HOW TO ORGANIZE a DIGITAL CONFERENCE or SEMINAR: Copy Matt

Matt Miller has organized a DIGITAL SUMMIT.

I'm reproducing below the email that I received because I signed up for his DIGITAL SUMMIT

• Notes
• Certificates of completion (Email me if problems: matt@DitchThatTextbook.com)
• Tweet to #DitchSummit (Twitter.com/hashtag/DitchSummit)
• Presenters' Twitter handles: Paul Solarz (@PaulSolarz)

On to today's featured presentation ...

Really early in this video, 2013 foreign language teacher of the year Noah Geisel suggests something that may catch you off guard (no matter what grade level or content area you teach).

In teaching, we see planning as a non-negotiable.

But having everything perfectly planned isn't the best way to teach.

This is the crux of his presentation he titles, "Don't get ready, get started." If you've gathered lots of ideas and found inspiration in the Digital Summit to this point, this video will help you put all of it into action.

Click here to view the Day 9 presentation: Noah Geisel

Remember, even though this is the last video in the Digital Summit, it isn't the last day to watch.

If you're behind on videos, you're not alone! Lots of people have presentations they still want to watch that they haven't gotten to see yet.

That's why the videos stay live until Dec. 31 -- next Saturday.

Next Saturday is when the summit closes and all of the videos become unavailable. This online conference has a start and an end like any other conference. When it's over, it's over ... so make sure to get those videos watched over the next week before they disappear.

Have a merry Christmas, a happy Hannukah, a wonderful Kwanzaa ... please enjoy your holiday time, and I'll see you here in your inbox in a few days to check in.



Matt Miller
Founder and host, Ditch That Textbook Digital Summit
matt@DitchThatTextbook.com
Twitter: @jmattmiller

PS: Need to catch up on any of the presentations? Just use one of the links below.

• Day 1 (Mike Soskil): DitchSummit.com/soskil
• Day 2 (Kasey Bell): DitchSummit.com/bell
• Day 3 (Alice Keeler): DitchSummit.com/keeler
• Day 4 (Dave Burgess): DitchSummit.com/burgess
• Day 5 (Hyperdocs Girls): DitchSummit.com/hyperdocs
• Day 6 (John Spencer): DitchSummit.com/spencer
• Day 7 (Skype Master Teachers): DitchSummit.com/skype
• Day 8 (Paul Solarz): DitchSummit.com/solarz

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After I click, I see the following screen

http://ditchsummit.com/index.php/speakers/spencer/

I assume that the DIGITAL SUMMIT website will be taken down after the summit ends, but at least you get the idea of the event.

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Here is a link to JOHN's course 

http://www.blendeducation.org/?affcode=33938_gr-sfznr

Here are the items in the PDF that John talked from

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Matt Miller kindly offers the following points to others who might want to organize a DIGITAL SUMMIT

I'm happy to provide help with organizing a digital summit like mine. The website for mine is DitchSummit.com. Here are the basics on how it was put together:

• I featured nine presenters/speakers. I recorded video presentations (where I asked them questions and they answered) using YouTube Live/Google Hangouts on Air. I have kept them as private videos until it's time to make them available during the conference. To make them available, I would change them to public.
• I put together a simple website as the home base for my summit. I used a self-hosted WordPress site that I created with a free theme. However, a simple Weebly or Google Sites website could be the home base as well.
• I used MailChimp as an email service to let people sign up for the summit. They registered to receive emails during the summit. I created an email list for the summit, and I used the signup form as a place for them to sign up.
• I spread the word about the summit as widely as I could. I have an email list for people subscribed to my blog, so I told them about it several times. I shared about it on social media, and I asked the presenters to tell their followers about it as well.
• The summit runs from Dec. 16-31. From Dec. 16-24, I released a new video presentation available each day. I have kept the videos available from Dec. 25-31. After Dec. 31, I'm going to take the videos down because it's the end of the conference.
• On each day that I release a new video, I embed the video on the speaker page of the website. I then send an email out to the email list for the summit with a link to the day's video.
• For each video, I also made PDF presentation notes available. I listened to each presentation video and typed notes in a Google document ... then went to File > Download as ... > PDF.
• For each video, I also let viewers create a certificate of completion that they could submit for professional development credit. I did that with Google Forms and Autocrat, an add-on to Google Sheets. This was one of the most complicated parts of the summit. If you'd like more details on it, feel free to email me.

That's a pretty basic summary of what I did. If you have any questions, feel free to email me here!

Matt Miller

matt@DitchThatTextbook.com

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COMMENTS

1.  The PDF that accompany the email is EXCELLENT.  I get the main idea quickly.

2.  The contact info is useful for followup

3.  The DIGITAL SUMMIT is wonderful because I don't have to travel to get some professional development.

4.  BRAVO that he included John Spencer

THINGS TO WORK ON

1. The videos could be edited  SEE AN EXAMPLE

2. The videos could have some headlines so it would be possible to scan through the video and get five or six points.

3.  Perhaps speakers could hold up some headlines when they talk.

This format can be improved by asking the presenter (John Spencer) to hold up items and small signs or headlines to guide the viewer.   

HERE IS AN EXAMPLE

The presenter can hold up small signs.

The interviewer could hold up the PDF
that comes with the presentation

Point the camera at a paper with KEY SENTENCES.

Here are 9 ways to improve a classroom

Here is an example.  9 key statements that the viewer can follow