¶ … feelings and even behavior was impacted by the social environment the most was probably when I attended my first data governance conference as part of my data management internship. I am a decidedly laid-back person, and for three days I found myself surrounded by "type A" people wearing suits who were exorbitantly concerned with information technology and data. I found this type of social atmosphere, and the people in it, very intimidating and, despite the fact that I was supposed to network with people and find out the true sentiment regarding the conference on the part of the attendees, I mostly kept to myself. I am usually pretty outgoing but all of the technical jargon that was spoken and the demeanor of the people at the conference significantly altered this aspect of my behavior. Whereas other people seemed to be enjoying themselves I did not -- I could not wait for the conference to end. It definitely adversely affected my work there.
In terms of the imagined social environment, when I had to go to my second data management conference I was still smarting from my experience at the first one. I dreaded going to it and felt like I would be ostracized as an outsider and that I would not fit in. What is significant about this social perception on my part is that these conferences were at two different locations, one on the east coast and the other on the west coast, and for the most part involved different types of people. I have found that east coast people are more formal and rigid than their west coast counterparts. So even though the second conference would be taking place in San Diego, I still thought everybody would be acting the way they had at the first conference. It turns out that I was wrong and had a good time at the second conference, but the imagined social environment certainly had me dreading going there.
