Carl Hiaasen's books (set in Florida) were once memorably described as "doing more damage to the State's reputation than anything short of an actual visit". Well, it's time for me to find out. I will be at the Gartner IAM conference next week, and they have very kindly invited me to run a couple of workshops on the Sunday afternoon just before the event.
One will recap the Liberty Alliance Contractual Frameworks, and the other will be a Privacy round-table... the 9th in the programme.
If you're there, you'd be most welcome to attend either or both of those sessions (registration via the link on this page).
And if you're at the IAM conference, do stop by the Sun booth... I'm reliably told they'll be running a raffle, and also that beer and pizza could well be involved at some stage.
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I attended a conference in Orlando in 2005. It was every bit as awful as a Carl Hiaasen.
Posted by Patrick Finch on November 20, 2008 at 10:45 PM GMT+00:00 #
Yes - it was certainly an experience. I was not prepared for the sheer volume of 'out of state' visitors... both from the UK and from the more Northerly US states. Some were obviously heading for the more upmarket resorts and theme parks, but lower down the scale the amount of low-budget accommodation, entertainment and gift shops boggled my mind. I had no difficulty believing that, anything you read in a Hiaasen book, you could find there in real life (and more...).
Posted by Robin Wilton on November 21, 2008 at 10:10 AM GMT+00:00 #
Not that I had a fairy tale experience in Orlando myself (when I was there, years ago), I’m sorry you didn’t appear to enjoy your time there, Robin. I haven’t read Carl Hiaasen's books, so my opinion wasn’t thus jaded. It doesn’t appear to have mattered. What a pity.
Posted by Carolyn on November 24, 2008 at 09:20 AM GMT+00:00 #
In fairness, my comment probably gave the wrong impression. Although some of
what I saw was unexpected, it was a fun experience and I did enjoy my visit to
Orlando. I fed alligators, I ate home-made alligator jerky, I saw sand-cranes
eating at a drive-thru... what's not to like? (Photos on my Flickr page...)
And the conference was good, too...!
Posted by Robin Wilton on December 07, 2008 at 03:25 PM GMT+00:00 #