Synergy and Serendipity

"Synergy and serendipity often play a big part in medical and scientific advances." -Julie Bishop


Throughout the year, education professionals have a seemingly endless number of national (and international) conferences from which to choose. Attendance at the majority of these gatherings involves a significant amount of money for transportation, meals, accommodations, and registration fees - often covered out-of-pocket by attendees.

As I work on organizing my own trip to Washington, DC for the ALA convention, I've been considering what I expect to gain from this experience, and what I've learned from other conferences.

Sessions and Workshops

Aside from keynote speakers, I tend to skip most of these offerings, unless they're being given by a member of my PLN. It's difficult for me to focus on content with the distractions offered by crowded rooms and the steady buzz of surreptitious conversations. Better that I access archived presentations from the quiet of my home.

Why attend at all, then?


Uncommons Areas

For me the highlight of a conference experience is the Networking Uncommons or Bloggers' Cafe. Here I can meet up with online friends, make new connections, get ideas, informally mentor newcomers. Usually there are some impromptu slideshows shared by volunteers. Conversations are extended, new concepts are explored, partnerships in learning are forged. The energy and excitement are palpable.

Uncommon Conferences

EduCon, held each January in Philadelphia, most closely matches my conference ideal. In this much smaller gathering, the line between presenters and audience is blurred, and discussions that begin in a classroom continue in the library, during meals, and, eventually, online. The entire conference is an Uncommon of sorts, and valued as such.

ISTE has a popular Bloggers' Cafe, and my headquarters at ALA DC will be the Unconference.

But there are other options that are even less traditional in structure.

BarCamps, user-generated participatory events, have been around since 2005. Recently, a variation of the BarCamp, Edcamp, was held in Philadelphia, with similar loosely-structured themed gatherings planned in other cities. The K-12 Online Conference is free, open to everyone, and archived. Participants can access its resources any time and from any place.

Will National Conferences Survive?

With school and library funding slashed in so many areas, it would seem there should be a parallel reduction in the size and cost of the traditional convention model...yet that does not appear to be happening.

It has always amazed me that these events are able to pick and choose their workshop presenters, that people actually compete to pay money for the privilege of sharing their professional expertise. Without this "free labor," the conference business would grind to a halt, but no one seems to question the practice.

Which brings us to the heart of the matter: NONE of these conferences, from the hippest BarCamp to the tradition-bound ALA National convention, would attract attendees without the synergy of collaborating participants and the serendipity of the creative process they fuel.

It's the hope of being a part of something meaningful that draws us to these assemblies. Without the connections, the conversations, the collaborations, a convention is just a very expensive party.



"Not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something." -Henry David Thoreau





"London -Synergy Project- Light Splash 2" by Still Thinking

A Very Merry Unconference!

In addition to the amazing keynote speakers and a multitude of scheduled sessions, AASL's Rev Up Learning will host an Unconference - an informal, loosely-structured opportunity to meet, greet, share, and learn.

Be sure to stop in at the Bloggers' Cafe. You can ask questions, exchange tips and resources, and connect with colleagues from around the world.

To put you in the right mood, here are two very creative clips created by fellow AASL members,

"The Unconference at the Bloggers' Cafe" by gwyneth


and "Bloggers' Cafe @AASL 2009" by Brenda Anderson




A very Merry Unconference to you!



"Mad Hatter" by EricByers

Troika

People are beginning to reflect on their NECC experiences. For me, there were three distinct but interconnected components.

Workshops and presentations were the marquee attraction. Internationally-known speakers, emerging Voices, and classroom innovators were all well represented. They shared information, explored core concepts, and provided valuable resources. As the member of a Librarians' panel myself, I was able to experience the positive energy such opportunities generated.

Another aspect of the conference is the Exhibition Hall, where vendors demonstrate products, answer questions, and conduct mini-workshops.

I found the official NECC program to be overwhelming, containing such an embarrassment of riches that I ended up only attending a few sessions. There was too much to take in, a sensory and cognitive overload. I'm hoping that many of the presentations have been captured on Ustream, so that I can explore at my leisure, a la K-12 Online.

The Exhibition Hall was similar in its excesses, but it seemed to focus primarily on things rather than thoughts. I dutifully sat through a few mini-workshops, but I was too keyed up to settle for long and ended up leaving many of the giveaways I received there in my hotel room. One quick sweep was enough to convince me that this was not a profitable space for me to spend much time exploring.

My favorite area was, as many of you might guess, the Bloggers' Cafe. Although a number of "getting to know you" chats took place, there was a rich and deep vein running through most of the conversations. People like Dean Shareski, Al Upton, Stephanie Sandifer, Dean Groom, Derrall Garrison, Vinnie Vrotny, and Jo McLeay stopped to say hello and stayed to explore such topics as internet/personal safety, student blogging, the power of f2f connecting, building student "excitement for learning" and teacher burnout.

Australian Dean Groom professed to be puzzled by the recurring "dream" motif in America. He prefers to focus on five achievable goals; when they're accomplished, he moves on to the next set.

Vinnie Vrotny told the story of his daughter's desire for a "fine dining" experience which led to a life lesson in gathering information.

Dean Shareski reminded me that our twitterverse comprises only a tiny percentage of the educational technology world, a fact that I need to keep in mind when interacting with other teachers and information technologists.

Stephanie Sandifer and I shared our distaste for the aggressive, intrusive tactics of some of the vendors.

Most fun for me, as a librarian and reader, was discussing literary genres - and favorite books - with Derrall Garrison.

Carolyn Foote demonstrated the features of her iPhone and Doug Johnson let us examine his Kindle. I reconnected with Joyce Valenza and met my dear friend Cathy Nelson for the first time in "real life."

I know that each of us took something home with us from NECC.

Which part of the troika appealed most to you? More importantly, how have you grown, how will your practices change, as a result of this extraordinary gathering?



"Troika" from Wikipedia