@U2's U2 Conference Coverage
@U2,
October 07, 2009
By: Matt McGee
 If you were at the U2 academic conference this past weekend, I don't need to tell you what an amazing event it was. Not a single person I spoke with all weekend long had anything but the highest praise for the conference. In fact, consider this: On Sunday morning at 9:00 am, when many of the attendees had been out at the U2 concert and awake til the wee hours the night before, the entire auditorium gave conference organizer Scott Calhoun a standing ovation and chanted, "Scott! Scott! Scott!" in unison. And the conference was only half over!
It was that great. We may have a lengthier news article coming soon with an attendee's perspective on the conference, but for now here's a look at what happened over the course of 48 hours in Durham and Raleigh, NC, and how we covered it.
Featured Speaker Presentations
Anthony DeCurtis: U2 Academic Conference
Jim Henke: U2 Academic Conference
Agnes Nyamayarwo: U2 Academic Conference
Neil McCormick: U2 Academic Conference
Notably missing is a recap of my presentation. I'm still trying to sort out how best to share what was a very visual and ad-libbed presentation about U2 fandom in the online age. A couple other conference attendees, however, have posted their own recaps of my presentation: Tim Neufeld and Steve Taylor.
Photos
Our set of photos from the weekend is available on Flickr now. This begins with the movie/reception on Friday night, continues through the conference itself, and ends with our Sunday night U2 3D/Neil McCormick event.
Interviews
On Friday, I was one of the guests on WUNC's "The State of Things" program, hosted by Frank Stasio. Agnes Nyamayarwo, Beth Maynard, and I spoke about U2 and the upcoming conference. You can listen online here. The segment runs about 20 minutes.
On Saturday, shortly after his opening keynote address, Anthony DeCurtis sat down with me for a short interview about U2's place in music history and other things (like why they haven't turned into the Rolling Stones). You can watch the five-minute interview on @U2's YouTube channel.
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