After BETT 2009 there was plenty of healthy discussion about the ways that TeachMeet could reach beyond the Apex Room which we have resided for the last few years. Could Teachmeet Takeover be one of the answers?
I have been organising the TeachMeet event for the Friday night (please sign up on the wiki) and as part of that, have been in touch with lots of generous sponsors willing to offer their support for the event. One thing I can report is that there is a general enthusiasm from these sponsors to do more for the teaching community at the event. To provide something beyond the usual food, drink and wifi. If you have any good ideas please let us know?
One of these sponsors who has helped progress the idea of TeachMeet Takeover is Chris Ratcliffe (@chrisrat) from Scholastic – who kindly offered some time on their stand during the show. After a talk with Stuart Ridout my co-conspirator for #TMBETT2010, I decided to test the water on Twitter and see what sort of response we get from other teachers and vendors. That was first thing this morning, currently we have these companies expressing an interest in offering time on their stand:
I am yet to confirm things with these 6 but it is great that they are willing to back the idea when it was just in it’s infancy this morning.
So what is TeachMeet Takeover?
- Short time slots of 30 minutes or less on vendor stands throughout the course of the show.
- Teachers taking over – no affiliation to the vendor or obligation to help sell their products.
- Education professionals talking about FREE ideas.
- Informal presentations of good, quality ideas that you don’t need to pay for.
- Vendors sign up for time on a wiki.
- Educators put their name down in a time slot to talk on the wiki.
This is my simple outline but I want it to evolve with the help of the wider community, so please let me know what you think and any ideas you have.
>> If you are a company with a stand at BETT 2010 and you think you would like to offer us some time then just leave a comment or get in touch with me and head over to the wiki and pencil in some times. I suppose the only thing that a #TMtakeover needs is people to talk to. Saying that internet access and projector facilities would help things along. I look forward to seeing more signup.
>> If you are an educator or teacher attending BETT 2010 and think you have a simple idea to share then take a look at the wiki, find a slot that has been filled by a vendor and pop your name down. No real need for a formal presentation -although some visuals or demo of the tool will be useful, just make sure you know your stuff and the idea is FREE. Watch out though, there may be some more Takeover guidelines coming soon!
In my opinion this is a good opportunity for the Teachmeet community to share it’s various expertise beyond the usual crowds. Let me know what you think and also how we can develop this idea even further to make the most of the offers that have already been made.
Great idea.
thanks for the post it is really helpful!
This is a amazing concept Tom/Stuart – I think this would really help willing organizations to prevent the unavoidable advertisement that professors joining activities like BETT are almost reconciled to.
thank you for the post ,it is really good !
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Thanks for info Tom, will get registered right away.
Yes you will need to be registered for the BETT show (free) and access the
APEX room from inside the hall you can find a map
here<http://teachmeet.pbworks.com/f/apex-room-olympia-small.gif>.
Don't forget to checkout TeachMeet
Takeover<http://teachmeet.pbworks.com/TeachMeet-Takeover>too.
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Right, I've been talking to quite a few Swedish colleagues about TeachMeet – it seems we'll have a real delegation there 🙂 Do we need to go through BETT entrance in order to get to TeachMeet, btw? I'll try to check out the fair a bit before the TeachMeet starts, though.
Thanks Nilo – and there has been a bunch of Swedish teachers signed up too!
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Looking forward to TMBETT2010! Have been spreading the word from my arctic(?!) location in northern Sweden (-30C this morning): http://teachconnect.ning.com/events/bett-show-2…
Fantastic idea! I'm really looking forward the 15th when I'm going. Have already got my eyes on a few interesting stands/people : )
Tom/Chris – definitely agree shouldn't be commercial. Would not be good for anyone least of all sponsors. Will ensure Rising Stars colleagues are aware of this! Their opportunity to learn too.. Happy to do email promotion week before BETT to school with link to invite? Stand not as big as Scholastic but perfectly formed. Do you need to see layout?
What a great idea! It's a real shame I'm not being allowed time out to go to BETT 2010. If I were going, I'd definitely be up for one of these impromptu presentations and would encourage others to sign up for them. 🙂
Morning all! When I spoke to Tom about this, I was very concious of the concern about commercialism, and expectation about being sold things. One of the best things about TM (from a non-teacher perspective, but someone very interested in education) is that teachers inspire other teachers, without a hint of bias or overt commercialism, and I wouldn't want that to be watered down at all.
I think that at a minimum the Teach Meet Take Over logo should be visible when people are talking so to negate any commercialism but there are other ideas that could work. If people think that putting up a pop-up banner with the logo and saying what TM is all about or stand staff handing out TM flyers explaining what TM is all about and how to find out more then I am happy to sponsor one of the two! (the last idea may work well if you want to promote the post-show activity). Let me know!
This is a brilliant idea Tom/Stuart – I think this would really help willing companies to avoid the inevitable sales pitch that teachers attending events like BETT are almost resigned to. Which companies wouldn't want free advocates of their products promoting good, solid, working ideas of their software/hardware in action?
Very sweet idea Tom, add a bit of serendipity to the visitor experience.
If you allow non classroom stuff I'd like to talk about http://edutalk.cc
Hey there Tom,
Once again I find myself reading an idea you have come up with and thinking to myself “Brilliant!”, quickly followed by “How blindingly obvious is that? Why hasn't that been thought of already???” I was so impressed I tweeted Con to suggest it was an idea he could utilise for the already excellent CPD Lounge at SLF. Seems like a win-win situation to me – TM moves out of the fringes and into the main arena, presenters get to engage with people they perhaps wouldn't have otherwise (both educators in the hall and exhibitors), delegates get to approach a stall and mooch without fear of the Hard Sell and those manning the stall get to go for their lunch maybe? Seriously though, they have similar benefits to the above, just in the opposite direction. Only problem I can see will be if people are expecting to be sold things……