The ISTELive conference is a chance to bring edtech enthusiasts of all walks together with solution providers looking to make advancements that will make the learning process easier for parents, teachers, and students alike. It is a celebration of how far we’ve come with edtech, with a concentrated focus on where the future will take us.
The night before ISTELive takes off, however, a group of dedicated educators organizes an old-school board game meetup during which people can connect in a way that predates even the oldest of tech.
Bonding Over Board Games
With the tech-heavy focus of ISTELive being the reason educators gather in the first place, having a board game night right before might seem counterintuitive. After all, what do board games have to do with tech?
Eric Curts, Technology Integration Specialist at Stark Portage Area Computer Consortium, explains how game night came to be a beloved pre-conference staple.
“This is our second year doing this at ISTE, but we’ve done similar things like this at other conferences,” says Curts. “Just a bunch of folks saying ‘Hey, this will be fun to do in the evening. We’re a bunch of nerds and we like board games. Let’s do a board game meetup.’ And from that we said we should do this at ISTE.”
Last year’s inaugural event at ISTE was so well-received that there was no hesitation in doing it again.
“What’s behind it is we just want to have opportunities that meet everybody where they’re at,” says Curts. “They don’t want to be in a room with really loud music where they’re trying to scream over it to talk to somebody.”
The difference between a conference floor and a board game table can make all the difference when trying to get to know someone.
“Some people say ‘Hey, I’d rather go somewhere tonight where I can just meet some new people, talk, laugh, have some fun, play some games, and connect,’” Curts says. “And I love that about board games. It’s an opportunity that can bridge and connect people. They learn about each other, and that’s what we’re trying to do. Connecting awesome educators with other awesome educators in a venue that supports fun and creative communication.”
Pre-ISTE = Pre-Technology?
Having a board game night before an educational technology showcase can be jarring given the fact that these are on opposite ends of the spectrum. However, the focus on non-screen gaming is not meant to take away from the advent of technology highlighted by ISTELive. Rather, it helps to bring together a mass of wandering educators for one night to laugh, talk, and connect over one of the oldest forms of entertainment.
“We’ve had people from South Africa, Canada, and Australia,” says Matt Winters, Utah State Board of Education Specialist and founding participant. “We’ve had board game designers and we’ve had educators from higher ed and K through 12. It’s just incredible to see people play a giant version of Jenga and enjoy the craziness of it. I love that it feels like I’m at home, playing a board game with my friends. But these are friends from all over the world, and I’m just meeting them now. Hopefully, I’ll have a connection that goes forward for years.”
A Special Type of Connection
Board games, much like the people who play them, are diverse in nature as there’s one for almost anyone who would like to play. This diversity was at the heart of the Pre-ISTE Board Game meetup, as participants are encouraged to bring a game of their choosing to the event. Games that would be present were listed prior to the date of the event so attendees would not bring the same game. As Director of Design and Innovation for Community Region Charter School in Maine Dan Ryder recalls, it was a much smaller game night that sparked the idea for this pre-ISTE ritual.
“How did it start? Playing games in Utah and then going for an Uber ride,” Ryder says. “Both Eric Curts and I were in Utah as featured speakers for an event, thanks to Matt Winters. We both went to a game night and, during the Uber ride from the conference to the airport that Eric and I shared, we said we should do this at ISTE. We laughed, but there was no reason why we couldn’t. So, at ISTE 2023, we were able to find a hotel that had a function room, we were able to get a handful of sponsors, and we got a small room that could hold about 150 people or so. We packed it.”
With an eye toward inclusion, Ryder says the event involved those who were less inclined to the hustle and bustle associated with average social gatherings.
“This tends to be an introverts’ paradise and we wanted to have something that was the opposite just as an alternative,” he says. “We’ve had a gentleman come who says he looked at the table and said those weren’t his games. I told him, someone is coming later with more games. He stuck around, found a couple games, had a couple conversations. Originally, he wanted to leave at 6:10 and he ended up leaving at 10:30. It just goes to show you the power of games, connections, and good people. It’s hard to go wrong there.”
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