“My Take” on NW/MET 2023 with Ryan Gray
By: Ryan Gray
Back at the HETMA Virtual conference in February 2022 we held a session that highlighted regional groups and events from around the country. I’m in Arizona and there isn’t really a regional group in my area. I’m connected with folks in AZ, CA and CO but I was struck by how robust some of these regional groups were. After hearing about them all I joined NW/MET, the Northwest Managers of Educational Technology and put their conference on my calendar for 2023.
Now after spending 4 days with the people of NW/MET, I know I made the right choice.
Bridging Technology and Pedagogy
First, the conference was hosted by Carroll College, headed up by Dan Case and Kylie Kackman in beautiful Helena, MT. This was a great destination, it’s a big enough town that there were plenty of places to visit and we were in a conference hotel just across the street from the college that we could take over. The theme was “Bridging Technology and Pedagogy”, that is a great description for the mix of sessions, attendees and sponsors. If you’re someone who cares about how technology enhances learning, you will be right at home with NW/MET.
Lighting Sessions
Second, there weren’t any traditional keynote addresses, instead the general sessions were split up into 30 minute blocks across each day consisting of 2 “lightning sessions” of 15 minutes each.
This was an awesome format, I got to hear so many more voices and perspectives than I expected.
Also, as someone who presented one of these sessions, I can tell you it really makes you focus on the most important points when you only have 15 minutes. heard about diverse topics such as OER and LibreTexts, Accessibility Basics Training in just 20 minutes a day, The AV takeover of IT, Achieving Quality in AV systems, a call to not give up on taking care of our students, how to be a Relational Technologist and a discussing of remote vs. physical computer labs.
Breakout Breakouts
Third, there was a great lineup of breakout sessions. I of course couldn’t go to them all, but all were recorded for later sharing which I’m looking forward to. I heard Frank Alaimo of UNLV share some of his hard earned wisdom in navigating AV project management. I heard from the AV Superfriends on the priorities of making a good podcast as well as a live interactive recording of AV SuperFriends Live. I heard from Jim Wellings of Utah State about the tools they use for remote management and support of their systems. I was able to share some of the things we do at Yavapai College to value our team members and to attract and retain high quality staff.
Planned Organic Networking
Fourth, the networking time and social events were unparalleled. The schedule of this conference always kept you moving.
I never sat in the same chair for longer than 45 minutes, this is not a conference where you’re going to be bored.
There was ample time to network and to debrief sessions with fellow attendees. I’m sure I was able to meet and shake hands with every attendee and vendor. I made a ton of new connections with people from a different region than me. The conference was supported by 34 awesome vendor sponsors. It was easy to talk with them all and collect my MET Money, which is a whole other story and a reason in itself to head to NW/MET. I need to throw a special shout out to Robert Durbin from Crestron, Legrand AV, Shirley Imai from Biamp and Scott Sanders from Sennheiser for sponsoring amazing dinners and social events.
Looking to Grow
NW/MET was a great regional conference and is clearly an organization that is poised to grow. There were attendees from across the Northwest United States but also from across the west including California, Nevada, Arizona and Texas.
When this conference returns to Oregon State University (where it was held in 2018), Raul Burriel of OSU wants to build on the momentum of this year, “We hear frequently from attendees about how much they enjoy the NW/MET Conference and our goal is to expand its awareness and reach and bring in attendees not only from our host region in the Northwest, Intermountain states, and Canada, but from all across the United States and Canada.”
Planning for next year has already been underway for some time. “We’re toying with many ideas” he shared, “one thing we want to do is introduce a pre-conference workshop day, with multiple training sessions.”
Raul and the whole team at Oregon State are committed to making NW/MET 2024 a can’t miss event.
“The sessions and exhibitors are where it begins and in 2024, we want to bring you the best sessions and exhibitors in higher ed AV and pedagogy.”
You can bet that I will be in Corvallis for NW/MET 2024. I want to extend a huge thank you to Carroll College, Ron Case, Kylie Kackman and all the attendees and sponsors of this year’s event.
Thank you for the warm welcome I received and for delivering a quality, informative and fun conference experience.
I think NW/MET is a can’t miss… at least that’s my take.
