Today I attended the ISTE conference in San Antonio, TX. It was the first day of the show and it runs until Wednesday. I spent most of my time in the expo hall and here were some of my observations:
The familiar faces dominated a large portion of the hall. I was able to engage with educators and representatives from companies such as Google, Microsoft, Pearson, Scholastic, Follett, BrainPop, Lexia Learning and many many more. A full list of all the exhibitors can be found at https://conference.iste.org/2017/exhibitors/floorplan.php.
The hall was represented by a ton of STEM companies and robotics companies, as well as an array of 3D printing companies. I believe that this will be come much more mainstream in schools over the next 5-10 years.
I noticed that there were also a few augmented and virtual reality companies that are now making there presence felt in the space, as well as company that is educating on the benefits of drones in Education and classrooms.
There were A LOT of people there, at least 15000 I'd guess. From teachers, principals, and tech administrators to vps and sales executives, it became clear that ISTE is the primary conference in the edtech market.
Nearpod had the coolest giveaway, offering a 50% chance by spinning a virtual wheel to win one of their VR headsets. After waiting in line for 10-15 minutes, I of course spun and won a pen.
I still have over half of the hall to walk around tomorrow, so I look forward to seeing all the new technologies from the remaining companies.
And if you were curious as to why I flew to San Antonio from Orlando for an Edtech conference, I work for Simple K12; we provide online professional development to k-12 teachers and administrators. I head up their sponsorship department and develop business partnerships with companies looking to market and advertise to the educators in the SimpleK12 network.
Thanks for reading!
