Last year’s sell out gig – me & Rich Goodman by www.chrisbullphotographer.com

It’s that time of year again.  If I can navigate the train strikes I’ll be heading down to Liverpool on Monday for the annual ALT Conference where we’ll be reforming the ALTC Social Media Super Group with Martin Hawksey on filming and live feeds, Rich Goodman on media tweets, Chris Bull on photography, and me on keynote livetweets.   We also have a new member joining the group this year; Scott Farrow from Edgehill University will be joining us on drums camera.  

Livetweeting the conference keynotes from the official ALT twitter account is always a bit nerve wracking, especially with keynotes of the calibre of Siân Bayne, Peter Goodyear and Bonnie Stewart. And just to up the ante, this year I’ll be tweeting from ALT’s verified twitter account.  I’ve never tweeted from a blue tick before :}  Livetweeting the keynotes may be challenging but it’s a challenge I always enjoy.  So much so that I included a reflection on this in my CMALT portfolio.

“Live tweeting in an official capacity  for events such as the ALT Conference requires a slightly different approach to live tweeting from my own personal account.  When I live tweet on behalf of an event organiser I try to keep my tweets as factual, neutral and representative as possible.  It’s important not to misrepresent the speaker or inadvertently tweet anything that might bring the organisation into disrepute.  If I’m tweeting personally, I tend to tweet the points that interest or irritate me, adding my own thoughts and comments along the way. It feels like quite a different way to use the technology.”

matchy matchy

I’m rather proud to say that after attending the ALT conference since 2000, this is the first time I will be there as a fully fledged Certified Member of ALT.  Which means I have a fabulous new accessory to wear with my conference shoes :}

I’m not actually giving a paper of my own this year, and for once I’ve actually read the programme in advance of the conference and planned out the sessions I’m hoping to attend. I was really pleased to see so many papers focused on different aspects of lecture recording as we’re currently rolling out a new and hugely ambitious lecture recording programme at the University of Edinburgh.  I’m hoping to catch as many of these papers as possible so I can feed other institutions’ experiences back to my colleagues at the university who will be in the final stages of preparing our new Media Hopper Replay service to go live while I’m at the conference.

And of course as always, one of the highlights of the conference will be the Learning Technologist of the Year Awards. I was honoured to be on the selection panel this year and the entries were truly inspiring. If you haven’t already voted there’s still time to cast your vote for the Community Choice award. Voting closes at noon (BST) on 6 September, so make sure you get your vote in before the deadline!