Gathering of the Brains: Conference on World Affairs 2007:
I’ve been meaning to go to the Conference on World Affairs, held every April in Boulder, Colorado, since I first read Roger Ebert’s writings about it when I was a teenager. Ebert, who has attended the conference 38 years in a row, summed it up thusly..
“Why is this week like lifeblood for me? Once we settle into our life’s careers, most of us charge the line
with our heads down, doing our jobs and trying to get ahead. We become specialists, and develop tunnel vision. I have a tendency, for example,to think the world revolves around movies. Once a year at the Conference, I am forced to think on subjects not of my own choosing. I get to talk to people from other worlds.”
Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, the CWA is the granddaddy of the get-a-bunch-of-smart-people-in-a-room-and-have-everyone-benefit-conference mold that would later give birth to the Idea Festival and TED.
For me, the Conference on World Affairs seems to perennially fall in that netherworld between recovering from SXSW and gearing up for the San Francisco International Film Festival. But this year, it’s coming in early April, a full two weeks after Austin and before SFIFF.
It just may happen this time around. Look at who’s coming already.