Before the Jump: Summit Takeaways

I presented at my first EdTechTeam Google Summit on March 11th and 12th and this is what I learned from it. So, I found out 3 days prior to the conference that I was bumped from Day 2, Session 7 to Day 1, Session 1 due to a presenter’s unfortunate ill-timed relationship with a stomach virus. Holy crap! (no pun intended)

I would be the first presenter that many people would see. I am the introduction of what this conference means for people. I was the WalMart greeter of the Google Summit and I was super pumped and nervous. I remember when I went to my first summit and the feeling of the unknown. I practically worshiped those presenters/ rock stars. Ok, so I might be a closet groupie. The idea behind it is, I want to provide a high-quality experience to those who are new.

I hold Google Summits to a high standard and I want to live up to that standard.

After a fantastic keynote by Molly Schroeder Bennett, everyone was dismissed to Session 1. The room was packed and the people were ready. I played music too loud and started too early out of nerves. And, I didn’t take many pictures. See my one tweet.

But, I knew my content and enjoyed sharing the stage with my good friend & self-proclaimed magician’s assistant Kirsten Radford. The feedback was positive as people came up to me after and said they learned a lot. I was relieved and grateful. I’m going to do it again and I think I will add another session.

Takeaways:

1. I learned that I am a good presenter. But, I will improve only with practice.
2. I learned that EdTechTeam summit participants deservedly need immediately usable information, not just knowledge.
3. I learned that relationship-building is as important as the information gained at conferences.
4. I met many people whom I now will call on to help my growth as a teacher.

Here’s a short video of a 4th grader who ski-jumped a 40m for the first time. I completely empathize with her. It’s exactly what I went through. The actual jump is secondary… Listen to her at the end… its a gem. Thank you to all the wonderful presenters I was honored to interact with this weekend. Jazzy Hands.

Cross-posted from techfrye.com

Jonathan Frye
Google Certified Educator
Google Certified Trainer
NBCT
Bedford, VA

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