Don't Miss These Great Activities at CUE and ISTE!

There are two great ed tech conferences coming up that do a terrific job of supporting innovative, community-related projects around their annual events:  CUE (March 17 - 19 in Palm Springs) and ISTE (June 26 - 29 in Philadelphia).  And, as you'll see, we even can provide something for those who aren't even attending the events!  Each conference allows us to host:

AN EDUBLOGGERCON
The first ever EduBloggerCon took place at the Shakey's Pizza Parlor during CUE in Palm Springs five years ago, and there were just two of us there (my annual big shout out to Barbara Barreda)!  Now a regular event at several conferences each year, EduBloggerCon is an opportunity for those who are interested in the use of social media in education to gather in "unconference" style and share--the agenda gets set when we arrive together.  You don't have to be a blogger to come, beginners are MOST welcome, and EduBloggerCon is always free!  CUE EduBloggerCon is on Wednesday, March 26th, from 4 - 8pm.  CUE provides us with the meeting space and free power and wireless--so bring your laptop, your desire to learn, and join us from at the Palm Springs Convention Center in the Mesquite F room.  ISTE EduBloggerCon is on Saturday, June 25th, all day!  More details on both events can be found at http://www.EduBloggerCon.com.  Please join us!

AN "UNPLUGGED" PROGRAM
If you've ever wanted to speak at CUE, ISTE, or a conference at all, but have never had the chance, now is your time!  CUEunplugged and ISTEunplugged are series of concurrent sessions that are held in a  presentation area where anyone can sign up to give short presentations.  Really!  Maybe you've been trying to work up the courage to present, and just need this encouragement.  Or maybe you are an expert presenter, but a topic you wanted to speak on came up after the deadline to submit to speak.  In either case, or for any other reason, all you have to do to speak at CUE or ISTE this year is to sign up on the wiki in free slot:  http://www.CUEunplugged.com or http://www.ISTEunplugged.com.  All of the Unplugged sessions are also streamed live through Elluminate, so if you can't attend CUE or ISTE physically you can still watch some of the activity remotely!  (I'm also looking for some volunteers to help organize and attend to the Elluminate streaming at both shows.  Let me know if you can help by emailing steve@hargadon.com.)

AN OPEN SOURCE SPEAKERS SERIES
Check the programs of both conferences for these, but just a quick shout-out of appreciation to the show organizers for supporting Open Source.  CUE also lets us set up dozens of computers using Linux and Open Source Software in a lab setting so that you can see what Open Source is and how it works.  Look for the lab at CUE (it's hard to miss us because the lab becomes the conference evaluation station!), and consider coming to some of our sessions at either conference!

A BLOGGERS' CAFE
Look for the Bloggers' Cafe areas at CUE and ISTE--they are greats place to socialize, grab some network access, and relax with others.  You don't have to be a blogger here either, but it's a fun place to put faces to the names of your blogging, tweeting, Second Life, or other online friends!  Again, beginners MOST welcome!

Here's to the crowd-sourced activities at these conferences, and to forward-thinking conference organizers!