• Pick just 2-3 technologies or techniques you learned and master them. It is not realistic to do everything. If you try, you’ll overwhelm yourself and do them all poorly. Focusing on just a few will be an easier way to deal with the ISTE fire hose.
• Volunteer. You will meet some fantastic people and have fascinating conversations. One organizer told me how a long-time member felt volunteering & attending fewer sessions was more rewarding than tackling the conference head-on. Also, you get a free t-shirt!
• Relax at the lounges. Lounges & gathering areas are great for relaxing and getting into some enlightening discussions. For me, the Newbie Lounge was fantastic. Asking, “Are you a newbie too?” is an easy ice-breaker too.

The common thread to all of these is favoring quality over quantity. Quality experiences, quality relationships, quality conversations. That beats being overwhelmed by activity, I’d say.

For edshelf, this means adding a better way to present just one or two featured tools, instead of an overwhelming number of them. We’re currently working on a redesign that will do just that.

Oh, and I had one more takeaway:

• Student projects rock. Sorry adults, but the poster sessions of student work stole the show for me. And as one teacher told me, “Isn’t that why we’re here? To celebrate and learn how we can better educate our students?”

Thank you, ISTE, for putting on a great conference! I look forward to ISTE 2013.

- Mike Lee, Cofounder of edshelf