HigherEdWEb 2015: A Restrospective (Part 1)

Sitting

As I sit waiting for the red stapler session (red stapler for best in conference by track) to begin, I am waxing about my experience in Milwaukee part 2.  A conference is mostly about sitting and note taking and learning.

I have sat and I have learned but this has been an especially good year for sitting.  I was fortunate enough to choose 3 best of track sessions to view and now am sitting and waiting to hear a forth.

Good

Sessions have been strong.  The sessions by Josh Palmeri, Peter Anglea, and Amy Grace Wells stand out to me as real value for my time.

I learned long ago in attending conferences to find 1 thing that you can take with you back home.  If you are paying attention and I find that most people are you will find many things to take back home.  But, take 1 thing to implement before the conference next year.   I am not sure what my 1 thing is but I have some strong candidates.

Also good was the food and the host city of Milwaukee.  Milwaukee is mostly likely not a primary destination for tourists traveling America but Milwaukee holds up as a host city rather well.  I slept good, I ate good, and as I prepare to return home I feel good about my time here in Milwaukee.

Scott Stratten is later this morning and I can hardly wait.   I am certain he will be a Canadian delight as before.

A Bad Cup of Tea

I drink hot tea.  I drink it with milk and sweetener and for the taste but mostly for caffeine and liquid.  I prefer a breakfast blend.   Other blends do not suit me but it’s ok.  Earl Gray suited Captain Picard but is not my cup of tea.

In the same way Bill Nye is not my blend.  I found him arrogant, distasteful, cranky, and mean.  Science for children is important and Mr. Nye’s contributions to American school children are great.  He taught and inspired a generation of school children to learn, grow, and explore.

He however came to HighEdWeb with an agenda and hatred in his heart for those who disagree with him.  As a scientist I would think he welcome other viewpoints and opinions.  Anyway he was mean and cranky and not worth my time.  In fact I walked out of his talk feeling persecuted. In the future I suggest a less politically polarizing figure be chosen for the keynote.

That’s all for now.  Larry is improving and I need to listen.

HighEdWeb 2013

Hi, I’m Franklin and I am a web professional.  Here I am emerging from the blogging darkness.   It’s been too long old friend.  I am here in Buffalo this week for High Ed Web, a niche conference for Higher Education web people.   This is my forth High Ed Web (in a row).

Conferences for my web team are primarily about educational value.  We return with ideas, trends, frameworks, and features.   It has often been said to take back that one thing, the one takeaway, from the conference that we want to implement.  We try to bring back a list and isolate that one thing.

But overall conference life is a blur.  6 sessions a day plus keynotes and poster sessions and late nights make for a packed few days.

Our keynote speaker for 2013 was the Woz, Steve Wozniak co-founder of Apple.   He was great and the attendees seemed to hang on his every word.

It’s Tuesday morning and I have to get to a session.  Buffalo brought me back to this blog.