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: : Travelogue

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Date: Friday, April 14, 2006 9:58 AM
From: Herbert Jack Rotfeld <rotfeld@cob-1.business.auburn.edu>
Subject: Notes from the AAA Reno conference: with nausea, dry mouth and friends

Notes from the American Academy of Advertising 2006 conference in Reno.

In the top news from the recent American Academy of Advertising conference, starting in 2007 Jef Richards will be the President-elect, Assaf Avni will be the association’s webmaster and Marla Royne Stafford will begin work as editor of Journal of Advertising. At the awards luncheon Darrel Muehling was honored distinction for Outstanding Contribution to Research and John Leckenby was named as a well-deserved Academy fellow.

It was a busy time for me, with meetings and presentations and working stuff, so unlike many times past, I had little time to talk to Ray or Ivan. I was in town for four nights, I don’t gamble and I left the hotel only for the Saturday event. And I learned to always take my wife’s travel sickness meds, antihistamines and chap stick when I leave home without her.

For some masochistic reason, I said I would participate in the creativity pre-conference on Thursday. It was important — several friends said they have not attended AAA meetings in a while due to a dearth of attention to creativity — but travel to Reno was long and difficult and I also had a paper scheduled for presentation on the last Sunday morning. Getting to the Atlanta airport in the evening for the only direct flight of the day to Reno, I saw a collection of Alabama folks as they had to make a connection coming in from north reaches of the state. But I was looking for Nora who was supposed to be there, making a bizarre connection from Lansing. She eventually showed up and all of us we were scattered around the plane.

And then my fun began. The flight was bouncy, the movie was of variable brightness. Lights were on, then off, then on again, and the pilot or attendants kept dinging the #$%^& bell, so sleep was elusive. I got a headache first, then nauseous, then mega nauseous. I was messed up. I’ve been motion sick twice before in my life, and one was the Denver conference outing. The Alabama and Michigan AAA people took good care of me getting out of the plane & getting my luggage. As we waited for the shuttle in the FREEZING air, I recovered a tad. I was wiped out but feeling better, getting up to my room and passing out.

The next morning, I started to realize what amenities were lacking in the rooms. As most people noted during the days to come, there was no coffee maker. There was shampoo and hand lotion, but no conditioner. The television had five stations for playing keno, but only a few with programs of any kind and no HBO. There was an iron and board, but no visible plugs to use it, the only one was found after extensive search and crawling around under the desk. The rooms were clean and spacious with a view of the interstate highway to one side and a railroad junk yard to the other, though you could look over the noisy surroundings and see the mountains.

I found my way to the pre-conference Thursday morning without difficulty, but then, my room was in the same tower side as our meeting rooms. An elevator by the room for the creativity meeting went down to the casino, coming out right next to the bar where there was a fresh pot of coffee for two dollars. The pre-conference itself was well run and interesting, with more than one person noting that it is just the sort of thing that would have them attending AAA more often. Enthusiastic speakers, provocative statements, involved discussions and one deranged rant by the first speaker after lunch (or so one person told me about my comments). Anyway, the comments and research perspectives ranged from conservative managerial to thoughtful review of just what it means to be creative, and the four pages of a pre-conference review in the conference proceedings will barely give a taste of the time spent.

From the outset, I was feeling perpetually dry. I drank a lot of water, but come time for speaking, I found myself gasping, a situation that was worse for every time I had to present something. I was thinking of this as I listened to every speaker, wondering how they did it, especially Saturday when I Peggy presented in a style that emulated a manic James Carey circa 1970. But I am getting ahead of myself.

I left the pre-conference before it fully ended because I had to find the business center. A box of JCA was sent there — well, it was supposed to be for me at the desk, but all mail goes to the business center for excessive fees to be added. I made the mistake of questioning the charges, charges which I was told in advance would not exist, and I immediately found myself assaulted by three young toughs who threatened my health for not being polite enough to the woman behind the counter. I was just questioning a charge and asking to speak to a supervisor — $10 for picking up my mail — and instead of answers I’m encircled by the cast of the Asphalt Jungle, who was soon replaced by a security guard and a woman with a plastic smile. I signed my fee and escaped. I wonder — it is a federal crime to interfere with delivery of U.S. mail, and the business center was holding my mail hostage for a fee, so wasn’t the hotel engaged in a criminal act? Just wondering, mind you, since hotels increasing charge huge fees if someone sends a letter to a guest.

Finding the evening reception was a trek unto itself, since it was in the opposite tower. You went down the hall, up the half flight of stairs, or was it down, then follow some hallway signs, into a huge rooms with all sorts of displays for food services or something and it seemed there were no exits. As I had no trouble finding the conference rooms which were in the same tower as my room, the reception was on the other side. I eventually found a way out of the display rooms via a door that was painted the same as the walls but an "exit" sign gave it away. The reception was the usual collection of greetings and food and free drinks. Bonnie brought Mr. Bonnie, or rather Dr. Mr. Bonnie, who we’ve heard much about but I had never met. Eric came in straight from the airport from his late flight, as did a few others. Trina came to AAA for the first time in ages, counting minutes since she left her toddler behind, and, as always, I conveyed my wife’s greetings to That Nice Spencer.

I must work on my facial expressions when seeing people. Men and women I see every year talked to me for a few seconds then said their names. Now I know my facial recognition skills suck big time, but these were all people I know and recognized. Well, maybe I could blame my post-flight recovery. I couldn’t exercise that morning, my legs were acting hinky such that I needed to use my cane, while spacey was the best description of my mental state from limited sleep the night before and the long day. Well, that is my excuse. I’ll use it.

One nice things about the hotel was that it had a variety of  restaurants, so after the reception a few of us were able to find a number of dinner options without worries of travel outside. The place we chose had a very nice woman waiting on us, and we talked till they closed down.

On Friday I decided to try the exercise room. I came down a few minutes before 6 a.m. and found a few people already waiting. The person who supervised the room was seen in the back, counting the minutes till 6, lest the master of the universe deliver her with unending torment in the afterlife should she unlock a door a few minutes early. Given the size of the hotel it was a rather meager space with limited equipment — a sign requested we restrict use of machine to 30 minutes, every item in the room was in use by 6:05 and a line formed shortly after that. In the days that followed, I decided the exercise benefit was not worth the grief.

Friday was a busy day, starting with a short visit to the first-timers’ breakfast and then the Publications Committee meeting with a long agenda, reviewing contracts, reports and policies, as well as interviewing applicants for webmaster. Before lunch, we prepped for interviews with our JA applicants, both of whom were my friends, and for that reason I said I will sit at the back of the table and be quiet. Karen asked for that promise in writing. I gave it, she returned it, but I pretty much held with it, or so I think. We got out just in time for the business meeting (AKA "membership meeting") and once again found my throat very dry while I talked. And then we had dinner by the pool, or kind of by the pool, or the buffet was next to the pool and we ate in the room next door. Afterwards some friends went downstairs to talk at one of the bars, but the cigarette smoke was so thick I opted for health over sociable going back to the room. It had been a long day.

I missed some sessions I wanted to see Friday from the committee meeting, but there were a few to go to on Saturday morning. By lunch, we had scheduled a couple tables for students and new faculty to meet editors, Russ, Jim Leigh, Marla Stafford and me. It worked as an informal effort last year, with a couple friends gathering students to come to our tables, but this year, two things messed it up. One was the buffet lunch, which had people drifting into the seating area of a period of time. And the second was the lunch-time speaker, who was introduced a minute or three after everyone had sat down. In the end, the time for talk at lunch was minimized.

After lunch, many felt discouraged from attending the sessions since the busses would leave for the evening event right afterwards. And at 3 p.m., we gathered at the  busses for the ride to Lake Tahoe. In meetings past, we’ve had a number of tourist event rides in the rain or darkness or snow after which we went to crowded placed for meals of questionable enjoyment. This year, everything worked. The ride to the boat dock was not unduly long and traveled along some nicely scenic areas. The boat ride was all in daylight, with some views of beautiful homes and hillsides, the food was great and the service people on the boat were all fantastic. Many pictures were taken inside and even outside for those who could tolerate such cold weather in early April, though even some people from the SE campuses joined those from Michigan or Wisconsin for short period on the top deck. The 3-hour length of the ride inspired some people to sing the Ballad of the SS Minnow, but it was not a statement of our tour. For the ride back, the high clear windows of the busses allowed some fantastic views of the stars, a sight especially appreciated by those from more smoggy, foggy or city-light star blocking home cities.

After we returned to the hotel, many good-byes were said, since as is oft the case with AAA meetings, most people not on the program for Sunday morning were catching early fights home. The push to leave early was even greater this year, since travel to and from Reno was difficult, especially if you were going to the SE where direct flights were rare and early. For myself, the only direct flight left a 8:30 a.m., so to catch a trip home after my morning session I would connect in Salt Lake City and get home after 1 a.m. As we started our 8 a.m. session on Sunday, the only non-presenter present was Mike, but the room had pretty much filled in by the time for the second speaker. I was last for the session, and again I was fighting a dry throat all the way, but we had a decent set of questions for the other papers. We had coffee and many rushed off, so I wonder who was there for the 10 a.m. session.

Getting back to Atlanta, I waited for my luggage while seeing one long line by a locked room of people trying to see if their bags came in on an earlier flight, and another line of people waiting for baggage services. As each bag came off the line that wasn’t mine, panic grew, since it was late and I was tired, and I wanted to go home. But the bag did come in, and it seemed to take forever to get out of the airport parking lot. This was a long trip.

But a fun time was had by one and all. Nora has a revised paper for JCA in the mail, Sheri is to send me a manuscript "any day now " and a half-dozen people were given papers to review. I have a report to draft from the Publications Committee, I have items to finish for the conference proceedings, my lips are still chapped and I never did get to talk to Ivan.