IATEFL 2010, Tweet-Ups and the year of the PLN

Just been going through the drafts of my blog and found this one from 2010. I'm not sure why I didn't finish it/publish it back then (written November 2012)




Some time ago, I predicted that this year would be the year of the PLN( Personal Learning Network) , and the last two conferences I have been to (ISTEK and IATEFL) seem to suggest I'm not wrong. I want to revisit the ISTEK experience in another blog post soon, but have decided first to write about IATEFL. From other people's accounts, I can see that it's already being called one of the best conferences ever by some:

• At the top of Maslow's pyramid by Karenne Sylvester 
• IATEFL pwnd by Gavin Dudeney

• How IATEFL Harrogate changed ELT conferences for ever by Ken Wilson

• IATEFL My Take on the PCE Day  Day 1  by Shaun Wilden
• Tea-chno Tea-chno Tea-chno by Luke Meddings
• Waiting for the great tweet forwards by Mark Andrews 
• PLNs, Twitter and Conference Tweet-Ups by Shelly Terrell
• Let us now praise famous women by Nik Peachey
• The Twitter Divide at Talk to the Clouds
• The Learning has just Begun by Tamas Lorincz

Without a doubt, the online presence this year (IATEFL Harrogate online) helped. Organised by the British Council, with its A-team of amiable presenters and experts working tirelessly behind-the-scenes, it was better than ever. My first glimpse of the TV studio that they'd set up in a day blew me away, and the format of streaming some sessions and interviews with speakers live and then making recordings available worked extremely well. I heard the number of visitors to the site in the first few days exceeded the totals ammassed during the whole year last year! Well done to Julian Wing and everyone else involved.


I don't know the figures, but my guess is that the number of forum posts is down on last year, and this is probably due to Twitter.