#ISTE17 San Antonio

Last week I attended my first ISTE conference in San Antonio, and wow is the only word I have for it.

ISTE 2017 Opening Night Keynote

I saw that @EdTechSandyK was looking for 6 Word Stories about the conference and I wanted to share mine:

First Time: Overwhelming, Inspiring, Collaborative, PUMPED!

As a first-time ISTE attendee, I read all I could on the ISTE community forums about what to expect and tips for a successful first conference. And I am very appreciative of the tips I received. Here are a few of them I found to be the most useful:

1. Set conference goals. I had the goals of learning more about delivering good and useful professional development and finding ways to use our LMS to deliver tech training and exploring the possibility of using badges to motivate and demonstrate staff learning. I was able to focus the sessions I really wanted to attend and make sure I was able to get all the learning I could out of the sessions.
2. Plan your sessions. Use the app to plan your days. Make sure you have more than one session that you would like to attend at a given time, many of the popular sessions fill up quickly, and it is helpful to have a Plan B and C.
3. Take time to go to the Poster sessions and Playgrounds. Some of the most valuable resources I got were from Poster presenters. Many presenters will have their presentation available only through a QR code or shortened URL posted at their session. The playgrounds are a great way to connect with others and build your PLN!
4. Check out the sponsored sessions in the Expo Hall. Many of the larger vendors will have mini-sessions about a variety of ways to use their product. And quite a few of them are taught by Educators and Coaches, which means that demos are real-life examples. This was my unexpected gold mine at ISTE!
5. Plan time to eat and see the city. I had never been to San Antonio, so I took a half day and went out to see some of the sites and learn about the city. Also, remember to plan in a break for lunch and pack snacks!
6. Use a note-taking method that works for you, and make it light and easy to carry around. I prefer Sketchnotes for conferences, and I find that this particular method helps me focus on the trajectory of the session and when I look back on them I can clearly recall what was being discussed. This meant that I only needed my iPad and favorite stylus. Check back soon for some of my Sketchnotes and reflections about the presentations!

All that preparation being said, ISTE can be and is overwhelming. There were nearly 20,000 people at the conference and hundreds of sessions at any given time; which doesn’t include all of the vendors in the giant Expo Hall. To counteract some of the overwhelming feelings, I found ways to attend sessions while also allowing myself a little break. I found simulcast locations where I could still hear the session while eating lunch. I also went with the expectation that I would not see the entire Expo Hall, and I didn’t. I focused on the hand full of vendors I really wanted to see and spent a good amount of time talking to them and getting the most out of it, rather than trying to see the whole giant Hall, which very well could take an entire day.

ISTE is inspiring. This might seem like a given, but it is something I wasn’t exactly expecting. I expected to learn a lot and get a ton of ideas, but I was not expecting to get inspired to be a better Technology Trainer. There was on session that inspired me more than anything else:

Google Certified Innovators Tell All - It was a session that included ten Google Certified Innovators talking about their experience going through the Education Innovator program. These outstanding educators talked about their projects and what they have worked on since earning the GCI. They also talked about how the different Google campuses have very cool bathrooms, but declined to tell more.

I am very excited to have met wonderful Technology Coaches and Integration Specialists from around the country that are excited to collaborate on digital badging. A session at the Schoology booth about using digital badges and gamification to encourage teachers to do online technology courses. It was exactly what I was looking for, and provided real life examples for starting exactly what I hoped to start with my Technology Training program. The presenter graciously offered to give me a copy of all of their materials. Another Tech Director is excited to work together on building our programs and working out some of the finer points together!

But really, I am just PUMPED about the Google Be Internet Awesome curriculum and digital learning game. I am excited to introduce it to the staff in my district, and even use pieces of it to make sure all staff and employees are practicing good Digital Citizenship in their own lives. I can’t wait to introduce it in August and give the teachers a new tool to teacher students to be more savvy internet users.

ISTE had long been a dream of mine to attend, and it lived up to and exceeded all expectations I had. I am ready to start implementing what I learned this year and am looking forward to next year’s ISTE conference!