After a professional learning experience like the NCTE Annual Convention, attendees are often energized and reinvigorated. It was an exciting and busy four days full of engaging keynote and general session speakers, thought-provoking workshops, compelling concurrent sessions, and chances to connect with members and other attendees. Registrants went home with so much information to digest. Here are some tips for getting the most out of your Convention experience:
- Catch up on what you may have missed: Conversations and discussions about Convention and other NCTE happenings took place on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, using the Convention hashtag #NCTE22.
- Get organized: Chances are you took a lot of notes, snapped a lot of photos, and exchanged contact information with others during #NCTE22. Now that the live event is over, it’s a good idea to sort through everything and contact those with whom you want to connect. Notes taken from sessions or workshops can be rewritten, organized, and digitized.
- Share with your colleagues: Letting your professional learning community know about what you’ve learned or what inquiry topics you want to explore further are great ways to share! Notes, tips, and other information you’ve taken away from the Convention can be shared to help extend your learning.
- Reflect on your goals: Did you get to attend all of the sessions or hear all the keynote speakers you were intending to? Did you visit the Exhibit Hall or get the chance to establish new networking connections? Reflecting on how the conference experience went for you enables you to plan better for the next one and to follow up on opportunities that might have been missed.
- Plan for next time: If you missed a particular workshop or session, or didn’t get to connect with all of the people you’d intended to, put it on your list for next time—or find ways to do it digitally! Are you inspired to be part of the next NCTE Annual Convention? Read the 2023 Call for Proposals and submit a program proposal for #NCTE23 by January 18.
We’d love to hear your ideas for keeping the momentum going!
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