My thoughts on BETT
BETT is the highlight of my educational year! I started
attending in 2005 and went every year, even after we moved to Finland, until
2011. My final visit there was special for several reasons. Firstly, I took my
eldest son, Josh, with me. He was 15 and in his final year of Finnish basic
education. It was a big treat for him, not only to go there but to be allowed
time out of school to attend with me. The reason was that his final IB project
was to build from scratch a VLE. He clearly had aspirations in programming and
BETT was a fantastic place to inspire that.
#Bett2011 was also special because Josh entered the
Promethean competition and won me a set of 32 ActivExpressions (interactive
voting system), which indirectly led to me persuading my principal to buy
several ActivBoards for the school.
I would have loved to attend BETT in 2012 but by January of
that year, I was having some health issues and they had changed the venue from
Olympia to Excel, which meant that staying with my friend in Wimbledon was out
of the question. By 2013/14/15, I was adjusting to life with a disability and
the prospect of a trip to London, alone, as a wheelchair user was frankly
terrifying!
#Bett2016 is going to be a very exciting one for me. I’ve
booked a week off work and an adapted room in a hotel near the venue. I’m going
to attend for the full four days by myself, not for work (though it will
obviously have an impact) but for myself… for my own professional development
and inspiration. I’m going to attend a number of seminars, participating
through the Twitter backchannel, as well as visiting as many stands as
possible. My absolute dream is to hear Professor Sugata Mitra, one of the
keynote speakers, presenting live. It was once possible to pay to book tickets
but now it’s first come, first served, so I need to be there early and get my
place. I’m hoping that bringing my own chair will help! ;)
 |
| Snipped from bettshow.com |
I haven’t answered the question about whether the online
resources give a feel for what the conference is like, whether there is
controversy or debate in the backchannels, or whether the extra information
would be useful to attendees. My own experience of BETT is that being there can’t
be replaced with any amount of online interaction. The backchannel, though, will
be invaluable in following themes, networking, creating social opportunities,
etc. If I remember, I’ll post again during or after the event.
Good luck with getting your seat. What a good story. I have attended the English TEachers' Association of Switzerland conferences every year just about since 2002 https://sites.google.com/site/etasconferencepapers/. Not as inspiring as yours but I have seen many cities in Switzerland and I enjoy them.
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy the BETT conference in January. I'm feeling quite enthused by the conference myself after reading your blog and although I can't attend in person I have made a note in my calendar and will likely add the hastag to a column in Hootsuite in order to follow the backchannel at work.
ReplyDeleteAs I say in my blog (johnbaglow.wordpress.com) I don't seem to go to conferences these days. Working in FE, it is hard to fit them in, and being hourly paid is also a disincentive. Having said all that, the ALT conference site has given me lots of good ideas. Your January conference sounds good - I hope all your arrangements go ok. I would like to have a link to any back-channeling you get up to around the conference!
ReplyDeleteI sympathise John. I'm also in FE. I've just taken a week's holiday and I'm paying for it all myself. I didn't even bother asking work about it, as I know what the answer would be. For me though, it's worth it for the break and inspiration it gives me.
ReplyDeleteYour enthusiasm for the conference has inspired me to have a look at the programme and there is an HE thread which has some very interesting events. I'm not sure if I'll be able to attend but I'm going to keep an eye out for the back channel options.
ReplyDelete