I was not Semantic Web in Libraries’s first choice to keynote their 2013 conference. I wasn’t their second choice either. Or their third. I’m actually not sure how far down the list I was, to be honest, but “a ways” seems fair. When I suggested the title and blurb, the conference organizers politely concealed mild dismay.
I don’t mind this sort of thing; I consider it a point of pride to exceed expectations, even when I am speaking at what my body persists in telling me is two in the morning. I am also tremendously grateful to have attended the conference; I learned voraciously, and much of what I learned went straight into my classroom work.
This is also the most unabashedly geek-culture-filled talk I have ever given. Perhaps someday I will surpass it, but not, I think, any time soon.