Here we go again! We are, once more, packing our bags and flying off to the great state of Texas for the ISTE 2017 Conference in San Antonio.

The ISTE Conference, which is the biggest educational technology event held in the US, will take place over the 25th – 28th June and as usual, we shall be there, hosted by Smoothwall on booth 2340

We shall, of course, be there to meet members and take a good look at what is happening in the US in the educational IT space.

Please find listed below where you can find our sponsors who will be present for the two and a half days the expo runs over showing off their latest products and services:

Smoothwall\EduGeek - 2340

Microsoft Education - 1700

LanSchool – Lenovo Software - 2826

NetSupport – 1026

Ruckus – 840

Meet the Teacher - 2959 - *this is one of School Cloud Systems products

Impero - 1572

So, if you are attending the conference, come and see us and we'll give you some free stuff and point you in the direction of our sponsors and other interesting stuff we have seen and if you want to get together after the show we'll gladly buy you a drink and have a chat.

See you there

 

EduGeek EDIT 2017 kindly supported by Microsoft

It’s all go now! With just under two weeks to go its about time we let you know the schedule for the day as well as other information

Firstly let us say how happy we are to have Microsoft supporting this years EDIT Conference, it's nice to have you on-board.

Once more, we have a great line-up of speakers and exhibitors and it promises to be a very informative and useful day for everyone with our speakers providing a day of informed talks and chat which will enable you to be better informed on a range of subjects and meeting our sponsors and exhibitors in the flesh.

Date: Thursday 1st June 2017

Location: The National Space Centre, Exploration Drive, Leicester, LE4 5NS

Timetable:

09:00 - 09:30 - Delegates Arrive Coffee etc.

09:30 - 09:45 - Opening address

09:45 - 10:45 - Microsoft: Keynote Address

10:45 - 11:15 - Tony Sheppard: General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

11:15 - 11:30 - Break: Refreshments

11:30 - 12:15 - Google: Integrating Google with Current Systems & Deploying to Expert Practice

12:15 - 13:00 - Redstor: Backup and Disaster Recovery

13:00 - 14:00 - Lunch

14:00 - 14:45 - Smoothwall: Is Web Filtering a Dying Technology?

14:45 - 15:30 - Haptic: Virtual Reality

15:30 - 16:00 - Break: Refreshments

16:00 - 16:45 - Stone Computers: Upcoming Technologies

16:45 - 17:00 - Ask the admins (time permitting)

18:30 - 19:30 - Meal at Heathley Park Fayre and Square (by hotel)

*Please note this may be subject to change

Speakers:

Microsoft - Keynote speech + New Technologies in Education

Mobile Guardian – General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Google – Integrating Google with Current Systems & Deploying to Expert Practice

Redstor – Backups and disaster recovery

Smoothwall – Is Web Filtering a Dying Technology

Haptic – Virtual Reality

Stone Computers – Upcoming hardware technologies

Exhibitors:

Other information:

Post-conf meal – As is traditional at the EduGeek confs, we shall be treating you all to a meal after the event and just like last year it will be at the Fayre and Square pub next door to the hotel. The table is booked from 18:30.

The address (for those of you not staying at the hotel): Heathley Park Fayre and Square, Groby Road, LE3 9QE

The meal invite is open to everyone inc. speakers and exhibitors.

Tickets - There may be some available and you can get them from here: https://edit17.eventbrite.co.uk/

Recommended hotel – The Premier Inn Leicester Central (where most of us are staying) (http://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/hotels/england/leicestershire/leicester/leicester-central-a50.html)

Internet access – There will be free WiFi at the Space Centre

Cancellations – As we pay per head and have limited tickets please allow us ample time if you have to cancel so we can allocate your ticket to someone else

Parking - Please download the attached parking permit below. These will also be sent out via email before the conf. Don't forget to place this in your window when you park!

Parking Permit Complete.pdf

It’s that time once more. The fog of BETT has lifted and we move on to the next big event for EduGeek, our Annual EDIT Conference.

Due to the success of last years event we shall once more be holding it at the National Space Centre in Leicester on Thursday the 1st June.

http://spacecentre.co.uk

As always, our conference is free to attend* and will run from 09:00 to 17:00.

We shall also be hosting a meal after the conf at the Heathley Park Fayre and Square where you are all very welcome. This should be starting at around 18:30 and if anyone has some cool tricks to teach us at the table they are very welcome to do so (we learnt how to pick locks last year 😊 ).

Hotel and travel details can be found on the Eventbrite page.

We have some great names lined up this year too, which should ensure we make this the best EDIT Conference yet, including:

• Microsoft
  
• Google
  
• Redstor
  
• Stone Computers
  
• Haptic
  

Talks Timetable:

09:00 - 09:30 - Delegates Arrive Coffee etc.

09:30 - 09:45 - Opening address

09:45 - 10:45 - Microsoft: Keynote Address

10:45 - 11:15 - Tony Sheppard: General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

11:15 - 11:30 - Break: Refreshments

11:30 - 12:15 - Google: Integrating Google with Current Systems & Deploying to Expert Practice

12:15 - 13:00 - Redstor: Backup and Disaster Recovery

13:00 - 14:00 - Lunch

14:00 - 14:45 - Smoothwall: Is Web Filtering a Dying Technology?

14:45 - 15:30 - Haptic: Virtual Reality

15:30 - 16:00 - Break: Refreshments

16:00 - 16:45 - Stone Computers: Upcoming Technologies

16:45 - 17:00 - Ask the admins (time permitting)

18:30 - 19:30 - Meal at Heathley Park Fayre and Square (by hotel)

So, put a date in your calendars and book your free place on our Eventbrite page here:

Book Tickets here (edit17.eventbrite.co.uk)

*If you are from a commercial entity please contact us via PM before applying as places go quick and we want to ensure that members working at the sharp end get first choice.

By the time you read this, we at EduGeek will be busying ourselves, packing bags and cases, frantically sorting last minute admin details out and getting ready to make our way to London on Monday to join Smoothwall at the stand (C381) to get it ready for Wednesday morning.

And what a stand it will be! I’ll not give any spoilers, but there will be monsters!

If you are coming to BETT please do pop by and have a chat, we are always glad to see you and please don’t think we are too busy to talk to you, we really are there to meet and look after you.

We shall, as always, be putting on free pizza at lunchtime (timings TBC but keep an eye on our Twitter feed), giving away freebies as well as having a raffle for various prizes such as a Flex Micro PC very kindly donated by VeryPC, two Invizbox's and some travel mugs with this year’s EduGeek enamel badges and lanyards in there.

Please see below for more details.

And just to make sure that we don't leave out all those who can’t make it to BETT, we shall be giving away one of the Invisboxes and some mug/badge/lanyard sets away to those who watch our live stream from the stand.

Please keep an eye out for more details on how to be in with a chance to win one of these.

The stuff we have for you (1 for stand attendees and 1 for those of you who cant attend):

2 x Invizbox. A tiny internet security device with a huge raft of features.

• Small, Discrete, Fits in your Pocket or leave it running at home!
  
  
• Protect all of your devices, 24/7 when at home and when out and about with nothing to install.
  
• Access your favorite TV, sports and media content you can’t currently reach with our fast, secure, reliable VPN service.
  
  
• Block ads without installing anything.
  
  
• 2 Months VPN included.
  
  
• Recharge your portable devices.
  
  
• Extend your Wifi network.
  
  
• Easy setup.
  
  
• Enhanced Tor experience for premium subscribers.
  
  
• Elevates insecure HTTP to secure HTTPS where possible.
  
  
• Optional Windows10 “tracking domain” blocking.
  
  
• Secure auto updates.
  
  
• Fully Open Source! Nothing to hide means peace of mind for everyone.
  

A VeryPC Flex Micro. A lovely little machine which we shall be raffling off with the following specs:

• CPU: i3-6100T
  
• RAM: 8GB DDR4 2133MHz
  
• Storage: 240GB SSD
  
• OS: Windows 10 Home
  
• Features hinged cable shroud and VESA mounting
  

Badges:

As is now traditional, we have a new badge design for this year, but to go one better we also have a very limited edition second design just for BETT.

Both badges come with all new colours (we change the colours each year) which are somewhat topical and you have to guess what they represent (last years was Star Wars if you got one but couldn’t figure it out!)

So, get your thinking hats on and see if you can guess what the theme of this one is (if you do figure it out, please keep it to yourself until BETT is over please as we like to keep people guessing!):

And this is the limited edition rainbow one. We shall be restricting these to the first 50 people who make it to the stand each day so make sure you get a wiggle on if you want one!

4 x EduGeek Travel Mugs + Badges and Lanyards

This is a special for those who can't make it to BETT but are following the stand on the live stream. We shall be announcing how you can win one of these sets in the very near future

And don't forget, if you want to hang out after the show, or join us for a meal on Saturday please don't be shy, it's always great to meet and treat you

BETT is the world’s biggest educational IT show and we hope to see you there at London’s Excel in the next week and (for whatever reason we don’t see you) we hope you all have a great time!

One minute it’s the end of the summer holidays and the next we’re knee deep in preparation for BETT 2017.

From January the 25th to the 28th the world leading suppliers and innovators in the world of Educational IT will be setting up shop at Excel London for 4 days of full on geekery and talks.

If you have never been to BETT we would suggest you try and get down there as many of our members can confirm, it’s well worth the visit and an essential trip for anyone working with technology in schools today.

If you haven’t registered yet, you can do so here for free: http://lp.events.ascential.com/BETT17-Update-Details.html?actioncode=WEB

Also present will be a large showing from our sponsors and supporters and to help you along, we have their stand details and what you can expect to find on them listed below

As usual we shall be camped out on the Smoothwall stand and have not only the usual lanyards but a new EduGeek badge design for 2017 (actually two, but more on that closer to the date) for this year.

In the meantime, for some handy tips and tricks for visiting BETT you can find some very helpful advice from members who have attended BETT in the past on this thread: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/bett-2017/164053-tips4bett.html

SmoothWall/EduGeek

Stand - C381

Smoothwall to use Augmented Reality to display hidden threats whilst surfing the web at Bett 2017

With BETT 2017 fast approaching, preparations are well under way behind the scenes at Smoothwall to make it our biggest year yet. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Bett, it’s the UK’s leading education technology show attended by over 34,500 educators and decision makers from around the world, all looking to seek the latest and most innovative information technology within Education. Bett will be held at the ExCel London and will run from 25th to 28th January 2017.

This year on Stand C381, Smoothwall will be delivering a series of online safety and safeguarding sessions, with an array of educational specialist speakers and safeguarding professionals on hand to discuss the latest information and advice on how to keep children safe online, as well as making your 2017 safeguarding obligations clearer. A full list of speakers is available on our Bett web page. We’re also so very excited this year to include an interactive zone which uses Augmented Reality to educate the audience on hidden threats that exist when using the internet. You’ll need to be on the lookout for some naughty rascals lurking about… Make sure you stay tuned on Twitter and our Bett web page for sneak peeks of what’s to come.

Bett 2017 will also see Smoothwall launch a new monitoring product which will help schools not only meet, but exceed expectations of appropriate monitoring set out in the Keeping Children Safe in Education 2016 legislation. The launch will take place at 11am on Wednesday 25th January and will include an introduction from Smoothwall’s Monitoring Specialist, Ben Jones, along with live demos and a free goodie bag.

To register for any of our speaker sessions and be in with a chance of winning a FREE Zeiss VR One Plus Headset visit our Bett web page! Make sure you have your badge scanned by us on the day to complete your entry.

BenQ

Stand - B180

BenQ believe that hardware and software play equally important roles in an interactive classroom environment, and it is this belief that has driven the development of the RP Series interactive flat panels. All of the RP Series interactive flat panels come with features such as a built in Android operating system, Low Blue Light and Flicker Free Technologies, AG+ anti-bacterial screens, Full HD or 4K resolutions, anti-glare displays and up to 20-point touch technology that lets people interact with on-screen content all at once.

Stand Contacts:

Charlotte Lammin, Marketing

Royce Lye, General Manager

Adrian Kite, Interactive Flat Panel Sales Manager

Craig Lawther, Interactive Flat Panel Sales Manager

Chris Moore, AV Product Manager

School Cloud Systems

Stand - A200

School Cloud Systems is a BETT Awards Company of the Year 2017 Finalist, which provides the Room Booking System and Parents Evening System to over 2,500 schools worldwide. The Parents Evening System is the market leading online appointment booking software allow parents to book online to see their child's teachers at the parents' evening. It's loved by parents and trusted by schools worldwide to manage millions of appointments. We also provide the market leading Room Booking System to manage the booking of rooms & resources during the school day and invoice hirers for lettings after the school day.

We'll be unveiling a big change for the Parents Evening System and new features for the Room Booking System at BETT. Stop by our stand (A200) to see and hear these changes before they're announced by email after the BETT Show.

Lenovo Software

Stand - F70: Engage directly with iTS staff and see LanSchool in action. To learn more about LanSchool in the UK, visit www.itsltduk.com/products/detail/lanschool

Stand - G200: Browse Lenovo’s newest hardware and engage with LanSchool representatives, including Dave Auwarter (Director of International Sales), Coby Gurr (Product Director) and Andrew Schernekau (Account Executive).

Lenovo Software will exhibit LanSchool, its award-winning collaborative classroom management solution, Jan. 25 – 28 at Bett in London. LanSchool is teaming with Lenovo Education and Info Technology Supply Ltd. (iTS), LanSchool’s exclusive UK reseller, to demo LanSchool v8.0.

Reps from LanSchool and iTS will host activities, including:

• Giveaways of limited edition LanSchool T-shirts

• Demos of LanSchool v8.0, including performance and eSafety upgrades

• Conversations and opportunities to influence upcoming enhancements

LanSchool simplifies technology in classrooms and schools, and makes it easy to manage multiple devices and users; it works across operating systems and all devices, including: Windows, Macs, Chromebooks, iOS, and Android.

For the latest product brochure, visit http://wwwp.lenovosoftware.com/lanschool80featuresflyer.

LanSchool supports more than 12 million devices in Education across the globe, and is available in 14 languages.

Schoolcomms

Stand - B221

We shall be showing the latest developments and full functionality of their SIMS integrated parent app.

Schoolcomms have recently completed some major development projects aimed at taking the lead spot in the ‘One System parent interaction’ space – their parent app, School Gateway, can now manage club bookings, dinner payments and balances, automated absence chasing, publish reports in a matter of seconds… and loads more. Their Product Manager, Phil and Development Director, Ian will be around throughout BETT if you want to catch up with them on stand.

EduGeeks giveaway

Schoolcomms Marketing team are using BETT to do some customer research - giving away chocolate bars to EduGeeks in exchange for your ideas on how to best promote their School Gateway parent app to SLT and IT Managers in primary and secondary schools and trusts.

Speak to Becky on the stand and tell her you’re an EduGeek.

Clevertouch

Stand - C288

Clevertouch, the award winning, market leading, interactive touchscreen for education returns to BETT 2017 with its latest innovations to date.

With a new-look Cleverstore and LUX, the most intuitive interface ever developed for large interactive touchscreens, visitors to stand C288 will get to preview and experience this advanced technology first hand.

With live tutorials and demos every 20-minutes from education technology experts, BETT highlights include:

• Walk around the new LUX interface – with superfast Android and the smoothest and most intuitive user experience to date

• Integrate apps seamlessly into lessons using Cleverstore 2.0 with advanced subject filtering (K-12) and new language options

• Create inspiring lessons for the whole class using all new Lynx 5 presentation software or the Lynx app in Android mode. Lynx 5 includes a suite of digital STEM tools and lets teachers view all file formats including Smart Notebook

• Assign and track homework via the Cloud with Snowflake MultiTeach® and Snowflake MultiTeach® Lessons for browsers

• Calling all control freaks - Clevertouch will be launching MDM centralised controls for ICT managers and technology leads enabling them to update content wirelessly across all devices in the school or district

• Dual platform functionality lets teachers seamlessly switch between PC and Android mode, streamlining the way in which teachers access their resources and lesson plans

• Classroom collaboration – we’ll be showing teachers how to connect Windows, Android, iOS & Chrome devices to their touchscreen using the updated connectivity interface

Up-to-date information on demos and tutorials can be found at www.clevertouch.co.uk/bett

Redstor

Stand – B230

Who are Redstor and what will we be doing at BETT 2017?

Redstor are ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certified specialists in data management and security with over 15 years of experience serving the education market. As Capita’s approved backup technology provider, Redstor protects data for over 12,000 schools in the UK and globally, through a range of partners and local authorities.

Offering solutions across the data backup, DR, archiving space, Redstor’s solutions are designed with the end user in mind and are simple to use, manage and scale. Redstor’s Backup Pro software is a client driven automated solution with the ability to backup multiple terabytes of data and millions of files. With de-duplication and compression, 256-Bit encryption and Instant Data recovery built in, the solution is efficient and secure.

At this year’s BETT show Redstor will be showcasing a series of live product demonstrations for the market leading Backup Pro technology and hosting presentations, including around the threat of Ransomware and recovering from a disaster. There will also be a team of Redstor’s Technical Advisors and Client Advisors on the stand who will be organizing and hosting meetings, and answering any questions.

How to get in touch with us:

Contact should be made with the Redstor education team, Brian Evans, Michael Gould, Ronak Patel and Raj Panchal via email at education@redstor.com or by telephone on (+44) 0 1189 515 200.

NET-CTRL

Stand - C63

Net-Ctrl will be exhibiting at the show for our eighth consecutive year and we have secured the same stand location as BETT 2016, C63.

Each year we bring a selection of our key partners with us to showcase their solutions and discuss with visitors what to expect to see from them in the not-so-distant future and answer any questions.

We will be running a competition again that is exclusively for our customers and Edugeek members only and could see you win one of the Ruckus Wireless dogs, plus our pretty awesome Star Wars Lego bundle.

Joining us at BETT 2017 will be:

• Aperio – Wireless Lock Technology from ASSA ABLOY

• CEM – Access Control and Fully Integrated Security Management Systems.

• MOBOTIX – High-Resolution IP-CCTV Camera and Video Door Entry Systems

• iboss – Innovative APT Defence, Web Security and Mobile Secure Solutions

• Ruckus Wireless – Smart WiFi with Controller and Controller-less Solutions

• The ARC Secure Response Services – 24 hours, 365 days a year Alarm Receiving Centre

• Switch Portfolio including Allied Telesis, Brocade and Juniper Networks Providing Scalable and Versatile Switching Solutions from Edge to Core

Contacts:

Mark Power – mark.power@net-ctrl.com

Josh Moore – josh.moore@net-ctrl.com

Impero

Stand - D160

Impero is a team of technology enthusiasts with a passion for education. Aligned to Ofsted and ISI best practice, our flagship solution Impero Education Pro has been developed working with schools and education institutions across the globe to help the education technology sector make the most of digital learning.

Join us at Bett 2017 where it’s peak season on stand D160 this year. You’ll be ‘snowed under’ with all the latest from Impero and what we have in store! Our team of experts will be on hand to discuss the launch of Impero Education Pro Version 6 and introduce you to Impero Insight, our new cross-server advanced reporting and analytics tool. We'll also be showcasing Impero i-Safeguard, our online safeguarding training hub launched back in September, with our partners Victvs on hand to answer any questions.

In addition to Victvs, we’re delighted to be welcoming the Association of Network Managers (ANME) on our stand all week. Be sure to stop by D160 to speak to our product specialists, safeguarding experts Victvs, to take part in the ANME trail, for a host of winter-warming treats, and an equally warm welcome from Impero.

VeryPC

VeryPC manufacture computers and customise ICT solutions for education and business all over the UK. Their products and services include desktop PCs, laptops, mobile devices, 3D workstations, servers, backup and storage solutions, industrial computer appliances, audio visual equipment, customisation and managed IT support services.

VeryPC are not exhibiting, but we will have staff visiting on the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (25th, 26th, 27th) and will be making arrangements to meet customers and treat them to a quick bevvy and a chat.

Please contact us via PM to our VeryPC account on EduGeek to arrange a meet.

We are also giving away a BenQ projector – visit BenQ on stand B180 and ask to be entered the “VeryPC projector competition” as well as raffling a Flex Micro PC on the EduGeek stand (C381). Please visit them to get your raffle ticket.

NetSupport

Stand - D118

At BETT 2017 this year we have a great Promo offer for our school and trust-wide IT solution NetSupport DNA. We are offering our complete IT management, Safeguarding and Classroom Instruction suite for a very special one-off cost (buy once – own forever). But you’ll have to come and see us at the show to find out more J

As we love EduGeek members though, when you stop by our stand ( Stand D118), you can pick up a free NetSupport “Stress Reduction kit” along with some extra goodies, and you will also qualify for an extra 20% discount off the special BETT promo price – just for being a loyal EduGeek Member.

We look forward to seeing you all there.

Contacts:

@Al_NetSupport, @Matt_NetSupport and all the team will be there to answer any product related questions but please don't hesitate to ask them anything in advance. Alternatively, you can always email sales@netsupportsoftware.co.uk

Stone Computers

Stand - E240

Our mission is to improve the education of people in the UK through technology services. By taking ownership of the technology our customers want us to, we enable organisations to concentrate on what they do best – whether that’s looking after the citizens of today or tomorrow.

We encourage every individual we work with to push the boundaries and try new things; all while being sustainable in the way things are done.

Whether an ICT Co-ordinator for a primary school or the IT Director for a city council, everyone benefits from the same level of dedicated service.

Wave 9

Stand B160 with Tablet Academy

At Wave 9 our specialism is school IT infrastructure and supporting in school technical staff with solutions and expertise across key infrastructure components. Our background is large IT infrastructure project delivery and ongoing co-managed support. We focus 100% on education.

Our network manager customers value the expertise of our technical people across broadband and connectivity, filtering, telephony, hybrid cloud server and back-up solutions and wired and wireless networks. A key feature of all our solutions is provision of great tools for local management and troubleshooting that helps us to help you provide a high quality and responsive IT service for your school. We can support with audit design and planning and presenting a business case for investment to your SLT. We have a range of services that can be provided on an annual rental basis allowing you to bring forward investment and make best use of your budget.

We are key education partners for Cisco Meraki, Sophos and Microsoft.

Based in the Midlands we serve customers throughout the UK.

Come and talk to us about your plans and how we can help.

We will have a specific show offer for broadband and a special draw for Edugeek community members!!

ICT DIRECT

Stand - B412

How good would it be to replace all your school computers or laptops without spending a fortune?

Since 2007 ICT Direct have been market leaders in refurbishing business-class, ex-lease computer hardware and supplying it to the UK Education sector at a bargain price.

We work on the principal that you receive only the best possible products and most reliable service.

To that end:

• You can call our small, dedicated team at any time to receive sales or hardware support
  
• All hardware comes with minimum 2 years’ warranty cover
  
• We will always try and help you find the right part if an item fails whilst out of warranty
  
• We buy in bulk, so you can ensure we’ve got matching machines for your big orders
  

As Edugeek sponsors we take an active role in the forum. We don’t see members as simply possible leads, but as vital components of a community dedicated to helping others. Whilst we will always pop up with a good deal if somebody is looking for quotes for an impending purchase, you will also find us offering solutions to problems where we can and advice on things we have experience of.

At BETT this year you can expect to see the usual range of excellent refurbished hardware on the stand.

You’ll be able to test it out freely. We will also have two powerful workstations allowing you to try your hand at the excellent Elite: Dangerous – Our current game of choice.

Finally – 2017 marks our 10th birthday as a company, we will be running all kinds of fun promotions throughout the year and you can expect something celebratory on our stand during BETT.

Stand Staff:

John Graham: Bossman

Dave Foulks: Salesman

Tom Peterson: Extra Man (trade specialist) – Here Thurs/Friday only

EXA Networks

Stand - C325

Exa is a multi-award winning ISP. In our 14th year of providing schools with award winning internet connectivity, security, email, content filtering and multi-award winning customer support.

Exa also now offers the worlds fastest internet connectivity technology, DarkLight with speeds of up to 10,000Mbps (over 400 times the UK average) available today.

Visit us on stand C325 to find out more about Exa, SurfProtect and the massive benefits of the Exa Foundation

Exa's products, services, network & support were designed in-house from the ground up to meet and surpass the specific requirements of today’s educational organisations and real life needs

The brand new SurfProtect V3, and talking about the world’s fastest internet technology, DarkLight with speeds of up to 10,000Mbps available today.

Talk to the Exa Foundation team and see the difference it can make to your school.

Exa Foundation is inclusive at no extra charge to all Exa customers.

PaperCut

Papercut will be represented by ITS on Stand F70.

IAM Cloud

Stand - D380

The IAM Cloud identity management and migrations platform improves the implementation, delivery and management of IT. It provides intelligent identity management, enterprise single sign-on, automated Microsoft licensing, MFA, self-service password resets, cloud drive mapping, email file & AD migrations, MIS integration, and alumni services. IAM Cloud is wholly-hosted within Azure, and doesn’t require any servers.

It's simple to deploy and highly-customisable for IT administrators. IAM Cloud is Microsoft's Worldwide Education Partner of the Year 2015.

Clevertouch

Stand - C288

Designed for education, Clevertouch interactive touchscreens have found their home in the classroom. Clevertouch has none of the disadvantages of projectors: no obscuring shadows and no issues with bright light. Available in sizes 55”-86", the entire range showcases beautiful screens and simple controls, allowing teachers to focus on what really matters: communicating ideas to their students.

Every Clevertouch for education comes with a full suite of software, including Lynx5, Clevermaths, Snowflake MultiTeach, and DisplayNote. The Clevertouch Plus model also includes Cleverstore - our free, dedicated educational App store.

At Bett 2017 Clevertouch will be showcasing the all new Lynx5 software, and for the first time you can see the brand new Cleverstore, featuring hundreds of apps. On the stand we will also have the award winning Clevertouch Plus and Clevertouch V-Series. And there will be great giveaways everyday.

Overnet Data

Stand - C396

EduLink is a powerful new whole school solution designed for teachers, parents and students to effectively collaborate in a fun, fresh mobile and web app, thereby improving engagement and student outcomes.

At their fingertips, Teachers can take registration and complete marksheets and behaviour. All users have access to messaging (via text, email or push notification), attendance, timetables, achievement, behaviour, homework, exams, student reports, medical and contact information, and more - all configurable to accommodate your school's needs.

Don't take our word for it - come along and take a look for yourself!

Kindly Sponsored by Smoothwall



 

With just over a month to go we’re motoring ahead with this year’s conf organisation and have just about nailed the line-up and exhibitors. So, for all of you who have currently booked tickets and those thinking about it here is a heads-up for the day. We have a great line-up of speakers and exhibitors and it promises to be a very informative and useful day for everyone with our theme this year of ‘Future Technologies’ which will help you all plan for your network development and purchasing decisions in the next couple of years.

Date: 2nd June 2016

Location: The National Space Centre, Exploration Drive, Leicester, LE4 5NS

Price: FREE!!

Book your ticket here: EduGeek EDIT 2016 Tickets

Timetable:

• 09:00 - 09:30 - Delegates Arrive Coffee etc.
  
• 09:30 - 09:45 - Opening address
  
• 09:45 - 10:30 - Session
  
• 10:00 - 10:45 - Session
  
• 10:45 - 11:30 - Break - Refreshments
  
• 11:30 - 12:15 - Session
  
• 12:15 - 13:00 - Session
  
• 13:00 - 14:00 - Lunch
  
• 14:00 - 14:45 - Session
  
• 14:45 - 15:30 - Session
  
• 15:30 - 16:00 - Break – Refreshments
  
• 16:00 - 16:45 - Session
  
• 16:45 - 17:00 - Ask the admins (time permitting)
  
• 18:00 - 19:30 – Meal at Heathley Park Fayre and Square (by hotel)
  

*Please note we are still adjusting which speaker has which slot which is why they are not listed yet and the timings may be subject to change

Speakers:

• Ruckus – Looking ahead at WiFi technologies we can expect to see in the very near future and current issues
  
• Stone Computers – New and upcoming computing technologies
  
• Smoothwall – Safeguarding
  
• BenQ – Upcoming display advances
  
• Kaspersky – Ransomware
  
• Microsoft – Office 365, Azure, Server 2016
  
• SchoolComms – The future of school/parent apps
  

Exhibitors:

• Smoothwall
  
• VeryPC
  
• ICT-Direct
  
• SchoolComms
  
• Kaspersky
  
• School Cloud Systems
  
• Educational Support Professionals
  
• Net-Ctrl
  
• Schools Broadband
  
• NetSupport
  

Other information:

Post-conf meal – As is traditional at the Edugeek confs, we take you all for a meal afterwards. As in the previous Preston confs we have found a hotel with a Fayre and Square pub next door and will treat you all to a meal afterwards.

This invite is open to everyone inc. speakers and exhibitors.

Please note that whilst some may want to go into central Leicester to eat, we have in previous years learnt that to organise this is a nightmare as you will have people who do not like the type of food the restaurant caters for and it is also a bit unfair on those who have to travel home but can stay a little while after to join us. Otherwise we don’t end up eating until about 8:30 at night!

Anyway, it’s a great deal of fun and I hope you’ll join us

Recommended hotel – The Premier Inn Leicester Central (where most of us are staying) (Leicester Central (A50) Hotels | Book Direct |Premier Inn)

Parking – All attendees will receive free parking at the National Space Centre for the day

Internet access – There will be free WiFi at the Space Centre

Visiting the Space Centre - As part of the package you will receive free access to the Space Centre for the day

Food allergies – Please PM me if you have any special dietary requirements

Cancellations – As we pay per head and have limited tickets please allow us ample time if you have to cancel so we can allocate your ticket to someone else

And that's it so far. The tickets are rapidly selling out (OK, it's free, but you know what we mean!) and over two thirds have now been issued so if you do want to attend please book yours now.

Can't wait to see you there!

Smoothwall have let us know that they are currently running an eSafety Roadshow which started last month in Leeds (sorry for not being able to give you a heads-up in time) and running through to October in various locations throughout the UK.

------

A roadshow aimed at demystifying e-Safety and government legislation is set to visit seven towns and cities across England. The first event on the nationwide e-safety Masterclass tour will get underway on the 16th March at the Jurys Inn Leeds, Brewery Wharf, LS10 1NE.

Masterclass events are relevant for anyone working in a school or college that would benefit from clarification on meeting safeguarding requirements outlined in the UK Government’s Prevent Legislation, and ensuring they have the necessary processes in place to demonstrate to Ofsted that they are meeting safeguarding expectations.

Claire Stead, UK Head of Marketing at Smoothwall, the technology company behind the initiative, explains why they decided to take e-Safety on a tour of England: “Now more than ever schools and colleges need to have a clear understanding of how their students are using the internet, and have visibility over their activities. They also need confidence to tackle any safeguarding issues no matter how complex and challenging. The masterclass series will provide support in all of these areas; I would encourage schools to sign up early for their free place to avoid disappointment.”

Each masterclass will feature expert speakers many of whom have hands-on experience of identifying and managing safeguarding issues in the classroom, and understand the processes Ofsted use to judge safeguarding effectiveness.

Abi Clay, one of the panel of speakers chosen to speak at all seven events explains how the e-Safety masterclass programme will help school staff: “With so much now being asked of schools alongside their education focus, staff are required to have the confidence to assess potential risk for their pupils and be aware of support available. These workshops will provide a practical framework to develop teacher confidence in the issues relating to e-safety, safeguarding and radicalisation to violent extremism.”

The panel of speakers will also include Phil Smith, Smoothwall’s Head of Product, who will demonstrate a new safeguarding reporting system that sends alerts to the school’s’ safeguarding team if a student tries accessing material categorised within one of 7 category rulesets: radicalisation, suicide, abuse, substance abuse, bullying, criminal activity and adult content.

In addition, Mark Donkserley, MD, e-Safe Systems, will discuss why schools need to consider multi-lingual monitoring across all school-owned devices. Helen Hirst, a solicitor in the Projects and Education Team at Schofield Sweeney Solicitors will explain the UK Government’s Prevent Duty.“The Prevent Duty forms part of the Government’s wider strategy in relation to terrorism and counter-terrorism. The new legislation extends the responsibility for performing the Prevent Duty to public bodies making it clear that schools, colleges and universities all have their part to play. The difficulty is establishing how far the duty goes and refining the information that is reported to the authorities, which has been in the press in recent months”, explains Helen.

-----

These events will be free to attend and will cover the following cities:

• 24th May - Manchester
• 22nd June - Birmingham
• 20th Sept - Oxford
• 27th Sept - Bristol
• 12th Oct - London

*They also intend there to be an event in Edinburgh, dates tbc.

Hopefully EduGeek will be at some of these shows and we'll let you know when and where in due course.

You can find out more information on the roadshow here: eSafety Masterclass Roadshow - Smoothwall - Web Filtering & Internet Security Solutions for Education, Public Sector and Business

To book a place either email them on : enquiries@smoothwall.com

Or phone on : 0113 2059753

Kindly Sponsored by Smoothwall



 

And we’re off!

We are very pleased to let you know that tickets for our EDIT 2016 conf are now on general release for those of you who had been waiting very patiently. The conf is on Thursday, 2 June 2016 from 09:30 to 17:00.

This conf should be a great day out and with input from the likes of Microsoft, BenQ, Smoothwall, Schoolcomms and others TBC as well as a whole raft of exhibitors wanting to show you their latest and best technologies.

Remember that, as always, the EDIT conf is completely free and you will get free parking and lunch/refreshments as well as being treated to an evening meal after the event for all of you who want to stick around for an extra hour or so for a chat and social.

We shall be posting up a timetable for the day in May and you can find out all of the details (hotels, travel etc.) when booking your ticket on our EventBrite page here:

EduGeek Edit 2016 - Book here for free!

The basic timings though are as follows (and subject to change):

Thursday, 2 June 2016:

09:00 – 09:45 Registration

09:45 – Conf Starts

17:00 Conf ends

18:00 – Meal in the Heathly Park Fayre and Square (next to Premier Inn Leicester Central on the A50)

See you in June

 

We are pleased to announce that we have set a date for our 2016 EDIT conference.

The event will take place on Thursday the 2^nd June at the National Space Centre in Leicester.

We are still in the early stages of planning but already have some awesome ideas for speakers and topics lined up and it promises to be a great day.

This is a great location for all of our members who previously have not been able to travel up to Preston in the past and its location in central England means that those of you from the Midlands, Anglia, South Yorkshire, London and Home Counties will be able to join us with relative ease.

As always, the event will be completely free for Edugeek members to attend with refreshments, food, parking and museum pass all included.

We have currently booked 60 places and will be getting the EventBright site up as soon as we can. Please note that priority goes to registered members, if you are a lurker and do not yet have an account on EduGeek then please join so you can join us on what promises to be a great day.

We shall keep you informed of speakers and other event information in the very near future.

If you want to attend please let us know on this poll here: so we have an idea of numbers we can expect. Please note though that places will be given on a first come first served basis and please do not attempt bulk bookings as we need the member’s individual information to pass onto the Space Centre so they can issue passes.

See you in June

<script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/9323753.js"></script>

<noscript><a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/9323753/">Will you be able to attend?</a></noscript>

This years event will be bigger than ever and we shall be there to provide guidance and a comfy place to rest your feet.

From the largest to the smallest companies, BETT will have them all showing off their latest and greatest products as well as seminars, break out sessions and a whole raft of other activities catering for all areas of the educational sphere which utilise IT.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]34394[/ATTACH]

20st-23th January - Excel London

EduGeek shall once more be sharing a stand with Smoothwall (stand E300) so please make our day and come over to say 'Hi'.

As usual, we shall be giving away our famous lanyards (back to retro yellow by popular demand!) and our AFK badges which this year have a new (topical) colour scheme.

Let's see who will be the first to guess what it represents!

We shall also be holding the ever popular raffle on the stand and have some very nice prizes which have very kindly been donated by VeryPC and Neustro Education:

VeryPC UltraBook SS:

Lightweight, super portable, full HD 13 inch certified Intel® Ultrabook from VeryPC with Windows 10 Pro. Features 14nm 6th generation Intel Core™ processor, backlit keyboard, up to 7.5-hour battery life all in a beautiful silver aluminium chassis.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]34396[/ATTACH]

SPEC:

• Processor: Intel Core i5-6200U 2.3GHz (2.8GHz Turbo) dual core (4 thread) 3MB cache (14nm 6th gen Skylake)
  
• Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz
  
• Storage: 240GB SSD
  
• OS: Windows 10 Pro
  
• Graphics: Intel® HD Graphics 520
  
• Display: 13.3 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixels, LED-backlit
  

VeryPC Flex Micro:

Compact desktop PC from VeryPC. Features desktop stand, VESA mounting plate and convenient cable shroud to keep your desktop tidy.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]34395[/ATTACH]

SPEC:

• CPU: Intel Core i3-4170T 3.2GHz dual core (4 thread) 3MB cache (22nm 4th gen Haswell)
  
• RAM: 4GB DDR3 1600MHz
  
• Storage: 240GB SSD
  
• OS: Windows 10 Pro
  
• Graphics: Intel® HD Graphics 4400
  
• USB: 2 x USB 3.0, 4 x USB 2.0
  
• Video ports: 1 x HDMI, 1 x DVI-I
  

Apple Watch or Android compatible smartwatch kindly donated by Neustro Education (the winner can decide which device they'd like).

All you have to do is pop by the stand and pick up a raffle ticket

And most importantly, to help you find our sponsors who are either at the show or have their partner companies there we have compiled a handy list for you below:

http://www.bettshow.com/

EduGeek sponsors attending:

Smoothwall – Stand E300

Smoothwall are specialists in creating solutions that protect children online. Developers of intelligent content-aware web filtering, we've been working in education for over 10 years and currently protect more than 7000 UK schools and 2.5 million students every day from accessing harmful content on the internet. Working with our partners, eSafe, the Internet Watch Foundation and EduGeek, we want to spread the word to recruit people on our mission: to make the internet a safer place. Join one of our seminars to find out more about your safeguarding obligations in 2016 and how we can help

 

This year we’re proud to be once more working alongside EduGeek. This community, with almost 85,000 members, is focused primarily on IT in education. Everything they do is free for members and their friendly forums cover topics ranging from high-end technical advice through to school policies and purchasing and all conducted in a highly co-operative and professional environment.

Read more: Bett Show 2016 - Smoothwall and EduGeek

NetSupport – Stand D118

NetSupport is a market-leading provider of multi-platform classroom management software. With over 25 years’ experience in the education sector, its portfolio of products supports over 14 million desktops, servers and mobile devices worldwide. Its flagship classroom management solution, NetSupport School, helps teachers leverage the benefits of Windows 10 with a new Tutor app, the ability to use Desktop and Store apps, full integration with OneDrive − plus much more. Its new, dedicated IT Asset Management solution for schools, NetSupport DNA, provides a school-wide overview of all IT assets and activity, highlighting cost savings.

 

 

Read more: Bett Show 2016 - NetSupport Software

Net-Ctrl - Stand C63

Net–Ctrl is a leading UK value-add technology reseller. Our mission is to provide technology solutions and services that enable our customers to exist safely and efficiently in a complex digital world.

We have been operating for over 10 years and developed expertise in network and physical security, data storage and wireless solutions.

We design, install and support a hand-picked range of enterprise solutions that we believe truly deliver in the workplace into both private businesses and public sector organisations.

Our passion for technology and customer service sets us apart from the competition.

 

 

Read more: Bett Show 2016 - Net-ctrl Limited

School Cloud Systems - Stand A200

School Cloud Systems is a multi-award winning software company providing leading solutions to over 2,000 schools worldwide. The Parents Evening System is the market leading online appointment booking software allow parents to book online to see their child's teachers at parents' night. It's loved by parents and trusted by schools worldwide to manage millions of appointments. We also provide the market leading Room Booking System to manage the booking of rooms & resources during the school day and invoice hirers for lettings after the school day.

 

 

Read more: Bett Show 2016 - School Cloud Systems

Schools Broadband - Stand C80

Schools Broadband is an ISP dedicated to education; supplying fast, secure and reliable internet services to over 1000 schools across the UK.

Our unique cloud hosted infrastructure will give your school world-class security from Fortinet, together with fully customisable web filtering from Lightspeed Systems included as part of your package. We can also provide WiFi, SIP Trunking, VoIP and VPLS services, giving modern-day primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities everything they need to facilitate online learning.

In 2014, we were awarded Best Business Use of Cloud and were shortlisted for Internet Safety and Security in the ISPA Awards.

 

 

Read more: Bett Show 2016 - Schools Broadband

Fortinet (Formerly Meru) - Stand C241

Fortinet is a leading global provider of network security appliances for enterprise’s and service providers.

Fortinet’s proven solutions in secure Wi-Fi markets, with its FortiAP secure wireless access points and FortiWiFi integrated security appliances for enterprise branch offices and small businesses have been among the fastest growing products in the company’s “advanced technologies” portfolio. The addition of Meru’s intelligent Wi-Fi solutions to the Fortinet portfolio extends the delivery of a secure, uninterrupted user experience – anytime anywhere – providing peak performance in environments requiring high capacity load and a high-density of wireless users, such as enterprise, education, healthcare, and hospitality.

 

 

Read more: Bett Show 2016 - Fortinet

Stone Computers - Stand C90

Our mission is to improve the education of people in the UK through technology services. By taking ownership of the technology our customers want us to, we enable organisations to concentrate on what they do best – whether that’s looking after the citizens of today or tomorrow.

We encourage every individual we work with to push the boundaries and try new things; all while being sustainable in the way things are done.

Whether an ICT Co-ordinator for a primary school or the IT Director for a city council, everyone benefits from the same level of dedicated service.

 

 

Read more: Bett Show 2016 - Stone Computers

ICT Direct - Stand B68

ICT Direct supplies hundreds of schools across the UK with high quality refurbished business grade computer hardware.

Schools have saved thousands of pounds over the years using our reliable computers, backed by warranties up to 5 years.

We specialise in: PCs, laptops, servers, printers, monitors, tablets, laptop/tablet security.

We provide schools with a free minimum two-year, no quibble warranty on all PCs, workstations, servers and monitors.

We also run a “Try before you buy” scheme where schools can try the equipment free of charge before deciding to purchase it.

We’re members of BESA and the Microsoft Refurbisher Programme.

 

 

Read more: Bett Show 2016 - ICT Direct

Schoolcomms - Stand B221

 

A fully SIMS integrated, school to home communication system made simple. Schoolcomms are the leaders in parent communication technology with the School Gateway parent app, and products including Messaging, Payments, Online Reporting and Clubs. The easy and effective one-system solution encompasses everything from text and email, absence chasing, behaviour, achievement and assessment reporting to breakfast and after school club management. The Schoolcomms system is now trusted by over 2,500 schools and 1,000,000 parents who are using the parent app.

 

 

Read more: Bett Show 2016 - Schoolcomms

Exa Networks - Stand B160

Exa Education is a multi-award winning ISP. Now in our 13th year of providing schools with award winning internet connectivity, email, content filtering and multi-award winning customer support.

Unlike the majority of ISPs in the UK which cater firstly to the home user market; Exa does not supply to the residential market at all; and we have used our experience to make sure all of our products, services, network & support were designed in-house from the ground up to meet and surpass the specific requirements of today’s educational organisations.

 

 

Read more: Bett Show 2016 - Exa Education

BFC Networks - Stand C300 (The Microsoft Pavillion)

As a leading Office 365 Education supplier and customizer, BFC Networks have implemented the cloud solution to 1000s of schools in the UK completing mail and file migrations to Exchange and SharePoint.

As we now start to offer Office 365 add-ins including parental access to Office 365 (Parent365) and classroom assignments (Cloud Classroom), come visit us at Microsoft Partner Village.

Whether you are looking for custom work, or Office 365 add-ins to enhance your environment, come visit us for a demonstration of our exciting new products.

With our MVPs (Microsoft Valuable Experts), come ask about your requirements.

 

 

Read more: Bett Show 2016 - BFC Networks Ltd

LanSchool (Lenovo) - Stand C200

Lenovo is the number one education PC Company in the world. And our strategy is to help schools, colleges and universities improve learning outcomes and increase operational efficiency. Lenovo enables this through the most innovative PCs, servers, services and solutions, as well as a commitment to creating shared value with education through our research and development via the Education Research Institute. Lenovo also serves on multiple international, national, regional and local education organisations and advocacy organisations, including those within the United Nations and World Economic Forum.

 

Read more: http://www.bettshow.com/Exhibitor/Lenovo

PaperCut - Represented by iTS UK - Stand E350

ITS: Info Technology Supply Ltd is a leading software development company. For over 25 years we have been supplying innovative IT solutions to education organisations worldwide which save them money and staff time.We specialise in access management, booking systems, desk top management utilities, cost recovery, print & copy management, classroom management and BYOD solutions.

We are an Authorised Solution Centre for PaperCut and also a long standing partner of Faronics.

 

Read more: http://www.bettshow.com/Exhibitor/Info-Technology-Supply-Ltd

See you there

It’s time for us to pack our bags, jump on a plane and jet over the pond to meet our US members at the ISTE Conference in Philadelphia again

https://www.isteconference.org/2015/

Smoothwall has, once again, very kindly allowed us to share a booth with them.

The conference runs from the 28^th June to the 1^st July.

You can find us all on booth 920; please do pop over and say ‘Hi’ and we’ll give you one of our awesome Edugeek AFK badges, a retro yellow EduGeek lanyard and possibly a pair of EduGeek/VeryPC socks (if we have the correct size left!)

See you there!

We have once more been kindly accommodated by Smoothwall (thanks so much guys!) and you can find us on stand E250 located between Microsoft and Google

As always we offer you all a comfy sofa to rest your weary bones on and excellent company with free pizza at lunchtime. Usually this appears about 12:15 and is served on a first come first served basis, so make sure you are there in plenty of time

We also have some awesome freebies. Not only do we have the usual lanyards but for members only we have some lovely metal/enamel ‘EduGeek AFK’ pin badges and courtesy of VeryPC we have……EduGeek/VeryPC socks!

That’s right as of next week you will now be able to put EduGeek and VeryPC on your feet at the same time!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]28513[/ATTACH]

And if that isn’t enough, VeryPC have very kindly provided us with a few prizes that, and I’m not joking here, are exceedingly desirable.

An EduGeek skinned Thinbook Baytrail laptop and Broadleaf Access Baytrail PC and a 2-in-1 quad core Atom tablet – Please see blow for specs and pics:

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Desktop - Broadleaf Access https://shop.very-pc.co.uk/greenpc/broadleaf-access/broadleaf-access-81

Intel® Core™ i5-4570 quad core 3.2 GHz (3.6GHz Turbo) with Intel® HD Graphics 4600

8GB RAM

240GB SSD

Windows 8.1

[ATTACH=CONFIG]28515[/ATTACH]

Laptop - Thinbook Baytrail https://shop.very-pc.co.uk/laptop/thinbook/thinbook-bt-15

Intel® Pentium® N3540 quad core 2.16 GHz (2.66GHz Turbo) with Intel® HD Graphics

4GB RAM

120GB SSD

DVDRW

Windows 8.1

[ATTACH=CONFIG]28516[/ATTACH]

2-in-1 - Classmate W21 https://shop.very-pc.co.uk/tablet/2in1-classmate/classmate-w21

Intel® Atom™ Z3740D quad core 1.3GHz

2GB RAM

32GB eMMC

Windows 8.1

If you want a chance to win either one of these please come to the stand, say ‘Hi’ and we’ll sort you out.

Our hosts, Smoothwall will also be looking after visitors with a smoothie bar Please don't hit this too hard as I am informed they don't have infinite stocks!

As a final note, we shall be staying at the Motel One on Tower Hill. If any of you want to join us in the evening you are, as always, more than welcome.

See you next week

If you are making the journey to Atlanta this week and have time between seminars we’d love to see you.

And this year is rather special as, for once, all 3 EduGeek admins will be present on the stand. ZeroHour, Ric_ and myself are going to be there and hoping to meet just a few of our 6.3 million annual US visitors and if the amount of members and well-wishers we had come to see us last year in San Antonio was anything to go by we’ll be even busier this year!

We are, once more, sharing the space with Smoothwall on booth 2528 and will have our famous lanyards and badges to give away and just as we do at BETT, if you want to hang out after the show too you will be more than welcome to join us for a meal and drink.

Whilst there please take time to go and say ‘Hi’ to some of our sponsors who are also exhibiting:

Stoneware: Booth 2920

PaperCut: Booth 3532

NetSupport: Booth 2334

For those of you who can’t join us we shall be endeavouring to get the Mobotix camera up and running on the stand. We have been thwarted in the past few years due to very poor internet connectivity in the venues ISTE is hosted in (the ISTE Conference changes location every year).

So fingers crossed, and if you can make it we shall see you there

 

EduGeek EDIT 2014 Event Schedule

Here we go. There is now less than a week to go until EduGeek EDIT 2014 and now that details have been finalised with the venue we can let you know the timings and agenda for the day - and nights - as well as giving you a heads up on our exhibitors who are kindly supporting the conference this year.

Timings:

Wednesday 28^th May:

Meal at about 20:30:- The venue is currently TBC but we shall be eating somewhere! If you are staying on the Wednesday night and have not yet let us know you want to join us please fill in the poll here: EDIT 2014 - Nom Non Nom - Food Question! - View Poll Results

Remember, if you haven’t let us know you’re coming we can’t book you a place! We shall meet up in the Ibis Hotel before heading off.

Thursday 29^th May:

08:00 - EduGeek staff/exhibitors arrive for setup

08:30 - Delegates Arrive Coffee etc.

09:00 - Opening address

09:15 - 10:00 - Alan O’Donohoe – Raspberry Pi and the new ICT Curriculum

10:00 - 10:45 - Microsoft – Office365 and Azure Active Directory

10:45 - 11:00 - Break

11:00 - 11:15 - VeryPC Draw

11:15 - 12:00 - Kaspersky – Desktop security

12:00 - 12:45 - Smoothwall - Internet Threats Update

12:45 - 13:45 - Lunch

13:45 - 14:30 - Meru – 802.11ac

14:30 - 15:15 - Stack – Enterprise Storage and Backup Best Practice

15:15 - 16:00 - Break

16:00 - 16:45 - David Tindall – Schools Internet Connectivity – The Future

16:45 - 17:00 - Ask the admins (time permitting)

18:30 - Meal at the Phantom Winger – Again please let us know if you are coming

And as an extra thank you, all of you that turn up will get a brand new forum tag to replace your existing members one which will let everyone on EduGeek know of your support for us. We shall reveal all on the day!

Exhibitors:

As those of you who have been to the confs before we have always brought in some fantastic companies to show you their products and get to know you all better and this year is no exception

Smoothwall Ltd



 

 

 

Very PC Ltd



 

 

Stone Computers



 

 

RM Ltd



 

 

Net-Ctrl Ltd



 

 

Meru Ltd



 

 

Schoolcomms Ltd



 

 

ICT Direct Ltd



 

 

ESP Recruitment



 

 

Stack Data Solutions



 

We only have a handful of palces left so if you want to join us for a day of informed talks, professional networking and a bit of fun please book your place now: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/edugeek-edit-2014-preston-registration-11166987761

EDIT 2014 Hotel/Travel Draw

Here it is and many thanks to the 50 of you who have booked so far to come and see us next week (we only have 8 tickets left!).We have 2 lots of prizes: 1. Four places at the Ibis Hotel Preston North a mere 1 min drive or 5 min walk to the venue. The rooms are booked for the nights of the 28th and 29th so you can make the most of the conf. They are twin rooms so you will have to share!2. Your travel costs, either train or car fuel costs paid for by us :)So, without further ado, here are the lucky winners:Accomodation:

1. Tim Hobson
   
2. John McCaul
   
3. Adam Waterfield
   
4. Elliot Sandell
   

Travel:

1. Paul Hipwell
   
2. Craig Rodway
   

Congratulations to all of our winners and we should be contacting you very shortly

EDIT 2014 Hotel/Travel Draw

Here it is and many thanks to the 50+ of you who have booked so far to come and see us next week (we only have 8 tickets left!).

We have 2 lots of prizes:

1. Four places at the Ibis Hotel Preston North a mere 1 min drive or 5 min walk to the venue.

The rooms are booked for the nights of the 28th and 29th so you can make the most of the conf. They are twin rooms so you will have to share!

2. Your travel costs, either train or car fuel costs paid for by us

So, without further ado, here are the lucky winners:

Accommodation:

1. Tim Hobson
   
2. John McCaul
   
3. James Hothersall
   
4. Darren Ludlam
   

Travel:

1. Paul Hipwell
   
2. Craig Rodway
   

Congratulations to all of our winners and we should be contacting you very shortly

EduGeek EDIT 2014

Thursday, 29th May

 



 

Sponsored by

It's that time of year again when we at EduGeek in association with Smoothwall, who have, once more, kindly sponsored this year's event, ask you once more to make you way up, down and across the country to Preston in Lancashire for a day of informed talks from companies specialising in educational IT and other areas, networking and meeting site sponsors, as well as being pampered by us all day.

This year we shall once more be holding the event at the Preston Grasshoppers Rugby Club. It’s easier to find and very much closer to the hotel and motorway junction than other venues we have used in the past. The club is a mere 1 minute drive or 10 min walk from the Ibis hotel which means attendees who choose to overnight get to spend less time travelling and more time networking. As always, the conference is free for members not a part of a commercial organisation.

As always, we at Edugeek will take great pains to look after you all making, and we shall be ensuring you are fed and watered on both evenings, so please let us know you will be attending the evening meals if you want to join us, and as our members who have attended in the past can attest, we don't just take you for fish and chips!

This years speakers (so far) are:

Meru - 802.11ac Wireless

Smoothwall - Online threats and security brief

Stack - Enterprise storage and backup

Alan O'Donohoe - Raspberry Pi and the new ICT Curriculum

Microsoft - Hyper-V

Schools Broadband - School internet connectivity - Today and Tomorrow

*More to be announced shortly

More 'Stuff'!!

This year we are also give all attendees a little ‘value add’ to make coming to the EDIT conf that bit more special.

So, if you come and see us this year you will receive the following:

• A special tag to replace your dusty old ‘Member’ forum tag
  
• A unique site skin only available to you
  

On top of these two unique freebies we shall also be having a draw to help out those of you travelling to see us:

• Two twin rooms so that four of you will get free accommodation for Wednesday and Thursday evening – You will have to share though!
  
• Travel costs for either fuel or train tickets for two members
  

The draw for these shall take place at midday on Monday the 19^th May and all those who have registered to attend by this time will be entered.

Timings and Tickets

EduGeek EDIT 2014 will start at 09:00 and run to approximately 17:00 and there will be be a meal afterwards for all those who want to stay for an evening of geeky chat and fun

Please note we shall also be holding a get-together the night before as well

Tickets are now available from our Eventbrite site here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/edugeek-edit-2014-preston-registration-11166987761

Click here to register for EDIT 14

Please note: If you are employed by a educational supplier/company rather then school please contact us to arrange tickets as members have priority.

Travel and hotels

As usual we recommend that you stay at the Ibis Preston North which is comfortable, affordable and a mere 1 minute drive (or 10 min walk) from the venue: Ibis Preston

The venue is easy to get to and you can get the location and directions from this site here:

Travel Directions

Please note that it takes a great deal of time, effort and expenditure to organise these events, so if you book a ticket please ensure you turn up as it costs us up to £35 per head and if you don't come you have not only taken a place someone else who wanted too, but it costs us too putting future conferences in jepardy.

See you there

 

It's all go here in the office! With just one more day until ZeroHour, Domino and myself make our way to Manchester to setup for this show it's about time we filled you in with the final details of timings for both Education Innovation and the co-located events.

Education Innovation is free to attend and is an excellent mix of speakers, events and exhibition.

You can find us on stand C22 right alongside ICT Direct on Stand C24 so pop over and have a chat and we'll give you one of our limited edition thermal mugs, a coveted lanyard and badge

 

 

Opening times:

 

Thursday 27th Feb:- 09:30 - 18:30

 

Friday 28th Feb:- 09:30 - 16:30

 

 

Floorplan:



http://educationinnovation.co.uk/home/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/EICE-stand-plan-Final2.pdf

 

 

 

Timetable of Education Innovation events and talks:

 

Conference : Events and Timetable | Education Innovation || Manchester || The leading event for learning technology

 

 

 

Co-located events and timings:



Raspberry Jamboree 2014:-

The OCR Raspberry Jamboree is our 2nd international convention sharing the educational potential of the Raspberry Pi computer.

We invite you to join us in Manchester as we celebrate the 2nd birthday of the Raspberry Pi. We aim to identify and share the impact that this low-cost computer is having on education. As well as sharing the amazing potential of this device for education, we will be showing lots of practical ideas.

OCR Raspberry Jamboree 27 & 28 February 2014 Tickets, Manchester - Eventbrite

#SLTeAchMeet:-

For those who haven’t come across an SLTeachMeet yet, this is a chance to hear in an informal and lively fashion the best practice of your SLT peers, all from a wide range of settings, experiences and environments. Attendees don’t have to pay to attend a TeachMeet, and in addition, anyone can offer to speak! This event is sponsored by Toshiba Education.

SLTeachmeet Registration now open at #EICE | Education Innovation || Manchester || The leading event for learning technology

#WeTweetEd:-

Please come join us for the sixth #WeTweetEd networking event as we head to the Education Innovation Conference & Exhibition 2014. Come meet like-minded edu-Tweeters, join the debate, have a drink and enjoy some nibbles. We'll be discussing the interaction of policy and social media as part of the Achievement through innovation in leadership conference theme.

#WeTweetEd #6: How can we use social media to debate... Registration, Manchester - Eventbrite

How to get there:

Venue : Manchester Central | Education Innovation || Manchester || The leading event for learning technology

So, if you couldn't make BETT, or London is too far, come to Manchester and see what's happening at Education Innovation. See you there!

We would like to say congratulations to our sponsor Room Booking System for winning the ICT Company of the year (< £1m turnover)

Below is the official press release - listing the results.

2014 Bett Awards winners

Company

Product

Early Years Solutions

Rising Stars

Switched on ICT in the Early Years

Primary Digital Content

Twig World

Tigtag

Highly commended

Pearson

Bug Club

Secondary Digital Content

Mathspace UK Ltd

Mathspace

ICT Tools for Learning and Teaching

IGGY

Highly commended

LEGO Education

Digital Devices

Fourier Education

einsteinTablet+

Digital Collections and Resource Banks

London Grid for Learning

Highly commended

Peters Books and Furniture

ICT Special Educational Needs Solutions

Inclusive Technology Ltd

Free digital content/Open educational resources

Microsoft

ICT Leadership and Management Solutions

2Simple Software

Innovation in ICT

TeacherCentric Ltd

ICT Services and Support

Groupcall Limited

ICT Exporter of the Year

Promethean Ltd

Highly commended

TTS Group Ltd

ICT Company of the Year - Less than £1m turnover

Room Booking System Ltd

ICT Company of the Year - Between £1m and £10m turnover

3P Learning

ICT Company of the Year - Over £10m turnover

Espresso Education

Marketing Campaign of the Year

Oxford University Press

International digital education resource

Little Bridge World

Educational Apps

Daydream Education

Bett stand of the year

EducationCity.com

Outstanding Achievement

Lewis Bronze

BETT Awards.pdf

The BETT show is now less than a week away and we here at EduGeek are now in full swing (read - in panic mode) in our preparations as the the start date fast approaches and we think it is time we let you know what we are doing this year.

As with last year we shall be sharing a stand once more with Smoothwall on stand F137 and, as always, have the usual amenities that we make available for all of the tired 'geekers during the show including:

• Free Wi-Fi
  
• A comfy sofa to allow you to rest your tired feet on
  
• Free pizza at lunchtimes (12:15 approx - first come, first served!)
  
• Tokens that can be traded in for a cup of fresh ground coffee on the Stone Computers stand (C102)
  
• The opportunity to join us for a meal in the evening if you can make it
  
• We shall also be giving away our highly sought after lanyards, EduGeek badges and for this year only we have some strictly limited edition (and very high quality) thermal mugs celebrating our 1,000,000 posts landmark. If you want one of these you must introduce yourself by your EduGeek name on the stand and ask. That way we know you are for real and have read this!
  

We shall also be running a raffle to win an awesome Glide Touch PC kindly donated by VeryPC.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of having this amazing machine on your desktop at home is come and visit us to get a ticket and put your EduGeek name in a book so we can let the winner know via PM.

This lovely machine has an i5 Processor, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD, 802.11 b/g/n wireless and a full 1080p 23" 10 point touch display which will allow you to use Windows 8 to its fullest. We shall also have it on display on the stand if you'd like a better look.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]22354[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]22355[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]22356[/ATTACH]

As always, we have an open invitation to any members who want to hook up with us all in the evening and go for a meal. And if you want to know where we are staying (as some of you like to know where you can find us and even stay in the same hotel), we are at the Travelodge Tower Bridge, which is ideal for getting into the center of London and is a mere 15 minutes direct journey to Excel on the DLR station next door.

So come and see us, rest your bones and have a chat. You know you are all more than welcome.

See you there

For those of you unable to attend BETT in January EduGeek shall be on stand C24 with ICT Direct in Manchester at the Education Innovation Conference and Exhibition on February 27th and 28th. Please feel free to drop by and stop for a chat about anything.

For more information on the show and its co-located events, please read the article below, and remember registration for Education Innovation is free.

“Education Innovation Conference & Exhibition, undoubtedly the best edu show Manchester has held yet @eicemanchester” – Alan O’Donohoe (Head of ICT at Our Lady Catholic School)

The Education Innovation Conference & Exhibition will take place for the second time at Manchester Central on February 27th and 28th, building on a successful launch event back in March.

Technology can help network managers and heads of IT or it can be a white elephant that gets in the way of effective teaching, learning and infrastructure. There is no point investing in expensive equipment if it is not going to enhance education or make the running of educational institutions more productive and efficient.

The theme of EICE is “Achievement through Innovation”. It is achievement that is critical and the event is designed to offer visitors crucial advice, tips and ideas that will enable them to make the most out of existing innovation, as well as lead, teach and procure more innovatively.

The free event offers education leaders, business managers and practitioners advice, training and guidance when it comes to integrating innovation and technology into learning. This will come in the form of CPD training, access to inspirational keynote speakers, practical workshops, and an exhibition of over 100 solution providers.

96% of the visitors to the 2013 event said that the conference was “excellent” or “good” and the confirmed speakers for the next show include the head of ICT inspection at OFSTED, David Brown, Tim Rylands, Toby Young, Russell Prue, Rick Byers, Jan Harrison plus contributions from Government ministers, DfE, EFA, BBC Learning, Jisc, NTAB and much more.

The event will include advice hubs from EduGeek, Eskills, Computing At School, AMiE and Naace. There will also be a New EdTech Pavilion

Free registration is live at www.educationinnovation.co.uk and you can also nominate your institution for an Education Innovation Award.

Education Innovation is proud to be co-located with

“iThink therefore iPad? 2014”

“iThink Therefore iLearn?”

“Raspberry Jamboree 2014”

“GovernorLive”

“EdTech CPD”

“WeTweeted6”

“SLTeachMeet”

NetSupport Ltd with their nomination in ICT Exporter of the Year

Schoolcomms with their nomination in Innovation in ICT Award

@Room Booking System with their nomination in ICT Company of the Year (<£1m turnover)

Follett with their nomination in ICT Leadership and Management Solutions

BETT 2014 will be the 30th anniversary of the world's largest technology in education event which usually has over 35,000 visits and over 700 exhibitors.

EduGeek will be attending alongside our kind sponsors Smoothwall from January the 22nd until the 25th at ExCeL, London. For more details about BETT and how to attend for free go to www.bettshow.com

More information about the BETT awards can be found at www.bettawards.com

BETT 2014

22^nd-25^th January - Excel London

This is the BIG one. BETT is the world’s largest educational technology show and in 2014 will be larger and bigger than ever with the exhibition featuring educational technology companies ranging from the largest to the smallest in the world showing their latest and greatest products as well as seminars covering a huge variety of subject areas.

EduGeek shall once more be sharing a stand with Smoothwall (stand N17) so please make our day and come over to say 'Hi'. BETT is free to attend and if you keep an eye on EduGeek and we’ll let you know when tickets are available.

Bett Show 2014 - The learning technology event

EduGeek sponsors also attending:

Smoothwall – Stand F137

NetSupport – Stand C290

Net-Ctrl - Stand F121

Room Booking System - Stand A290

Millgate - Stand F124

Stone Computers - Stand C102

ICT Direct - Stand C151

Schoolcomms - Stand B295

Stoneware - Represent by Lenovo on stand C260 and ITS on Stand E282

PaperCut - Represented by iTS UK - Stand TBC

Meru - Stand E340

Schools Broadband - Stand F238

Impero

Follett

Education Innovation Conference and Exhibition (EICE)

27^th – 28^th Feb 2014 Manchester Central

The EICE will be in its second year next Feb and is focused on providing an equal mix of exhibition and seminars. It is also very accessible to more northern areas of the UK due to its location. We shall be in the thick of things in the middle of the arena sharing a stand with ICT Direct. We shall also be hosting a session on data protection courtesy of Rick Byers, and as anyone who has caught him speaking at our annual conf will testify, he is a mine of information and DP myth busting! Also the very popular Raspberry Pi event will once more be taking place alongside the show drawing in many Pi educators and enthusiasts.

As with BETT, attendance is free, as well as access to all of the sessions and seminars, and pre-registration for tickets is now open here:

Pre-Registration | Education Innovation || Manchester || The leading event for learning technology

EduGeek sponsors also attending:

ICT Direct

Meru

Schools Broadband

Room Booking System - Stand F16

ISTE 2014

28^th June – 1^st July: Atlanta, Georgia

 

ISTE is our big US event, indeed the BIG educational IT show in the US where, once again, we are sharing a space with Smoothwall and get to meet old and new members from all over the world. The ISTE Conference is similar to BETT but more focused on seminars, discussion and teaching IT professionals in education the latest technologies and techniques. It’s always a very busy show and for us it’s like doing BETT but with just 2 people!

https://www.isteconference.org/2014/

EduGeek sponsors also attending:

Smoothwall - Booth 2528

Meru

Follett

Stoneware

NetSupport

PaperCut

Please note we have not include our conf(s) yet as these will be announced once we have firm dates and venues. If you are a sponsor and you don't yet know your stand number at any of these shows but want them added please let us know and we shall add them as soon as we receive them.

.

And EduGeek will be there too! Come and see us on stand E3 and stop for a chat, coveted lanyard, bottle opener and pointers as to where many of the exhibitors and sessions are located or just to catch up. We’ll be more than happy to see you.

What’s on?

Not only is there a full exhibition with over 50 of the UK largest educational IT companies and suppliers present there are many workshops and talks by covering an array of subjects including:

• New landscapes: what is the future of ICT in education?
  
• Skills for the future: inspiring young people to pursue STEM careers
  
• Jobs for the girls: encouraging girls to consider qualifications and careers in IT *Presented by Grumbledook on behalf of EduGeek*
  
• Going further: what next for the FE sector?
  
• Is there a place for social media in education?
  

Links:

Register for free here: https://registration.n200.com/survey/0f35zxvidobie/register?actioncode=GEEK1

Event timetable: Education Innovation : the leading event for learning technology : Manchester, 8/9 March

.

So, let’s begin, and in no particular order:

• Smoothwall – For being our gracious hosts and allowing us to share their stand. As always, a pleasure
  
• The EduGeek stand staff - @Soulfish, @Domino, @robk, @john, @GrumbleDook, @TheScarfedOne, @Ric_. Without your help Shaun and I would be knee deep in pizza and visitors
  
• Tim Bush @Microsoft UK Education – For organising the loan of the Dell W8 Tablet for us. We were very impressed and it came in quite handy
  
• Stone Computers – Thanks for the quick loan of the netbook. It made our interactive map slightly less laggy than the one we brought with us!
  
• Anders – Great to see you again and welcome to the dark side!
  
• Nick @Joskos for the Subway rolls just when we needed feeding. Cheers
  
• Phong, and the other night staff at the Travelodge Greenwich for keeping the ‘interesting’ people out
  
• Will @Education Support Professionals for inviting us to his party. Doochers!
  
• @elsiegee40, @witch – For EduHobnobs and Jaffa Cakes aplenty
  
• ICT Direct for their
  . Easily the coolest thing in the show to my mind
  
• Luke @Millgate – Sorry I missed you, but the vast quantities of crisps, Doritos and sweeties came in handy
  
• @Otter – Anyone who travels 8000 miles just to drop off some Cadburys Buttons deserves a special mention
  
• Seeing Ken Royal come to the stand at his first ever visit to BETT. As ever he was kind generous and in demand. I hope this is his first of many BETT shows
  
• Alan @VeryPC for coming all that way to see us and losing not just his marbles!
  
• All of the people who came by the stand simply to say ‘Thank you’. It was very humbling to see so many of you
  
• All of our forum sponsors who were at the show, many of whom we got to meet in the flesh for the first time
  
• Awesome Merchandise and Digital ID for producing our freebies and lanyards at very short notice and delivering them on time
  
• @X-13 For having the most amusing BETT visitor badge text. GlaDOS Wrangler indeed!
  
• The Docklands Light Railway for getting us the 7-8 miles from our hotel to ExCel in half the time it takes us to do the mile and a half from our usual hotel in Kensington to Olympia by taxi. Although you don’t have to smell other peoples armpits in a taxi
  
• Red Bull and Tropicana. You know what for
  

And last but by no means least. Everyone who came to see us and say hi, or gave us a wave in passing. It was an awesome show made all the better for seeing you all, and we must apologise for the lack of webcam for those of you that couldn't make it. We had it up and running at the stand, but unfortunately the firewall at ExCel is set a little on the strict side so we couldn't deliver the images securely to our server.