Teachmeet North East London

On 19th May I attended the excellent Teachmeet hosted by Anthony Evans and fronted by Ewan McIntosh ( and organised in the background by David Noble)... from a distance. I, and about 16 others, I think that was the count, witnessed the event via a Flashmeeting. This is the second time I have 'been' to a Teachmeet in this way and I have to say it is getting slicker. After a small tech blip at the start the sound was excellent and the video of the participants wasnot bad at all . Video of the screen was, however, not good but this did not detract from the fact that I was able to get the idea of all of the presentations. You can follow the our comments here.

The presentations came fast and, as usual, were interesting and current. It is great to be able to get up-to-date with what people are doing out in the 'education field/jungle'.

I really need to find out about txttools and I need to have a good look at the 'WhatWorksWell' site.

At the 'four' way breakout those of us on Flashmeeting were a little bit left out for a while ... I found time for a drink ... and it was a pity that there was no time in the process to 'bring us in' or comment that we were 'there' (although I could have missed this when I went out to get a drink)

Watching the Teachmeet itself I felt that the techy bits sometimes ruined the flow ... could be a good idea to have one laptop set up and everyone has to use that and only uses a URL as their visual ... this, I think, would help the flow. The downside of that slickness would be that there would not be as much time for chat around the tables ! Perhaps more people should just stand up and speak rather than relying on visuals ... it is just something we have come to expect (?)

All-in-all an excellent evening well spent ... much information to sift through. When is the next one ?

Many thanks to Anthony for the arranging.

PS

The people on the Flashmeeting felt dis-included in the prize draw so we arranged our own virtual one :-)... I did not win :-( ... but Lisa did write a 'poem' about me !!