Starting a Tech Revolution at #ISTE2014 with #Satchat Live.

    This is the first of a few blog posts about my experience at ISTE 2014, starting with my favorite activity #Satchat. 


    Every Saturday, I wake up early for #Satchat which is a conversation that takes place on Twitter for current and future administrators along with any other educator who wants to partake in an amazing conversation.  I am one of the co-moderators of #Satchat along with the founders Scott Rocco and Brad Currie.  #Satchat on June 28th was different because I would be doing it live from ISTE without Brad and Scott because unfortunately they were unable to make it to ISTE 2014.  We have been lucky enough to occasionally do #Satchat live from different conferences around the state of New Jersey and various other locations.


 Instead of Brad and Scott (who did join us virtually), I had the privilege of being joined by two close friends and amazing educators Jerry (@Cybraryman1) and Tom (@thomascmurrary).  Jerry and I scouted out the best location when we arrived on Thursday and decided on the Welcome Lounge in the Conference Center.   We figured it was the best location for others to find plus there was also free WiFi.  Jerry and I arrived early to set up and make sure we were able to get both Scott and Brad onto the live stream.  I had brought a webcam, a microphone and a new wireless speaker from JBL that sounded great.  

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     As we were setting up, the area started to fill out with some educators who follow #Satchat but I have never met in person, so we introduced ourselves and I gave out the famous #Satchat stickers to those who showed up.  Among the people who showed up included: @Kitty_Tripp, @jdferries, @s_bearden, @kcalderw, @adambellow, @2footgiraffe, @plnaugle, @ncarroll24, @JennRegruth, @janwells. @JoAnnJacobs68, @ugafrank, @elissamalespina and many others.  I apologize for not putting everyone in but I could not remember who else showed up.

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    These were just a few of the over 70 educators sitting around having a conversation - both face-to-face and online.  Never would I have thought we would have so many educators waking up early on a Saturday to join in a live Twitter conversation.  The topic was a perfect one -  “How to Start a Technology Revolution”. Thanks to @Cybraryman1 for thinking about the topic. 

    At the start of the live chat I asked everyone to participate in the conversation, put down all devices, and have face to face conversations with those seated near them.   This was something I took from the book of Tom Whitby who unfortunately was unable to attend the live chat since he was on his way down to Atlanta.   

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     The dialogue was fantastic and diverse,  as we had educators from all over the United States and a few from other countries participating.   The conversation was archived both on a Google spreadsheet (http://goo.gl/N27J3h)  and the live recording can be found here: http://youtu.be/Bk4X5vIkkTo . 


Both of these are great resources from the amazing conversation that took place.  Remember you can join #Satchat every Saturday at 7:30 AM EST, or #Satchatwc (West Coast) at 7:30 AM PST.  Also don’t forget about #Satchatoc (Orange County) that happens at 8:00 PM, Friday EST.  

After the live #Satchat, I went and  helped out a good friend and fellow New Jersey educator, Kyle Calderwood, with #nt2t chat (New Teachers to Twitter).   We left the live setup for him to use because he thought it might be a great way to do a #nt2t, and it was. Kyle has actually started a Twitter Mentor Group to help out educators who want to get onto Twitter (en2t.weebly.com).

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