4 Pubs and a Bar: A TeachMeet Tale

This is 1 of 300+ possible tales about the (world record breaking) TeachMeet in Sydney on Friday 2nd March 2012. Hence it is by no means definitive but may offer a bit of insight into the background, lead up and team that contributed to such an amazing event that has already gone down in TeachMeet folklore. The night itself was simply awesome but the build up was a truly amazing, humbling, emotional, collaborative experience of the highest order!

As has been well documented, nearly 6 years ago @ewanmcintosh was one of a handful blokes attending what became the very first TeachMeet in the Jolly Judge pub, Edinburgh. Last Friday night, 300+ teachers gave up their own time at the end of a long, wet week to brave some filthy Sydney weather and get to Australian Technology Park (ATP), Eveleigh to participate in the world's largest ever TeachMeet (the previous record was about 280 at BETT 2010, facilitated by @tombarrett). It was an amazing evening but more on that below. First, how did we get to making this happen?

Back in late November, I (will try to limit the use of the first person preposition) found myself in the Beresford Hotel (pub), Surry Hills, with Tom, Ewan and a few colleagues. One of my colleagues, @obrikate, was booking Ewan and Tom to work with our SSNP schools around Design Thinking plus keynote at the Early Years Conference being arranged for 2nd and 3rd March at ATP. The hiring of ATP was serious $$$ but did include use of the facilities into the evening of the first day if we so wished.

Kate suggested we have a TeachMeet on the first evening to get bang for our buck. To me this was a no-brainer! To have an awesome facility like ATP paid for by someone else (thanks Kate!) plus the 'Godfathers of TeachMeet' present was too good an opportunity to pass up! A few jars into the evening, after hearing more about BETT 2010 from Tom, the thought occurred that we could attract more than the 280 educators at the BETT TeachMeet and in effect break the world record!!!

Previously I'd been involved in organising 5 TeachMeets amongst our schools and had become very much aware of the whole Sydney TeachMeet movement occurring in all sectors across the city. Straight away it was obvious this was the perfect opportunity to bring together all teachers from the State, Catholic and Independent schools (the equity across the board I was perhaps overly paranoid about #CEODECAISBFF :) and really springboard the whole TeachMeet culture for 2012. To achieve this a canny team was required behind the scenes. Enter TeachMeet stalwarts @mesterman, @henriettami, @7mrsjames, @liamdunphy, @pipcleaves, @edusum, @townsey77, @malynmawby, @cpaterso, @rolfek, @pehogg, @mickprest, @jpilearn and @benpaddlejones (mega-unconference edupunk). What an awesome, cross-sectorial group (known latterly and affectionately as the 'Blue Team')!

Cue the start of millions of emails and tweets, many Google Docs and pub #3, the Commodore Hotel, North Sydney, in early December where Henrietta, Summer, Liam and myself got together for a confab about our ambitions. Just before Christmas a bunch us got out to ATP for the first time. Importantly, Matt Esterman was there. Matt had been the main driving force of the TeachMeet Sydney subculture. We had communicated many times electronically but this was the first time we had met face-to-face. What an all round top bloke! We were partners-in-crime throughout the whole process and it was the special connections made with Matt and many others that made this such a fulfilling and positive experience.

So things started to shape up. Ideas, flying in from all directions, were synthesised and a shape started to form, all the time with the healthy critique of Mick and Ben ;). Megan did amazing work on the flyers and posters. Henrietta took the lead with the 'sandpits' (plus organised our blue team t-shirts plus the show bags plus the new website). Jeanette was a recruiter extraordinaire including Skype-ins from @abfromz and @largerama plus @betchaboy for what became a 'Chat by the Bar'. Mick and Phil worked on the USTREAM. Malyn had a million ideas and did an excellent job with the registration. Pip worked on her 'Anarchy Room' and the program flyer and all the time Matt calmly organising, providing excellent communications to all educators involved and keeping myself and my bossy boots bullet points in check. (And all the while, scheming in the background, Liam was arranging a sneaky flash mob!)

So, come 2nd March, we had over 330 signed up, an article on page 5 of the Sydney Morning Herald (thanks @jcsymington, Ewan and Kim Arlington!) and a lot of anticipation from educators from all over Sydney, plus visitors from country NSW, SA and NZ. On the night there were educators from DEC, CEO, AIS, various unis, Board of Studies, pre-service teachers, casual teachers, education consultants, freelancers, media, vendors (not allowed to sell/promote their wares) and even a few sticky beaks plus a student and his mum!

Great panoramic shot by Rolfe Kolbe

It was a truly special night. Beforehand we all congregated in the cavernous dining room with super cool, blue-lit walls with nibblies and of course the bar. Teachers aren't used to being wined-and-dined in cool venues the same way corporate people are. Everyone really seemed to respond to the atmosphere, vibe and excitement about the evening, they were part of something special.

After the intro in the theatre we jumped straight into some 7 or 2 minute presentations from Ewan, @BiancaH80, @KatyO1983 then an outstanding flash mob from the gang at NBCS plus a description of their 'Audacious Classroom'. When the video of this flash mob comes out it will go viral!

Essentially being behind the scenes, I didn't get to see as many presentations over the evening in the various rooms as I would have liked. Having said that those I saw from Bianca, @whartonag and @karlao_dtn were incredibly inspiring. The highlight of any TeachMeet is the networking. It was brilliant to finally meet people face-to-face for the first time when I'd already been following the excellent work of many from afar. People like Cameron (we'd been collaborating on preparing for the event without ever meeting!), Bianca, Alex, Karla, @Steve_Collis, @cwoldhuis, my study buddy @enzuber plus many more and many familiar friends and contemporaries.

At the close there was a very simple message: anyone can run a TeachMeet! Do it! You don't need permission, just a venue and the drive. Maybe focus on niche subjects or geographical areas but do it! (and in the process of organising a TeachMeet you will meet some wonderful people and go through an emotional roller coaster after which you'll be a better person and educator).

Aside - whoever shouted our 'BEER!' when the moment, nervous energy and sense of being part of an outstanding team were making my voice waiver is a genius!

So at the end of the night we all knew we'd been part of something special. To celebrate we adjourned to the Alexandria Hotel, Eveleigh. But here's the irony, TeachMeets started with Ewan in a pub in Scotland; this world record TeachMeet idea was born in a pub in Sydney in the company of Ewan and Tom; yet, because they were keynoting the Early Years Conference the next day, Tom and Ewan missed the post-TeachMeet well-earned beer and feed. (Never mind guys, the rest of us enjoyed the unwind :-).

In conclusion, the March 2nd TeachMeet was a truly wonderful event. This was the highlight of my career thus far yet I love my day job. With further irony, this was after-hours, not strictly speaking part of my job. Ultimately, the camaraderie that came from helping organise the TeachMeet is something that will carry into the future and I cherish dearly.

Postscript - as pictures, videos and blog posts about the event appear I will endeavour to add links. Must dash, this baby is surely coming soon!!!

All of the great blogposts and resources seem to be through Pip Cleaves' Storify

Welcome to the Future ...Today

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to be invited to speak to the staff at Hennessy College and afterwards the civic leaders (Principals from nearby schools, Parents and Friends, local business leaders and student leaders) of Young, NSW. The Prezi below is an amalgamation of those two (very similar) 'Professional Conversations'.



The title 'Welcome to the Future ...Today' was trying to highlight the fact that many of these 'futuristic' activities are already happening in society and in the classroom. The main topics covered were Augmented Reality, Mobile Learning and Game-Based Learning (all highlighted in the 2011 Horizon Report) plus Collaboration. In Collaboration the emphasis was on the ability for students (and teachers) to work together anytime, anywhere using tools like Google Docs. In particular, for teacher collaboration, the power of Twitter and the PLN plus TeachMeets were emphasised (all covered in previous blog posts, follow the links).



Much inspiration was drawn from Dr Peter Webster and the fantastic staff and students at Hennessy College plus the work of Justin Hodges and as ever Tom Barrett. When the students say "This is what we want!" you know you're doing something right.



The big message is how important it is for teachers to connect. As Peter put it "geographical remoteness is no longer a reason or excuse for teachers or students to learn in isolation".

Welcome to the Future ...Today on Prezi

TeachMeet

We've just had our first TeachMeet and it was simply
amazing! 50+ teachers and educators giving up their own time after work on a cold, wet afternoon to come together and share ideas in an informal, friendly and energised atmosphere.

When Stephen Heppell visited us a few weeks ago he mentioned the massive success of TeachMeets in the UK as a contemporary teacher professional development model. Upon further research, particularly through Tom Barrett's blog and contacting Tom himself, we came across the TeachMeet wiki and how to organise one and suggested rules.

To quote Tom:

“A TeachMeet is an unconference; there is no organising committee and anyone can arrange one or attend – all it takes is a date on the wiki. People sign up to talk about technology in classrooms and it’s free. It is driven by the passion and enthusiasm of those participating."

So after a simple tweet to canvas interest we chose a venue, date and set up our own wiki. (Setting up a Google Site was a great learning in itself). With word-of-mouth, tweets and emails soon we had 57 down to attend with 21 presenting (including one from the UK via Skype).

The afternoon itself was sensational. This was all the more incredible with the wireless falling over (fortunately we were able to pick up the school's next door) and people delayed by traffic. That is the beauty of the informal style, less pressure on hosts and attendees alike, a solution can be found and you can walk in late, grab a cake and people are just happy to see you.

We had primary and secondary teachers in the room, mingling and sharing ideas. Presenters only had 2 or 7 minutes which allowed for the upbeat pace of the session. Half of the presenters simply hooked up their nice shiny new iPad2s, so much more informal and blasé than Laptops. People talked about everything from Google Public Data to Weebly, Goodreader on the iPad, Qwiki and Bee-bots amongst others. The energy in the room was simply palpable! (All presentations should appear here shortly). We had Primary teachers wanting to try Secondary activities, Secondary teachers wanting to visit Primary schools and sure enough teachers and schools connecting.

It may sound somewhat cliché but several teachers left saying it was the best PD they had ever had.

To help the smooth running of the event we had a couple of soft camels to throw at people who ran over time (a technique borrowed from the UK), a Twitter back-channel #ceotm on another screen plus a random selector for the presenters. You can view photos of the event here.

So where to from here? Importantly, no one owns TeachMeet. It is not the providence of myself, my Region or sector. Anyone can set one up anytime. We discussed at the end how often to run these and who wants to do the next one. A school volunteered and we'll probably go every 6 weeks or so.

Learnings for next time:
- provide more food - were eaten out of house and home! (probably have a proper 'TeachEat' meal next time)
- stream it live e.g. on USTREAM (this was going to happen but a bridge too far in this instance)
- make name badges including Twitter IDs (helps put a face to a name or Tweet)
- if you're MCing the night, give yourself a table to work at in between presentations

Other suggestions are actively welcomed.

Many thanks must go out to people behind the scenes, in particular @jpilearn, @artprintmedia, @pvlies and @jeffpalmer2.

If you've never been to a TeachMeet go to one, better still organise one!