Twitter and FETC 2009 – a new experience
I’ve had plenty of time to think about and absorb everything that went on at FETC last week. For those that don’t know, FETC is the Florida Educational Technology Conference held in Orlando, FL each year. In years past, there have been upwards of 14,000 attendees. This year, the announced attendance was around 7,000, which meant fewer sessions and a smaller exhibit hall but that didn’t stop the learning. In fact, I learned more at this year’s conference than I had in my previous 3 conferences combined. The difference? One word, Twitter.
At a great after hours meetup, I was asked by Steve Dembo why I thought Twitter made such a big difference for me this year. The answer was ownership. Through Twitter, I’ve developed professional relationships that did not exist in years past. These relationships led to more conversation and more discussion. These discussions directly led to more knowledge. I made it a point to see as many of my fellow Twitizens present in their sessions as I could. I had these people in my Personal Learning Network, so I knew we shared common interests and passions.
Twitter also helped to make the conference a more enjoyable experience. Occasionally, I still found myself in a session that was not quite as advertised. In years past, since I really didn’t know if there was anything better to go to, I would have just stuck it out and probably browsed the web or something. This year, as I followed Twitter, I was able to easily find out about other sessions being held at the same time that were more worth while. I left the not-so-informative session in favor of the better one. Perfect.
Twitter is not for everyone. A conference of 7,000 + educators may not be for everyone, but combining the two made this opportunity one of the best learning experiences I have ever had.
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[...] Educators are figuring out the benefits of Twitter at a fast rate (especially the technology geeks). Conferences are fertile ground for harvesting new Twitter colleagues and meeting current Twitter friends face-to-face (like normal people). I found this blog post from Jerry Swiatek about FETC and Twitter, which provides a ton of insight o… [...]
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I could not agree more. I am a first year teacher and this was my first conference. The twitter introduction in the “Online Tools to Enhance the Classroom Experience” session set the pace for my whole conference. What a blessing that was…what a phenomenal tool!
Twitter does have a huge impact on a conference experience – whether you’re physically in attendance or virtually. The ah-ha hit me at NC’s Tech Conf last year in Concord (NCTIES). People were sharing links, notes, and tons of info through Twitter. There were several folks that I knew who saw a link on Twitter and followed the conference virtually. I felt as if I really got “my money’s worth” from that conference because of all of the behind the scenes chatter.
This was my first time at FETC. It was definitely worth the trip and I hope I can get there again.
- misstizzy (Twitter name)
I couldn’t agree more. I was also at the after hours meet up and that was where I learned about how others were using Twitter at the conference. Boy, did that open my eyes up quickly! I’m very excited about using Twitter now! I gained a wealth of knowledge just by following some more people and also getting to meet them face to face!
Very good points about the doors Twitter has opened. I couldn’t agree more.