So we’re getting ready to start doing some real heavy lifting on EduCon 2.1. The dates are announced — January 23 – 25 at SLA again. We’re going to be opening up reservations in the next month, and we will be capping the conference at 500, so that we can keep it small and keep it (primarily) at SLA, although we may be looking for a local place to do the big morning sessions. Also, given the funding cuts at the School District of Philadelphia, we are going to be charging $150 for the conference and using the overage to support SLA’s program. One thing that was true last year and will be true this year — no conference people made any money from EduCon. All of us volunteer the time to make the conference happen. If we’re going to ask people to pay more, I want to make sure that’s really understood… any leftover money would support SLA, not pay conference planners.

So here are some open ended thoughts and questions for everyone… if you attended or if you watched virtually, or if you just read about it…

1. What worked? What did you like about the conference?
2. What didn’t work about EduCon last year? Or what could have been better, even if it did work?
3. Could we / should we structured the Friday "Open School" day better or is it better to leave it as an open day?

Here are some things we’re thinking about doing for this year:

1. Work with the local museums and such to try to get discounts for EduCon attendees on Friday, so that people can come, see SLA, but then also have stuff to do in the afternoon.
2. And this I’m really excited about… try to get five or six speakers from outside the education world to speak on a Friday night TEDucation Talk — 15 minutes each on their ideas on the future of education with a reception to follow. I think that’d be really fun.
3. Get more of a push for K-8 sessions as well as 9-12 sessions, so that the K-8 folks who come have more to do. (We’ll need more presenters in general… *AHEM*)
4. Use the SLA Cafe as a Poster Session for teachers and students to present work.

And here’s the really big question that I don’t know the right answer to:

Do we turn SLA’s Drama Studio into an exhibit hall? We’ve been approached by one or two companies who have asked to be involved. Here’s the issue — SLA is no longer getting laptop funding from the School District, which means we’re on our own to raise money for 145 laptops every year. Grants and foundations are one avenue, but it’s not inconceivable that EduCon could help us get a lot of the way there every year while providing what will hopefully be a really good service to the education reform / edu-tech community every year. I liked being vendor neutral, but I also can’t ignore the financial realities that SLA faces. Having an exhibit hall could mean that we raise the money for the 2009-10 laptops through EduCon.

I feel very comfortable saying that the conference sessions will be vendor neutral. The sessions are about ideas and theory and practical application. If someone wants to run a podcasting session, it better be about more than how to use a product. We can set up a demo station room for people to learn how-tos, but the heart of the conference last year, in my opinion, were the incredible sessions, that’s not going to change.

I really do want feedback on this issue… I don’t know what the right answer there is. I know that I am as vocal a person as there is about being wary of the "Education-Industrial Complex," but I also know that there are a lot of good organizations out there who want to speak to the people who come to EduCon. And I also know that the educational technology reform movement is inextricably tied to companies that sell stuff. By letting companies see EduCon, by letting them talk to the folks who I believe are at the forefront of this movement, do we affect their practice as well? If we are transparent about the process, if we are careful in letting people know who is coming from where, etc… is that a good thing to bring to EduCon?

Tags: educon21, educon