Back while I was still in college, I used to help plan conferences/events for the Mankato Residence Hall Association (RHA) and National Residence Hall Honorary. It was a job that I enjoyed immensely - in fact many times I tell my husband (he ironically was Bemidji's RHAs equivalent) that if I ever left teaching I would become an event planner. When I proposed to Tom that we should bring EdCamp to Minneapolis-St. Paul, needless to say all of that conference planning experience came back. We have had two camps thus far - EdCampMSPJune 2012 and EdCampMSP 2012 (in November) and we are gearing up for #3.
A few weeks ago my husband and I were at a conference. I instantly compared the event to the experience that we provide for EdCampMSP attendees. The sessions were stand and deliver, the schedule was preset, conversations about passions were limited and it was extremely expensive. Needless to say, my experience with EdCamp has raised the bar in what I expect for learning - especially if I am paying for it. Needless to say I left as an unhappy conference attendee.
As Tom and I started thinking about EdCampMSP 2013 - we talked a lot about what we wanted to bring to EdCampMSP. I pulled out more notes from my college days and started to think about how Tom and I could expand the EdCamp in order to bring together more than 80 people. It will take a small army of dedicated volunteers to pull it off, yet we started a planning role document that details each of the little tasks that makes EdCampMSP a success.
Although I can tell you that Tom and I did get the first task out of the way and chose a date... drumroll please ...
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Second task - location, which still is to be determined. No worries however, we read each line of feedback from EdCampMSP 2012 and we will be having a larger space where we can have those conversations that mean so much.
There are a few hundred more tasks to undertake - if you are interested in joining in the fun let us know by visiting our volunteer page. If you aren't ready to join our volunteer team, we will provide a reminder to register when it opens on August 19th. Or if you have an idea of what you would like to see - leave it down in the comments.
A few weeks ago my husband and I were at a conference. I instantly compared the event to the experience that we provide for EdCampMSP attendees. The sessions were stand and deliver, the schedule was preset, conversations about passions were limited and it was extremely expensive. Needless to say, my experience with EdCamp has raised the bar in what I expect for learning - especially if I am paying for it. Needless to say I left as an unhappy conference attendee.
As Tom and I started thinking about EdCampMSP 2013 - we talked a lot about what we wanted to bring to EdCampMSP. I pulled out more notes from my college days and started to think about how Tom and I could expand the EdCamp in order to bring together more than 80 people. It will take a small army of dedicated volunteers to pull it off, yet we started a planning role document that details each of the little tasks that makes EdCampMSP a success.
Although I can tell you that Tom and I did get the first task out of the way and chose a date... drumroll please ...
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Second task - location, which still is to be determined. No worries however, we read each line of feedback from EdCampMSP 2012 and we will be having a larger space where we can have those conversations that mean so much.
There are a few hundred more tasks to undertake - if you are interested in joining in the fun let us know by visiting our volunteer page. If you aren't ready to join our volunteer team, we will provide a reminder to register when it opens on August 19th. Or if you have an idea of what you would like to see - leave it down in the comments.
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