The second ISTEK conference takes place next weekend in Istanbul and it’s already causing a major buzz on the airwaves. The first conference last year was simply astonishing, for many different reasons.
Firstly, the organisers decided to have a two-day conference rather than just one, which is normal for spring conferences in Istanbul and other major Turkish cities. They also decided to charge a fee to attend, whereas all the other one-day conferences are free to attend.
They still managed to persuade more than a thousand people to attend. Most of them were Turkish, of course, but another fourteen countries were represented there.
Secondly, they decided to invite a number of top conference plenary speakers, and all of them agreed to attend. The result was a first-time conference with plenary addresses from Jeremy Harmer, Herbert Puchta, Lindsay Clandfield, Nicky Hockly, Luke Prodromou and Andrew Wright.
Last but not least, the atmosphere, particularly in the plenary hall was absolutely amazing. An important reason for this was the team who introduced the plenary speakers, Vanessa Hatoum and John Barth, who pitched each introduction at just the right level of delight and deference.
This year is equally mouth-watering as far as the plenary speakers are concerned. They are Rod Bolitho, Jan Blake (the poet and story-teller who wow-ed everyone with her amazing talk at IATEFL UK in Harrogate last year), Scott Thornbury and Interchange author and doyen of the ELT writing world, Dr Jack C Richards. Jack is not a conference junkie these days, so it’s amazing that they persuaded him to attend.
Scott Thornbury and Jack Richards, two of the most famous ELT New Zealanders of all time, at the same conference – terrific!
An innovation this year is what the organisers have called ‘Concurrent Plenaries’ – two sets of simultaneous talks which at any other conference would probably be plenaries in their own right. Speakers include current IATEFL President Eric Baber, e-learning gurus Nik Peachey and Gavin Dudeney, Turkish star Ozge Karaoglu, Teaching Unplugged author Luke Meddings and ELTON award-winners Russell Stannard and Jamie Keddie, amongst many others. The concurrent plenary speakers will do their talks twice.
There are even more great presenters providing concurrent workshops, a really impressive list of events for one conference.
I don’t know for sure but I imagine that – like last year – the conference plenaries will be live-streamed. For anyone who has never seen Jan or Scott speak, or who wants a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see Jack Richards at work, this is your chance.
And yes, I AM going, I AM giving a talk and I’m REALLY looking forward to it.
Here’s a link to information about this year’s events.
Ken Wilson's Blog 
Excitement is rising by the minute, Ken. I have already started packing!
This is the one no one wants to miss! 😛
I’m also really looking forward to ISTEK. I missed it last year but the line-up this time looks somehow even better!
As you say, it’s good to have a 2 day event rather than the usual one day conferences we have in Turkey. It allows for a much greater variety and more of a social aspect.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I should get my workshop finalised!
Looking forward to meeting you too, Dave – another cog in the wheel of social networking – you know everything about someone and then you meet them. 😛
I heard so much about it last year, I’m going too. Come and see me at my stand, Ken, and bring Dede. Long time no chin wag. Storytelling thing is right up my street.
It was Paris, wasn’t it? Last Chinwag in Paris – wasn’t that the name of a Marlon Brando movie?
Packing, too, and trying to revive my Turkish!
Ah… to speak Turkish… a dream. This must be my twentieth visit and I can’t even order a coffee. I am v ashamed.
hello:-)
I’ve already started ironing! 😉 Look forward to ISTEK and meeting you there. We’re all going to have a fabulous time!
Seems it’s high time to have a second look at ‘Ken’s 10 rules for conference presentations’! 😉
See you in Istanbul! yeeey! 🙂
Ania
See ya there, Ania,
I’ve marked your workshop as a must-see! 😛
Looks amazing. I wonder what they’ll be laying online for us who will not be lucky enough to attend. Any idea?
Just checked it out and seen there’s lots of online stuff. Cool. Looking forward to being there from the comfort of my living room. Not that those Pecha Kucha cushions don’t look comfy!
I know ISTEK last year wasn’t the first live-streamed conference, but it certainly seemed to create a buzz amongst the non-attenders, comfy-living room types who followed it & hooked up with each other (and attendees) on twitter.
All that stuff might be old hat now, but I think the connections are very valuable.