APA Eastern 2017 Open Thread
The Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association begins today in Charm City. You can check out the program here.
What’s going on? How are the talks? How’s the attendance? How’s the mood? How’s the beer? (They did say something about better beer, right?) etc., etc., etc…
Feel free to comment. (FYI, here’s the comments policy.)
[Thanks to a reader for pointing out my mistake about the scheduling of the meeting.]
If you are a lager person, the local beer on tap at tonight’s reception is National Bohemian.
If you’re more of a pale ale or IPA person, we will have Loose Cannon and Powder Monkey on tap from Heavy Seas Brewing Company at tomorrow night’s reception.
Radio Silence. Is any at Eastern APA?
Just speaking for myself, I was having too good of a time at the Eastern to be online! This was probably the most enjoyable Eastern I’ve been to. The hotel was an ideal venue: it wasn’t a terrible maze like some other conference hotels sometimes are, and the layout — with talks, a lounge, and book exhibit all clustered in the same vicinity — was really conducive to running into friends, both old and new. I also think the organizing committee is to be commended for putting together a great program!
I agree with Marcus. I attended several good sessions, met with many great people, and got helpful feedback on a newer project of mine. A highly diverse and welcoming conference, to boot.
The Teaching Hub was my favorite part! And on Thursday night and Friday night the beer at their receptions was FREE! 🙂
It really was a great conference. Great papers, great conversations, great food, great drinks. But…
While philosophers behave better and better each year, there’s still room for improvement. Presenters and commentators, don’t just read a paper (and definitely don’t speed read a paper). If you have something particular that needs to be precise, then put it on a slide or a handout. And if your entire paper needs to be precise, find an audience of robots or saints to present to, or revisit your sense of what is important.
Chairs, your primary role is to keep us on schedule. Don’t be the guy whose shepherding leaves us only five minutes for Q&A. 20 minutes for the talk, 10 minutes for comments, and 5 for a reply. It’s not difficult. There were some spineless (or worse) chairs, and it is (in my never once been humble opinion) rude to the speakers and to the audience to let things wander off.