AssortedStuff

In the 1980′s era musical “Chess“, the lead character proclaims the tournament in which he is about to participate to be “… a show with everything but Yul Brynner*”.

That lyric has been running through my warped little brain as I’ve been reviewing my notes and watching some of the video from NECC, the annual edtech expo that wrapped up here in DC just over a week ago.

This is one conference that really does have something for everyone – or at least anyone even remotely connected to instructional technology.

However, one big impression I always have following NECC is to feel sorry for the novice.

The sheer size of this carnival is overwhelming, which also makes it hard for newbies to find the good stuff.

Certainly someone who followed the crowds likely saw lots of rapid fire examples of cool web 2.0 tools, not to mention lots and lots of people poking at interactive whiteboards.

The two largest manufacturers of those devices were conference “Tier 1 sponsors” so they, and the people selling them as the ultimate edtech solution, were impossible to miss. (I feel a new rant about IWBs coming on. :-)

Hopefully someone guided those NECC first-timers into the area for the poster sessions where they were far more likely to see examples of authentic uses of technology for teaching and learning.

For me, the highlight of NECC was once again was the day-long EduBloggerCon, an event that’s not even part of the formal conference. (Most of us in the class of 09 are pictured at the left.)

This was the third year for this meetup/unconference and the size and style returned to being more like the first time around in Atlanta.

Lots of valuable discussions (big and small) along with the always-valued opportunity to meet some of the people whose work I regularly follow online.

So, that’s pretty much it for this year.

As I noted earlier, our commitments to support the conference didn’t allow for many sessions or getting involved in many Blogger’s Cafe discussions, making this year’s event a different sort of experience.

Or any blogging during those five days, although for many, Twitter has taken over that function.

And I’m already looking forward to getting back to normal (or whatever passes for normal) next June in Denver.

* Look him up, kiddies. :-)

conference, conferences, dc, edubloggercon, necc09

Ok, so normal may not be the right word.

But the recently concluded NECC (soon to be the conference formerly known as NECC) certainly was a very different experience from the past four or five I’ve attended.

Much of that was due to having the event so close to town (and commuting into town instead of staying in a hotel) in addition being more involved with both supporting the conference and our district’s presence.

Going far away for a conference is somewhat isolating, even with constant connectivity, and going home every night instead of a hotel allowed real life to intrude.

One result was that I didn’t get to many sessions, but I’m not sure that’s a big problem. Increasingly for me the real value of a conference like NECC is not found in the presentation rooms but in the corners and hallways.

It was not being able to spend much time in the Blogger’s Cafe or at NECC Unplugged (not to mention the after hours conversations) that I missed most.

Fortunately, I did make it to EduBloggerCon, which is more of those less formal discussions (more thoughts about that in another post). And my session went well.

Anyway I’ll also be spending more time than would be normal in the weeks following NECC going through the videos and other online materials to get some idea of what I missed.

And figuring out how I can get to Denver next year.

conferences, dc, ebc09, necc09

The housing reservations page for NECC 2009 is open and in past years, I would be there on day one trying to grab a room at the cheapest hotel within walking distance of the conference venue.

Not this year.

This time around I’m staying home and NECC is coming to us, just a short (depending on which line is screwed up on any particular day) Metro ride away at the DC Convention Center.

While it’s great traveling to conferences, it’s just as well NECC is here since it’s pretty clear that, considering the budget mess we’re facing here in the overly-large school district, I won’t be getting any help with expenses.

Anyway, even if you’re not completely sure whether you’ll be visiting us next June, book your reservation before all the cheap slightly less expensive rooms are gone.

And hopefully, lots of you will be able to join us for the big show.

conferences, necc09, reservations

Getting off the plane from San Antonio and walking through the terminal at (NOT Reagan) National Airport, we passed a gift shop with a clearance sale table out front.

Half the surface was covered with stacks of Hillary Clinton for President t-shirts.

One more unique sight from inside the beltway.

Welcome home.

dc, humor, necc08, politics

Ok, I’m done.

After five days running around San Antonio and this huge conference center, it’s time to go home and sift through my thoughts and notes to figure out what I’ve learned.

Despite all the griping I’ve done in this space over the past few days (I need to work on my negativity! :-), NECC this year has been a good experience and was worth the trip

However, I couldn’t tell you much about the conference itself since I only attended a few of the sessions printed in the program.

Most of my time was spent with the people and discussions swirling around in the halls and lounges.

Almost immediately after getting back it will be time to begin thinking about NECC 2009. But certainly not because any of us needs another massive conference right away.

Next June the conference will be coming to DC for the first time and, since our district is a short Metro ride from the convention center, we’ll be rounding up volunteers as soon as everyone returns from the summer break.

Yes, I’m looking forward to stuffing bags. :-)

conferences, dc, necc08

Although I was pretty sure what he was going to say, I went to hear Alan November in the huge theater this afternoon anyway.

Even if he doesn’t include much new content, I still enjoy Alan’s presentation and the way he interacts with the audience.

But another reason for going is that Alan has been booked to keynote the Leadership Conference next month in our overly-large school district.

This is our annual event where all of our school and central office administrators gather to kick off the start of a new school year and get inspired.

I’m hoping Alan will slap them across the head as Daniel Pink and Jennifer James did last year.

However, while he makes some excellent points during his rambling, seemingly casual approach to a presentation, he’ll need to be more focused with our administrators to make that happen.

Most of them have attention spans that rival those of their students and probably won’t appreciate the presentation we saw this afternoon.

alan november, necc08

All of the topic “lounges” here at NECC have an interactive whiteboard with a projector.

However, in the dozen or so presentations I’ve stopped to watch over the past two days, no one has been using the interactive part. It’s just a screen for the projector.

That’s not another criticism of the devices.

Just an observation from a conference full of people who are very whiteboard savvy, and where two of the big sponsors make their profits selling the devices.

conferences, interative whiteboards, necc08

I made my requisite pass through the exhibit hall yesterday afternoon but it really didn’t look much different from the vendor space in Atlanta last year.

Everybody is offering THE “solution”, mostly for fixing your NCLB problems but also quite a few fixes for internet safety.

Actually, the only major change on the exhibit floor from years past is the giant booth that’s missing: Apple.

From that you might wonder if the company is having financial problems or abandoning education (again), but in this case I actually think they’re pretty smart for not paying to erect a small house on a large chunk of expensive floor space.

Apple has plenty of visibility at this NECC in other, more productive ways.

Instead of running classes in a noisy booth surrounded by the mad house of other vendors, they have a couple of rooms off a high traffic corridor to offer the same sessions.

Plus most of the rooms for hands-on workshops are full of big screen iMacs, another good use of their marketing money.

And look around. Identify from a distance the brand of laptop being used by the teachers you see around the convention center.

While there are likely more PCs than Macs at NECC, that white glowing apple is very distinctive and probably the best advertising Apple could have.

necc08

At the end of the day, at the farthest point possible from the physical center of the conference, Will, Gary, Ewan, and Steve did a great tag team show-and-tell with Ustream.

More importantly they also talked about how this kind of communications tool could be used for teaching and connecting students.

That’s the piece that we still need organize and think through before putting these tools in front of our trainers and especially most teachers.

But from a techie standpoint, this was pretty cool. More than 100 viewers showed up for the live stream, at least half in the same room, which was probably stretching the wifi in the hotel to the limit.

And then there were the 80 or so in the chat room, with many sidebars, questions, and suggestions of their own.

The people at Ustream should be paying for this kind of publicity. Oh, that’s right… it’s free and they aren’t making any money from it.

Is web 2.0 built on a non-existent business model? I guess that’s a question for another day.

Anyway, if you’re interested in seeing what went on, the stream and chat room are archived on Will’s Ustream channel. [It's in two parts because of the crash 3/4 of the way through the session.]

necc08, streaming, video

I spent the morning here at NECC bouncing from room to room trying to find a good session or at least a good session in a room that wasn’t packed at least half an hour before it was scheduled to start.

This afternoon I sat in the Bloggers’ Cafe for a couple of hours and three good presentations came to me. Plus all the side conversations.

I may just find a chair in that space first thing in the morning and not move.

necc08