TCEA, February 6-10, marked my very first visit to the state of Texas. Set in Austin, this ed-tech conference certainly fulfills the stereotype that everything is big in Texas. When I checked in the day before the conference kicked off, there were already over 10,000 attendees registered. The exhibit hall featured just shy of 500 exhibitors. The Austin Convention Center is an impressively attractive block of real estate in downtown Austin. And the educators...
I love the South. I've been fortunate enough to attend a variety of conferences in cities across the country, and I've noticed something this year. There is big interest in OneNote in the South. I was invited to TCEA to present my Class Notebook Boot Camp workshop, which is designed to get participants equipped with the essentials to start rolling successfully and confidently with OneNote in their classes. I'm a huge fan of OneNote, and I honestly get excited when I am able to share its awesome potential with other educators who are curious to learn just what Class Notebook might offer them and their students.
I arrived outside my conference room about 30 minutes before my session was to begin. As the pervious session using my room ended and emptied, people began filing in for our Boot Camp workshop. We were at max capacity in the lab 15 minutes before start time, so I received the group's blessing to go ahead and start the workshop early...which was a good thing because we ended up being crunched for time at the end.
The only complaint I could have for TCEA was that on that particular day there were problems with the wifi. That's very understandable when you have such a large crowd of people at a technology conference, but still potentially frustrating. Thankfully, many of the participants were seated at conference provided laptops, which had a wired connection. I was presenting from my Surface Pro 4, and thankfully I was able to use my cell phone as a wifi hotspot. I also had a few flash drives on hand just in case a connection issue got in the way of downloading our practice Class Notebook. A small hiccup that thankfully did not throw us off pace.
The only complaint I could have for TCEA was that on that particular day there were problems with the wifi. That's very understandable when you have such a large crowd of people at a technology conference, but still potentially frustrating. Thankfully, many of the participants were seated at conference provided laptops, which had a wired connection. I was presenting from my Surface Pro 4, and thankfully I was able to use my cell phone as a wifi hotspot. I also had a few flash drives on hand just in case a connection issue got in the way of downloading our practice Class Notebook. A small hiccup that thankfully did not throw us off pace.
One of the great things about OneNote is that the application does SO MUCH. It is extremely feature rich. One of the bad things about presenting a workshop on OneNote is that the application does SO MUCH. Boot Camp is designed to be a 3 to 4 hour hands-on workshop, and it isn't a simple task to modify it to fit inside an hour and a half. So, we didn't quite get through everything on our list before the next session's presenter and attendants were waiting to take over our lab. Still, we did cover a lot of ground, and I sent everyone home with the resources to finish up at their own pace on their own time.
As an attendee, I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and setup of TCEA. A well organized, easy to navigate event. Unlike some conferences, there were plenty of places to hang out, recharge, and relax in between sessions. The placement and availability of conference staff and volunteers was great. And the offering of sessions, workshops, and keynotes was equally satisfying. While shuttling from the hotel one morning, some local Texans who were TCEA regulars said that there was talk of relocating the conference to a different city, which would be kind of sad because I felt like Austin's conference center was an incredibly nice, well laid out facility that was conveniently located in downtown. Regardless of where it ends up being held next year and/or years that follow, if you have the opportunity to attend TCEA, it is well worth being a part of.
Next month I get to present at the NCCE annual conference, this year being held in Portland, OR. It is another exceptionally planned/executed conference, and I can't wait to attend. This may be my last conference for 2017, so it'll be extra sentimental for me.