ICE+Conference+Ideas

= **Ice Conference Ideas** =

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Some ideas I've taken from EDUCAUSE and SITE 2010 that we could employ:
 * New attendee orientation: SITE had a little session early in the morning for new attendees that explained what the organization and conference was all about, how people could volunteer and participate, introduces them to the people behind the conference, etc. Great idea!
 * Ribbon bar: EDUCAUSE had a little place at registration where you could customize your name badge with ribbons describing your interests ("distance educator," "scholar", "teacher", etc.).
 * Twitter feeds: Both had dedicated Twitter feeds and monitors all around displaying the feeds during the conference.
 * Roundtable sessions: SITE has roundtable sessions - 4 topics to a room, people can sit with a facilitator of their choice for all or part of the hour at their choosing, and just talk informally about a topic. It can be hands-on (like BYOL) but not necessarily.
 * EDUCAUSE used round tables in their session rooms instead of rows of chairs or tables. MUCH more comfortable!!
 * Strands: both had definite strands of topics so you could pick sessions based on strand instead of just grouping them by type of session (paper, concurrent, workshop, whatever).
 * EDUCAUSE had a whiteboard (just a normal one) at registration where they invited people to write down their ideas for future conferences.
 * Poster sessions in the evening: SITE's poster sessions were from 6:30-7:30 on one night only, separate from all other sessions so that they receive full attention.
 * Facilitated lunch: EDUCAUSE had tables by topic, and a facilitator at each table for lunch. So you could sit with your interest group and chat via a facilitated discussion instead of just sitting wherever.

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Incorporate regional conferences in addition to or in replacement of the major statewide conference in order to get the ICE name out around the state more than once per year.