visiting D.C.

Last night I got back from the College Media Conference in Washington, D.C.  It was a really great trip, and  I am very thankful that WKU sent me as a participant. I got to learn so much about media relations and how competitive it is to get your university's news picked up by the national media. I guess the only exception to that rule is if something terrible happens at your university.  That's when the calls flood in.

The part of the conference that pertained the most to me was the preconference. I heard from a couple speakers who talked a lot about how to effectively use social media tools to market your university. WKU does a lot of that already, but we're always looking for ways to improve our efforts by engaging people more on social media.  That's certainly an area were we have room to grow.

While in D.C., I was amazed at the city life, people driving down very narrow streets, taking cabs everywhere you go, buildings so tall you cannot imagine being at the top of them. It's so different than the life I know.  It was nice to visit there again (I went once when I was younger), but I couldn't help but think about how I would never really want to live there. I got to see the National Press Club, which was really interesting. I saw the White House from a distance.

One evening, my coworker and I had time to walk around and see most of the monuments. We had time to get to all of them except the Washington Monument, but we could see that from a distance. The next day we were thankful that we had missed that one. We heard in the news that the elevator had stalled and people were stuck inside for while.  It was getting dark during our walk, so we got to see many of them all lit up. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera in my room, so I have no pictures of them.  My coworker snapped a photo of me standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, so that may eventually surface as proof that I was actually there.

I did take a picture of my hotel room. The bed in my room was massive and all for me. What can I say? I am a nerd. Having my own hotel room made me feel like a business professional and very gown up. I probably shouldn't attend conferences too frequently. I might develop an undeserved feeling of importance.