The 60in60 Conference will quickly prove to be a most useful conference for busy teachers interested in gathering copious amounts of information about the ever changing technological landscape as quickly as possible.
I had the pleasure of meeting Brandon Lutz at an event in New York back in 2012. There, Brandon gave his 60in60 presentation in which he demonstrates 60 educational web tools in 60 minutes. Rapid fire, drink from a fire hose, more information that you could possibly use in an hour. I came away with a number of useful new tools that I still use today. I really loved the presentation, and I also was fortunate to meet a like-minded educator in Brandon.
Since that time, Brandon has taken his 60in60 presentation on the road and regularly presents at various conferences, and this weekend marked his first full 60in60 conference. Brandon and the Bucks County Intermediate Unit (where Brandon now works) hosted the event and invited me to participate by delivering a mini session: 10in10 on Flipped Learning.
If you attend Brandon’s 60in60 session at a conference like ISTE, you will leave with 60 great tools in your toolbox. If you attend the 60in60 conference, you could discover hundreds of tools for your classroom with very little redundancy in the presentations. Actually, I was a little worried that the same few apps and services would keep popping up in all the sessions, and although a small handful made a regular appearance (I’m looking at you Kahoot!), the majority of the tools shared were unique to each presentation.
Lest you think 60in60 sounds like a boring sit-and-get, let me assure you that this is an exciting opportunity to learn a lot very quickly. The 60in60 conference is not designed as a workshop, it is not an place to macerate in a crock-pot for hours on one topic. If you are looking for detailed training on a particular program or service, this conference is not for you. 60in60 focuses on breadth over depth, and there is a place for this sort of conference in our educational landscape. This is not something you would attend multiple times in a year, it is not long-term PD. Go to 60in60 once a year, gather a massive amount of resources quickly, go home, and play.
Brandon describes the 60in60 concept as “a few people doing the hard work of researching a testing these tools so you don’t have to”. I can’t even imagine how long it would take me to individually uncover, explore, test, and begin to use all the products and services I learned about at 60in60.
This conference was refreshing and invigorating, and if you hear that Brandon Lutz or the 60in60 conference is coming to your area, drop what you are doing and go!