Tomorrow, I will be making my way to this year’s Ohio Educational Technology Conference, held annually at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, in Columbus, Ohio.

On Tuesday, I get to hang out and “absorb” information.  This is also my time to renew some acquaintances, see if anything grabs my attention in the vendor hall, and slip into a few sessions that interest me.

On Wednesday, I will likely spend most of my time hanging out in E-Pod with the #oetcx crowd.  I’m in the lineup to do a “FREd Talk”.  That session starts at noon in the E-Pod.  “FREd Talks” are like Ignite sessions in that they are limited to five minutes, with a set of 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds.  My FREd Talk this year is titled “Ten Important Things Amelia Wants You to Know.”  Amelia is my 5-year-old daughter.  She has a diagnosis of Autism, and is getting ready to transition to full-day pre-school four days a week.  I’ve learned so much from her in the past 5+ years, and I’ll be sharing a little of that in my five minutes.

Last year, I had the privilege to present another Ignite session, “Three Big Fat Lies Tech Coordinators Tell“.  The experience was exhilarating! That’s why I’m so pumped to get to do this again!

After the FREd Talks, I will be hosting a table conversation at 2:30pm on “Presuming Competence”.  I am hopeful of hearing from participants about how technology can enhance students’ strengths and augment weaknesses, and how technology can help the adults involved with education to Presume Competence in each and every student.

Thursday will be back to “traditional mode”, but I’ll be hanging out in a cool place: OCALI’s Assistive Technology Lab.  At 11:00 AM, I will be presenting “Free Tools to Support the Writing Process“, and at 2:30 I will be part of a group presenting “Tech Tools for Access to State Assessments”.

If you’re at OETC this year, look for me, and say ‘Hi’!  I have a couple of surprises in mind, based on things I’ve learned in the past that have made my conference-going experiences so much better!  Follow me on Twitter at @mdroush, or e-mail me at michaeldroush@gmail.com.  See you there!