Luke Allen's Page

Strike Three!

Like many others, I was awaiting word from ISTE (the conference formerly known as NECC) this week, anxious to learn if my proposal had been accepted for a conference session. Well, it wasn't, and of course, my first reaction, again, was the one of disappointment that generally comes along with being "rejected." But then came word that many other colleagues, all marvelous educators and presenters, were likewise "rejected". I started to feel like I was in pretty good company and that not presenting does have some advantages. Just think of the money I'll save by not attending!

And then another thought came to mind. I will have presented my sessions at multiple conferences in the last couple of years. I reach more people at those conferences than I ever could with one trip to ISTE ! Of course, the expression "big fish in a small pond" does come to mind too!

I'm beginning to think that my sessions are, perhaps, just too practical for what the folks at ISTE perceive as their "audience." All I know for sure is that my sessions have, at times, drawn over 100 people, so I must be doing something right for "my audience."

(In the interest of conserving verbiage, portions of this post have been recycled from a previous post.)

It's That Time of Year!

October typically marks the start of my conference season, and this year has been no exception. If you've glanced at my schedule in the left sidebar, you may have noticed that I started with a new conference, at least for me, ITEC, in Iowa. Even a new conference, though, means some of the same familiar faces.

After you've put in time doing conferences for several years, it becomes apparent that there is a hard-core of presenters who make the rounds year after year. I'm not referring to the Keynote speakers, with their national reputations and substantial fees to support them. Rather I refer to the ones who, like me, continue to present at conferences from year to year, despite little, if any, in the way of financial compensation. Occasionally, a conference may pick us up as a featured speaker and at least cover our expenses, but I don't think any of us really expect to get rich doing this. We do it because it's part of who we are and what we do. We do it for the sense of satisfaction one can get, knowing that our efforts are truly appreciated by those attending our sessions. When I retired from classroom teaching over 5 years ago, some of my colleagues at the time asked if I was going to give up the tech conferences since they didn't pay. Well, look at my schedule. That's my answer...I'm doing more conferences each year in my retirement than I ever did when I was working full-time. And besides, as I told them, "How can I give this up? It's too much fun!"