Our+Conference+at+Karamu

Hi, Good People.

On **June 23**, your school will close at 12:00 noon.
WIlliam Colenso and Sacred Heart will motor across to us at Karamu.


 * **Why?**

===Because **as an I-CONNECT cluster we are running our very own, the one and only, inaugural  CONNECTIONS ****CONFERENCE**! === ||  ||  || **- C O N N E C T I O N S -** This conference is about **connecting**. We aim to have you make connections with people, with ideas and resources, with technology and opportunities.

It'll be fun, and informative too. It's about getting to know each other a bit better in a context of pedagogy, professional discussion, and pampering! We have a great afternoon planned, finishing with something to wet (whet?) your whistle and keep the ribs apart.

Connecting is a really important part of being in a cluster. We're in this thing for three years and we need to work together to maximise the outcomes of this project. Those of us who have done this stuff before know that the most gains come from a developed sense of community, commitment and collaboration within a cluster. It also comes from being stimulated by some common input, which is why we've got a really interesting guest speaker for you. You will enjoy him. Getting together for a fun and enlightening afternoon sounds like a good way to connect, doesn't it?

I like the idea of having **F U N ** together. Whilst we are serious about what we're doing on this day, we are also aware that we are early in our I-CONNECT journey. Let's keep that in mind. Our presenters have all volunteered to share something of interest with you. Whilst some of them are old hands, we have others who are presenting for the first time so there's some nervousness. Help them out: go along and **enjoy** their commitment, their willingness, and their offerings. Make their efforts worthwhile by being a magnificent audience of noisy participants, eager sharers, and wildly enthusiastic questioners. I reckon we'll all gain if you do that.

 **Conference Programme**
The afternoon's programme looks a bit like this:

>>
 * 12:45 Into the Karamu High School Hall
 * 12:55 Housekeeping/Instructions
 * 13:00 Principal Martin O'Grady introduces our guest
 * 13:00 Guest Speaker: Rod Drury (//See a profile below//) - 30-40 minutes.
 * 13:40 To Breakouts
 * 13:45: Breakout One commences
 * 14:30: Breakout One ends
 * 14:40: Breakout Two commences
 * 15:25 Breakout Two ends
 * 15:30 Regather in the hall
 * Short address by Ms. Liz Stevenson: National Facilitator ICTPD Team, and our liaison for I-Connect.
 * Spot prizes
 * Refreshment time! or you can quietly head away to do the zillion things you have to do.
 * 16:30 Conference closes

 **PRESENTING ROD DRURY:**
One of New Zealand's leading technology entrepreneurs, Rod is a member of the New Zealand Hi-Tech Hall of Fame, NZ Hi-Tech Entrepreneur of the Year in 2006 and 2007, World Class New Zealander for ICT in 2008 and an Honorary Fellow of the NZ Computer Society. Rod is a Director of the New Zealand Stock Exchange, was a Director of TradeMe when it was sold to Fairfax Media and is a member of Victoria University of Wellington Faculty of Commerce Advisory Board. Rod recently announced Pacific Fibre, a new $900m international fibre cable project connecting Australia and NZ to the USA with Sam Morgan and Stephen Tindall. || ||  BREAKOUTS: Breakout information is on your staff notice board. It is also a PDF file which you can download. (Note: there are a couple of last minute changes we are working through. The list will be finalised on Wednesday morning.) You need to select TWO breakouts to attend. To do this you are going to use an on-line quiz called "Survey Monkey". Click  HERE  to access this BREAKOUT SELECTION SURVEY.
 * Rod Drury is CEO and founder of NZX-listed Xero an online accounting solution for small businesses.