Sticklers - NECC Edubloggercon

Based on Will Richardson's post - I'll Be In The Hallway
And Jeff Utecht's post - EdubloggerCon and my need for Beta Time

First, I hope Will will have a sense of humor about the character. Yes this in homage to one of my favorite people to read and from whom I learn. When I sat in his class at the GAETC in 2006, he wore a long-sleeve T-Shirtlike shirt. I did too.

Second, let me be clear. I wish I was in San Antonio. Although I have received 0 credit for Professional Development by reading and interacting with my educational colleagues from around the world through blogs, Twitter, Ning, and other services the web affords us, I choose to spend a lot of time with these people. I think many of us feel there is a sense of camaraderie, collegiality, understanding, and...family. For this reason I hope for the day to shake hands with my teachers.

With that said...

Like Will and Jeff, I wondered how the edubloggercon would go this year. I think Steve Hargadon's leadership is outstanding. He seeks to help educators, and does it regularly. Thank you Steve.

But, the one thing I know, deep in my heart, that when something happens that was not truly planned (like the description of the 2007 edubloggercon and blogger's cafe in Atlanta) people do not want the experience to end.

And sometimes the worst thing to do is try to PLAN for it to happen again.

It simply won't. That's why we must learn how to live in the moment...because they seldom, if ever come again.

Teachers -- we cannot plan spontaneity.

It was the atmosphere of spontaneity that made 2007 successful. Go back and read what the attenders wrote last year. It was what we wish could happen in our classrooms...that people would "get it" and want to discuss it, learn from it, and go move mountains.

Is the experience this year void of value? Absolutely not. Attenders and absentees alike will come away better in some way.

I do wonder something though. I have read about the number of people in the edubloggercon and the blogger's cafe increasing. Some have suggested that more people (and Pearsons's disruptive recording) made it difficult to have conversations. This could be a space issue (which I have also read), but could Tim Holt (June 2006) and Jon Becker (April 2008) have made a point about this earlier? I hope this is not the case. But I do wonder if the "buffet table" was too crowded.

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