Home > Archive by category 'Conferences'
Topic - Conferences
February 15, 2012
This year marked my 14th trip to the New York Toy Fair. And since Toy Fair is always scheduled during Valentine’s Day, this is my 14th year to be away from my wife. So, instead of sending her flowers or taking her to dinner, I just bring her home the latest X-Men action figures and a remote controlled helicopter. Yes, the marriage is going well… thanks for asking.
Almost 27,000 professionals involved in the toy or retail industries from over 100 countries converge on New York to attend the largest and most successful toy trade show. Buyers from over 6,000 retail outlets search through over 100,000 products for “gems” to sell in their stores. Wholesalers and inventors alike display their toys in hoping to find a gateway into the global toy market.
It’s always fun for me to get the opportunity to debut my newest toys at the Be Amazing Toys booth. This is a company that we started in 2002 to serve as the wholesale division
Continue Reading…
Tags: American International Toy Fair, Be Amazing Toys, chris byrne, Cindy Burnham, Energy Stick, fizzing color tablets, hottest toys, Jeff Brooks, mentos and diet coke, mentos geyser car, New York Toy Fair, Shelly Brady, tornado tube, Toy Fair 2012, toy guy, Tub Tints
Filed under: Conferences, Cool Products
November 3, 2011
Niki Hord, Maryland Science Center, Baltimore performing "The Squirty Sphere."
Where do science museums get all of their great ideas for exhibits, live demo shows and everything else that makes us say, “How did they do that?” The secret is ASTC… and I experienced the magic of ASTC this past weekend in Baltimore, Maryland.
ASTC is the Association of Science-Technology Centers and their annual conference is nothing short of a meeting of the greatest science education minds in the world. I’ve known about the conference for years, and I’m good friends with many science museum educators who attend the event, but I’ve never had the opportunity to attend. All of that changed this year with an invitation by the ASTC legend himself, Eddie Goldstein, to present a workshop together at this year’s conference.
Eddie is the Senior Educator and Coordinator for Science Gallery Program at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Eddie and I have been friends for nearly 35 years with our roots dating back to a time when we studied the
Continue Reading…
Tags: Adiel Fernandez, ASTC, Chris Blair, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, DNMS, Eddie Goldstein, Jodi Schoemer, Jonah Cohen, Live Demo Hour, Maryland Science Center, museum educator, New York Hall of Science, Niki Hord, Science Center, Science Magic, science museum, science-technology center, Smoke Rings, The Children's Museum of West Hartford
Filed under: Conferences
December 9, 2010
I was invited to speak at this year’s HerWorld 2010 Conference put on by DeVry University in Denver. HerWorld is a conference for high school junior and senior young women interested in science and technology. It supports STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Math and exposes students to career opportunities in those fields.
They participate in games, hands-on projects like building robots and circuit boards and live discussions. They even do a mock CSI crime scene investigation for those interested in forensics as a possible career path.
I spoke to a group of more than 650 young women about the importance of building connections, sharing ideas and creating experiences for others. I may have also shot off a few potatoes and giant smoke rings.
Everyone took part in a group science lesson about Bernoulli’s Principal and inflated giant Wind Bags. A perfect time to take out the phones and take some pictures to share.
Thanks to everyone at DeVry for hosting me at the event.
November 8, 2010
Contributed by Guest Blogger, Nancy Leemer
I remember coming to the NAEYC Conference years ago and watching Steve Spangler present his hands-on science activities to a room of 50 or so early childhood educators, but those days are long gone. That intimate workshop experience in the past has given way to a ballroom packed with a few thousand teachers who are wondering what he’s going to do this time.
“I saw Steve last week on the Ellen Show and didn’t even know he was going to be at this conference,” said Shawna Dematre, a second year teacher from an early learning center outside of Nashville. “When I saw his name on the program, I wanted to come to the session to see how I can do more science experiments for my kids.”
When Steve hit the stage, the audience had already been treated to twenty minutes of simple science experiments and other video clips from Spangler’s website. Within five minutes from the start of the program, pieces of potatoes were already flying through the audience and he was setting up his main themes:
- The difference between good teachers and great teachers is that the great ones know how to create unforgettable learning experiences.
- Just because kids
Continue Reading…
November 22, 2009
Over 750 people experienced the Bed of Nails demo at our booth at NAEYC this year… and some of the really excited people took home the t-shirt.
Do you think the holes in the back are too much? No way… especially if you have a specially rigged shirt that springs a leak. Thanks to Brian Firooz for wearing the leaking shirt and drinking gallons and gallons of water over the course of the three-day conference.
