BIG... thats the first thing you realize when you get here. The convention centre is huge, to give you an estimate, there is one large hall about a mile in length, the hall hosts about 4000 posters a day, probably more. Apart from that, there are 33 meeting rooms, each of them have slide presentations/symposia going on throughout the 5 days of the meeting. I didnt know there was so much neuroscience research in the world, and this isnt even 25%.
I have on the average about 40 posters to see a day and maybe 4-5 talks I want to attend. By the time you get all that done you are exhausted, both physically and mentally. I feel like a long-distance runner, you are constantly walking somewhere and nothing is close by. I can see why people who attend every year are so jaded by the entire experience.
Its amazing just how well organised all of this is, though there are thousands of people here at any given time, its never crowded, you still have place to sit, even if its on the floor. The most impressive thing for me, especially after my airport WLAN debacle was that there are hundreds of plug-points scattered all over the convention centre - in the main poster halls, in the corridors and in common areas, where people just plonk themselves (like I am), plug in their laptops and access the internet over the WLAN.
Its pretty impressive being here and seeing all of this work as well as it does and I'm happy to be here for the science and for the experience.
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