A whole bunch of my Twitter friends were at the Stamats conference in Tampa, FL. I tired to follow right along with them as they listened to presentation, and I really enjoyed their back channel discussions. I also joined in on the drinks and discussions streamed live on UStream. Well, I actually I wasn't able to stay up that late, but I made sure to catch up with them the next morning while having my first couple of cups of coffee in the office.
Pretty incredible.
What really intrigues me though is that I don’t really know any of them, but I'm learning from them all of the time. Brad’s the only Twitter friend (I’ve got about 50) that I’ve ever met. Even then it was only a quick introduction. Still, I do feel like these are real relationships. Not to be blown off as just some people I talk to on Twitter. I don’t think others in my office understand that. Wife gets it, mostly because I asked one of my Twitter buddies to help me score an interview.
Any way, back on track, my goal is to get through all of the information on Stamats that all my Twitter friends distributed during the conference. A bunch of them are writing reflection pieces on what they learned at Stamats08. I’m going to write about what I learned while not at Stamats08.
You may work at an institution with limited resources or a culture that doesn’t necessarily see the value of professional development. If that’s the case, creating relationships on tools like FB, Twitter and reading blogs of experts in the field are a great resource for you. I’ll get to work compiling everything and then will write my post. I’ll avoid the “what I Learned at Stamats08” posts and see how similar my experience sitting on my butt in Vermont was to those who were in sunny Tampa, FL.
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Love this post, it's always pretty incredible to see how far a conference can reach, and when it does... how likely those that "got a taste" might be willing to come to the conference the next year.
ReplyDeleteGlad that your wife gets it as well. My wife sometimes struggles to understand why 600+ people care what I have to say. Heck, I do too. But they are meaningful relationships.
Lol, crazy isn't it? Look forward to reading your "Reflections from not attending Stamats 2008" post.
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