Just one week out from the start of the ULearn09 conference in Christchurch the atmosphere around the CORE office is buzzing with final preparations. Today our colleagues Richard and Sarah from CORE UK arrived to participate in the event, bringing with them the wealth of experience and insights from their work in the UK.

As you can imagine, a conference of this size takes a huge amount of organisation, and involves the total focus of some, supported by the generosity and enthusiasm of many. Some facts about the upcoming conference that contribute to the sense of anticipation…

A top-notch programme that includes:

• Three high profile and challenging keynote speakers, including Gary Stager from the US
• Seven spotlight speakers, including many notable NZ educators
• More than 300 practitioner-led workshops and presentations
• Over 70 trade exhibitors
  

This year the event will see the building of an electronic city in a day, ensuring that its infrastructure immediately performs to 99.9%, guaranteeing that it will remain faultlessly operational over 4 days and then packing it away again over 6 hrs without the loss/displacement of any of the kit.

The logistics of this exercise defies description.  This year all 7 venues will be covered by a “wireless blanket” built on cutting edge technology provided by Allied Telesis, enabling seamless connectivity from your laptop wherever you roam – all connected to a 1Gb fibre backbone supported by Enable networks with a link to the KAREN network nationally.

A student media team will work with CORE staff on a range of new initiatives to inform, engage and celebrate the work of the conference and its participants.

And most important of all, around 1800 educators from around New Zealand, Australia and other parts of the world will be there to share, be inspired, inspire others and grow as professionals.

The countdown is on – now a bit of fine weather would be just the thing to make the whole week perfect 🙂