I hear tell that Hershey PA smells like chocolate. Interesting how some cities have a unique odor that will stay with you forever. My college years were spent in Cedar Rapids Iowa. Cedar Rapids smells like burnt cheese toasties to me because of the Quaker Oats plant. Back when I was in school we also had Wilson’s Meat Packing plant which added a certain undefinable something to the odor of roasting oats – not particularly pleasant actually. But when I go back the CR, I know I am there when I my olfactory glands perk up with that unforgettable smell.

So I am looking forward to the smell of chocolate.

But right now I am finishing up some last minute recording for a couple of regular clients and will head out tomorrow mid-morning to work my way through airport security as I head out to Hershey PA for FaffCon 3 – to smell the chocolate and to find my personal “golden nugget.”

As with the FaffCon 2 experience, the mix of returning attendees with first-timers should provide a slight head start on posting sessions at the beginning of the first day. With FaffCon – an unconference – no big time paid speakers with canned presentations are on the agenda. But this time the Virtual Agenda Wall on the FaffCon website already has a few participant driven sessions scheduled, so we are ahead of the first two conferences.

And a session idea popped up on the VO-BB as a result of a post from a FaffCon attendee. Truly, the Internet has changed our lives and shifted our way of thinking and doing. While creating a topic for discussion at a convention is not really in the same league as using Twitter to spur a revolution for democracy, without the power of the Internet, FaffCon never would have happened.

Picking up some business tips from fellow professionals is the basic premise for the trip to PA. Spending some actual face-to-face time with friends developed through the ethernet is the other tangible bonus of this conference.

I’ll try to post some Tweets as the weekend unfolds, but if you take into consideration my official capacity as FaffCon photographer I may not have time. Additionally we must take into consideration that not only the smell of chocolate will be a factor during the weekend. I know there will be lots of actual chocolate in abundance, so we must factor in a chocolate stupor.