ISTE12: Reflections from Tuesday 6/26

Sorry for the delayed post. I don't like writing on the run, and it takes me awhile to complete my thoughts. SO: with that, I share with you my first reflective post about ISTE12, written on Tuesday evening:

So here I am on Tuesday night, back earlyish from EdTech Karaoke night, one of the biggest parties of #ISTE12. Why did I leave when others were still outside clamoring to get in? Perhaps it was just that: people were crowding, clamoring, and ready to party, while I was perfectly satisfied with the rich conversations I'd been having with so many wonderful educators I have met through Twitter.  It was time to go back to the hotel, let the spinning wheels settle, and recharge my introvert self. 

I wanted to take a few moments, though, to share some of my top 10 highlights so far from my time at ISTE12.

1) Everyone says it, and I can't deny it: having face to face conversations with people you already have a shared history with through daily tweets, is one of the most interesting and rewarding experiences ever. I have probably met over 100 people that I chat with regularly, and talking face to face and sharing our stories has been priceless.  As I told Jackie Gerstein, it's like starting on page 100 of a book when you meet someone face to face after talking regularly online!

Ok, ok, so it's not the best picture of me, but it captures an important time, getting to know my Twitter hero and now good friend, Jackie, (@jackiegerstein) who I met just briefly last year at ISTE11.

Hanging out with the fabulous @joannjacobs68 was a highlight for sure!

I love the look of pure joy as Marialice (@mbfxc), Lisa (@teachingwthsoul) and Susan (@s_bearden) chat.

At SocialEdcon, with @joannjacobs68, @jackiegerstein,@janwells,@plnaugle

 Highlight #2:

2) Co-facilitating a session with Jackie Gerstein, one of my Twitter heroes, at SocialEDCon the unconference on Saturday, 6/23, before the official conference began on Sunday. Although I was a bit nervous about submitting an idea for a discussion, (but thanks to Jackie Gerstein who strongly encouraged me, I did!)  I was thrilled when 30 or so people pulled up chairs into the circle where we shared ideas about how we can use technology to actually facilitate social and emotional learning skills.  You can read more about this on this site where we added resources and invited others to share. You can also read the tweets on this Storify by Jackie Gerstein.  Keep your eyes open for an upcoming Edutopia blog post where I wrote about this powerful session! 

One of the best parts of this session was that no one left! People were looking at each other, actively listening to the powerful stories. An #eduwin for sure! Thanks Lisa Dabbs for tweeting this picture!





3) The parties were great! Yes, even me, former shy girl, said that! Although I did not stay out very late at any of them, I had a great time at the Edubros party, the Edtech startup party, the Google party, and finally, Edtech Karaoke.  I loved getting the chance to say hi to people I had missed during the day. 

I finally got to meet Julie Hembree! (@mrs_hembree) at Karaoke!

George Couros and the real-deal Erin Klein who I got to see often at the conference :-)

Julie, JoAnn, Sandy, Jan, and Paula

At the Google party with @Janwells, @teachingwthsoul, @plnaugle and @edutopiabetty

4) Hanging out with inspiring prolific teacher bloggers like Erin Klein of Kleinspiration, and young entrepreneurs like the co-founder of Kidblogs, Matt Hardy, who was a teacher and brought his expertise into building a platform made for teachers was inspirational. I can't believe I didn't get a picture with Matt!  Also, I got to see my buddies from Remind101, ClassDojo, and Educreations. Wow! They even hosted one of the best social gatherings at #ISTE12 with their start-up party. 

Sam( aka Sammypinksocks)  from @classdojo with Diane Main (@Dowbiggin)

Angela Watson, Lisa Dabbs, and Erin Klein deep in conversation.

    

5) Getting a #temt walk in with the fabulous Jerry, @cybraryman1 and the crew below, kayaking with Jackie Gerstein, and finally Zumba with Jackie and Betty Ray from Edutopia at a Zumbathon fundraiser Jackie set up. I can't even tell you how important and wonderful it was to "move it" after sitting in sessions. 

Erin Klein, Eric Simons, Randy Dabbs, Lisa Dabbs, Joann Jacobs, Sara Hunter, Jerry Blumengarten and me!

Woohoo! There's @edutopiabetty, @jackiegerstein and I with the fabulous Jackie Camborde.

Thank you, Jackie, for talking me into this beautiful morning of kayaking fun!

6) Doing a spontaneous  #eduwin podcast with Dennis Grice. I love interviewing and being interviewed, but it was even better unplanned because I didn't have time to get nervous. You can listen here.

7) Blinging my badge. Thanks to Kevin Honeycutt and his wonderful crew, there was a fun booth in the exhibit hall where you could add fun and decorative items to your badge. I even won a free t-shirt after tweeting my badge! 

8) Taking spontaneous opportunities to go to lunch with new friends. On Sunday, just before the Keynote, I met Zoe Brannigan-Pipe and Lisa Neale and before I knew it Lisa Dabbs, Jackie Gerstein and I were heading off to eat a late lunch with them.  What a treat to share time with wonderful people! 

9) Walking into sessions and knowing someone there! I walked into Evernote this morning and there was Karen McMillan, @Mcteach, about to sit by Linda Yollis, @Lindayollis, who I had been waiting to meet. What a privilege to sit with them and Lisa Dabbs, @teachingwthsoul for the session. 

Karen, Lisa, Me, Linda

10) Getting over my shy side and reaching out. I spent a bit of time in the Newbie Lounge welcoming new ISTE peeps as well as time in the Social Butterfly lounge talking about chats with my friend and awesome mentor to new teachers, Lisa Dabbs, @teachingwthsoul.  I also agreed to be on a panel for an unplugged session on Weds. with Paula Naugle, JoAnn Jacobs and Jan Wells. 

As I post this, days later, I know there are many other highlights from ISTE12 to share. What were yours?