Wednesday, July 31, 2013

#TMC13 - Exhaustingly Exhilirating


Last year I was a member of #twitterjealousycamp for sure. I wanted to go to St. Louis, but a combination of the cost and social insecurity deterred me.

With this year's TMC being in Philadelphia, a mere 5ish hour drive away, the cost became less of a deterrent and I volunteered to present so that I was committed to be at TMC in a tangible way. Apparently my sense of commitment is stronger than my social anxiety, and I found my way to Twitter Math Camp in Philadelphia.

I had quite a few fears about meeting up with a whole bunch of people I'd only ever interacted with online. Not safety fears, but social fears. My first fear was that nobody would attend my session. My second fear was that I would end up eating alone. My third fear was that I would end up hiding in my hotel room. My fears turned out to be unfounded and my experiences at #TMC13 were amazing.

My session went well (I think). Nine people came! @lmhenry9 live tweeted the session. She also got me to volunteer to do a repeat for #globalmath department on Sept 17th.  She's very tricky like that.

I did not eat a single meal alone.  I had great meals and even better company. And I only hid in my hotel room for short stretches just to decompress from the overwhelming amount of awesomeness.

A few of my TMC13 program highlights


While I came away from these days in Philly with some great content and classroom ideas, the more important take aways were the relationships. The people I met and interacted with were amazing; I can't even begin to say enough about just how awesome, how inviting, and how smart they all are.  I came to TMC13 with fear and trepidation, but left with a new group of friends. It was hard to leave, but the best part is that I can visit with them ALL the time via twitter and their blogs and globalmath and google hangouts and and and...

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