I love conferences. I mean it. I LOVE conferences. I must, right? I work on one year-round.

I would never have the patience or determination to go back to school like many of my friends have done, but to me, conferences are like little crash courses without the tuition. And there are no electives or basic courses to waste your time on. Just focused attention to whatever I’m most interested in. Best of all, optional homework.

I can also attended conferences on a variety of topics. I mean, who just has one interest? There are many subjects I want to know more about, and luckily, there’s a conference for every one of them. And I should know—I’ve attended quite a few!

My upcoming conference schedule is mostly centered around 1) my day job in PR/marketing for Orange, 2) personal growth, and 3) my passion for the abolitionist movement and volunteer work with Not For Sale Georgia and Solomon House/Out of Darkness.

Locked in:

• Travel Writing
• Plywood Presents
• Orange Tour
• Catalyst East
• Out of Darkness Fall Training
• Digital Atlanta
• Storyline
• TEDxPeachtree
• The Orange Conference

Fingers crossed:

• Justice Conference

Based on my company’s marketing budget, ONE of these may happen.

• PRSA Annual Conference
• Mashable Media Summit
• SXSW Interactive Conference

That’s a lot of learnin’—I’m excited! It’s going to be a fun and educational few months.

What about you? What’s on your schedule? And please let me know if there’s something I should put on my schedule.