A few folks have asked how the blogger lounge thing went the other day at the Orange Conference. Since it’s Saturday and things are a little quieter at the SCL, I thought I would do a quick update.
The funniest moment happened as soon as I got there. I rode the escalator up to the top of the second floor and saw a large metallic sign that said something like, “Today, Meet Jon Acuff from StuffChristiansLike.net” in the blogger lounge. (It was written in dry erase marker and my new goal is to make it into permanent and eventually a printed sign. Baby steps.)
When I tried to walk in, one of the security guards said, “Where’s your badge?” I didn’t have one and immediately got panicked and 17% sweatier. I tried to think of something witty to say to diffuse the situation but all I could come up with was, “I’m Jon Acuff,” a statement I highlighted by pointing to my name on the sign.
It felt like a Chappelle show moment, “I’m Rick James.” (I think it was more nerves than arrogance but that’s a fairly common cocktail for me.) Of course the phrase, “I’m Jon Acuff” meant nothing to someone that works for the arena, and the security guard gave me the same look Atreyu thought he was going to get when he approached the Great Riddle Gate in the Neverending Story. Fortunately, while she was distracted looking at the sign I hoped on Falkor, a Luckdragon I keep in my backpack and was able to break my way into the conference.
It ended up being a great event. I’ve never been to Orange before and was blown away by how much fun it was. It was really kind of them to invite me to come down and the folks I met in the blogger lounge were awesome. Thanks for stopping by if you did.
Jon
