Back from Berlin

Today I'm back from Online Educa Berlin. This year, the conference has grown to 2012 participants out of seventy-something countries. It was my 3th Online Educa. I really like the conference, not only for the smooth organisation and follow-up, the fact it brings together both academics and business worlds, the content and the networking. It's just a special place for me at the end of the year to reflect on the previous year and get inspiration for the year to come. It's the place where last year I decided to join IBM Learning Development for example.

Anyway, it was one of my most intense weeks of 2006. (In a nutshell: excellent pre-conference by Jef Staes - the IBM exec dinner at the Judisches Museum - meeting all those IBMers I only mail or phone with during the year - speaker's reception - chairing a session with red and yellow cards for time mangement - presenting a case study with my main customers and showing them around Berlin - new blogs to add to my feed list - many business cards - being at our booth - the fun of the speed networking session - Jay Cross after some drinks - the special interest group lunch on learning2.0 - the later hours of the OE party - demo's at the booths - Christmas market in Berlin - 1/2 m bratwurst - being a tourist on the weekend - etc)

I've been concentrating on networking this year and have not followed as much sessions as the years before. Among the highlights for me were the keynote from the World Bank, informal learning and the many practical case studies of e-learning on the workfloor.

During the conference the case study 'BIG & FED : a 6C learning case study' was presented together with the survey results. You can find them back at the 6C learning site under the menu 'Case Studies'. Also during the conference the 'background' from the 6C Quotes project was shown in premiere, and appreciated by the participants.

Looking forward to next year's edition.

(pictures : Benjamin and me at Hamburger Bahnhof - IBM Booth)