Hi @reynlds
I will offer the same tired old advice I have offered in these similar forums every year since my first InstCon of 2012.
The most valuable learning will come from the informal (and semi-formal in the case of the Un-conference) networking. You cannot possibly attend every concurrent session; but even if such a thing were possible, you would not want to to do it. After too many rapid-fire lectures/demos/whatever your head will be swimming, and you'll be lucky at the end of the day if you remember 10% of what you heard. Take/make breaks where you have skipped that hour's sessions, and find some nice common space with lots of peers and colleagues sitting around, and just start talking. Most of us are teachers, most of the attendees and participants are teachers, and teachers like to talk. So talk to them. Talk to people from K12, talk to people from HE, talk to people from other countries (highly recommended), and talk to people from Instructure (they tends to be as talkative as teachers).
Leave the electronic devices in your room. The news media is full of stories about folks stepping backwards into the Grand Canyon, falling into wild animal enclosures at zoos and other fatal mishaps because they were too absorbed by their devices to pay attention. At InstCon, it is good to pay attention, and it's good to look up long enough to make a new friend who may just have the edtech solution you have been desperately seeking.
Leave the three-piece suits and uncomfortable shoes at home! InstCon is not Blackboard World. Professional pretensions are not only unnecessary, but rather boring too. Most of the fun stuff that happens after hours, happens best in comfortable clothing, and often without time for changing in between. Believe me - I have worn a suit to work everyday since 1987, and I never bring one to InstCon. If I can shed my disguise, anyone can. Besides, that's the best way to identify a BlackBorg Troll - by the dark suit, and nobody wants to be mistaken for one of those.
Unconference, Unconference, Unconference, Unconference!
If affordable, bring family! I brought my wife and at least one grandchild (but always the granddaughter we adopted) every year for the first five years. The great Kona Jones above brings her children every year. Can you imagine a better influence on a child than to spend four days somewhere where thousands of people from all over the world are celebrating learning? My granddaughter was especially fond of attending the keynote addresses with me, and she still talks about some of them to this day.
You said you are going solo, but I will add for other readers of this forum - ditch your traveling companions from your school; or at least slip away from them as often as is socially acceptable. You have likely already heard what they have to say, and they are just as likely to be bored with your conversations on Canvas. Go forth and learn new things from new people.
Finally, submit a proposal to present! Please! Everybody has something to contribute; and as is readily apparent in the Community, we value almost everybody's contributions. If you can't formally present, then I will refer you right back to my first point, and suggest informal contributions at every opportunity. And, if on the off chance you end up boring people to tears; so what, you'll likely never see them again! Just sayin'
I hope that at least some of this rambling mess is helpful.
Kelley
You will DEFINITELY want to bring it all back with you!
