As I gear up to hop on a plane to Seattle for the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) conference, I find myself excited. Not for the plane ride—I really do not like flying—but because I have the opportunity to make an impact on educators once again. It has become a great passion of mine, and there really is not a better feeling as a presenter than having multiple people come up afterward and give you positive feedback. Well, except maybe when they tell you they want you to come to their school and deliver this message to their staff.

That being said, I have two other thoughts. While sitting in San Antonio at the ASCD/ISTE conference, I noticed two things. One, sessions seemed to be boring and uninviting to guests, from what I witnessed in my small sample size. Rarely did I see the presenter greeting the guests who chose to come to their session. In fact, the lady who was scanning participants actually took a picture of my badge, as she stated that I was the only one she had witnessed greeting those who entered my room. I found that sad and shocking because all educators, K–whenever, should be at their door welcoming those who are entering their arena. Along with that, very few actually looked or sounded engaging. I did not hear music or see many enticing videos, which brought me back to the concept of educating the professionals who are then educating the kids. If we cannot be models, how do we turn around and reasonably expect the teachers to want to listen to our message, or to want to do the same for the students in their classroom? Both of the above observations led me to my next finding.

There were a lot—and I mean a lot—of people not in sessions. While in Washington, D.C., it could be due to the fact they wanted to leave a bit early to go to the city and see the sights after having been mentally stimulated all morning with such amazing content that they were on overload. I can understand that concept, having been on maximum overdrive when listening to great presenters and as a person who loves that town. But should we see people meandering constantly during sessions in the morning? I was shocked how many individuals were skipping sessions, and I couldn’t help but wonder why. Does it come back to the aforementioned observations, or is it something else entirely? The answer I will probably never find, but I found all of it intriguing. I am sure that there were many reasons—all valid, naturally—but that leads me to my final point.

There is a wealth of knowledge handed out at conferences. Each session has at least one nugget of goodness that can be used to improve a school or the environment students and staff reside in for an entire school year. We need to look for those as much as possible. If there is no gold, that is an opportunity for personal reflection with this question in mind: Do students feel like this in my classroom? Do teachers have the thought that their time is wasted in the professional development we provide at school?

If we look at conferences as a positive experience while finding items that could move us forward, that is the goal of the meeting. If not, we need to understand why and learn from it. Regardless, however, in the end, it’s all about perspective!