Saturday

Usually on the last day of the conference, I am forced to leave to catch a midday flight, but this time, I booked my return flight on the so-called "red-eye" (hmmm, wonder what they call it that...) which left PDX at 11:15, so I put in a full day at the conference and then had time for dinner with MEI colleagues before hopping on the MAX for the airport.

Basically, Saturday was Webcast Day for me. I had volunteered to be a part of the EV's webcasting team under the direction of Jack Watson. Jack and I had a "training session" via Skype a month or so ago (made more interesting by my computer crashing in the middle of it and then losing my internet connection for a while), but I was anxious about it, especially after the terrible experience Elizabeth and I had with our own webcast session on Friday! I was scheduled as "webcast assist" for the 1:00 Hot Topics session on the flipped classroom in the Technology Showcase (next to the EV), and as "webcast lead" for the 4:00 CALL-IS/VDMIS InterSection session on interactive mobile tools, but I spent much of the morning in the tech showcase room observing and learning (again) how to upload the presenters' slides in the correct order, how to enable the audio (what didn't work for us on Friday), and other little details. Jack was there (in the pink shirt) and he kindly offered to help me get ready after the Academic Session which ended at 12:15.

I went back to the Red Lion to finish packing, to grab the presenters' PowerPoints and transfer them to a flash drive and my drop box and also get my laptop as backup (I told you I was anxious!), and to check out of the room (Annelies had left at 7:30 to catch an early flight home). I also grabbed a yogurt, rice cakes, a banana and a chocolate bar because I wasn't going to have time for a proper lunch. Then back to the tech showcase. We loaded the slides for the first session, with Jonah Moos as lead and me assisting (Jonah was kind enough to talk me through the process), and transferred the slides for the second session onto the dedicated laptop so they would be ready for me to upload later.

I am happy to report that everything went splendidly for both sessions! No glitches, a tiny but appreciative virtual audience, and general success. By the time the Intersection finished up at 6 pm, almost everyone was gone from the Convention Center. Some photos from my first experience as a webcaster:

 Jonah and I webcasting the Hot Topics panel

Here's what it looked like from the webcaster's POV

After the session: Evelyn, Laine, me, Christine, and Nicky

The panel: Carol Kubota, Cynthia Murray, Cathy Warner-Benani, Christine Bauer-Ramazani and Nicky Hockly

I took of "selfie" of Evelyn and me:

Sweet Evelyn!

But I didn't get any photos of the second panel, where I was the webcast lead and Larry Udry assisted me. It went fine, though. I am happy because I have a new skill. :-)