TeachMeet going (more) global

TeachMeet grew from a meeting of minds around some French food in Edinburgh, during the Spring of 2005. It was the first educational unconference that knew it was one, and continues to achieve as much or more than many 'cons' and 'uncons' that have since followed, relying on a simple set of unbudgeable rules to maintain a high bar of for-teachers-by-teachers structured and unstructured learning, with plenty of fun guaranteed.

I got a lovely email today from our colleagues in Holland, who had attended my first English TeachMeet at BETT in 2008 and wanted to hold one of their own. A year later they have done:

Just wanted to chime in to say thank you for inspiring me into TeachMeets. We held our first Dutch one last week and it was an absolute success. Fully booked room ('bout 65 attending) enough sponsors for free drinks and some great prizes for the raffle. Participants and sponsors were all thrilled by the concept and how it worked out on the evening itself.

I got conference organizers asking me to organise TeachMeets alongside their events. It looks like Holland (well, the whole world really) is ready for creative and informal ways to meet and learn.

I love it when a good plan comes together. Check out some nice pics, and encourage them to do away with the rows the next time ;-)

Comments

[Fons van den Berg]

How nice of of you to post this Ewan.

It was either a bit of a row-y setup or have people stand up on their feet all night. The people renting out the (very hip and high tech) venue had no idea what to expect so they arranged the furniture to go with the feel of the room. But don't worry, we'll work on it.

Had no impact on the fun we had however. You know the Dutch, we tend to be a bit reserved when meeting in groups (except when very drunk or when it concerns football or ice skating). This night was all out fun, drinks and learning. Just like TeachMeet08@BETT and this years edition. In addition to my mail I'd like to applaud the organizers of TeachMeet09@BETT for doing a great job job as well.