One of the first two people I introduced myself to at the Third Coast PRX party last evening is an intern with the festival, Ben.  He knew about me.  I had contacted the festival from the airport in Edmonton to tell them that I was delayed and still coming.  Apparently word got out about my travel ordeal and my determination to get to the conference.

Ben told me that I’m one of two Canadians that met with in-flight emergencies en route to Third Coast.  I didn’t get all of the details on the other attendee.  It sounded like there was another passenger on his flight that had a medical emergency requiring the pilot to land the plane for medical care.

The PRX party was a unique experience for me.  I went in cold.  I don’t know anyone here.  And, because most of the people at the conference are NPR-connected somehow, I don’t even know their names.  And, with the exception of the people who know about my travel story, noone knows me from a hole in the ground.  That’s quite a difference from all of the social media conferences I attend.  In fact, I heard very little social media talk last night.

Having said that, I was introduced to Sean Cole who appeared on CBC’s The Current earlier this year with a piece he did on wanting to move from the United States to Canada.  It was an amazing documentary and Sean and I corresponded after the piece aired.  During our conversation, Sean told me that there are other Canadians at the conference including Jowi Taylor who I did some work for (see Six String Nation) and others that I’m not familiar with.

Later in the evening I met Sarah Boothroyd.  She works for Carleton University, just a twenty-minute walk from my house.

I feel ripped off that I missed so many great sessions yesterday including How to Make Good Radio When You Don’t Have Any Time or Good Tape, Noah’s “The Classics” and Caging Chaos: How to Produce Radio Stories That Aren’t Exactly Stories.  And, my audio doctor session, of course.

I’m looking forward to maximizing my day today, learning as much as I can possibly take in and meeting as many people as I can — cementing the real-life friendships that you don’t get to experience by friending a disembodied person in your favourite social media tool.

Photo: http://thirdcoastfestival.org/annual_conference.asp