I’m an overplanner. When it comes to anything, I overresearch, overplan, cross reference and overall look way too deep into anything I do. Before I came to the ISTE conference this year I had a color coded spreadsheet with listings of the first and second choice of sessions I wanted to attend. I had a list of my favorite presenters and had scoped out all of the poster sessions and playground activities I wanted to explore. Then I got in line for my first session on Sunday…and it was full. Then I went to my second session choice…also full. By the 4th attempt I gave up and went back to the hotel to check in.
Today (Monday) was going to be a new day. I would go to some awesome sessions and learn some amazing things to bring back to my colleagues. My color coded spreadsheet would work like a charm…and then I saw the line for the shuttle. Then I got to the conference and the lines were also crazy long…everywhere. It was bad when the line was too long to get my coffee, but the last straw was a line for the men’s bathroom.
It was an overreaction. I was frustrated and undercaffeinated and knew I needed a break. I decided to walk away for a little bit, walk to Dunkin’ Donuts and get some coffee to get my day on the right track.
On my walk something came to me. Every day I encourage my students to have a growth mindset, to not let setbacks keep you from accomplishing great things. I tell them to find ways to overcome obstacles, and yet here I was faced with an obstacle and I was doing exactly what some of my students do. I was pouting about how annoying lines are and missing out on the bigger picture.
There are thousands of people around the country right now who would LOVE the opportunity to wait in line to see some great speakers. There is a conference center full of opportunities just waiting to happen. There are thousands of people to network with, vendors to learn from and awesomeness around every corner. Sometimes I get stuck on my plan that I forget that amazing things can happen in spite of all my planning.
After my walk to get coffee and a little reflection and perspective, I went to a series of poster sessions that were fantastic. I explored the Expo hall and found some amazing tools I want to bring back to my classroom. Ultimately, I explored some things that I would have missed out on if things had gone according to plan.
Sometimes we need to practice what we preach and be as adaptive as we ask our students to be.
Enjoy the rest of the conference if you’re at #ISTE18, and if you’re #NotatISTE18 I’ll try to share out some of the awesome things you should check out.
P.S. If you see me at ISTE stop by and say hi. You’ll recognize me, because I’ll be the one in the bow-tie for #bowtietuesday!
You are the best!
I found this post scanning your Twitter feed after our “conversation” about podcasting. Honestly, I had a very similar experience at ISTE. Some colleagues and I waited an hour and a half for a session that ended up being cancelled. Rather than let that time go to waste – I stood up and offered to facilitate a conversation on the topic. 40 out of 200 people stayed and it’s those people who are willing to take risks that are the one’s I want to be associated with because they are the ones who will eventually shift the educational landscape. Thanks for your insightful post.
I meant to reply to this earlier. Way to take the initiative. Looking back on it now, there were a lot of great ways to organically fix the situation like the one you did.