Last weekend was the TESOL Spain conference in Madrid, which was a thoroughly worthwhile and enjoyable experience.

I really enjoyed the sessions I attended and came away with a lot of good ideas & food for thought. What is great is to hear people challenging and shaping what we think of as 'good' education and putting across ideas and activities that I might never have considered, or talking about ideas that back up and support my own thinking about teaching.

However, what made the biggest impact on me at the conference was finally meeting up with so many people that I've met during the past year on Twitter. The whole dynamic of the conference was different, both socially and professionally. Having the opportunity to chat to so many (previously virtual) friends & colleagues face-to-face about the ideas being presented was incredibly valuable and motivating. It really made the concept of what twitter is and what it is supposed to do a reality, and created a real shift in what I had previously thought about conferences, as well as reinforcing my belief that twitter is a hugely valuable tool for learning and connecting with fantastic, enthusiastic, clever and motivated people. Add the social aspect to it all and the entire experience is transformed. Lovely!

Anyway, as an additional bit of self-promotion (!), the slides from my talk are below together with explanatory notes. It's not exactly the same as I did in my talk, but is a reviewed and (hopefully) clearer version than the waffle that went on during the actual session!

http://www.slideshare.net/bcnpaul1/tesolspain-presentation