I was fortunate enough to go to the STC Annual Conference in Las Vegas this past May. I've never really cared for the 'vegas' idea, but I really did want to get to an event like this - it was a bit of a thrill to be in a room of many hundreds (sometimes, over a thousand!) actually knew what I was talking about. Single-sourcing, using graphics to communicate, FrameMaker and XML, doc project planning, and the inevitable word myths uncovered… it was a lot of stimulation for my little brain.

Vegas is big - the roads are big and wide, the cars are big and wide, and the indoor space is huge. My hotel room (a standard) was almost the same size as my house in Sheffield. I'd forgotten how wonderful that much space can be - decadent in the extreme! I found myself sighing as I looked out of the airplane window and saw all the straight lines of farmers fields and roads. Funny the things you miss, but for me, home has straight lines. The weather was sunny of course - not that I saw much of it. I was inside for three solid days. Poor time management on my part, and an over-abundance of activities on offer made an escape from the Paris or Bally's complex impossible. I got a lovely half-hour poolside, and a few walks up 'the Strip' to see the Belagio fountain, but most of my week in Vegas was inside at the conference (I might as well have stayed in England for all the sun that I saw there!). I went to the Leadership day on Sunday, three days of the regular conference, and two half-day post-conference workshops on Thursday. I had Friday morning to do my North American shopping - which is when I found out that Las Vegas uses the same double-decker buses as we have here in Sheffield! It blew me away that their transit was as good as it was.

As for the best parts of the conference, I'd have to say that the opening session with Cerf & Kahn (fathers of the internet) was very high up there. The closing session with Anita Salem - Just a Drop in the Bucket - about how we need to see ourselves as skilled individuals who have a lot to offer society in and out of our jobs - was fantastic. We really do think in different ways to other people, and our abilities are needed by a wide range of organisations and companies.

Memorable individual presentations included the strategic planning session, a quick paper on how motivational elements can improve the users understanding of your instructions, and a fun session on current usage of English.

I did manage to get something from every session that I went to - nothing was a waste of time. There was an impossible amount of choice in each 'stem' of the conference - selecting from a group of 10 sessions in each timeslot was very difficult.

But meeting that many people, talking about things that I really find interesting, and seeing friends I hadn't seen for a while - well, it took a huge toll on my voice. I was silenced by the end of the first day. Drag for me, although it forced me to work on my listening skills. But I really did have a fantastic time and would really love to attend another annual conference. It's made a difference to how I plan my work, and how I use my time. There's a lot going on at once, but keeping up is half the fun! Oh, and despite having to walk through the casinos a hundred times a day, I only gambled $5. Didn't win anything... didn't lose much!