Jerry’s iPad moments: Conference going (Part 1)

My main intention for this column is to write about how I use the iPad in my teaching practice, but this time I’ll use this space to focus in on another aspect of our teaching profession- attending conferences. I used my iPad for the first time at a conference this weekend in Nagoya, at the annual JALT gathering, and I must say it enhanced my overall experience in subtle yet significant ways. To help you consider how you might use an iPad at a conference, I’d like to share my thoughts and reflections on how it went. In this first of two posts on the topic, I’ll go over some of the apps I used most and consider some other ways I used my iPad in part 2.

The workhorses: Google Maps, Safari, and iCal
Far and away the most useful apps were ones that came pre-installed on my iPad: GoogleMaps, Safari, and iCal. All were extremely handy in various situations.

Google Maps
Google Maps was invaluable when walking around the downtown area. Thanks to the built-in GPS of my iPad 3G, Google Maps was able to track my movements. This helped me get smoothly to the conference site from the station, to my hotel from the conference site, and to some good drinking places. Watching that little blue ball move down the street as I walked made it feel like I had a car navigation system in my hands. It was surprisingly accurate, especially when I zoomed in close. As a result, I was able to eliminate stress from not being able to get around. Mental energy that could have been lost dealing with issues of simply getting from point A to point B was redirected toward more important ends. I could relax and concentrate on my presentations and other things I needed to do. It may seem like such a simple thing, but not having to worry about where you are going really made a big difference. It also made me feel glad I had spent the extra yen for the 3G model- you could still make use of Google Maps with the Wifi-only iPad, but you wouldn’t have the benefit of having the app track your movement in real-time.

Safari
As you can imagine, Safari, the web-browsing app on the iPad, was also extremely helpful. Especially when combined with the iPad’s slim and light form-factor, it really felt like I had the Internet in my hands. And yes, as Steve Jobs has said, it was “magical.” For example, during the 2nd plenary speech, a presentation by Nicky Hockley on using Web 2.0 resources in the classroom, I was able to visit the various sites she mentioned as she was going over them on her PowerPoint slides. What’s more, this ability was of great interest to the people sitting next to me. Not only was I able to check things out in real-time, but doing so helped me interact much more easily with fellow attendees (this “iPad as ice-breaker” effect is a theme I’ll surely return to in future posts. It’s one of the key ways in which the iPad helps improve communication).

As I looked around the hall during the plenary, I could see more than a few other people using laptops to take notes. This is the way I used to do things. It is still a good way, of course, especially if you can access an Internet connection (like Daniel could with his WiMax gizmo). Since taking notes on my iPad was not as easy for me given the glass software keyboard, my experience this time was focused primarily on accessing supplementary information, on listening and reading as opposed to listening and writing. I had not done this before, and overall I found it helped me stay focused on what the speaker was trying to say. By having the ability to access the net, I could shape the presentation more to my needs. I continued this practice during some of the other presentations, and overall I was very pleased with the control it afforded me. I was now in a position to get more out of the conference and not so dependent on having the speaker “entertain” me.

One interesting experience took place during my colleague Clair’s presentation on vocabulary learning via Smart.fm. One attendee raised his hand and mentioned he was unfamiliar with the service. Without such basic knowledge, I thought, his chances of getting a lot out of the talk would be limited. With a few clicks I found Smart.fm on my iPad, passed it back to him, and he was able to check the site out throughly. When he passed the device back to me, I could tell by the satisfied look on his face he was grateful for the opportunity to have had his question so throughly answered. If I had been using a laptop, I seriously doubt I would have done this. With an iPad, it was like passing around a book. So again, the slim form-factor + Internet connection combo helped create a new way of interacting during a conference.

Finally, Safari came in very handy during the social “liquidation” portions of the conference. While in the flow of conversation, I was able to use Safari to look up pertinent info relevant to the discussion I was having at the time, be it my family’s website, my Facebook page, following the Arsenal-Spurs match live, or to learn about the finer details of fantasy footy from my British mates. This “iPad as social lubricant” really helped bring a new enhanced spin on after-hours chat, helping me share my life, experiences, and ideas in richer ways.

iCal
As a calendar app, iCal was most useful in helping me figure out my plan through each day of the conference. Before arriving, I went through the schedule carefully, inputting presentations I had to do or attend, as well as those I wanted to see. Naturally there were moments of conflict, but having everything there so nicely laid out and easily accessible helped me decide on my priorities. One downside of iCal was that I was not able to share and subscribe to my colleague’s calendars unless I was able to connect my iPad to my MacBook Pro laptop. I felt it would have been nice to email my daily schedule to a few people in order to coordinate our schedules more efficiently. Looking back, perhaps one way of improving this would be to use Google Calendar more in the future. This way I would be able to access and share my schedules on the net, via Safari. This is an area I’ll look to improve on for future conferences. If anyone has any info along these lines, I’m all ears.

To conclude part one, it was the basic built-in functionality of the iPad that I used most during the conference. Google Maps helped me get around, Safari put the power of the Internet into my hands, and iCal helped me manage my time more effectively.

In part two, I’ll take a look at some of the other apps I used at the conference and also take a look at how I can improve my conference going experience in the future.

Finally, I’d love your feedback on what I’ve written or just to hear about your experiences at the JALT (or any other) conference. How have you used the iPad in this situation? Which apps did you use most, and how did the iPad enhance or inhibit your overall experience?