Day two is over, and I'm beat. I ended up skipping the "networking dinner" because I didn't have the energy to schmooze any more after breakfast, lunch and nine half-hour one-on-one meetings with vendors, along with the plenary sessions. While exhausting, it wasn't as bad as I feared it would be; a few of the one-on-one sessions were a complete bust, but a couple of them were promising. I also met someone else from the Department of State at lunch, and we had a great conversation, and may try to pull together a joint pilot project. The day as a whole, though, wasn't helped by the steady rain outside.
I did get a little bit of cool schwag, though. One vendor provided a really nice portfolio, another a weird rubber mat that somehow sticks without adhesive to your dashboard and can grip a cell phone, PDA, sunglasses or the like, along with a great little optical travel mouse (which I'm now using on the laptop), and a third provided their materials not on a CD-ROM but on a 32kb USB key disc. And at one of the breaks, the conference organizers had Haagen-Dasz ice cream bars and cans of Diet Vanilla Pepsi (my favorite).
Tomorrow morning I only have two more one-on-one sessions, and then lunch. I should be back on the road for home around 1:00. I may even have time to stop by the outlet center I saw on the other side of the road just on this side of the bridge and still make it home in time to pick Jeff up at the Metro after he gets off work.
I'll be so happy to be home.
