Attending a conference is like joining a caravan that is about to cross the desert. You know what it will be like – oceans of sand and burning heat -, but once you have actually crossed it you realise there has been much more: Sand and rocks in any color from black and brown to yellow and white, tough grass and crippled trees, even joyful birds and foxes – and in the middle there was a huge and fruitful paradise, an oasis of brilliant radio documentaries reminding you of why you went on that burdensome journey.
I am packing my stuff (computer, charging cable, tablet computer, smartphone, photo camera, storage devices, even more charging cables, oh, and probably a toothbrush) and prepare to join that caravan of passionate radio makers in Leipzig.
Why me?
Well,
- because Peter Leonhard Braun was in need of a conference blogger and asked me to,
- because I am an independent radio journalist and multimedia producer (focusing on narrative short formats from radio to web and back to books),
- because I am a professor for multimedia production giving lectures on radio journalism at a Swiss university of applied sciences,
- because I used to be a crossmedia programme developer for Switzerland’s cultural radio,
- because I am as passionate listening to your pieces as you are making them. (I’ll never forget Liam O’Brien’s Irish chicken farmers, a piece after which I swore I had seen a film, until some time later a colleague of mine reminded me it had actually been a radio documentary.*)
So here I am, about the same I used to be at the Think Tank Leipzig. As Leo Braun put it two years ago at the Prix Europa in Berlin:
Thomas Weibel will be blogging again during the whole week. He is amazingly particular and quick and tends to do rounds in all the groups. If you have anything you need to let all the other participants know – all you need is to buy him a coffee.
So here you are: Participate! Participate! Participate! (All good things come in threes.)
- By letting me know whatever you like (and buying me a coffee, see above),
- by twittering (using our official hashtag #ifc14),
- by posting your favourite pieces on Facetagram and Instabook,
- by commenting on my posts (yes, that comment form at the bottom is not there just by design),
- by blogging yourself (oh yes! If you feel like doing so, just contact me or the IFC website admin Willem Davids, and you will get access to our blog),
- by checking the conference blog often: Our posts will be live and personal, and should there be any complaints, just send them, uhm, anywhere but to me.
See you in Leipzig! And don’t forget your water bottles! (And my coffee of course…)
*Update: There’s a resason why Liam O’Brien’s documentary “The Secret Chicken Society” was so incredibly vivid: It was actually made by a chicken farmer. Called Liam. (I’m not kidding; just ask him if you do not believe me.)
IFC AudioDocs 