An Organizers Reflection of #EdCampOmaha

It's about time. A week later, I'm finally carving out some time on a beautiful Saturday afternoon to reflect about another amazing EdCamp Omaha.

Because I'm so late, I've had the opportunity to read some insightful reflections of the day from the people that matter the most - the attendees. Because they all captured the day so well, I'm going to direct you to all of their blog posts and reflect on some other things from an organizers perspective. Thanks to Michelle, Michelle, Darin, Guy, Ann, Brent, Alex, Jennifer, Kristina, the camera-toting teacher Laura and all the others who gave their feedback about the day. I truly appreciate the feedback and hope we can address some of the critiques that I've seen as well. We are far from perfect, but I feel we learn more each year and I really like how we do things at EdCamp Omaha.
One of the most important times for me is the before and after of EdCamps. Twitter allows educators to connect on a regular basis, but I really love the opportunity to sit down with people in a more social setting. It allows you to get to know them a little more personally. Saturday night a group of 8-10 of us went to The Blatt for supper. I shared something that had been rolling in my head for a while - attendance. To be clear, I'm not disappointed in our attendance, even though it was slightly less than the last two years. I don't concern myself with having x number of people, because when we had 60 people show up, the conversations were just as rich as when we've had 130. But if you click on any of the links above, you read about how energizing of an experience EdCamp is, how refreshing being around all of those passionate educators is, and how attendees leave wanting more professional development like this - how many times do you hear people want more professional development? 
During one of the breaks, I got to talk with Joe from NE Loves PS, one of our local sponsors who does GREAT work across the state (they even let me on their blog!). We talked about the quality of educator that attends EdCamp Omaha (any EdCamp, for that matter) and we both agreed that, while there are definitely others like them out there, these educators realize this isn't an 8-4 job. They genuinely love education, kids, and being a learner. 
It got me to thinking more about how do we get more people there, so they can feel the same feelings that you read about in the posts above? I don't have a great answer, but Saturday evening allowed me to do some brainstorming with those at Blatt. We'll never get 1000 teachers there. Things happen. Life happens. My wife reminds me often that our target demographic is 25-55ish (*edited after comments & more reflection :)) year olds, working people, many married, many with kids. Giving up a Saturday is tough, and as the father of three I completely understand and am not criticizing them. But I know that there are educators out there in that demographic who would have a better understanding of why I, with three kids, have made time the last four years for a dozen EdCamps if we just get them in the door. Why three people traveled 6+ hours to come last week. Why about 20 more traveled over 2 hours. They would see how empowering it is to have a voice and learn with others who were born to do what they do. Another analogy that I've been think about is that EdCamps are kind of like churches - if you are a religious person, it's a no-brainer that you make time to attend church regularly. But how often do you bring someone new with you? How easy is it for you to explain what you get out of attending in a way that someone else is compelled to devote time and energy to attending (I'm horrible at this)? It's something that I think about a lot and have been keeping more resources for next spring. I'm also hoping to infiltrate some other list serves after January 1st to get the word out a little better. Admittedly, we had significantly increased attendance the first three years so I wrongly assumed that EdCamp Omaha would promote itself. Live and learn.
EdCamp Omaha continues to be a great event and one that I'm very proud to organize with a wonderful minion like Kristina.

We have such great educators that give up their time to make the day so great, I just hope we can share the wealth some more!
Thanks to everyone who attended and reflected! You really make the time and effort easily worth it! Follow our website http://edcampomaha.wikispaces.com and @EdCampOmaha - we've hopefully got a big announcement coming in the future!

An Open Letter to #nebedu

To those of you who use the #nebedu hashtag, I wanted to take a minute to say thanks. Last May, I put a blog post out begging for you to come forward and share all of the great things that you were doing in your schools. Other states had done it...Why not Nebraska? In talking with you at conferences like NETA, I knew many of you had great experiences to share and you knew others that had great experiences to share. In a little more than 6 months, #nebedu, along with #nebedchat (Wednesday nights at 8pm*, hat tip to lead instigator Chris Stogdill), are true testaments to the great educators across the state. In talking with my good friend Kristina last month, we were discussing our strengths and specialties as it relates to professional development. I couldn't really think of what mine was (being involved K-12 will do that to you). I finally settled on, "I know the right people to ask questions of!" That is all a testament to the great sharing that you all are doing.
As with any online interactions, they are greatly enhanced when you get to meet and interact face-to-face. I encourage you to mark your calendars for EdCamp Omaha on March 23, 2013. EdCamps are education un-conferences - no fancy keynotes, no corporate driven agendas, just you, sharing with other colleagues who are passionate about all areas of education. ALL attendees have the opportunity to facilitate a discussion on what THEY are passionate about - and its all free. Yes - free, choose your own, professional development. You can find out more about EdCamps on the "What is an EdCamp?" page of our wiki. Please consider joining us.
So, as we all get ready to hop in our cars or open our doors to relatives and share in a Thanksgiving feast, I give thanks to all of you for making education in Nebraska better.





*#nebedchat is taking a break this week and will return on Nov 28th talking about homework and moderated by Jodie Morgenson.

Simply Amazing - My Thoughts on EdCamp Omaha

This past weekend was amazing. In a number of ways. First of all, it snowed. Which isn't terribly abnormal, except we had tornados in the area three days before that. That sequence fits into the old (read: I'm tired of it) saying about Nebraska: "If you don't like the weather, stick around for a while."

But this weekend was really amazing because I got to be in the same building with seventy highly intelligent people who were able to give up their Saturday, brave the weather, and share all the cool stuff they know. It was sometimes difficult to tell the difference between who'd been an educator for 30 years or 30 weeks. Everyone contributed. Everyone made a difference. 
Since last weekend, I've seen that difference being taken back to the classrooms. Through Twitter and a few other meetings I've attended this week, I see and hear people sharing what was shared. It's the exact reason we did EdCamp. We wanted people to come and share and learn. And they did. We ALL did. From the 70 people in person to the 15-20 that were regularly online to those checking out the #edcampomaha hashtag to the who knows how many more who've been watching our recorded sessions, we are sharing the great things that we learned. Why? Because we care about the kids that we teach. We want to do a better job. We are good at what we do, but we can still learn from others and others can learn from us. It's amazing. I mentioned at the end of EdCamp that EdCamps are important places because it's where rich, meaningful conversations begin. But it's all for not if you don't continue those conversations when you get back to your classrooms. There is often a hangover when you get back to the "real world" and find that not everyone is as like-minded as those that you spent your Saturday with. But that's when you turn back to the EdCamp Community - the Twitter feed, the blog posts, the recorded sessions - and recharge your "edubattery" (hat tip to Dale Holt).
On Saturday night a group of us went out for supper and someone (my apologies for not remembering who) made the observation how positive the vibe at EdCamp was. I hadn't thought about that until then. It wasn't all cupcakes and sunshine, but the focus was less on what's being done to us and more on what we can do to make our learning environments better. I really think that's when change happens. When you stop complaining and start the process of moving forward. But Becky Goerend said it best at the end of her blog recap - "Where's the action? Where do I go from here?" That's not easy to answer. Hopefully we can turn our conversations into actions. 
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who made the day such an amazing event. 


There have already been talks about similar events in Nebraska and we will definitely be getting the word out about EdCamp Omaha 2012 in the future. Check out the EdCamp wiki for the upcoming EdCamps in your area. We will be adding more reflections of EdCamp Omaha to our wikispace.


Again, thanks to the EdCamp Omaha planning crew, the College of Ed at UNO, and, most importantly, even who had a part in making the day simply amazing.

Why EdCamp Is Important To Me

EdCamp Omaha has been on my mind a lot lately. It's little things. Like making sure we have some coin for some sort of breakfast/snack. I wanted to do it in our district because I have the cell phone numbers of people when I'd need them (like IT). But we aren't. And that's perfectly fine. I trust the people we are working with. The hands on (read: control freak) in me struggles with it some days.
So last weekend I got together with Jason Schmidt, Michelle Baldwin, Kristina Peters, and Barb Gilman at Goodnights to chat about EdCamp Omaha and life in general. Jason had never met any of us in person. Kristina and I, while we hung out a bit at EdCamp KC, really didn't know each other. So we just sat and chatted about a variety of things and got to know everyone better.
You wouldn't have known it was our first time hanging out. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. And all because of the interactions on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. I think it's really hard to compare online vs face to face relationships. I think in this age there is a place for both. There are things that Paul, Andy, and Ryan - guys I've known since high school and college - know about me and experiences we've shared that won't ever happen with people online. They are a business owner, banker, and optometrist. Highly intelligent, but not embedded in education like Jason, Michelle, Kristina, and Barb.  Because of the latter's shared interest in education and Twitter, we've been able to develop a friendship online that easily transitioned to face to face.
Which brings me to EdCamp. EdCamp is not a technology conference. It is not a Twitter conference. EdCamp is face to face social learning. Think interactive professional development. You are not talked at, you're talked with. Don't be surprised if you see at EdCamp Omaha, like you've seen at other EdCamps and conferences, people who have started relationships online will carry them in to the face to face environment. EdCamps are designed for sharing from all attendees and the relationships developed prior to the event make that come quickly and naturally. Does that mean you need to be on Twitter prior to EdCamp? Absolutely not. We don't know everything. We need good ideas. We need YOUR experiences. We need them because we want to do what's best for kids.
As we wrapped up our gathering last week, the stress of how many granola bars we are going to be able to provide lifted off my shoulders. I was stoked to get back together with them and have similar experiences with the rest of the EdCamp Omaha attendees. A wise man emailed me a couple weeks ago and said "if 80 people show up, we'll have a great event with 80 educators" (for the record, we're dang close to 100). He's right. We want everyone to be there, but family takes priority and life gets in the way. And I'd never argue against that. Whoever is there, in person or online, will contribute to what is going to be a great event. And you can bet, when we get home, we'll share what we learned from you. We can't wait to meet you in person.