STC Summit, Day 1

My day started waaaaay too early, as I was in a cab by 6:20, headed to the airport for the Technical Communication Summit of the Society for Technical Communication, in Atlanta, Georgia (aka #stc09 for those watching the Twitter feed). My flight wasn't til 9am, but for "international" flights, you're required to be there 2 hours in advance. Still, extra time was good, as my flight was by commuter jet, which meant I had to go through security in Terminal 1, down the stairs, round the corner, down more stairs to the tarmac level, and then catch the shuttle bus to the unnamed terminal where the flight actually boarded.

Arrived in Atlanta, took the MARTA elevated train from the airport to almost directly beneath the hotel, checked in, dumped my stuff, and went for lunch. Was starving. After lunch, I got my registration package and then had a couple hours before the opening "first timers" session. So after debating a nap, I grabbed camera and water and sunglasses and hiked downhill to Centennial Park. I did not find the alleged Olympic Rings, as a Cinco de Mayo festival was on, and it was actually quite crowded and busy. I indulged in some photography of some of Atlanta's weird architecture for a while.

Back at the hotel, went to the 4:30 newbie session, which was actually quite good. Then there was the opening general session, which included a great talk by Shawn Henry on why accessibility in documentation is so important. After that was the ribbon cutting on the expo hall, and general milling about with finger foods and drinks and such. Despite my INTJ ways, I managed to make friends bump into people and hold conversations, although it meant I didn't get to eat that much, so had to go grab dinner afterward.

Aside: Lack of accessible design was why I had to find out through word of mouth that wifi was not, in fact, free in the hotel, but cost $12.95/day. The landing page for the Hyatt would not load on my Palm T|X.