7:30PM (not exactly live, eh?)

I'm sitting on an STC bus right now on my way to Saskatoon. The government bought me a $75 return bus ride to Saskatoon from Regina. It turns out that this is an “express” ride so we're not making any scheduled stops on the way there so it will be a fast trip. Other than the lack of beer (a usual component of any prior bus rides I've been on ), it's been ok. It was a cramped ride to begin with (even though I've logged hundreds of thousands of air miles in my lifetime I still am not used to sitting in such close proximity to others) but some girl got dropped off somewhere halfway through the trip so I got to move and now I've got a couple seats to myself – ah, elbow room!

The only thing I can really comment on specifically at this point regarding the summit is the organization. I was impressed with the website and the agenda overall (it sounds like a pretty full day), but so far I've felt pretty in the dark about the whole logistics surrounding it. I found out about the summit through an e-mail from the president of my union. His e-mail, for the most part (to me, anyway) highlighted the fact that it was all-expenses-paid, even though I'm sure the focus was getting more young members of the labour movement to attend. Since I haven't had to worry about expenses, it hasn't really worried me much that I'm not sure how I'm going to get to the hotel from the bus depot and that I only found out about the shuttles back and forth from my hotel to the convention hall a few days ago. Still, when I go on trips or to conferences (especially the internal conferences I go to for work) there is a ton more detail given to potential or confirmed attendees. For example, even though I know I have a hotel booked in Saskatoon, I have no idea if I will be sharing it with anyone. I have no idea of the amenities of the room or the hotel. I have no idea what's close to the hotel or who to contact in an emergency. Now, most of what I just listed could probably be gotten pretty quickly from a quick web search, but that's besides the point. The goal of the conference is not to worry about facilities or accommodations; the goal of the conference is for us to participate. If all of the information isn't available up front as part of a registration package, it makes it that much harder. If I had one recommendation so far for the next summit (if there is one), it would be a more complete itinerary for attendees.

The other thing that comes to mind is that I would really like to know more about the people that are attending the conference with me. The whole idea reminds me of the “Leadership Conferences” that we used to attend as part of our SRC activities in high school. Was I chosen to attend at random? Are they looking to populate the room with leaders from around the province? To me it's not very clear at this point, but it brings up probably the most important question about the whole thing: just what exactly is the point of this whole thing? Is this summit supposed to motivate us, motivate government, inspire government, inform government, inform ourselves, or are all of the above relevant goals?

So far I really couldn't tell you anything about the summit beyond the agenda; to be honest with you, I'm not sure what to expect. I am debating in my mind whether to bring my laptop to the convention centre since a) it's an incredibly expensive brand-new laptop b) it's not my laptop and c) I'm not sure if using it is going to be even practical since I'm really not sure what's happening tomorrow. I think I will get more out of the whole thing if I'm free to think, listen, and speak without my “website” voice on. For those of you who were there in the many, many years where we did things just to write about them on a website, you might know what I'm talking about. By the same token, I'm absolutely amazed at how the Summit Coordinator reached out to me and offered me Internet access to facilitate me bringing the summit to the unwashed masses. We'll see ...