• ArtieShaw
    link
    fedilink
    822 hours ago

    Honestly, I like to avoid them. They sound fun at first, but then you realize that you’re going to be in a room with strangers for 8 hours and at the last minute you realize, “would anyone really notice if I just skipped out?” And, “why do I always get invited to the talc and sulphates convention and not the candy convention?”

    I do travel a lot for work, and frequently see conventioneers at hotels. The Excruciating Implantable Medical Device Convention (with posters) looked amazing. I honestly thought about crashing that one.

    • @MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      17 hours ago

      I’m in tech. We have… Different conferences.

      I actually left a job because every other employee was sent to attend a conference, and when it was “my turn” the word was that they were just… Not going to be sending anyone to conferences anymore.

      At the last minute, management decided to go to the conference I was supposed to attend, without any of the lower level employees (it was just managers).

      I was… Salty about it.

      … I still am.

    • @korazail@lemmy.myserv.one
      link
      fedilink
      English
      520 hours ago

      Honestly, the ‘Talc and Sulphates’ convention sounds fun to crash at least once in your life. It’s only when a topic is old-hat that it becomes boring… I’ve always enjoyed listening to people who really know their shit talk about topics they like.

      ‘Implantable Medical Devices’ is either AWESOME or AWFUL depending on the kind/purpose of the device. Excruciating is definitely on the awful side, though, so pass on that one.

      • @peoplebeproblems@midwest.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        417 hours ago

        Hahaha, like the Ventricular Assist Devices.

        They bore a one-inch diameter hole in the heart, suture a BLDC impeller motor (VAD) on, then cut into the aorta or whatever, suture fancy material stuff to a tube that then redirects the blood flow through the motor. And a fancy cable that exits your abdomen and connects to the electronics.

        It was the single most disturbing thing I’ve ever had the displeasure of working with. I really wish I didn’t know how it worked.

      • ArtieShaw
        link
        fedilink
        318 hours ago

        Yep, I am sick unto the death over talc and talc derivatives. It’s all sunshine and lollipops for the first few years, but it gets old.

        Anyway, these medical devices were sort of like spinal implants, or things that could mitigate damage from a bad alligator bite if one got ahold of a person’s ankle. Bone replacements, mostly. The photos on the posters were pretty unpleasantly graphic, but they all basically looked like good solutions to very unfortunate problems.