Social Media: Friend or Foe to Music Educators?

Welcome, new followers and anyone stopping by to take a look :)

I have just returned from a busy weekend at the Maryland Music Educators Conference. I was a chaperone for the junior All-State Band, a clinician/presenter, and a presider. I had a great time! Today, of course is a "do-all-my-weekend-chores-in-one-day" kind of day, but it was worth it.

First, here is my presentation from this weekend, and here is the handout... super simple items, but I am one of those people who believe that visuals are meant to enhance my presentation, not replace it. I presented the topic of Social Media, pointing out how the use of Social Media can either force a change of career or greatly enhance the career of a music educator, all dependent on personal choices. If you need further information after viewing the documents, please comment or email your questions.


And now for the entertainment:

Those who attended my conference (or asked me "How did it go?") found out that things did not go very smoothly for my technology. So here is the full story.

HOW PRESENTATIONS BEFORE THIS WEEKEND WOULD GO:
I hook up my projector to my iPad and load my presentation through Keynote. I link my iPhone to the iPad to run the presentation remotely. I give the presentation. Bam.

HOW THIS PRESENTATION WENT DOWN:
I hook up my projector to my iPad and attempt to load my presentation through Keynote. First, DropBox has difficulty loading my presentation. After patiently waiting 10 minutes, my presentation is finally recognized by DropBox, however there is no preview... hmmm. So I select my presentation to open in Keynote. Keynote informs me that the program needs to be upgraded prior to opening this presentation. I hurriedly contact my husband for his login info (a whole separate story) and finally approve the upgrade... only to discover WiFi is required for this download. No WiFi at the convention center. Next plan, run the presentation through DropBox... still no preview. Next plan, run the presentation through my iPhone... I do not have Keynote loaded (need WiFi to load it) and still no preview in DropBox. Next plan, run the presentation through my MacBook Air... I do not have the correct adapter to attach to the projector. Should I go find someone with the adapter or any mac computer I can borrow that has WiFi ability to get to DropBox & Keynote so I can run the presentation? Uh, not enough time, only 10 minutes until start.

Final plan: Wing It. I was able to access all of the graphics I used for my presentation from the DropBox, so I can connect my iPad to the projector, show the visuals, and go for it. The only downfall: my outline, which is housed in Evernote, had not synced recently so most of my outline was not there. When I began my presentation for the brave educators who attended I briefly mentioned my "tech-tastrophy," related it to classroom experiences where tech fails us & we teach on our feet, and jumped in. Sort-of Bam. Thankfully, the presentation went well considering the circumstances and I received good verbal feedback from some of the attendees.

Yes, I get the humor of the situation: I presented on a tech-related topic and my tech failed me. Murphy's Law and I have a loooooooong history...