My Conferenceness

The last picture I posted was of me on stage prior to starting a conference which I co-chaired the last few years. It was a ton of work, all life-consuming really, and those of you who have had the misfortune of being in my presence during the month of July the last three years, you know just how little else I do during that planning time. We had 1000 participants but even more challenging, we had five difference groups running completely different conferences all in the same building. Herding cats to submit agendas and logistical details in a timely fashion simply wasn't possible so we were running last minute on everything, of course. However, it is finished and I feel a deep sense of satisfaction on behalf of my wonderful organization and all the people who contributed to the success of the conference.

Those of you who have noted my absence during the summer (mental if not physical) will be pleased to hear that I am passing the baton to a co-worker who will chair it next year and I will be merely and advisor.

I am both thrilled and sad to be finished with that work but surely the time will be sucked away by some other event.

In other news, I will be traveling to Madrid in August to provide some professional development to a group of nuns interested in authentic assessment. You read that correctly, nuns. They are principals of 40 schools as part of a network. I am going to be doing this work in Spanish and I am very nervous about how that will go, but I figure anyone else would have done it in Spanish and if they are nuns than they ought to be more forgiving of my errors, no?

My only regret is that I am going alone. If anyone has some spare time I would love a little company.

Oh and last piece of news, I am writing this from my new iPad which I love to bits and pieces. If you don't have one, trés sad.