Bouchercon 2024 Recap
Bouchercon 2024 was held in Nashville, TN at GaylordOpryland Resort. Yes, one must resort to calling that place a resort. It was somuch bigger than a hotel. When I said I wanted to go outside to see the waterand light show my husband had to remind me that there was “no” outside, per se.The whole place is enclosed in more glass than the British Museum. It was ahuge hot house for thousands of exotic plant specimens. Water flowed throughout:from a meandering river with waterfalls coursing down walls ofrock, to shooting up out of a pool and made to dance to music, the sound ofmoving water was everywhere.
With maps in hand, we eventually got acquainted withour section of the immense place and found the meeting rooms for our paneldiscussions and the ballrooms for the larger events. We writers and readers hadthe place pretty much to ourselves from Wednesday till the young dancers, andtheir families, showed up, en masse, on Saturday. I can tell you that tap shoesmake a lot of noise on indoor cement walkways.
That is all background atmosphere to the seriousbusiness of “Murder and Mayhem in Music City,” the official title for thisconference. There was a chosen theme song for each panel. Dan’s was “How Deepis Your Love.” Mine was “Taking Care of Business.” Prizes were given away tothose who could answer questions about each song. Prizes meaning books. Booksand more books were given away at every opportunity. It was heaven for avidreaders and retired librarians.
I explained in blog posts on https://marydavidsaver.blogspot.com/what my three main promotional objectives were: being on a panel; make anattractive donation for the silent auction; and advertise for The DiscoveryZone, a new event on Friday night.
The panel went well. I don’t think I embarrassedmyself. My prize packet, Jodie Toohey’s book of marketing basics and a pad ofinvoices, went to a very appreciative young woman.
My collection of Bishop Hill related foodie itemsfound a good home with a woman from central Illinois who had been to BishopHill. She wanted the cookbook and the Lingonberries. The Gevalia coffee wouldbe a no brainer. I hated to part with Lori Morressey’s handmade basket, but itwas the perfect size for the presentation. Same with the “Just here for thePie” T-shirt. I will have to look for another on my next visit, which will beAg Days at the end of September.
That leaves the Discovery Zone adventure of beingwalking billboards for three days. At least two people had the courage to admitthat they were influenced by our spectacular customized T-shirts. Everyoneelse, and there was a good size crowd, probably didn’t realize they had beeninfluenced by our promotion. They were too busy enjoying the free food. We goteleven dollars in cash donations, which was a minor miracle in a cashlessenvironment. I think the indoor river held most of the available spare changeas people made their personal wishes. I had promised to match donations up tothe first one hundred dollars. I kept that promise and rounded the total up forthe Nashville Public Library Foundation.
Like most shy people I’ve needed time to decompress,relax, and recharge after getting back from a busy six days. I’ve been sittingoutside, the real outside, surveying my backyard and appreciating being home.
All in all, it’s like the Swedish saying:
Borta är bra. Hemmet är bäst.
Away is good. Home is best.
