Thursday, October 16, 2008

"That's The Nicest Thing Anyone's Ever Done For Me"

If You know where this title comes from, I want you on my pub quiz team next time!

Was it the Bar, Was it the hospitality suite, was it the panels, it was you. Judy and I thank everyone who has thanked us and yes, you can keep them coming... but this thank you we needed to post, because the sender makes all the same points Judy and I have been making to one another. It was everything that made Bouchercon 2008 go well. If you receive an e-mail blast from either hotel and especially the Sheraton, please reply to it, and thank you, what a community we did this for.

And now, without further ado, a final goodbye,

I attended the 2008 Bouchercon in Baltimore and I have to admit, that after visiting eight of these events over the last nine years, this one was one of the smoothest, most polished Bouchercons ever. But I'm not certain that all the accolades being heaped on Ruth Jordan and Judy Bobalik are deserved.

I kept an eye out for the two ladies 'supposedly' responsible for this conference and the times that I did see them, they were almost always casually conversing with attendees, and just hanging out. The bar...often a scene of poor service and mass confusion at Bouchercon, ran almost perfectly. Plenty of staff, plenty of service, plenty of food and drink. I never once saw Ruth or Judy helping serve drinks, or buss tables.

The wide variety of exciting panels and discussion groups were well attended, and well monitored. Monitored by a very enthusiastic group of volunteers, there seemed to be no need for our two ladies to be involved. The registration desk was occasionally bombarded by the 1500 people who attended the conference, and again, even though I saw Ms. Jordan and Ms. Bobalik occasionally work the table, the volunteers handled the crowd very well.

The Sisters In Crime hospitality room was wonderfully stocked with coffee, juice and snacks and I never once saw our hostesses running in to re-supply the refreshments. The book room ran like a well oiled machine, with a generous selection of new and used volumes and it seemed that dealers and buyers all did business without any help from the organizers.

So, while everyone I talked to agreed that Bouchercon 2008 will go down in history as one of the best conferences ever, how much credit can we actually give to Judy Bobalik and Ruth Jordan? The only thing I really noticed was that they seemed to enjoy the event as much as anyone else.

It was a fabulous conference, ladies. Thanks.

Don Bruns

3 Comments:

Blogger Stacey Cochran said...

Hey guys, I managed to get the Lawrence Block / Charles Ardai Interview online.

Here's the link to the video.

Thursday, October 16, 2008 6:38:00 PM  
Blogger Dana King said...

It was my first Bouchercon, but I agree completely with Don's comments. I'll be back for Indianapolis.

Friday, October 17, 2008 8:20:00 AM  
Blogger Stacey Cochran said...

Laura Lippman Interview is Online

Monday, October 20, 2008 1:42:00 PM  

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