Let's share our experiences at Amherst

I thought it might be fun to put this Wetpaint site to a test by sharing some of our experieces good and bad at the NECCC conference. I guess I should go first. If anyone else reads this they can consider adding there own if they had the pleasure of attending.
I had not been to a conference for a few years. There always seemed to be a family matter or scheduled vacation in the way. One year it was my daughter's wedding, another couple of years interferred with vacation plans that had no flexibility to them. I was excited about attending again and I was not disappointed. First and most important to me was a good list of sessions that delt with things I was interested in. They included two Pultzer Prize winning photographers, a high end stock photographer, a high end freelancer that works with National Geographic, representatives from some of my favorite companies like Wacom and numerous hard working dedicated amateur photographers like us. One session that reminded me that I can have lots of fun with multiple flash now because unlike with film I can now see the results immediately to confirm that I am on the right track. This speaker had a computer plugged into his camera, and a projector showing us what the camera recorded on the fly. He proceeded to build an image by layering light from a basic light to a series of about 6 flash units. If I can purchase the 6 flash units, multiple stands and holders, battery packs and wireless units for each, I can do this too. He made it look simple and expensive.
Another presenter spoke about color in ways that intrigued me. The depth and understanding he has of this topic was impressive. Yet, even though we listened to almost two hours of in depth discussion about the physics of color, the importance of calibration and the pure excitement he feels about color wheels, I think most of us actually understood what he was talking about. This was in a room nearly filled, no air conditioning, high humidity and two days into the weekend, (Think chairs that aggrevate a sore butt in less than 10 minutes.) Now this is a a good speaker!
Over all the weather was great, sometimes hot but still great. So were the models! I went to so many sessions that I could only shoot a model as I cut through the field near the pond.