Superhero 2011 Ka-Pow!

BOOM!  Superhero 11 was fantastic!

What an amazing weekend of networking, learning and saving the world (Up North).  When we at Flipped Education started dreaming up Superhero and how we could redesign an educational technology event we knew that it would be successful with the perfect recipe of engaging presenters and passionate participants.  This weekend blew all of our expectations.  Everyone got their geek on, shared their passion, sung their heart out, laughed out loud and really created an amazing new SUPERHERO FAMILY of teachers dedicated to transforming learning through technology.

Superhero Eve

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was the chance to network, collaborate and just hang with some of my favorite people.  On Thursday night many of the presenters gathered by the fire up at Madden's Resort to polish and tweak their presentations.  This is one of my favorite times with my geeky friends...because being together allows for the..."have you seen...?"  or "what do you think about...?" types of conversations that I can never get enough of.  Hanging with Ben Friesen, Sean Beaverson, Mark Garrison and David Freeberg is always inspiring, entertaining and simply fun.

Superheros Descend on Madden's Resort- Uniting our SuperpowersParticipants used their variety of superpowers to arrive at Madden's Resort on Friday.  Some flew, some appeared and others came in a Flash.  No matter how they came, the party didn't start until they started filling the room.  This event was always about the participants.  Getting the right people to Superhero was important and, again, surpassed my expectations.  I do think a family was born of technology educators in Minnesota and networking and collaborating with these new friends has some serious potential.  If you want to see who was here and start following them on Twitter, check out this Docs for All with their information!

Sessions
The pace and schedule of Superhero was designed to be relaxed, a bit flexible and provide time to learn, network and apply information from each session.  I wish I could have attended more sessions at Superhero.  I really think that these presenters were able to engage participants in conversations around some of the most important technology of today that can transform learning.  Make sure to take a look at the sessions that were offered at Superhero and spend some time learning from all the resources provided.  Leveraging collaboration, participants took notes on all sessions on a Docs for All so that even if you weren't at the session you could learn from the website of resources and notes.  Hey, even if you weren't at the conference you can learn from the website.

SLAMS
We ended Superhero 2011 with Demo Slams.  Demo Slams are out of the "phone booth" BIG ideas that could be shared in 3 minutes or less.  Presenters and participants rallied to share these SLAMS.  Google Scripts, Stop Motion iPad Apps, Geo Cashing, Making your Passwords not Suck, annotations in YouTube, Photosynth and more were shared during the SLAMS.  The energy in the room was electric and I was able to see the amazing talent of all the educators in the room.  Each presentation ended with a SLAM and congrats to Todd Roudabush and Nathaniel Lindley for winning the SLAM!

Superhero Extreme
Superhero was designed with sessions for participants to attend, but we also planned a lot of time for networking with each other.  The conversations that took place on a run, around the fire, sitting outside on the pattio, eating dinner, having drinks at the pub, hanging on the pontoon were just as valuable as the sessions.  We planned a flexible, relaxed schedule so that people could have time to network and get to know each other.  After my pontoon cruise with Nathaniel Lindley and others and before signing Karokee in Madden's Pub I found myself looking around Sean Beaversons room and I was so impressed with the room full of fun, smart, inspiring, and incredibly dedicated people.  This is exactly what we dreamed of with Superhero.  Let's connect some really great people.

I can't believe it is over, I'm going to have some Superhero withdrawal for a little bit but the collaboration and networking with my new Superhero family has just begin and I can't wait to see how the SUPER POWERS of all these people can unite to save the world!



P.S.  Superhero 2012 is in the making...pass it on!








Some Photo Highlights!