damned accomplished for being still under 30 — and accomplished even related to others who have been in the field(s) for more decades than that.
Luncheon attendees were given a free pass to go wander through the museum. Oh. My. Goodness. I LOVED it!!! Angie and I were kind of tired and bleary-eyed, what with having to take an hour each to dig our cars out of snowdrifts and to chip ice like Edward Scissorhands off our car windows, not to mention making an appearance at the Veggie Patch to boot, so we didn’t *really* read everything or partake in it. But it was way cool — you’re given an identity that you need to remember throughout your visit, and you are tested twice on the details. And if you haven’t been given the details to the questions they ask, you are to evaluate your character and make decisions on how you should answer. I am proud to say that I scored perfectly each time, and I would be a valuable asset to the CIA. *rofl* Loads of fun, I tell you. I need to take Shawn there so we can really get into the exhibits without time constraints.
Also for attending the luncheon, we were given complimentary registrations to a gala next weekend at the museum. Angie was worried that she doesn’t know what to wear, and I told her to throw on an old bridesmaid dress or something else that’s foufy and uncomfortable, and she’ll blend right in. Ugh. This means I have some dress-shopping to do, unless any of my old gala dresses actually fit (I won’t hold my breath, though!).