Conference

Today was the start of the Institute of Fundraising's first virtual conference; this was the opening plenary by the delightful Sir Lenny Henry. The virtual element of this really worked for me; I can work in between sessions, can watch them later as they'll be available on demand for a bit, don't have to pay for travel or accommodation, and I'm not riddled with anxiety over spending so much time with total strangers! It sounds terrible because it is a large part of my job, but I really dislike networking. I find meeting new people incredibly stressful as it is, but my imposter syndrome really kicks in when it's a working event. I think it's because networking (rather than just hanging out) implies that you should be offering something (knowledge, info, ideas) to the people you're speaking to, and the imposter syndrome means I feel like I have nothing of any use to share. The human mind is an amazing disaster, innit XD