FETC Day 1
January 24, 2008
I understand that today was not FETC day 1 for everybody, but this was my first day in town. I am going to post my general observations about this conference.
-This is probably wrong to say in education technology circles, but I like this conference much better than NECC. I went to NECC last year, and it was overwhelming. There were thousands of workshops, vendors, and things happening - and it felt chaotic and disorganized to me. FETC is a lot more manageable and seems to attract higher quality speakers and vendors.
-It is wonderful to see so many personal and online friends and colleagues attending the same conference. I am meeting my friend, Anna, from wireless generation for dinner this evening. Her FreeReading.net program is being adopted by Florida! My old buddies from SchoolNet are in attendance.
-Alexander Russo, Will Richardson, and Lee Wilson are other prominent bloggers in attendance.
-At the vendor booths, the variety of product knowledge is staggering. There are some products where the vendors understand every detail about their product, its market, and its advantages - and these vendors are a pleasure to listen to. Other vendors are unclear about what they are selling and how it fits a school’s needs.
-I also had the opportunity to watch Steve Dembo from Discovery (and Teach42) speak about the Web 2.0 revolution in education. Steve had great energy and energized the crowd. I heard comments after his speech that people were incredibly impressed with his passion and ideas. As a heavy Web 2.0 user, I found his speech to be a bit boring. I believe that people who are not exposed to these tools need to get their hands dirty with these tools to truly understand them. But it was still a good time.
Overall, I have been quite pleased with the conference. It is well attended and presents the perfect opportunity to build relationships with new partners and vendors in our space.