SUMMER LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

North Carolina’s Summer Leadership Conference was June 18^th – 20^th in Asheville NC. The conference is a great opportunity for NC school and district leaders to connect, share and learn new trends that will help grow schools and make a positive impact on student learning.

I was fortunate to have been approved for two sessions. I had an easy time coming up with the topics and developing the agendas because I tapped into my PLN for inspiration and help.

My first presentation was Developing Your PLN: An EssentialFunction of a 21st Century Administrator. This session focused on the value and need for school leaders to get connected! We used a TodaysMeet link as a backchannel and collective notetaking for both sessions!

There were a couple of highlights during this session I need to mention:

• We had a several people start a Twitter account and begin their dive in getting connected!
• Mention of #ncadmin - a growing Twitterchat several NC ed leaders are starting to get off the ground [regular discussions to come]
• @MrBernia – I reached out to John, an active member in #edfocus and creator of several TwitterChats and local PLNs in his district. I shared with the group a recorded video/interview between me and John about how he uses Twitter to build his PLNs and connect with other administrators in his area. Great video – he brought a lot of value to my session! Below is his recorded video – if you plan on presenting to a group on building a PLN and want to share some relevant, real experiences I would encourage to either show this video or have John Skype in! Great value Add!

The second presentation was on Using Social Media to Improve Administrative Function. The theme of this session was how ‘social media lets you write your own narrative.’ This share session focused on how we can use social media innovatively to help school leaders with:

o   Promotion

o   Sharing and Building Vision

o   Teaching and Sharing

Again, an active member of my PLN, @northeagles, Bill Burkhead, joined in to share some of his impact experiences. Bill video chatted in using Google+ to talk about the class he developed and taught in his district on the value and use of social media in an educator’s growth. The course was a huge success and has a bigger demand this Fall. His expertise and first hand account gave credibility to our efforts in spreading the value of social media.

I can’t thank John and Bill enough for their participation! It would have been easily to discuss their work with the video or video chat but it added another level of authenticity to session to have these two difference makers ‘speak’ directly to our group. These five minute talks made a huge impact and helped begin the journey for some of our audience members to get connected.

This was a great experience! I'd like to thank the organizers for this event for hosting me. Its a rewarding feeling to help others get connected and see the value of getting connected! One of the entries on the TodaysMeet link was from an assistant principal who shared he didn't know what social media was. I appreciate him sharing that. This is great validation in our work and commitment to help educators get connected!