5 Tips for Hosting your 1st EdCamp

It was not long ago when a fellow administrator and I sat together in a session at a tech conference and looked at each other and decided to plan and facilitate an EdCamp in our region. EdCamps have gained in popularity among educators as authentic, differentiated and participant driven forms of professional learning. Our passion for individualized learning coupled with a need to give more access to PD based on best practices in technology integration led to the birth of “Technology Blizzard 2017.” That weekend, we put a date on the calendar and the rest was history.

1. Communicate: We planned a 2 hour planning meeting in my office that resulted in a google site, canva graphic, facebook invite, and email flier that we immediately sent out to our internal staff, principals in our region, and our regional office staff. You can view that google site HERE. The site included a google form that we used to collect RSVPs so we could plan for seating, food, and swag! In the time leading up to the event, we included email blasts, blog posts, and tweets to gain participants and spread the message.
2. Authenticate: EdCamps can be authenticated and supported by the EdCamp Foundation simply. Visit their website at http://www.edcamp.org/organize and register your EdCamp. This relatively easy process can result in the organization supporting the event with $250.00 to cover food, prizes, or other costs, as well as “swag” to hand out to participants. We received pens, buttons, stickers, magnets, post-its, markers, and more for our EdCamp by authenticating our event. In addition to officially registering our event, we made professional development hours available for participants. Whereas many of our registrants may have participated without these CPDU hours, this added incentive for attending. We also created an environment that showed attention to detail. Table cloths, signage, food, and centerpieces and additional details demonstrated that this was a valid learning opportunity for teachers and staff to learn and grow with each other and validated their professional aspirations and roles. 
3. Collaborate: The key aspect of an EdCamp is that it is participant driven. Topics are not pre-created and rely on the attendees to develop. We gave participants time to generate a list of topics and than organized them in groups to determine conversation groups. While in discussion groups, facilitators amongst the group worked through the questions and topics to share and discuss strategies and ideas that were of interest to them.

   Posted by Dunlap Grade School on Saturday, February 11, 2017

4. Accelerate: One traditional element of an EdCamp is the “Sucks Vs. Rocks” activity in which a likert scale is assummed and particants are given a topic that requires them to move across the room based on their opinions. At our EdCamp, we reserved this activity for the last hour to allow for movement and whole group conversation. Participants discussed ideas that included: textbooks, flexible seating, and social media. One other area we accelerated our EdCamp experience was through the use of an established hashtag. We encouraged participants and colleagues to tweet and follow #techblizzard17. These tweets were displayed using Tweet Monster during the event as well.

   Posted by Dunlap Grade School on Saturday, February 11, 2017

5. Celebrate: Celebrating takes many forms. We celebrated the success of the day with individualized participant certificates and raffle prizes. When we advertised our EdCamp, we were surprised with authors and organizations that reached out that were willing to donate books, swag, or prizes for the day. The details of the day do matter and supported our mission of celebrating teachers and learning.
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There’s no right or wrong way to EdCamp. The power comes in bringing professionals together in meaningful ways to grow and learn together!