2
May

Lunch Options

When I’m at conferences, I tend to prioritize the amount of time I have to spend on lunch over how good the food actually tastes. I frequently wind up eating at hotel or chain restaurants, picking away listlessly at a limp salad and wondering if the waiter will ever show up to take my credit...
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25
Apr

Conference Seminars (part 2)

In last month’s blog, Sarah Horowitz described how seminars differ from other programming at RBMS conferences and what the process of proposing and selecting seminar topics entails.  How else can you contribute to the seminar-style programming at conferences? Once a seminar topic has been accepted, an organizer is selected.  The organizer is not necessarily, but...
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18
Apr

Short Papers and Posters

We have an exciting offering of narratives in the form of short paper and poster sessions. Here is the run-down: Short Papers Short paper sessions include panels as well as the more-traditional paper presentations. There are typically three speakers and a moderator, with time for questions and answers from the audience. On Wednesday morning you...
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11
Apr

Getting To and From Iowa City

Transportation to, from, and within Iowa City is a piece of cake. (See later culinary blog postings for details on where to obtain literal pieces of cake). Getting To Iowa City Iowa City is served by the Eastern Iowa Airport, a.k.a. Cedar Rapids-Iowa City Airport (CID), about 20 minutes north of the University of Iowa....
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6
Apr

Participatory Sessions

What are participatory sessions? To put it simply, participatory sessions are sessions that are focused on audience involvement around a specific topic.  The speed-dating of workshop types, participatory sessions allow attendees to interact with session leaders to shape and lead a 90 minute conversation, and in some cases hands-on activities. This year’s roster of participatory...
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4
Apr

Conference Seminars

Seminars are one of the main types of sessions held at RBMS. What are seminars, and how are they different from other types of RBMS programming? Seminars can take a variety of forms, including a panel of speakers, lightning talks, interactive sessions, or panelists responding to questions from a moderator. But they all have in...
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28
Mar

Cedar Rapids

If you have time when your flight comes in or before you leave, Cedar Rapids is worth a side trip. This small town offers a happening range of restaurants, coffee shops, stores, and arts offerings. New Bo New Bo, short for New Bohemian, refers to this revitalized area’s proximity to the Czech Village, as the...
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21
Mar

The History of Iowa City

Once upon a time… Trite, I know, but all of the best stories start this way. Stick with me, it gets better. Once upon a time, the Legislative Assembly of the Iowa Territory decreed that the capitol of the Iowa Territory should move from the Mississippi River town of Burlington toward the territory’s rapidly-receding frontier....
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14
Mar

Experience Sessions

A book town like no other, Iowa City is where the legendary Writers’ Workshop, which has occupied the vanguard of literary creation for decades, shares a campus with the University of Iowa Center for the Book, which has been pushing the boundaries of physical bookmaking since its establishment in 1986. This confluence of innovative book...
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