I’m not much of a conference person anymore, but if there were more conferences like b.tween, I’d get back on the circuit in a minute.
The two days went by far too quickly for my own tastes. The level of conversation was absolutely brilliant. The breakout room, called The Box, was a lovely place to recharge (the laptop) and talk with folks after the sessions (or in my case, instead of going to the sessions).
I can’t even begin to talk about all the folks I met (Alfie, Alex, Fiddian, the other Aleks, Nina, Rebecca, ect ect) while also doing them justice. We talked for 2 straight days, disagreed upon much and found common areas that have changed how I think about storytelling. I’m in awe of that collective.
But there were other highlights as well. Liverpool is fascinating and Nina and I set out to see some of the sights. This is a good thing. At every step of the way on this trip, my friends have forced me to do what I normally don’t do: see things.
We walked down to The Dock, which was the largest slavery port in Europe apparently. Of course now it’s a tourist attraction (and yes, we went). The sight across the water was grey but amazingly cool. It’s very peaceful there.
(Side note: Liverpool is where the Titanic departed. There is a grand hotel built in the city that was going to be the centerpiece of commercial cruisers up north. Apparently things went awry after that little trip.)
These are the little tidbits of information that one learns when one leaves the confines of ones little life…apparently.
We also ended up in some tiny little alley that apparently is home to The Cavern, a crazy famous rock club where some of the big names have played. How do I know the big names played there? The Wall of Fame.
The wall was, well, a wall but what made it special was the names etched on it.
After The Cavern, we headed back to the conference for the last panel of the day so that we could say our goodbyes. Then a load of us headed off, separately, to eat and catch the train back to London. But before we did that…
Finally we made it to the Bombed Out Church, a famous part of Liverpool. Apparently this church was nearly destroyed during in 1941 (I think I have that year right). The city rebuilt part of it, sans top, and turned the inside into a public venue.
This week was an art project where people could come in and build or make something on the grounds.
Very cool.
After the church, we headed to dinner and then off to the train (Virgin, quite a pleasant experience) where we discussed how to merge social technologies with live theater.
