On Sunday morning, I’m flying to San Antonio to attend NECC 2008. This will be my third conference, and as always, I’m really excited to attend.
Some other Ed Tech folks have been posting their goals for NECC, and I thought that was a great idea. When I was a NECC newbie, I was very overwhelmed with all the available sessions. Even though I used the conference planner in San Diego (even downloaded to my PDA while I was there), I was really never certain about which session to attend… when to hit F2F networking opportunities, etc. Last year in Atlanta, I was even more overwhelmed by the sheer size of the convention hall. I had mapped out every session and workshop, and I wanted to visit more vendors/exhibitors. I probably made it through 1/100 of the exhibitors. That might have been due to the fact that their was an ice cream vendor in the same place each day in the Exhibitor Hall, so I tended to go back to the same area every day. haha
SO… for San Antonio, these are my goals this year. Some of them are already checked off–
1. Mark all sessions I want to attend in the conference planner. (CHECK)
2. Volunteer for ISTE. (CHECK– am scheduled to volunteer Monday afternoon)
3. Stop by the Bloggers Cafe.
4. Go to the Second Life playground.
5. Gather more ideas (especially those with any research-based themes) about digital learning and using Web 2.0 in our schools.
6. Search for more evidence that blocking too much on the internet does a disservice to students and faculty (I already believe this, which you know if you read my posts at all).
7. Look for ties between goals #5 and #6 that support our district initiatives.
8. Attend more sessions and workshops than I ever have before at NECC. Yes, I’m optimistic.
9. Catch up with fellow Ed Tech-ers that I don’t get to see very often.
10. Go to the Alamo. I didn’t sign up for the NECC-sponsored tour, so maybe I will find some friends who want to “wing it” with me. ??
If you’re attending NECC 2008, leave a comment or shoot me a link or trackback to your own blog posting of NECC goals. If you’re not able to attend in San Antonio, did you know you can be a virtual conference-goer?