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You know who you are.
You seek knowledge from others. You seek inspiration. You want your mind blown. You want to connect and network with others in your field. You love giveaways-swag, trinkets, food, drinks-it doesn't matter. If it's free, you want it.
You are the Edtech Conference Attendee.
This letter is intended for both you and me. You see, I too am an Edtech Conference Attendee. Conference season is in full swing, in all its acronymous wonder. FETC, TCEA, ICE, SXSW EDU, CoSN, etc. What do all of these letters spell?
For some, they spell M-O-N-E-Y.
For others, they spell L-E-A-R-N-I-N-G.
The large edtech conferences represent this strange intersection of making a buck and sharing a thought. In the nearly 20 years I've been in education and attending these events I've learned how to navigate the ins and outs of most of the large state events (for the purposes of this letter, let's define "large" as greater than 2,000 attendees).
Before the event even begins, it's wise to schedule those key sessions or speakers that you want to see. Going in without a plan is akin to walking into a circus tent and attempting to tame a lion. You will get eaten alive. Besides all the great sessions you'll need to plan, you'll also need to navigate the pre-con spam from vendors urging you to "Come visit booth #1348 and win a free Nook!" When I was a teacher I didn't get a lot of these, but as an administrator I find it amazing that I get these invitations for events I am not even attending.
Case in point-I didn't attend (physically) FETC or CoSN this year. However, it's hard to tell judging by my inbox. I've never actually attended FETC, so I'm not...