There is a thing in medicine about not performing an investigation unless it changes the treatment.
Don't take an X-ray of someone if you won't use it.
And so, maybe the ITI Congress and Congresses like this are similar in nature, even if that is a metaphor.
To be clear, though, this is an extraordinary thing 5700 people in Southeast Asia here to talk and to learn and to share.
But the risk is that people present things which are really not their day to day life and certainly not our day to day life.
If you get the chance to stand on the big stage in front of 5000 people, you're going to do the best you can and show the best work that you have, but for the rest of us, for the normal ones, it can be demotivating instead of motivating.
You understand the situation I'm talking about when you look at something that is simply out of reach (not dissimilar to the horrible effect that social media has on teenagers).
So, instead of seeing a mountaintop that we can aspire to climb, we give up and run away.
It is a fascinating concept.
I'm watching presentations here and feeling my imposter syndrome rising and rising and rising, realising that I am simply inadequate and unable to scale the heights that some of these guys are.
Some of the guys (men and women both) are at the very peak of their powers but it's worth remembering that on the second dinner I had when I got here, I went with three individuals who would be considered to be world class (No names required).
They're all really nice guys but they were laughing at me because I was the only one at the table who was still married and they seemed to think that that was some sort of flaw that was getting in the way of my work.
In another incident, I was reading the profiles of speakers, and another individual who would be seen to be at the very top of the profession was claiming that they were providing a course which I know was cancelled because it was an absolute abject failure and cost a fortune yet still on their up to date profile here while telling a story about something which simply isn't true.
At best, that is careless.
At worst, it is disingenuous.
I don't want to put down what is an extraordinary event, both in its organisation and its content, but for those of us who sit in the 80% of the curve, the "normals", can we settle and watch this and enjoy it, but not try to be it?
Real Madrid came back from behind yesterday and won their Champions League semi-final 2-1 to hit the road to Wembley, much to the delight of my friend and colleague Colin Burns.
I can appreciate what they did, but I know that I'm never going to be there, nor am I going to walk onto the pitch in London.
Maybe the ITI Congress is a little bit like that.
Not sure, though, how helpful that is when I go back to work on Monday.
Blog Post Number - 3802
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