Upcoming Conference Appearances

Throughout the year I conduct many professional development workshops in schools and libraries. Usually, those events are not open for public registration. But I also speak at public conferences about once a month these days (I did a lot more before my children were born). Here's a list of the public events that you can find me at over the next few months. 

• The BETT Show & TeachMeet BETT - London - January 23rd & 24th
• SET-BC - Vancouver, BC - February 20th & 21st
• MACUL - Detroit, MI - March 21st & 22nd
• TLA - Austin, TX - April 15-18

Send me a note at richardbyrne (at) freetech4teachers.com to learn how you can book me for a school-based workshop or conference presentation. 

Shy? Going to a Conference? - Try These Strategies to Connect

As the summer nears some of us will be thinking about attending a conference for professional and or personal growth. I tend to think of myself as a shy person and I have to work at making connections at conferences. Nearly five years ago I got some great tips from Sacha Chua on making connections at conferences when you feel shy. If you feel the same way, review  her tips in the Slideshare presentations below.

The Shy Connector from Sacha Chua

Instructional Technology Strategies Conference: The Shy Connector's Guide to Getting Ready for Conference Awesomeness from Sacha Chua

Teacher2Teacher - My Favorite Annual PD Event

This is a post primarily for folks in western Canada and Montana, but it is open to anyone who is interested. 

For the fourth consecutive year I have been invited to speak at the Teacher 2 Teacher conference in Bow Island, Alberta. This year's event is happening on April 29th and 30th. Over the course of the two days 120 workshops are provided by more than thirty presenters. As usual the conference organizer is bringing in some great people from Canada, the United States, and Australia! I was recently describing the conference to my friend Rushton Hurley who will coming from California to present on video creation in the classroom (I'm presenting on Google Apps among other things). In describing the conference I told Rushton that it has a very EdCamp-like feel to it. There is not a keynote session nor is there any pretentiousness to any aspect of the conference. All of the presenters are very approachable and all of the workshops are held in classrooms or computer labs so that you can actually try the things that you're learning about while the presenter is there to help you.

I strongly encourage anyone within driving distance of Bow Island to put Teacher2Teacher in your spring calendar today.

And a bonus aspect of visiting the Bow Island area is getting to see the world's largest pinto bean and the world's largest teepee.

Two Places to See Me Next Week

Writing this blog has provided me with a bunch of opportunities to speak at places that I never thought I would go, that's a good thing. Thank you all for making that possible by continuing to read and follow my blog. Next week I have two speaking engagements that are open to the public.

On November 27 I will be giving a short webinar for Mary Grove College's Masters of Art in Teaching program. The event is free and open to the public. You can get all of the registration details here.

On November 29 I will be a keynote speaker at the Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference in Manchester, New Hampshire. I'm psyched for the opportunity to present at this conference as it has been on my must-attend list for a long time. Angela Maiers and Scott Kinney will be the keynote speakers on the first two days of the conference.

And if you're interested in having me speak at your conference or at your school, please see my work with me page for more details.

Spend Four Weeks in D.C. as a C-SPAN Fellow

I recently received an email from C-SPAN reminding me of a great free PD opportunity that they offer for teachers in the U.S. during the summer. The C-SPAN Teacher Fellowship Program brings together teachers and media specialists for four weeks in Washington, D.C. every summer. During the four week program teachers work together to develop new teaching materials. Teachers selected for the program will receive an award valued at $7,000 (including lodging and travel costs). You can learn more and find the application here. Applications are due by February 8, 2013.

Video Guide to Conference Awesomeness

Earlier this month I shared with you Sacha Chua's great guide to conference awesomeness (her word choice). That guide is designed to help shy people connect with others and make the most out the conferences they attend. Well now she's made a video explaining the things in her Shy Connector's guide. The video is just under eight minutes in length. Even if you're not a shy person, the guide and video offer tips that anyone can use to maximize their conference experiences.

The Shy Connector's Guide to Conference Awesomeness

Sacha Chua has once again developed a great slidedeck offering tips for shy people who need or want to connect with others. In The Shy Connector's Guide to Getting Ready for Conference Awesomeness Sacha offers steps for shy people to take before, during, and after a conference. This presentation was developed for ITSC 2011 conference, but the strategies can easily be applied to almost any conference setting.

Instructional Technology Strategies Conference: The Shy Connector's Guide to Getting Ready for Conference Awesomeness

View more presentations from Sacha Chua.

Sacha released a similar slidedeck a couple of years ago that you should also take a few minutes to flip through.

The Shy Connector

View more presentations from Sacha Chua.

Come See Me at MOREnet MITC in October

I've known about this for quite a while, but I couldn't make any official announcements until today. I am going to be the keynote speaker at MOREnet's MITC conference in Missouri on October 4. The title of my keynote is Everything is Free! Now What? I will also be running a pre-conference session (title: Lesson Plan Rehab) on October 3 and post-keynote session (title: Creating Videos to Demonstrate Learning). If you're within driving distance of Osage Beach, Missouri come on down.

I'm also slated to be the keynote speaker for another conference later in October, but I can't say which conference yet other than it's in New England. I'll also be speaking at ACTEM's annual conference in October and at CECA's conference also in October. Yes, October is a busy month for me. Fortunately, my school is willing to work with me for the time out of my classroom and I've been able to arrange my schedule so that I only miss four days from my classroom.

If you're interested in having me speak at your school or at your conference, please contact me through my Work With Me page where you'll find a list of topics that I'm happy to address as well as a list of some of the other schools and conferences I've worked with. I don't have a lot of room left in my schedule for August through December, but I can probably fit-in three to five dates.

The Conference Buffet - What Do You Want To Eat?

I spent Thursday and Friday presenting and watching presentations at the ACTEM 09 conference in Augusta, Maine. Like any good conference there was a large selection of interesting presentations going on simultaneously. It was difficult to decide which sessions to attend. It was a lot like going to buffet of great ideas.

On my way to the conference yesterday morning, I had the brainstorm of picking a goal for the day (not a novel concept, but something I'd never applied to conference attendance). I had two goals for the day. The first goal was to observe how professional speakers organize their presentations and work through their presentations. The second goal was to hear the ideas that they have regarding education. Therefore, I chose to attend sessions conducted by Marco Torres and Wes Fryer. These guys are true pros at conference speaking and are thought-leaders in the field of education.

Overall, going into the day with a game plan yielded a better learning experience for the day than I might have had if I had just hap-hazardly chosen workshops.

I Could Be the NECC Newbie

NECC (National Educational Computing Conference) is a conference that I have considered attending for the last couple of years, but due to the cost I have not yet been able to attend (without giving specifics, my earnings are less than Maine's statewide average). This year was shaping up to be no exception to that rule until I received an email last night from Beth Still. Beth is a social studies teacher in Nebraska and a part of my PLN or you could say that I'm a part of her PLN through Twitter and Facebook. Last night Beth emailed me with an opportunity that I couldn't refuse.

Beth has organized an idea to send a newbie to NECC this year. Through the contacts in her PLN Beth is trying to raise $1500 to send me to NECC. In consultation with another member of her PLN, Jason Shrage, she chose me to be the newbie for this social media experiment. The short version of the story is Beth wanted to give someone who had never been to NECC the chance to go. Beth also wanted to test the power of a PLN and social media. Read the full story on Beth Still's blog. It is also on Beth's blog that you can make a donation.

On a more personal note, this is one of the nicest things that anyone has ever done for me in my adult life. When I read Beth's email last night I was utterly speechless (that doesn't often happen). My mother raised a boy who has trouble accepting gifts without being able to reciprocate. Therefore, when I'm at NECC I will, of course, blog and Tweet about my experience. And I hope to be able to share some video of my experience along with a video of Beth and I meeting for the first time.