So far, I’m a bit confused as to how these educational conferences are supposed to be better/different than tech conferences.  Other than the much higher conference fees that is.  Yesterday’s sessions didn’t begin until the afternoon – it’s really only 3 days worth of sessions spread over 4 days – and I obviously selected the wrong room/session for at least an hour of my day.  While the abstracts seemed interesting the presentations were scattered.  Little background was provided for international research (context people, context) and don’t get me started on the poorly constructed PPTs used in the sessions.

Granted, there is an equal amount of enthusiam and passion for their work in the ed conference as previously experienced in tech conferences.  However, there’s limited WIFI.  Scratch that.  There’s none that I’ve been able to find at this particular junction.  Borning PPTs = 3, Useful technology = 0.

I know we get rather attached to our own research but I’m a bit disappointed at the quality of response to questions and criticisms.  I thought the reasoning behind presenting work was to gain insight from peers.  Too many of the presenters I’ve seen to date are reacting as if any criticism of their methods or conclusions is a personal attack.  How can we learn and grow if we can’t remain objective?

Today I’m skipping the morning keynote and session B to attend to some errands.  Since most of my co-workers will be missing many of the weekend sessions – and since I’m attending as a student rather than a representative of my employer – I’m not feeling too guilty about it.  After all, ’twas I that paid the conference fees.

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