The Image Conference,
Cultura Inglesa, Brasilia 25th October 2013
You can't imagine how excited I was about attending this Braz-TESOL event in Brasilia, and so very pleased for Kieran Donaghy to see him here too.
The First Image Conference was held earlier this year, in June, in Barcelona. I was first contacted by Kieran, the teacher behind the ELTon award winning Film English site, who asked me to present a the conference in Barcelona back in April, but then a week earlier he called me to say the event would have to be cancelled because his University said they were not prepared to take the financial risk.
It was such a shame as Kieran had done 80% of the planning of the conference already: he'd lined up an impressive list of speakers, had arranged for sponsorship from major publishers, presented a preliminary budget, costed the refreshments and meals and talked to people about technical Support, etc.etc. Fortunately, I was able to suggest that the IATEFL LTSIG step in and take on the risk, and so the conference could go ahead.
I started to help Kieran with the final planning, but then had to drop out because of my new job in Uruguay. Fortunately, Nicky Hockly stepped in and took over the role and the First Image Conference was able to take place as planned. The event was a great success and many of the sessions were streamed live by the British Council's TeachingEnglish website.
After all the work that Kieran put in to make the event happen, and after establishing a format that worked so well and was also very original and innovative, it was only a matter of time before it was going to be held again.
The offer to hold the second conference was proposed by Carla Arena and Graeme Hodgson of Braz-TESOL, who suggested duplicating the format in Brasilia in October. They also managed to find the funds to invite Kieran. The event itself was a great success, with around 130-140 people in attendance, a range of interesting sessions to suit everybody's tastes, and plenty of time to meet and talk to people. Finishing with cocktails, pizza and a VJ in the Cultura Inglesa garden was a perfect way to end the day.
It's now clear that the Image Conference is a format that works - where is the next one going to be?
Cultura Inglesa, Brasilia 25th October 2013
The First Image Conference was held earlier this year, in June, in Barcelona. I was first contacted by Kieran, the teacher behind the ELTon award winning Film English site, who asked me to present a the conference in Barcelona back in April, but then a week earlier he called me to say the event would have to be cancelled because his University said they were not prepared to take the financial risk.
It was such a shame as Kieran had done 80% of the planning of the conference already: he'd lined up an impressive list of speakers, had arranged for sponsorship from major publishers, presented a preliminary budget, costed the refreshments and meals and talked to people about technical Support, etc.etc. Fortunately, I was able to suggest that the IATEFL LTSIG step in and take on the risk, and so the conference could go ahead.
I started to help Kieran with the final planning, but then had to drop out because of my new job in Uruguay. Fortunately, Nicky Hockly stepped in and took over the role and the First Image Conference was able to take place as planned. The event was a great success and many of the sessions were streamed live by the British Council's TeachingEnglish website.
The offer to hold the second conference was proposed by Carla Arena and Graeme Hodgson of Braz-TESOL, who suggested duplicating the format in Brasilia in October. They also managed to find the funds to invite Kieran. The event itself was a great success, with around 130-140 people in attendance, a range of interesting sessions to suit everybody's tastes, and plenty of time to meet and talk to people. Finishing with cocktails, pizza and a VJ in the Cultura Inglesa garden was a perfect way to end the day.
It's now clear that the Image Conference is a format that works - where is the next one going to be?
Let's have it in Turkey and I'll bring my Sandbox :)
ReplyDelete