I Attended ISTE in my PJs

Yes, I attended ISTE in my PJs!  No crazy stares.  No arrests.  No money required.  Fingers crossed, I will be at ISTE 2016 in Denver, I wasn’t so lucky this year.  The totally awesome thing about many big conferences like ISTE is the ability to attend virtually.  Are you ready to attend a conference in your PJs?

How in the world would I even know this is possible?  Three little words…Personal Learning Network, PLN.  Ok, it should be five words, totally awesome personal learning network:) LOL  Sometimes the only reason I know about a virtual conference is via twitter feed such as Google’s Education on Air in May:)  ISTE being THE technology conference … I knew about it, and made sure my schedule was decently clear those days to follow tweets and resources shared.  I didn’t realize there would be SO much more!

Jennifer Wagner, @jenwagner,  created an entire Google Community, Not at ETC (Not at EdTech Conference) for those of us #NOTATISTE.  I honestly haven’t even made it through all the resources that are now available through this community from videos to presentation links to blog posts.  It was a blast!

Your first visit was much like the actual ISTE conference.  It began with creating your conference badge complete with ribbons.  Everyone was able to meet each other and learn a little about you.  There were resources and suggestions from those that attended virtually last year such as downloading the ISTE app and there were challenges and even a game of bingo!  The spreadsheet of challenges include such things as completing challenges, tweeting, blogging, and more.  There were even challenges that were completed with the help of educators actually attending ISTE 2015.

Cindy Wallace, @_cindy_wallace_, helped me out by sending me a pic of 5 vendor swag items (25 points toward my #NOTATISTE score). I can’t wait to get together with her to find out all the things she learned and is excited about!

There was even a FlatBrock that traveled around ISTE while Brock O’Shell, @oshell_brock, was #NOTATISTE. I’m thinking #flatbrock could trend next year:)

 I spent a good amount of time participating via Periscope app.  Tony Vincent and others made sure those of use at home were able to walk through the expo hall, meet people in poster sessions, and even attend the after hours karaoke.  Side note:  Im looking forward to looking into parents attending special project days via this app…it was too cool!

 Future posts will zone in on various techie resources, but for this post I hope you were able to get a glimpse into attending a conference virtually.  Do you need more of a walk through of how to get started? My students and fellow teachers love short video tutorials, so I made a quick one for you too, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHsQ6z3fz34.

Oh, and I even WON a door prize!! Green Screen App by Do Ink (more later on this cool tool).

Which conference do you want to attend virtually this year?

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