I have been singing the praises of Infocomm/Educomm for a couple of =
years
now. I understand that travel time and money is at a premium these =
days, but
if you are gearing up for any major A/V purchases or looking to really =
check
out the up-and-coming technologies in projection, control, integration, =
etc.
then this is the conference for you. It is not at all expensive to join =
the
parent organization, for a non-retail A/V organization to join (your =
school)
it runs $300 for the basic membership for a year. This is also a great =
place
to learn about A/V in general with a ton of online courses.=20
Beyond that I believe someone else mentioned the AIMS Tech Retreat and =
ISTE,
which are the other ones I try to attend on a regular basis.
Chuck Andres
Technology Department
Theater Department
Norwood School
Bethesda, MD
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for independent school educators
[mailto:ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Curt Lieneck
Sent: Saturday, October 10, 2009 7:58 AM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: tech conference suggestions
With the growing demands for A/V services and products of all kinds, =20
it has been very helpful for me to attend InfoComm, probably the =20
biggest A/V trade show of them all. While a trade show is different =20
from a conference, it is a great learning opportunity. Pretty much =20
every vendor on the planet is there, offering an amazing variety of =20
classes, demos, etc. It can be overwhelming. I have only been twice, =20
but each time I have come away with significant, new, concrete knowhow =20
and much improved awareness of where A/V is going. I've started =20
working toward the basic level of A/V certification in connection with =20
the extensive building and renovation project in which Lab is =20
currently engaged. I believe it is in Las Vegas this year in June.
One example is document cameras; four years ago, I didn't know much =20
about these, but at InfoComm learned the basics and was able to review =20
in person six or eight different models with vendors on site (even won =20
one in a drawing). Now we have about 20 of them on campus and, faster =20
than any tech tool I can recall, have become indispensable tools in =20
our Lower School.
Last June, I learned about Tidebreak, a cool software collaboration =20
tool for sharing screens and documents in small and large groups, and =20
was able to start building a relationship with the company, working =20
with them this year on piloting some installations here as they =20
explore moving into the K-12 market.
Educomm, which really is a conference for A/V in higher ed, runs =20
parallel to InfoComm and has also been quite helpful. A few other K-12 =20
folks have started popping up there.
Educause is the tech clearing house for higher ed. Their events have =20
also been helpful since many independent schools run more like small =20
colleges than typical K-12 schools, and many indie school IT leaders =20
are more like small college CIOs than anything else. There is a =20
regional event here in Chicago each fall.
Curt Lieneck
Director of Information Technology
University of Chicago Laboratory Schools
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