At Work

Well, it's over now and we are sort of glad about it. It's been hectic, it's been interesting and it's been strenuous. On Tuesday we spent all morning, starting at 8:30 am, at press conferences, some highly interesting, some not so, but as a rule media is supposed to attend, and so we did. Pic shows the NYC&Co. director giving his speech.

After lunch, again with Broadway show presentations, we had a couple of appointments in the main exhibition hall (see pics) in the afternoon, some of them good, some of them rather frustrating. The bigger the delegations are, the smaller is the chance that you get a chance to talk to the right person, or, to the contact you requested. Sometimes the media person wasn't present or available and it seemed a bit, as if media isn't really what they want to have in the main hall (on pic).

Our last appointment ended at 6 pm and we headed out to get to the first of four parties in total this evening: the New York City party. Very fancy bar-restaurant, very dressed-up attendants, very crowded and a bit noisy. Had a drink (food was rather sparse) and walked over to the Oregon Party closeby in another bar-restaurant. Not as crowded there, more intimate, also, we knew more people there and met dear friends. Food and drinks were better, too, and Pendleton not only brought whiskey but, also, cowboy hats. Guess, who needed one?

The RMI (Rocky Mountain States) party involved a little walk but was in a nice restaurant closeby Logan Circle, a pretty vivid neighborhood. Superb beer selection and similar food as at the previous place: sliders and pizza. At about 9 pm we headed out with our friend Wolfgang to still take a look at the Sonoma/National Geographic Party, but lines were long, security (as always) strict and the party was crowded, therefore we skipped that event and called it a day.

Early start again on Wednesday, first appointment at 8:30 am (shuttle bus trip from hotel to the convention center took about 20 min and traffic was horrible, as always), followed by two interesting press conferences: New Orleans, last year's host city - always fun since they usually offer music and a lunch buffet. This year they had engaged a brass band from DC (!) - see pic above - and served gumbo and cocktails before and after the press conference.

Denver's conference was the "highlight", since the next IPW, in May 2018, will take place there. At the same time it's the 50th anniversary of the show and they informed the press about what great things are planned, even Denver's Mayor (the black guy on the pic) delivered a speech. I am sure they'll do a great job in Colorado!

In the afternoon we had appointments at the new African American Museum, in a spectacular building, but overwhelmingly large and diverse, with exhibits like a slave hut or Chuck Berry's car), followed by a hard hat tour in the Bible Museum (pic below), still under construction (it is supposed to open in November).

This is even larger than the previously mentioned new one, but for contents, not sure what it'll have to offer besides a lot of multimedia ,,, we'll see. The final party took place in the Nationals Ballpark, the baseball stadium in the Navy Yards District accommodating over 41.000 fans. At stands and boothes food and drinks were served (Bratwurst tasted best!), different activities took place, give-aways and tours, and at the end a big firework.