Beyond the Conference Sessions

Somewhat recently, I travelled to an education conference with six members of our school’s academic committee. The trip there was a case of planes, trains and automobiles as we travelled to reach this corner of the globe. The conference lasted for three days, and it covered the current high level educational thinking, trends in teaching and learning, pedagogical insights, and important updates to the curriculum program. In addition to this, there were, of course, plenty of educational vendors selling learning management systems, textbooks, and curriculum resources. I have always quite enjoyed wandering past these stalls, seeing what the latest offerings are, chatting with the salespeople and seeing what “goodies” they are giving away.

It was a great conference from which I took away two major lessons, neither of which had anything to do with the sessions I attended.

The first, was that learning takes concentration and energy. I am an adult who has committed their life to education, and I think of myself as a life-long learner…but I struggled with concentration throughout each day. The first session of the conference started at 8:00 am, with the final session finishing around 6:00 pm. In the morning sessions I was energized and ready, but by the time lunchtime arrived my concentration levels had dropped. After lunch, I had about an hour in me before the fuel gauge of my concentration tank dropped to zero. On the first day, I pushed through and attended each session; but on days two and three, I must admit, I skipped out on a few sessions. I just didn’t have the energy or focus. I felt that I was experiencing what many students experience in their daily lives. To move from session to session and be expected to turn up ready and engaged for learning was exactly what we require of our students, but when you actually have to do it yourself, you realize how hard it is. I left the conference with a greater appreciation of what young people do each day when they attend school. As educators and leaders, we have to consider what the school experience is like for students and question how our school structures can be shaped to fit the rhythms of human behavior, particularly for young people.

The second lesson was the importance of having connection time with your team. This was by far the best part of the conference for me. Going on a journey with your colleagues, exploring together, eating and drinking in each other’s company, and having time to talk with no set agenda is magic for me. To be honest, I really felt like I just wanted to press the fast forward button on the conference each day to get to the bit where you get to hang out and have conversations with the people you work with. During this time, you get to know people more deeply, laugh together, hear from them about the things they care about, talk a bit about work, and wander into conversations that contemplate thoughts, ideas, and hopes for the future. I, personally, find this so rewarding, and I enjoy sitting back and listening to what others share. I find that in these less formal environments, people often feel more comfortable to really speak from their heart, providing authentic insights that are hard to extract in the formal environment of work. The deepening of the relationships during these times endures when you return back to the ordinary because the time you have spent together is organic, genuine, and meaningful.

So next time you go on a conference make sure you make the effort to skip out on a session or two with colleagues and invest in deepening those relationships. It’s these connections that will last long after you’ve forgotten that session on…what was it again?