We're back from the CHADD conference and settling back into reality. I've been playing catchup all week, which is a poor excuse for being a blog delinquent, but it's true.
The conference was a good experience. As Jen mentioned on her blog, this was our first time exhibiting at a conference. It was great to talk to people about Jen's book and our coaching toolkits, but ADD or not, conferences are exhausting! I'm still recovering.
It's always interesting for me to be surrounded by hundreds of ADDers. After 3 days, I really started to feel overwhelmed. And this time around, I didn't even have my fellow non-ADD spouse John MacKenzie to bond with! But we made some new friends and reconnected with old ones, so it was a lot of fun.
Still, as one of the few people at CHADD without ADD, I definitely felt like the odd one out. In the exhibit hall, they kept making announcements that so-and-so left their credit card somewhere, so-and-so's family is looking for them, etc. It was pretty funny. I managed to keep the booth (and our hotel room) organized, but by the end, I started to show signs of ADD myself. Instead of packing neatly, I just threw stuff in boxes (I'm still sorting through the aftermath in my dining room). And I lost a set of keys.
One thing I definitely took away from the experience was that I'm really glad to be working with ADDers. Everyone we met was so friendly, outgoing, and easy to talk to. ADDers have a nice energy about them. And they speak their mind, which is refreshing. Meeting so many effervescent ADDers at the conference makes me want to be less of a Bert and more of an Ernie. I would, however, like to find my keys.
I like dealing with people with ADD at conferences because many of the people that you talk to seem to be intensely focused and will give you the feedback that you need.
Thanks for the mention
Posted by: John M | November 18, 2007 at 08:50 AM