Who's Ready to Soak Up the Sun at ISTE 2026 in Orlando?

The laptop, headphones, and portable batteries have been charged. The sunscreen has been forgotten. The kids have been hugged and kissed goodby with the promise of seeing them again in a week.

I'm currently in KCI chatting it up with some World Cup fans and some Europeans who've traveled here to support their team, and are now moving on. After a quick flight, and long layover in Atlanta, I'll be in the land of the mouse.

ISTE 2026 starts virtually tomorrow, and IRL (with virtual and streamed options) on Sunday. I have been looking forward to this since I booked my flights approximately five minutes after finding out I was accepted to present (even if I'm still finishing some presentation materials...#blameFIFA).

Once Sunday hits, I'm presenting several times in both sessions and the expo hall. I've got sessions being streamed and/or recorded. Girl, I'm busy AF.

I could not be more excited about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=RDKIYiGA_rIls&v=KIYiGA_rIls

Being busy at a conference is not the same as being present at one. I have watched people burn through a conference running from obligation to obligation and come home with a business card collection and no new ideas. That is not the plan.

The plan is to present with everything I have and then sit in someone else's session and remember what it feels like to be the person in the audience. To find the tool I did not know existed. To have the hallway conversation that changes how I think about something. To come home with more than I left with, which is the only metric that actually matters.

So here is what you can expect from me this week:

Session recaps.  I'll share materials from my presentations and from those I attended. I'm excited to highlight cool things I see and hear other people talk about.

Tool and idea spotlights. ISTE is the best place in education to find something you have never heard of that immediately makes you think "where has this been my whole career." When that happens, and it will happen, I am writing about it immediately before I forget why it felt so exciting in the moment.

Honest reflections. Not highlight reel content (well..maybe some....). Real thoughts about what is landing, what is making me think, and what I am bringing back to my classroom in August when Year Zero officially begins.

One more thing. I have been talking about launching a newsletter for a while now, and I am hoping to have the very first issue ready to share by the end of the day Monday. If you have been waiting for a reason to subscribe, a newsletter dropping from the middle of ISTE feels like a pretty good one. Stay tuned.

The virtual sessions start tomorrow. IRL starts Sunday. I have a lot to present, a lot to learn, a lot to tell you about, and a lot of sun to find.

Let's go. ✈️

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