Thoughts By Jen

About 8 or 9 months ago, Barbara Barreda approached me about the thoughts of perhaps hosting a West Coast (semi) EduCon event.  Not totally the same, but just an simpler convention type atmosphere, time inbetween for conversations, and a chance to showcase higher end possibilities yet make it comfy for newbies as well.  And we decided to drag our friend, Dennis Grice, into the planning of it all as well.

So, we did what we were supposed to — we started a google doc and starting growing some ideas.

We called on some favors from friends, Rushton and Jeff, to see if they would keynote (both said yes) and then we twittered out requests for proposals.

We captured pretty much everything in Google Forms and took an idea from EduCon and used EventBrite.

Because the DEN was sponsoring a Tech & Treat day, we solicited permission to have one room that streamed their event all day too.  And we obtained doorprizes from places like Tech4Learning, Inspiration, Discovery, and a variety of other businesses.

And yesterday, 110+ people showed up for the first (hopefully not the last) T.E.L.L. conference in Van Nuy, CA.  From newbies to experienced tech users, we all met, we all learned, we all shared, we all left with new ideas and things to “TELL” our friends and staff that did not attend.

There were a couple of highlights and a couple of “tadas” that I enjoyed.

1.  Cherie, Brent, and I drove down together.  The conversation was rich…..Cherie, a brand new user, is someone who really needs to be blogging.  I think a lot of people would gain knowledge from a 2 year thrust into the computer lab teacher.  She is remarkable, she is gentle, she is open to learn!!
2.  We often lose focus when we concentrate only on tech.  We often lose productivity when we focus only on tech.  We lose human interactions with students when we emphasize tech.  We miss the experiences of our own campus when we reach out globally and ignore those just outside our door.
3.  The Tech Team at Barbara’s school was UNBELIEVABLE.  Right before Jeff’s conversation — pretty much everything that could go wrong, did go wrong…..but no one panicked.  We handed out doorprizes while tech did their magic.  The audience saw “when tech goes bad” and they saw “teamwork”.  It was reality and it was demonstrated.  Not on purpose — but on the way home, Cherie commented on that it was real, something teachers do need to see!!

I think the TADA was when we realized that we (well we believe we are) the first conference to ever live stream in an international keynote.  (if we are wrong, feel free to correct me!)  A big thank you to Jeff Utecht for getting up by 5:00 am his time on a Sunday morning to talk with us.  A big thank you to Mark for hooking up his Mac so that we could see Jeff and that he could see us.   It was a magic moment of learning.  Jeff kept it simple, yet relevant.  And the fact that he stayed around for 8 additional questions from the audience was superb!!!

Today, I am tired, exhausted really — yet with contentment on a job well done.  Well, honestly, almost well done.  We livestreamed out Rushton, Jeff, and 4 of the sessions.  However, none of the sessions were saved.  (not sure where we went wrong on that.)  Makes me sad, and gives me a goal to conquer for T.E.L.L. 2010.

To all our speakers, to Barb and Dennis, to the Tech Team, the parents, the kids…….I say thank you!   And a big thanks too to all the attendees who gave up a beautiful early fall day in California to come and learn new ideas.

Please visit our wiki at http://tellconference.pbworks.com/.  Almost all the speakers have created pages of information for you to use!!

Jen