Wednesday, June 17

The Untold 'Digital Education Show' Story that Must be Told!


"Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." 
-  Forrest Gump


...And that certainly applies to Asia's most important Digital Education Show (event) of the year (self-proclaimed)! You never know what you're gonna get! Let's find out!


FREE!

Ironically, I have attended their last two events in Kuala Lumpur (FREE exhibition) without actually planning to attend due to their ________  registration fees...



2014

Last year (2014), I only attended the Digital Education Show for a few hours (Day 1), due to a dinner invitation by my friend Kelvin Loh (Founder of eLearningMinds), who was having a booth.

While walking around the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre hall (hosting the event) exploring the various tech solutions, innovations and services, I was really surprised to discover that Lynda.com was participating.

As I was about to leave the Lynda.com booth, I discovered accidentally (peripheral vision) a Lucky draw for a Mini-iPad. You just needed to share your business card and you stand a chance. I was thinking, no point wasting a card on this. But, then suddenly a spark of hope enlightened me to dump my business card into the Lucky draw bowl.

I didn't attend Day 2 of the event, and when I was about to reach home from work (35-minute drive), I got a pleasant call from a Lynda.com staff, and the rest is history... 



Well, I had to drive all the way back to Kuala Lumpur to pick it up, but for a free Mini-iPad...Why not?

Fast forward to...


2015

This year too, I was not planning to attend the Digital Education Show. But then I discovered that many awesome educators from the Learning Innovation Circle (LIC) was either presenting or attending. So, how could I miss it?
If you are not already a LICer, time to...





DIGITAL EDUCATION SHOW

So, here I was again, attending the free exhibition. But, somehow after last year's luckiness, I felt great being back. Although, I felt a bit like a poor man as I arrived; not being able to get access the richness of this event (the main conference). But, once the event started, all the free stuff was actually really good. Most of the LICers who were attending, or presenting were mostly in the 'Free Area Space', so I was quite happy. 

But being me, I wanted to discover more. So, I tickled my LIC cable connection gently (LOL), who's identity I cannot reveal.



Seriously!



Then after lunch, I got the call! Congratulations! Come and get your...



WOW! Al-Hamdulilla! Luck strikes again! Unfortunately, I could only enjoy one hour of my new found learning enrichment. Yes, I had my promotional interview with IMU top management at 4 PM. What did I do next? Easy! I drove to IMU (Bukit Jalil), of course! How did that go? Beyond this post!


DAY 2

WOW! From being a visitor, now I was a Delegate. Al-Hamdulilla, I felt privileged to get this great opportunity to enjoy whatever the Digital Education Show had to offer. Yeah!!!! 



But, could the lady luck strike again? Well, it did! The event organizer had just discovered that one of the Chairmen for the three (3) tracks during Day 2, was not able to attend (Tertiary track). My LIC cable connection was asked to chair, but he insisted that I was the right man for the job.



Did I say no? Of course not! Al-Hamdulilla! Cool! Not only am I attending the main event, I am now the Chairman for one of the three tracks; the one I wanted to attend. WOW! I got the opportunity to introduce seven speakers during Day 2, and of course I added my flavor of moderation, time management, humor and engagement to keep the participants alive and awake.




Actually, all the speakers were great in their own way, so it was really easy to get through the day without much trouble. Interestingly, I even video recorded most of the presenters, empowering live video streaming to the world using Periscope (via my iPad). Here are two (2) examples (with permission):

Prof Karim 'Periscoping'...

Also, I was scheduled to attend a 'Farewell and Welcome' lunch with my IMU team (and Chief Library Officer) in KLCC, but sadly had to miss that due to my new Chairman role.



In comparison, I had to eat a quite delicious Tandoori from this...



We can't have everything in life! 

In perspective, I started Day 1 as a Visitor, and within 24 hours, I had become a Delegate, Chairman, Periscoper, and even a co-facilitator (informally) during the round-the-table discussion (Prof Emory Graig) at the end of Day 2.



WOW and Al-Hamdulilla! It was a blessed and enriching learning experience.




PICTURES

Click here to discover the 50+ pictures, I took during this event.

So, what about the Digital Education Show itself, what did I learn from it? The only way you can find that out, is to join our Learning Innovation Circle (LIC). Not only will you learn what I learned here, you will discover what other passionate educators learned from this event, and so much more. Join us!


NEXT YEAR

So, will lady luck strike a fourth time?

Insya-Allah, why not? My LIC Cable connection insisted to the event organizer (in front of me) that I should be a Keynote next year, and they seemed quite impressed with my engaging and innovate style in chairing a track. So, the odds are good next year, but you never know?

Insya-Allah :)
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