Trifecta

This past week was the busiest week of the year for me, bar none. I participated as Microsoft Fellow in the Global Educator Exchange (E2) in Redmond all week. I also presented for the National School Boards Association technology site visitation to Kent School District. Then I coordinated all of the 149 teachers and 760 students participating in the annual Kent Technology Expo, which I do every year. Somehow all of these events were happening at the same time, and I knew it was going to be crazy.

Tuesday, I took two exams at a testing center (and passed): Microsoft Office Specialist: OneNote and Microsoft Certified Educator. Then I checked in at my hotel and went over to the welcome reception, where I got to spend some time with Angela Maiers! She is an inspiration and a fabulous educator, speaker, and encourager. 

Wednesday, I spent all day at E2 on the Microsoft campus. I got to meet with product teams for Office Mix, Sway, and OneNote, which was really fun. At the end of the day, I caught a Microsoft shuttle over to a dinner hosted by the Surface team for the NSBA visitors to Kent.

After the dinner, I got a really handsome shuttle driver to pick me up and take me to another event I had going on. 😉 Jim got off work and swung by to drop me off for the US Microsoft Innovative Educator regional dinner, since I was double booked that night.

On Thursday, I drove back to Kent School District and presented four sessions for the NSBA visitors on professional development and our One-to-One. Our rooms were packed to the brim!

That afternoon, I headed down the hill to the ShoWare Center for the Tech Expo. This is the first year since 2008 I haven’t been doing set up all day, and that felt strange. I got there just in time to see the Microsoft Student Ambassadors arrive, train the KSD leadership students on delivering the exit survey, and then circulating around that evening as 8,737 community members and guests listening to the amazing work our students are doing every day. Phew!

On Friday, I spent the morning judging presentations for the E2 learning challenge.

Then all of the E2 attendees were honored to have a guest speaker: Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO.

Afterward, I was part of a small group of attendees, who are part of the Surface Experts group, who got to go tour the Surface R&D facility on campus. It was fascinating and we were told not to take pictures… top secret. 😉

Friday evening, the gala dinner and awards banquet was at EMP in Seattle. I was so proud of the Kent School District student ambassadors who were award winners!

At EMP, a group of us “performed” a song in a “recording studio.” We called ourselves the OneNote Wonders. It’s soooo nerdy that it’s awesome.

I headed home Friday night about 11 PM. I stopped at McDonald’s for my annual post-Expo treat, one day late.

On Saturday, I came home from grocery shopping and swim lessons and slept for an hour and a half on the couch while Jim put away groceries and kept the kids outside. I just couldn’t function. That little nap helped me make it through the rest of the day, even to a date night to see Avengers in 3D!