Team #edlabrepresents (@megi21, @CuriousBrooklyn & @JaniceSunJoo) journeyed to Pier 92 (50th & 12th) for #NYTechDay, an event billed as the "Worlds largest tech event (read my blog post introducing the event here)." Overall, it was an effective, efficient and entertaining event to attend! Bravo #NYTech day team!

Takeaways...
We were immediately struck by both the size and organization of the event...

1) Size: Even at 10:30 the event was packed and yet, because it was so well organized we did not feel crowded or overwhelmed.

2) Organization: the organizers made you feel welcome, yet not micromanaged or imposed-upon. Also, organizing the booths based on vertical and field was an effective way to organize 100's of companies!

Effective Promotion at an event of this size...

1) Dress-up in a costume (see images below)

2) Give-away food (baked goods & mini cupcakes seemed most popular)

Recently, Megha & I had the privilege of meeting with E-180.com founder Christine Renaud and her colleague, Caroline here at the EdLab. The two were on a tour of innovation labs in the NYC area (based in Canada) and EdLab was on their itinary (Thanks MARS DD!)! Read this article for the details and EdLab shout-out!

Minerva Project plans to create a Nobel-level prize for educators whose work is helping to transform the learning landscape. Check-out my "Startup Spotlight" featuring the founder and project last spring. Do you feel that these kinds of monetized prizes are necessary to help encourage educators to contribute new and more effective ways of improving "learning?" Why or why not?

Read more in this NYTimes article...

I received the following message re: the upcoming Artificial Intelligence in Education Conference (AIED), which includes a MOOC-focused workshop (MOOCshop no less). How should EdLab best be involved? (EdLab alums/partners - Professor Ryan Baker, Neil Heffernan etc. are presenting). What are potential points of contact? Twitter?

First Annual Workshop on Massive Open Online Courses(moocshop)
July 9th or 13th (pending) - at the Artificial Intelligence in Education Conference in Memphis, TN
http://www.moocshop.org

The moocshop will survey the rapidly expanding ecosystem of Massive Open Online Courses. We will foster a cross-institutional and cross-platform dialogue in order to articulate and synthesize the plurality of challenges that arise when evaluating and designing MOOCs. While the forms and functions of MOOCs are currently evolving, we aim to develop a shared foundation for an interdisciplinary field of inquiry moving forward.

(Image from @nynjpa & This #NYTechDay post)

#NYTechDay is billed by organizers as the "world's largest startup expo... read their official description below. Hundreds of startups across a wide range of verticals (including #edtech) will have booths set-up at Pier 92 to share their work, network with VC's and potential employees. Lets get a team to #EdLabRepresent!!! Here are my goals for attendance:

1) Gain new outreach contacts
2) Learn re: the NY Tech community
3) Meet press contacts
4) Meet potential EdLab team members

If you are interested please check with Hui Soo (during work hours!) and add your +1 below!

NY Tech Day is a massive science fair for entrepreneurs to exhibit their startups to thousands of consumers, investors, first adopters, job-seekers, major companies, press and media.

As a data viz and gender equity fan, I was especially interested in this recent Information Aesthetics blog post. Women are only equally represented at a handful of data viz conferences and I hope that through work done by the women of EdLab (Sharon & Janice) will help contribute to balancing the gender divide in this field. What are your thoughts? Why are women underrepresented in both technology AND data viz?

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