4 Goals for #ISTE2016

I am at #ISTE2016 today with The Writing Project team. We arrived last night at 9 pm, but it was 11 pm EST (my timezone). So I was a bit tired but it was still so exciting. This morning we had breakfast with #Edumatch and #Edspeakers members!

I heard from many educators that when we attend ISTE, it’s important to pace yourself and make sure that you’re getting some downtime from all the conference events. The conference has yet to officially start, but I have created a few goals to get out of #ISTE2016 this year, and I hope this list helps you:

• Connect with my PLN one of the most important things for me is to connect with my professional learning network. It’s so important for me to connect with people whom I’ve already connected with online. After all, if we know each other online and are in the same space, why not say hello and meet face to face? Connecting with our PLN is still one of the most amazing and fascinating experience for me when attending international conferences.
• Share the Learning This may be a bit obvious, but often times when you’re at a conference, it gets super busy and we might not have enough time to actually tweet, Periscope etc. So my goal is to be intentional about it, but to also enjoy the moment.
• Go with the Flow Which brings me to my next point, go with the flow! I plan on going with the flow and being okay with that. If a conversation happens that stops me from going to a session, I’ll be fine with that, because after all, some of these most spontaneous moments can create the best connections.
• Make time for Downtime I learned today that it’s important to take some downtime from all the excitement. It can get a little overwhelming, meeting people, having conversations, getting stopped in the hallway, so I plan on visiting the Blogger’s Cafe for some relaxing time, and who knows, maybe I’ll even get to write a blog post.

Here is what happened today at the #EduMatch/#Edspeakers meetup:

I finally got to meet my amazing friends Shelly Sanchez, Sarah Thomas, and Valerie Lewis. And many other fabulous educators. I feel so lucky to be here, not many educators have this opportunity to connect, share and learn at such a large event.

We also hosted the #Edumatch / #Edspeakers meet up which was such a success! Valerie, Sarah and Shelly stressed the importance of finding your passion and communicating your passion to others. Most importantly help others to see that educators can be entrepreneurs, and be passionate about creating projects that make a difference. We then discussed the importance of #Edspeakers and why we need to have diverse voices in education to speak, present and be influencers.

Are you at ISTE? if you are, let’s connect and say hi!