Saturday, July 19, 2014

PLN Explosion



I admittedly had concerns about my PLN a week ago.  I was getting discouraged by inactivity in LinkedIn and not really learning about things that interested me.  This past week put an end to my fears.  Part of it was the online discussion I initiated with one of my groups on LinkedIn finally took off with a flurry of activity, allowing me to develop some new online contacts along with new ideas.  the other was my trip to Erie, PA.

I attended the tenth annual conference for IAFIE  last week, and had the most enjoyable and productive experience.  I met a lot of great people, learned about a lot of different things, made some wonderful contacts, and developed some great opportunities for the future.  I left there truly inspired, which is what a good conference should do.

During the course of the conference, I added two new groups to my PLN on LinkedIn, as well as gaining a number of new contacts to other professionals in this field.  By the second day, we were sharing and tweeting articles and blogs during the sessions.  Of particular interest to me was I met a professional that was developing an online app for teaching intelligence and another who was using virtual worlds for the same, and both were interested in collaborating in the future.  Exciting stuff!

What was particularly wonderful about this experience was physically meeting the people I was networking with online.  This personalized the relationship, and makes me more comfortable with making requests of them in the future. I really look forward to utilizing this new network, and hop what I have recently learned will help me to maintain it.

5 comments:

  1. It sounds like a wonderful conference! I agree that it helps to personalize the online relationship by meeting those you are working with online. There is still a lot to be said for face to face connections even with the advancement of social media. Good luck with your future collaboration!

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  2. I always love visiting your blog and get so much out of it. Your PLN sounds exciting and (sidebar) is a bonus for your end of semester project.

    I've just started hearing about virtual worlds and find it a fascinating area. Will have to explore it more in the future.

    Good luck.

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  3. I think the best takeaway is that social media and traditional social interaction are not mutually exclusive and should not be treated as such. They are just different means of exchange that should be leveraged as needed.

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  4. What a great experience! Even though having online communities is a great way to network with people, I don't think it will ever replace meeting your connections in the real world and having that personalized experience.

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  5. How cool! So glad to hear that this started working out for you. I too still believe in the power of Linked In and I am curious how your PLN will continue to grow!

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