{"id":346,"date":"2014-12-07T22:29:16","date_gmt":"2014-12-08T03:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.coast2coast.me\/carl\/?p=346"},"modified":"2014-12-07T22:29:16","modified_gmt":"2014-12-08T03:29:16","slug":"my-mtbos-booth-ideas-for-the-upcoming-nctm-conference-in-boston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coast2coast.me\/carl\/2014\/12\/07\/my-mtbos-booth-ideas-for-the-upcoming-nctm-conference-in-boston\/","title":{"rendered":"My #MTBoS Booth Ideas For The Upcoming NCTM Conference In Boston"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>So a while ago Tina Cardone mentioned the idea of having an #MTBoS booth at the upcoming NCTM Annual Meeting in Boston.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" width=\"550\">\n<p>Looking for a few people interested in helping to staff a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MTBoS?src=hash\">#MTBoS<\/a> booth at NCTM Boston. Talk up your fave aspects, sell the kool aid.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Tina Cardone (@crstn85) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/crstn85\/status\/513834139511181313\">September 21, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Since then I&#8217;ve been thinking about\u00a0how this whole thing could\u00a0be good not just for the #MTBoS, but also for the NCTM as well, as it could proactively address 2\u00a0of the\u00a0common criticisms when it comes to these events. \u00a0People often complain that the conferences have a lack of internet, that talks don&#8217;t contain the most up-to-date information, and these could be addressed pretty simply with a little bit of organization and coordination.<\/p>\n<p>1. \u00a0Internet Access<\/p>\n<p>From what I understand, internet access at a conference center like that is going to be mad expensive. \u00a0As long as there is a cellular connection, a Wi-Fi hotspot could provide internet access to a presenter and perhaps a few particpants with computers, which could really transform some of the possibilities for a presentation. \u00a0Three or four people with hotspots could possibly provide connections for everyone in the room with a device. \u00a0Suddenly, the conference is taking a couple of strong steps towards the 20th century and with just a small bit of coordination from the #MTBoS booth.<\/p>\n<p>The booth could help provide a place where the organization for this internet access could happen. \u00a0Before the conference, presenters\u00a0could go to some website and announce that they would welcome having people come with Wi-Fi hotpots. The\u00a0participants with hotspots can go on the same website, and let the participants know that they will be coming. \u00a0When the conference starts, those people can stop by the booth where someone may be ready with extension cords, surge protectors, and cardstock table tents.\u00a0 The\u00a0participants can write the SSID and password information on the table tents, and the table tents can provide a little advertising\u00a0to draw people back to the booth. \u00a0The participant can then leave from the booth and head up to the presentation room, introduce themselves to the presenter, set up their WiFi spot near an open outlet, and enjoy the talk that they were planning on going to anyways.<\/p>\n<p>Having participants and presenters work directly to have internet at this conference will be a good way to showcase the importance of having internet access at NCTM conferences. \u00a0At the same time, NCTM would probably have to pay craploads of money for internet access because I&#8217;m assuming that is what conferences charge. \u00a0The NCTM is, at the end of the day, just a bunch of teachers getting together, so there probably are not funds available in the near future to bankroll internet access for their conferences. \u00a0A crowd-sourced solution like the one above may be the best way to provide access to conference-goers for the near future.<\/p>\n<p>2. \u00a0&#8220;Un-Conference&#8221;\/Open Spaces Meeting<\/p>\n<p>If you look at the <a href=\"http:\/\/nctm.confex.com\/nctm\/2015AM\/webprogram\/meeting.html\">conference program<\/a>, most of the talks will be done by 4:30. \u00a0They shut things down at this early afternoon time perhaps to give participants time to reflect on what they learned. \u00a0Perhaps the booth could, with just a touch of organization, allow people to come together and do that reflection alongside many other like-minded teachers. \u00a0The term &#8220;Un-Conference&#8221; may be a bit of overkill, but the <a href=\"http:\/\/slav.global2.vic.edu.au\/2014\/06\/04\/unconference-and-teachmeet-models-explained\/#.VIUV2THF-So\">concept\u00a0<\/a>seems to be what I&#8217;m describing. \u00a0For an hour or so, at the end of each day, people can come together and hang out around the booth, or other locations, to talk to, and learn from, each other.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone conference participant\u00a0can decide that day to bring up a topic for conversation. Perhaps someone wants to show off a new idea that they learned. \u00a0Maybe\u00a0a number of people want to talk about current events that are on a lot of people&#8217;s minds. \u00a0Or maybe a presenter, who had a lot of discussion\u00a0going in her\u00a0talk, could offer her\u00a0participants a chance to come back and finish the conversation.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of the day, the people could come to the booth, see which of the things they want to talk about, and then join the rest of the interested people to talk in the food court, or an empty room, or perhaps at a nearby bar. \u00a0It would only require that the booth have a cork board and some post-it notes, but it could make for a valuable addition to the conference program.<\/p>\n<p>So\u00a0those are my ideas, what do you think?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So a while ago Tina Cardone mentioned the idea of having an #MTBoS booth at the upcoming NCTM Annual Meeting in Boston. Looking for a few people interested in helping to staff a #MTBoS booth at NCTM Boston. Talk up your fave aspects, sell the kool aid. &mdash; Tina Cardone (@crstn85) September 21, 2014 Since [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xz6U-5A","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coast2coast.me\/carl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coast2coast.me\/carl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coast2coast.me\/carl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coast2coast.me\/carl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coast2coast.me\/carl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.coast2coast.me\/carl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":347,"href":"https:\/\/www.coast2coast.me\/carl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346\/revisions\/347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coast2coast.me\/carl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coast2coast.me\/carl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coast2coast.me\/carl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}