Edtech Share Fair 2015

There are two things I can say about March.  One is that it has been extremely busy...KySTE and the snowmaggedon.....ASCD in Houston....and last but not least, our first ever Edtech Share Fair.   The second thing I can say about March is that I have way too many "Post-.... Wrapup" entries.  So just to be contrary, I'm just calling this one "Edtech Share Fair 2015."  I know, I know.....the educational world is trembling at my non-conformity.

The Share Fair story lends itself well to pictures and tweets; more on that in a moment.  I will say how extremely pleased I was at the turnout (over 50 attendees, including visitors from Henry and Nelson County!), the modern facility (the newly christened Blair Center next to Southside Elementary) and of course, the presenters themselves.  All nine deserve acclaim, so I'll list them now: Makenzi Hunter, Mindi Keiner-Rummel, Maddie Meyer, Adam Hicks, Lindsay Ricke, Karen Falkenstine, James Wampler, Bart Roettger, and Eric Miracle.  (Congrats also to Adam Hicks and Lindsay Ricke for just being named Teachers of the Year at their schools!)  We were also fortunate enough to get written up in our local newspaper, The Sentinel News. The article by Ashley Wilkins is here.

From the website.  Grab a copy on the newsstand today!

I run the risk of sounding like an Oscar speech, but I want to publicly thank several people that made the Edtech Share Fair a success.  I was blessed with the support of our superintendent James Neihof and deputy superintendent Lisa Smith, who encouraged me to run with the idea and think as big as possible.  Our CIO Tommy Hurt and his IT team made sure the tech was in place to ooh and ahhh the crowd.  Our staff developer Lora Shields helped out behind the scenes and at our Share Fair check-in desk, making sure everything went smooth.  Our Instructional Coaches worked tirelessly these last few months, from getting teachers to put in a presentation proposals to getting attendees to the event; in particular, a huge shoutout to Fox DeMoisey, Maggie Terry, and Robyn Marcum for being part of our Share Fair committee who sifted through proposals, gave good advice, and were there to help as the event was running.   Last but not least, thank you to anyone that came. Without an audience, the presenters would have had a looooong afternoon staring at each other.  I truly hoped you had good takeaways!

And now the promised tweets and pictures!  I put together a Storify that captures the event well.

Did you go to the Share Fair?  Feel free to leave your Comments about the event below.