O jantar
I'm not sure how many scientific conferences you've been to, but I feel I should introduce you to the tradition of the conference dinner. One one designated evening, all the participants get together at a pre-determined, pre-booked location for dinner and social hour. Now, if you've never been to a conference dinner yourself, you're probably picturing a civilized, highly educated, reserved group of sharply-dressed people discussing their work over cocktails and a catered meal. Your mental image would be mostly correct - well, at least about "sharply-dressed," "catered," and "cocktails." But "reserved" we most certainly are not.
Not to brag, but I ended up at the best table for the GeoHab conference dinner. The dinner was held in a glass-walled terrace at the Bahia Yacht Club, which, by the way, was downright stunning. From the moment we sat down, a loud-mouthed German at our table started fiddling with the windows in an attempt to open them and alleviate herself of the frigid air conditioning. The window-opening operation was successful, but it only took 5 minutes for the yacht club staff to notice and insist we keep the glass walls closed.
I spent most of the appetizer courses engrossed in a conversation about Brazilian culture with the two men next to me, but when our meals finally arrived, things took a left turn. For starters, we joked about a waiter treating a miniature bottle of mediocre wine with excessive care. Then that red flower in the vase ended up tucked behind my ear. Two of the girls started writing quotes from our conversation on napkins, and a few of the quotes were even embedded in a presentation the following morning - delivered, of course, without any explanation or break in character.
I don't even remember what we were talking about for most of the dinner; I just remember laughing very hard. At one point, a GoPro and selfie stick emerged from a girl's purse, where they had been patiently waiting the entire time. You can see the end result here to the right.
When it finally came time to leave the yacht club, we had to take an elevator up to street level. As we were crowded in the open-air catwalk waiting for the elevator, someone noticed an alternative way to the top: a small gondola mounted on parallel tracks like a train. Almost immediately, a call was made for the gondola to pick us up, and when the doors closed around more humans than that poor car was ever meant to handle, I had barely enough room to turn around. The gondola was much less efficient than the elevator but naturally way more fun.
The older I get, the more I realize the power of personal relationships. At the end of the day, scientists are people, not data-processing machines, and it is so important to know your colleagues not just for their work but for their personality. I had a great time at the conference dinner.
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| My conference dinner table. Photo by Almir Santos. |
I spent most of the appetizer courses engrossed in a conversation about Brazilian culture with the two men next to me, but when our meals finally arrived, things took a left turn. For starters, we joked about a waiter treating a miniature bottle of mediocre wine with excessive care. Then that red flower in the vase ended up tucked behind my ear. Two of the girls started writing quotes from our conversation on napkins, and a few of the quotes were even embedded in a presentation the following morning - delivered, of course, without any explanation or break in character.
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| Selfie stick. |
When it finally came time to leave the yacht club, we had to take an elevator up to street level. As we were crowded in the open-air catwalk waiting for the elevator, someone noticed an alternative way to the top: a small gondola mounted on parallel tracks like a train. Almost immediately, a call was made for the gondola to pick us up, and when the doors closed around more humans than that poor car was ever meant to handle, I had barely enough room to turn around. The gondola was much less efficient than the elevator but naturally way more fun.
The older I get, the more I realize the power of personal relationships. At the end of the day, scientists are people, not data-processing machines, and it is so important to know your colleagues not just for their work but for their personality. I had a great time at the conference dinner.
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