ISTE Reflections

And just like that, we’re back at Cupboard HQ! But last week at #ISTELive in Denver, Colorado, USA ???? can only be described as phenomenal!???

My first time visit to the USA was 4 years in the making after having tried to make the trip to Anaheim in 2020 only to be interrupted by a global pandemic. How rude! ??

However, it was certainly worth the wait! I had high expectations for ISTE after hearing so much about it over the last 5 years and it certainly didn’t disappoint. ISTE was special, very special. The most powerful aspects of the conference were the learning, the people and the community. Seeing over 12,000 educators gather over the course of 4 days to learn and connect with one another made the whole experience inspirational and memorable ??

The awesomeness started from the moment I arrived at Heathrow and continued for the rest of the week. ISTE was only scheduled for Sunday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon, but my ISTE started on the plane and didn’t really end until I got home! Visiting the Convention Center on Saturday morning at 8am to pick up my badge and reluctantly leaving at 1:30pm to get some pre-conference stuff sorted, should paint a picture of how great the unplanned awesomeness was! Simply put, an amazing week!???

Lots of people told me that they didn’t believe that this was my first time to the USA or ISTE as I seemed to know so many people and so many people seemed to know me. I have been very fortunate to have been able to connect with so many educators worldwide through the work we did together over the pandemic with Global GEG and connections on social media. Bringing these connections to life, in person, after years of online collaboration was a special feeling indeed and certainly made my first ISTE extra special!???

I have far too many people to thank for everything last week, and word counts won’t let me include everyone, but I wanted to highlight just some of the very special folks below.

Al Kingsley MBE - Thank you for making everything possible! I am forever grateful for your kindness and support!

Evo Hannan and Embeth van der Wal - Thank you both for being my closest conference buddies over the course of the 5 days and for the invaluable encouragement, conversations and advice.

Team NetSupport ( Matt Jones , Katie H. , Maggie Layfield , Matt Fielding and Daniel Dickman ) - Thank you for looking after me at every step of the journey!

Suzana Somers - The superstar influencer! Thank you so much for looking after me, for the guided tour of Denver and the surrounding mountains, and of course the tons of invaluable encouragement, conversations and advice.

Emma Pass - For the wonderful gifts, conversations and being my Denver guide.

Kaylah H. and Greta Sandler - My fellow Featured Voices! Thank you for your never ending kindness and support.

Stephanie Howell - Thank you for constantly pushing me and for smashing every presentation we do together. It was a delight to finally present with you in person!

Team GlobalGEG ( Bonnie Chelette , Stephanie Rothstein , Stephanie Howell , Frederick Ballew , Judy Keller , Jennifer Hall, NBCT , Clay Smith , Melissa Gomez Summerford , Shantel Scott, Ed.D. ) - Thank you for supporting thousands of educators around the world over the pandemic and making all the connections possible!

Daniel Cyckowski and Kaylee Baldwin - My #DUB23 buddies! Thank you for your company, kindness and friendship!

Team #LON19 ( Rachel Dunne , Cris Turple , Matthew Mah, Emma Pass , Clay Smith ) - For being part of the foundations that made this all possible!

Kat Crawford - For the great conversation over dinner and aiming to put the EdTech world to rights!

Nicole L. Lipps , Rachel Lemansky , Ted Samaras - For your wonderful support and treating me like some kinda mega star!

Jonathan Coleman , from Wonde and Paul Alberry from Secure Schools - Thank you for one of the most powerful conversations I had at ISTE. I’m very excited at what we might be able to do together in the very near future.

Tom Mullaney - For the great conversation and your ongoing support for such an important cause.

Eric Curts - Thank you for everything you do for the education world. Thank you for the great games night and thank you for being ever so kind and your support and encouragement.

Barbara Bray , Matt Miller, Dee Lanier and Ken Shelton - Thank you all for the signed copies of your books and especially Ken for the wonderful words of kindness and encouragement.

Santi Khairassame and Jennie Magiera - For hosting a wonderful panel for Asian educators.

Team Canva for Education ( Marcia McInnes , Tisha Richmond , Elisabeth Bostwick , Rebecca Collins , Melissa Beazley , Kara Predatsch , Scott Nunes ) - You are all utterly awesome! Thank you for a wonderful Canvassador breakfast and the special shout out!

Team Kami ( Marcus Stein , Hengjie Wang , Belsa Rios , Stephanie Howell , Melissa Gomez Summerford ) - Thank you for the delicious breakfast and the wonderful prize!

Richard Culatta and Team ISTE - For highlighting me as one of the Featured Voices, and the ISTE events team for letting me take home a very special souvenir!

There are so many more people to thank, but I’d be here forever if I did and I sincerely apologise for missing you out. Just know that if we connected at ISTE in any way, YOU played a huge part in making this experience immensely memorable for me and for that, I will forever be grateful.

As always, Alhamdulillah for everything. Nothing would be possible without the will of the Almighty.

#AbidsWorldTour is on hold for a few months for the time being, but it will return soon with some epic new adventures. As for now, it’s time to get down to work, following up with some of the learnings and takeaways from ISTE and hopefully lay some foundations for the future!

Of course, #SelfiesDidHappen and here is a collection of collages capturing just a few of the special moments! If you took any photos with me, please do send them my way!?

#ISTE #ISTELive #ISTELive24 #Denver #Colorado #USA #AbidsWorldTour #AbidintheUSA #EdTech #Education #Conference #Learning #Networking #Growth #PLN