It was with a fair amount of trepidation that I attended the AECT Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. While I have been a member of AECT for a number of years, following a recommendation from a colleague, this was the first physical conference I’d attended, and my feelings about it were somewhat coloured by some disappointing interactions I’d had with members in positions of authority within the organisation. Of course, no organisation is absent of politics, and academic associations are perhaps more susceptible to most to the kind of bickering that often characterises interactions within them.
Nevertheless, I’d booked my ticket, and after a total travel time of something like 23 hours, I arrived in Kansas City, home of BBQ, Jazz and Fountains… and the Super Bowl winning Kansas City Chiefs.
I’ll not make this a travel blog – I think there are plenty of those already in existence on the internet – although I will note that I would quite happily go back to Kansas City should the opportunity present itself. I found the local craft brewing scene to be excellent.
AECT itself was a revelation. As I mentioned above, I was a little bit nervous about attending the conference. That nervousness was unnecessary; in Australia, I generally go to two of the major education conferences. They are AARE and ASCILITE. Although, perhaps, I am a better fit with AARE, I’ve always found that ASCILITE is a better conference – mostly because it’s a little bit smaller, and I think, perhaps because of that, it’s always felt welcoming. I was expecting AECT to feel like AARE, but I was wrong – it was like a slightly bigger ASCILITE. Everyone I spoke to was both warm and welcoming – friendly, even. It didn’t hurt that there were some people that I had known – through shared work – but never met in the flesh, before, too.
But perhaps the part that I liked the most was that there was a fun vibe throughout the conference. I think this was in a large part due to Tonia Dousay, the president of AECT, who made it clear that she was going to do things differently. This relaxed the whole conference.
Next year: Las Vegas. I’m planning to be there.