2015 Scavenger Hunt Results

It’s a new low!

In Chicago this year I felt particularly busy. Between sessions, meetings, and hanging out at Kitty O’Sheas, I hardly had any time to explore the conference itself. I never made it to the book exhibit or poster presentations, I never found the unisex restrooms, and I never even posted on social media about ASA or ate a meal alone! I did, however, manage to wander around the various floors of the Hilton wondering how practical it was to give each floor its own confusing layout. I also found the ASA App to be useful, though I wish that it would have been more friendly to those without wi-fi or wireless signals by only updating when requested.

In the end, I completed 13 of 30 scavenger hunt items, including: 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 17, 19, 20, 21, 28, 29, and 30. Next year promises a new location that is even more distracting since I’ve never been there, but can it match Kitty O’Sheas and Meli Cafe? I’ll let you know in 12 months.

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A picture is worth 1,000 slides

At the American Sociological Association conference in Chicago I noticed something else that demonstrates the ways that faculty members are just as bad as students when they are in the audience instead of standing at the front of class. During several presentations audience members took pictures of PowerPoint slides so that they did not have to write information down. This practice was made worse by the fake camera noises that their phones made as they took the pictures (I’m not sure whether or not all phones have the ability to turn the camera noise off). The most egregious example of this was in a presentation with a lot of references on slides. Those who wanted to record the references just took pictures. Worst of all was the fact that the presenter made very clear at the beginning that he would send the complete presentation via e-mail to anybody who was interested.

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The 2015 ASA Scavenger Hunt

Conference bingo cards are fun to read but fail because bingo can’t actually be played unless everybody is in the same room. Conference scavenger hunts are infinitely better. Thus, for the fourth straight year I give you the ASA Scavenger Hunt! You can download the 2015 ASA Scavenger Hunt and, for your convenience, I have also listed the items below. Post your progress and results in this SJMR thread. Good luck!

2015 ASA Scavenger Hunt

Instructions: Record the dates, times, locations, and/or session numbers for the items below between Friday, August 21 and midnight on Tuesday, August 25. Post your results in the “2015 ASA Scavenger Hunt” thread at SJMR. Good luck!

1. Attend a friend’s roundtable session
2. Hear a presenter explain technological difficulties with, “I’m used to my Mac”
3. Hear somebody refer to the Chicago School in a presentation
4. Attend a workshop
5. Attend a great talk by an “unknown” sociologist
6. Check out the poster presentations
7. Use the ASA App
8. Walk past the Employment Service area and observe the job candidates
9. Discuss the pros and cons of replication
10. Overhear a sociologist make a racist/sexist/homophobic (etc.) comment
11. Talk to somebody about SJMR
12. Eat some candy at the book exhibit
13. Turn the paper part of your nametag upside-down to make tag-checking more obvious
14. Find the unisex restrooms and rate their implementation on a scale of 1-10
15. Pour one out for DAN
16. Get a free drink at a section reception
17. Spot Fabio (bonus points if he’s wearing a fanny pack)
18. Talk to somebody from a liberal arts school about his or her research
19. Talk to somebody from a research school about his or her teaching
20. Talk to somebody on the job market about his or her ideal job
21. Introduce two people you know to each other
22. For Faculty: Buy a student coffee or a meal; For Students: Accept coffee or a meal from a faculty member
23. Eat a meal alone
24. Have an awkward conversation with an acquaintance
25. Post on social media about ASA
26. During conversation, move somebody across the room by slowly inching closer to them
27. Walk to the Navy Pier
28. Spend an entire day in Chicago without attending a session
29. Take a picture with that shiny bean (a.k.a. Cloud Gate Chicago)
30. Eat deep-dish pizza

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The 2014 ASA Scavenger Hunt

As we near the middle of August your thoughts are probably centered on things like the job market, syllabi, and last-minute preparations for ASA presentations but it is time to clear your mind and turn your attention to what really matters, the 2014 ASA Scavenger Hunt. How successful has the ASA Scavenger Hunt been? So successful that nobody even makes ASA Bingo cards anymore!

Last year I discovered that the beginning of the semester is not the best time for dealing with prizes if people actually enter, but that has not dissuaded me from announcing that if you enter and win there is at least a small chance that you will receive something for your efforts! You’re also welcome to play alone or set up conference pools with your friends.

Click here to download the official 2014 ASA Scavenger Hunt form

As in previous years, the rules are these:

• The 2014 ASA Scavenger Hunt is open to anybody who is attending this year’s ASA conference in San Francisco. Your status as an undergraduate, grad student, assistant professor, or “famous” sociologist will not affect your chances of winning.
• Record the dates, times, locations, and/or session numbers for the items on the list between Friday, August 15 and midnight on Tuesday, August 19.
• Items may be double-counted. This means that if, for example, you attend a session outside of your research area in which a “famous” sociologist gives a disappointing, long-winded talk that begins with “I’m going to keep this short” you will have covered items 1, 2, and 5 on your list.
• The person who submits a form accounting for the most items will might or might not receive… something! This is a very exciting opportunity and your chances of winning are high!
• The winner’s name could be posted on my blog, unless the winner doesn’t want his or her name associated with a scavenger hunt, in which case the winner is welcome to choose a suitable pseudonym.
• I will be playing along and will keep you posted on my own progress throughout the weekend. If nobody enters I will privately declare myself the winner and treat myself to ice cream.
• If you would like to discuss your own progress on Twitter, use the hashtag #ASAHunt.
• Have fun!

Additionally, you may find the following links helpful:

• Scatterplot blog party information
• The other blog party information (they don’t overlap, so you could conceivably attend both)
• And don’t forget to download your ASA schedule. This year it actually includes the locations!
• And finally, some general advice about attending conferences

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Scavenger Hunt update

The 2012 ASA Scavenger Hunt will be posted on Tuesday morning at 8 am Eastern time, which should give you plenty of time to determine your plan of attack using the ASA’s preliminary program!

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