On Friday night, after setting up the GA stand, had a meal at the very nice, and very French Le Petit Paris restaurant on Queensferry Road.
A windy night followed, and in the morning it rained on and off most of the day.
For the second year, the conference was held at Edinburgh Academy. First thing was to grab a coffee and man the GA stand with the other publications, and to start handing out over 150 free satellite image maps of the earth from space, and also have conversations with the 290 odd delegates. The maps were donated by the GeoSphere project.
At 9.30 the publishers’ awards, presented by John Vannet, were announced. In the Book category, the GA picked up both the awards that were available. A ‘Commended’ award went to ‘Caring for our World’ by Fran Martin and Paula Owens, and the WINNER in the book award went to the Teacher’s Toolkit. Margaret Roberts collected the awards.
It was then across to the Hall for Malcolm McDonald’s Presidential Address, and the morning lecture by Dr Iain Stewart. I left during this to set up my seminar room, and meet a few familiar faces from south of the border, and heard the story of the night train from Euston, where one of the delegates who shall remain nameless realised that they had the word ‘seat’ on their ticket whereas the others had ‘berth’. The weather was now fairly miserable, with strong wind and rain. Into the science area, to deliver the first of my seminars. Seemed to be well received. My basic messages were related to the change from traditional to social media, and how that could be used in the classroom. There were references to the BECTa Web 2.0 report, and the possibilities of being gratuitously creative, but importantly to ‘teach’ students the importance of crediting sources of material sourced online. Some familiar faces in the room too, which is always nice.
In the afternoon, it was back to the Hall for the Hodder Gibson lecture, which was given by Mark Beaumont, who I followed part of the way around the world on GEOBLOGGING WITH MARK, as he broke the Guinness World Record for solo circum-navigation of the globe. You can read more about Mark’s epic journey HERE.
He was announced by Val Vannet, who did an excellent introduction, which included the classic line “And the rest, as they say, is... GEOGRAPHY”.
He showed a few clips from ‘The Man who cycled the world’, which we heard has been nominated for a BAFTA, and talked through the planning, and used a series of slides that Val and I had used in fund raising assemblies earlier in the year.
Had a quick chat at the end with Mark, who is preparing for his next adventure to row across the North Atlantic.
The day wasn’t quite over, it was back to pack up the GA stall: the last one still standing in a lonely gymnasium, and take down the banner. It all packed into one box, which was handy, and
Meanwhile Dan was very kindly copying me his URBAN EARTH presentation - these movies are incredible pieces of work.
Finally into the Presidents’ reception, to have a few beers and a chat with Dan about some forthcoming book ideas (possibly) which Abi from Folens promised to publish... ;)
A windy night followed, and in the morning it rained on and off most of the day.
For the second year, the conference was held at Edinburgh Academy. First thing was to grab a coffee and man the GA stand with the other publications, and to start handing out over 150 free satellite image maps of the earth from space, and also have conversations with the 290 odd delegates. The maps were donated by the GeoSphere project.
At 9.30 the publishers’ awards, presented by John Vannet, were announced. In the Book category, the GA picked up both the awards that were available. A ‘Commended’ award went to ‘Caring for our World’ by Fran Martin and Paula Owens, and the WINNER in the book award went to the Teacher’s Toolkit. Margaret Roberts collected the awards.
It was then across to the Hall for Malcolm McDonald’s Presidential Address, and the morning lecture by Dr Iain Stewart. I left during this to set up my seminar room, and meet a few familiar faces from south of the border, and heard the story of the night train from Euston, where one of the delegates who shall remain nameless realised that they had the word ‘seat’ on their ticket whereas the others had ‘berth’. The weather was now fairly miserable, with strong wind and rain. Into the science area, to deliver the first of my seminars. Seemed to be well received. My basic messages were related to the change from traditional to social media, and how that could be used in the classroom. There were references to the BECTa Web 2.0 report, and the possibilities of being gratuitously creative, but importantly to ‘teach’ students the importance of crediting sources of material sourced online. Some familiar faces in the room too, which is always nice.
Go to SLIDESHARE for the presentation
If you have other questions, get in touch, particularly if you were unable to attend my seminar (there were lots of other excellent ones after all....)
Over to the dining hall for lunch, and a chat to some familiar faces, and another spot on the stall. Lots of interest in the material that we had, and fortunately most of the magazines and materials were taken so I didn’t have to lug them home in the car.
Back over for the second seminar, which again seemed to go well. One bonus here was the attendance of Kenny O’ Donnell, one of my blogging acquaintances, HIS BLOG HERE, who had very kindly brought me a bottle of ‘Avalanche’ beer from the Fyne Ales brewery, because he had read an earlier BLOG POST, where I said I liked the look of it. Cheers Kenny - that was very kind of you !
Over to the dining hall for lunch, and a chat to some familiar faces, and another spot on the stall. Lots of interest in the material that we had, and fortunately most of the magazines and materials were taken so I didn’t have to lug them home in the car.
Back over for the second seminar, which again seemed to go well. One bonus here was the attendance of Kenny O’ Donnell, one of my blogging acquaintances, HIS BLOG HERE, who had very kindly brought me a bottle of ‘Avalanche’ beer from the Fyne Ales brewery, because he had read an earlier BLOG POST, where I said I liked the look of it. Cheers Kenny - that was very kind of you !
In the afternoon, it was back to the Hall for the Hodder Gibson lecture, which was given by Mark Beaumont, who I followed part of the way around the world on GEOBLOGGING WITH MARK, as he broke the Guinness World Record for solo circum-navigation of the globe. You can read more about Mark’s epic journey HERE.
He was announced by Val Vannet, who did an excellent introduction, which included the classic line “And the rest, as they say, is... GEOGRAPHY”.
He showed a few clips from ‘The Man who cycled the world’, which we heard has been nominated for a BAFTA, and talked through the planning, and used a series of slides that Val and I had used in fund raising assemblies earlier in the year.
Had a quick chat at the end with Mark, who is preparing for his next adventure to row across the North Atlantic.
The day wasn’t quite over, it was back to pack up the GA stall: the last one still standing in a lonely gymnasium, and take down the banner. It all packed into one box, which was handy, and
Meanwhile Dan was very kindly copying me his URBAN EARTH presentation - these movies are incredible pieces of work.
Finally into the Presidents’ reception, to have a few beers and a chat with Dan about some forthcoming book ideas (possibly) which Abi from Folens promised to publish... ;)
Goodbyes all round - I will certainly be back next year - whether as presenter, or delegate, or exhibitor...
Comments