CMC math conference reflections

Wow what a memorable experience! Presenting is a very different experience than being a participant. So many things to worry about. To make sure that the Internet was working in the room, I went early and sat in someone else's session. I politely informed them that I wasn't going to be participating because I was just checking out the room and the Internet. They were very understanding and encouraging. Luckily I presented after lunch, so I was able to eat lunch in the room and even run through a little bit of the presentation.The microphone was set up for a panel. But there was NO WAY I was going to sit there and talk into the microphone the whole time.I asked the tech guy to set up a microphone and a stand for me.
     My presentation was very well prepared. John Stevens, and Paula Torres (my tech coaches) went over my presentation and made lots of suggestions. John warned me that he had bad luck with the Internet at the Hard Rock Hotel ,so I made a backup PowerPoint just in case. But by God’s grace, everything worked fine.
     The people started coming in early, and I was excited to see my colleague Rita in the room. My teaching partner Candace who's been on leave helped me greet people and get them logged into Nearpod. I was so thankful she was there because there were a lot of people that came late and needed the code to login. My session time and place had been changed from Saturday to Friday ,so there were some people that were expecting someone else. So I announced at the beginning the name of the session, and told them the other presenter had been changed to tomorrow. Many of them decided to stay anyways. That’s what happens when they change your time and venue.  But I'm not complaining. The ones that were there were enthusiastic!
     I was anxious at first , but as I went on I relaxed and started to have fun. The presentation in the next-door room was a “family feud “ game demonstration, so every once in awhile when the music was too loud, I had to walk up to the participants to hear their questions.I was able to go through all that I had planned, and was even able to add a few things at the end.The participants loved playing the Quizizz game.
     I was kind of nervous about the evaluation that the participants texted to poll everywhere. But I got a lot of positive comments, that were VERY encouraging.It validated to me that I'm doing the right things in my classroom.