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Thanks for attending. Here’s you certificate of attendance. Conference Certificate

Sunday, December 7, 2013, 8:00 AM The conference will be proceeding with the delayed opening on Sunday described in yesterday’s update. If hazardous roads prevent you from attending on Sunday, please submit all details including information about road conditions and closures in your area, and we will consult with our insurer  to determine if a refund is warranted. Refunds may only be made for the affected day. Friday, December 6, 2013, 12:00 PM VSTE is continuing to monitor the weather for this upcoming weekend. The conference will go on as planned with the exception of a delayed start on Sunday morning. Registration will open at 8 AM and the first concurrent sessions will begin at 9:45 AM. Sessions scheduled for 8:30 will be held at 12:45. For those of you who arrive early, we are pleased to offer “Breakfast with the Experts.” Our spotlight and keynote speakers–Vicki Davis, Steven Anderson, Rushton Hurley and Chris O’Neal–will hold an informal conversation in Crystal C/D from 8:30 to 9:30 AM. They’ll be talking technology, integration, instruction and more…grab your breakfast and join in with your questions and comments. Many attendees are already planning to come in on Saturday and, for those of you traveling from across the state, we recommend making plans to arrive on Saturday. Contact the conference hotels for room availability. More information can be found on the lodging page. For those of you traveling, this Q&A may be helpful. See you in Roanoke! __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ VSTE is closely monitoring the weather for this upcoming weekend. Knowing how quickly forecasts can change, we will not be making any decisions about weather-related changes until Friday at the earliest.

Do you have something to say to the VSTE community? Say it briefly but forcefully in an Ignite! talk at the conference. Ignite! is twenty slides, automatically advancing every 15 seconds, for five minutes of whatever information/ideas/passion you want to present to an audience. If that sounds like you, like something you want to try, click this link and submit a proposal. Ignite! VSTE will take place Monday, December 9, during the conference at 2:45 in Hackerspace.

We know many of you are just getting back from summer break. We hope you had a restful vacation! And we wanted to make sure you had a chance to get the best rate on the best conference! So, we’re extending the Super Early Bird Rate for two more weeks. We have four nationally known keynote and spotlight speakers, events for educational technology leaders, presentations from the Department of Education, an exciting exhibit hall with cutting edge technologies, and a new area called the Hackerspace. From classroom teachers to school administrators to technology directors, the VSTE conference truly offers something for everyone. Register now!

Each year, VSTE strives to recognize outstanding student work as part of its Student Technology Integration Challenge. From desktop publishing to multimedia to interactive technologies, students are doing exciting and fun things with technology and STIC is the way to get the word out to the world. We are looking for work from students in all grades…it can be as simple as a poster or as complicated as a computer game. Don’t hesitate…just submit it!

VSTE is thrilled to welcome Vicki Davis, aka Cool Cat Teacher, to its conference. Vicki is an honest-to-goodness classroom teacher from Georgia who has been blogging about her work since 2005. She inspires, encourages, and informs the teachers, parents, and professionals working to educate this wonderful generation of students. Check our her blog at http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html. Davis will Keynote the opening session on Monday, December 9th.

In his role as Director of Instructional Technology for the Winston Salem/Forsyth County Schools, Steven Anderson oversees technology for 53,000 students. He understands the challenges of leadership when it comes to keeping up with the ever changing world of technology. He will bring that understanding to the Ed Tech Leaders luncheon this year. In addition, Anderson has embraced Web 2.0 technologies and is responsible in helping create #edchat, a weekly education discussion on Twitter that boasts over 500 weekly participants. He also blogs about the intersection of education and technology at http://blog.web20classroom.org/.

Well known educational technology guru Chris O’Neal will provide the Sunday Spotlight talk as part of our student showcase celebration. Chris has been a fixture in Virginia schools for more than a decade with his funny, thoughtful approach to both technology and parenting. Rushton Hurley will help close the conference on Tuesday with a spotlight presentation. Hurley is an entertaining and engaging speaker who is passionate about the idea of helping students become more engaged in and confident with their learning. Give him a few minutes, and he’ll convince you, too.

On December 8th VSTE will return to the Hotel Roanoke for the 28th year of its Annual Conference. Whether it’s your first time attending or you’re a veteran of our annual conference, we’re putting together an amazing lineup of sessions, speakers, events, and lots of great food! With budgets being constrained we know all to well that for many they’re lucky to get even a single professional development opportunity during the year. Because of this we want to make sure you leave VSTE energized and excited. We’ve blocked off a large set of rooms at the Hotel Roanoke which will most definitely sell out so book yours today, and while you’re at it take advantage of Super Early Bird registration prices, the lowest they’ll be all year. See you in Roanoke!