Databus Issue: 2009 1 03/31/2008
2008 Conference Review
Russ Brawn President
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Attendees of the 2008 Sacramento conference have a good tale to tell. That is the basic feedback received by the CETP Board from participants, including the attendees themselves and from vendors and speakers. As Board members we are prone to see the annual conference through a different lens, so feedback from the attendee and vendor constituencies is most valuable. On one level it is simply gratifying to receive positive information and expressions of gratitude for the considerable efforts that led to another successful event. In a more measured way, all feedback including suggestions for improvement and sharing of (thankfully rare) disappointing experiences enables the Board to operate in a continuous improvement model as we work on the 2009 event. It is probably no surprise that visioning for, planning and execution of tasks that will culminate in next year’s San Diego installation of our annual conference are well underway. What may be surprising is that some detail relating to 2010, our 50th annual conference in which we return once again to Monterey, is also in the works. But as those times are sufficiently far in our futures, we’ll dwell a little longer on recounting 2008.
The work leading to this conference spanned more than a year, but obviously intensified as the date of the event drew ever closer. Board members, together with individual and corporate volunteers became increasingly active, finally immersing themselves in on-site activities beginning the Sunday preceding the Tuesday opening of the conference. The pace, though admittedly enjoyable on some addictive level, waned only occasionally until Friday’s sessions were complete, the packing up, and for many the golfing was done. Throughout the week each Board member took note of the conference progress. Observations of the good, the bad, the indifferent, the lucky and the unfortunate aspects were all fuel for post-conference evaluation. That Saturday started with serious recounting and debriefing among the Board along with hotel and conference center staffs.
Going into the conference, CETPA was confident in our fit to the first rate facilities of both the Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel and the Sacramento Convention Center. We further anticipated the professional, courteous and friendly manner of management and their staffs, and the competence evident in carrying out their assignments as hosts to our attendees and vendor participants. They proved to be exceptional as was the case during our previous time there. What came as a surprise was the reciprocity of appreciation. During the debriefing, both the Convention Center and Sheraton Grand representatives expressed how much they appreciated the straightforward and cooperative nature of the people taking part in the conference. Our hosts stated that, ‘We get all kinds...’ and asked that CETPA pass along their appreciation of the manner in which you all dialogued with the hotel and convention staff. It was a reminder to us just why we find it so enjoyable working with the community that is CETPA.
The spirit of our community is the chief reason why this and prior conferences have been so successful. Your fellow K-12 educational technology professionals from all across and beyond California contributed their knowledge, expertise and energies resulting in a new high water mark of 137 Breakout Sessions held from Tuesday through Friday morning. For several years annual conference breakouts have been organized as components within the four pillars of Secure, Reliable Infrastructure, Technology Tools for Education, Policy and Programs that Impact Education and Technology, and New Learning Environments. Presenters were selected speaker applicants from both K-12 colleagues and from our incredibly supportive vendor community. A full day of dual strands of Hands-On Labs offered opportunity to put concepts to practice; and three days total of varied offerings in CETPA’s inaugural Technology Pavilion combined to provide by a full schedule of K-12 learning opportunities unequaled in CETPA’s previous years (or by other conferences). The Pavilion was our most ambitious offering to date of technologies deployed as they might be housed within your home organization. Intended to promote collaboration, plus teaching and learning this was an exciting new endeavor for our conference. As before, Tech Talk sessions were held designed to the interests of the most technically involved among. These were opportunities to speak directly to vendor engineers, and were held within the Technology Pavilion, as were CETPA’s familiar and popular Network Operations Center and the 24-hour Internet Café.
Two Keynote presentations provided more global experiences for attendees. We were called to appreciate the value in acknowledging others, recognizing their contributions and offering thanks -- “Nice bike” as nationally known speaker Mark Scharenbroich would have us say. Teri Takai, Governor Schwarzenegger’s choice as California’s Chief Information Officer shared the demands of piecing together service models in a mega-challenged environment, offering insight applicable to all scales of problems. In other general sessions we experienced the progress of the CTO Mentor Program initiative, sharing the accomplishment and joy of 2008’s twenty graduates supported en masse by the class of 2007. And in a testament of reacting to emerging need, a special session, “Update on the California State Budget Shortfall” by CETPA governmental relations specialist Dr. Jeff Frost, was arranged just the week prior to the conference.
Further we were treated to video thank-yous to CETPA by the first two recipients of the Student Bridge to the Future scholarship program. Having our scholarship winners speak to their futures brought us to consider the reason we do what we do as did “Channel Islands Live", a real-time video feed and conference call with a diver in the waters of the Santa Barbara Channel Islands. This incredible experience, coordinated through the Ventura County Office of Education and the Channel Islands National Park, served as a thought provoking call to what can be done by technologists in support of education.
CETPA continued to receive unparalleled support from our vendor community. The products and services available to our organizations are critical to technologists being able to serve our clients in turn. Again the bar was raised as representatives of 183 companies participated in the day-long Vendor Exposition. This community’ support was not limited to their in-booth presence. Various vendors presented break-outs, lab sessions, tech talks and other sessions throughout the conference. And the vendors were generous in sponsoring items given away at registration or offered as raffle prizes; provided components of the technical infrastructure supporting the conference and provided expertise in putting that infrastructure in place, only to be dissolved a few days later. And memorably, after hours hospitality events and entertainment were provided, again free of charge to attendees. In its near legendary sense, the Annual CETPA Conference provided both a worthwhile time and a good time. Both are elements of the year’s best opportunity for professional and social networking. Vendor Hospitalities were held on Tuesday and Thursday, on both sides of CETPA’s traditional President’s Reception held on Wednesday. On Friday, the latest installment of CETPA’s “Best Ever” golf tournament took place, with more than 100 participants choosing to delay their return home in favor of a few more hours of camaraderie and continued networking
So, the 2008 conference theme remains relevant as “The Time is Now” for attention to be seriously re-directed to making the 2009 San Diego occurrence one worthy of following what we experienced in Sacramento. With your help we will present another chapter in what is established as K-12’s most concentrated and comprehensive resource supporting knowledge acquisition, staff development, marketplace awareness and highlighting of trends and issues relevant to educational technologies and services.
