Posts Tagged → necc08

Getting Back to What Passes For Normal

Got back from London yesterday afternoon and am in something of a haze this morning.

I could blame it all on jet lag but my fuzzier than usual condition is actually a combination of two and a half weeks worth of high energy activities.

First there was NECC in San Antonio followed closely by the week in London, with our annual Independence Day madness squeezed in between.

Both trips were excellent experiences but no matter how much fun it is to travel, getting home is always a pleasure, even if a slowly declining amount of chaos remains for a while.

So I’m taking one extra day of leave today to clean up, reset, and sift through the pictures and thoughts of the past 17 days. Lots of illustrated rants coming soon.

Do I really have to go back to the normal routine tomorrow? :-)

Not In Texas Anymore

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.

The End… For Now

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. :-)

Alan November

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.

Not Very Interactive

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.