#bbw12 and NOLA - Ten things from our first day
I'm blogging from a conference (Blackboard World) in New Orleans this week, but I'm blending my geeky and my photography/art side together with this post and linking up to Shimelle's 10 things in this post with 10 things from the first day of Bb World and our first full day in NOLA.
1. The days start very, very early at Bb World...we were meeting for Breakfast at 7 a.m. We won't discuss how early I woke up. Of course, as always in hotels, I had to see if there was a good pic out the window - and there was. I have a view of Canal Street. If you can see the CVS just left of center in the pic - that's Bourbon street.
2. I came to NOLA with a relatively new cell phone (only had it about two weeks) and a brand new MacBook Pro. The cell phone is wonderful. The Droid Razr Maxx has AMAZING battery life. However, the Mac is reminding me of how much I have to relearn about the Mac OS. Finding these photos on the Mac, then exporting them to Flickr, and then realizing that I couldn't do HDR with this photo as I don't have HDR software on the Mac = ugh! So, there will be quite a bit of re-processing and posting of photos when I get back home.
3. The Ruby Slipper = delicious Breakfast. My team has come to BbWorld together for several years. As such, breakfast together one morning at BbWorld has become a tradition. This year, it's great to have so many regional staff along with my team here and they joined us for breakfast! Missed Ryan, Jeff and Dennis at breakfast but the rest of the gang had a great time. The photo was a bit cloudy as it was cold inside and very warm outside. I like the look though.
4. I'm enjoying Instagram a lot on this trip. Hence, a few of my instagram photos are also scattered in this post. There are cool bean bag chairs scattered throughout the convention center. I've (half) joked with the team for a while that I'm going to add some bean bag chairs to our office to add to the "swanky lounge" feel. We already have a lava lamp, a disco ball, and...if you're there at just the right time a conference table turned ping pong table. I think bean bags would be a great next addition. These would be awesome. Adam is on the case to find out where/how we could acquire some of these, although it's proving to be a daunting challenge.
5. Jeff (on the right), Chad (center) and I gave our presentation this afternoon. (Thanks Michelle and Matthew for grabbing some pics for me). I promise, the presentation was not as serious as this picture makes it look. (Although, Michelle snapped a lot of shots and this was the least serious looking of all of them...note to self - remember to smile next time you present.) We had a good time, great questions from the audience, and truly enjoyed chatting with folks after the session was over.
6. Right after our session, Cathy gave her first presentation at a National Conference. She presented in the Digital Learning and Content Center. What could have been more distracting than presenting in a huge open "theatre-esque" space? No worries though as she did a fabulous job!
7. We observed another BbWorld tradition of sitting together at the Keynotes - this year we needed more than a whole row!!! Here is the quick Instagram snap of the group (and some other innocent bystanders) just before the Keynote began.
8. Our own Lacie is a BbWorld 2012 VIP Blogger. She was ready to go in the reserved blogger area at the conference. You can find her on Twitter as well as on her blog. Very excited for her!
9. The Keynote by Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, President of University of Maryland, Baltimore College was interesting and inspiring. I shot video of the whole speech but hotel wireless isn't cooperating so I'll get it uploaded at some point to share out with you. One of the key takeaways was the idea that in higher education today access MUST equal success - we can no longer have one without the other. Great, great presentation.
10. After the opening reception (complete with Flash Mob) in the exhibit hall, it was time to have a little fun exploring the French Quarter. We headed to Pat O'Brien's and, of course, got the requisite hurricane - although mine was sans-alcohol. Like I said when I opened the post, days start early at BbWorld...and it's another early morning tomorrow.