The ISTE Experience - Exploring The Expo & Connecting with Exhibitors


If you are interested in more ISTE Tips, please take a look at my posts: ISTE 2018 Tips and Tricks and The Awesome Session Facilitators at #ISTE18.

Conversations with exhibitors can add so much to your ISTE learning experience. The ISTE 2018 Expo is an incredible experience. The exhibitors are friendly and the swag is out of this world. There are also many incredible mini sessions and presentations in the Expo center. You will want to dedicate some time to explore and learn about the incredible things that are happening to support teaching and learning.  

While there is nothing wrong with wondering, I quickly lost track of who I talked to the first time I attended, so if you are attending I recommend exploring the Expo Map and Exhibitors before venturing into the space. 
  • You can search by name and keyword.
  • I love the category drop-down menu. 
  • You can click on each exhibitor to learn more about them.
  • You can also view all exhibitors in a single list.
To get started planning your exploration of the ISTE Expo, I recommend creating a list of at least 10 to 15 exhibitors that you would really like to meet. It is ok to visit more, but having a short list to start is a great way to make sure you are efficient with your time and don't miss something.

If you are curious about my list, here it is in alphabetical order with a description of each vendor from the Expo pages.
  • Bitsbox (Booth 1644) - Bitsbox combines hundreds of printed projects with a simple online coding environment where kids type read code and build apps that work on any device.
  • Bloxels (Booth 1991) - Bloxels uniquely unlocks students’ innate creativity by leveraging something they love: video games. Students can play fun games and channel their creative potential as they gain greater understanding of important topics like design logic, and computer science and demonstrate their knowledge of history, science and mathematics and more through the games they create.
  • Bulb (Booth 1680) - bulb is a simple, beautiful tool designed for students and educators of any level to curate, create, share and showcase their work throughout the semester, the year, and over a lifetime on any device.
  • Buncee (Booth 2136) - Buncee is a web-based creation and presentation tool designed to help students become self-directed producers. Using Buncee, students can easily build multimedia projects and digital stories to showcase their learning. Buncee helps educators develop media-rich assignments and assessments and community outreach materials.
  • Classcraft (Booth 970) - Classcraft is a platform that transforms any classroom into an adventure. Acting as a gamification layer around any existing curriculum, the game revolutionizes the way a class is experienced throughout the school year. Students level up, work in teams, and earn powers that have real-world consequences.
  • Clever (Booth 2631) - Clever powers technology in the classroom. We give software applications a platform to easily connect with schools and give districts a central location to manage all of their learning resources.
  • Common Sense Education (Booth 782) - Common Sense Education® supports K-12 schools with free, timely, and research-based tools that take the guesswork out of teaching in the digital age.
  • ExploreLearning (Booth 2244) - ExploreLearning develops online solutions to improve student learning in math and science. ExploreLearning Gizmos are the world’s largest library of interactive, online simulations for math and science in grades 3-12. ExploreLearning Reflex (www.reflexmath.com) is the most powerful solution available for math fact fluency.
  • Five-Star Technology Solutions (Booth 2487) - Five-Star Technology Solutions is a K-12 educational technology company. They partner with schools to manage technology infrastructure, provide insight into student data and continuous improvement for educators, and guide professional development/integration of technology for instruction and student learning.
  • Flipgrid (Booth 1489) - Flipgrid is the leading video discussion platform for millions of PreK to PhD students around the world. We believe in the power of student voice, social learning, and having fun. 2017 EdTechDigest Cool Tool, 2017 AASL Best Website + Best App.
  • Girls Who Code (Booth 1389) - Girls Who Code was founded with a single mission: to close the gender gap in technology by teaching girls how to code and become change agents in their communities. Girls Who Code has gone from 20 girls in New York to 40,000 girls in 50 states.
  • Google, Inc. (Booth 1602) - Google for Education is a solution built for learning and designed for the classroom that includes easy-to-manage affordable devices like Chromebooks, a “mission control” for class through Google Classroom, a powerful suite of productivity tools with G Suite for Education, and new ways to engage students like Google Expeditions.
  • itslearning (Booth 2358) - With a passion for improving teaching and learning, itslearning lives at the heart of education. The itslearning platform serves seven million users worldwide and is the first K-12 LMS to offer educators content accessible from the cloud, including 1.7 million free and open resources.
  • Kahoot (Booth 572) - Kahoot! is a game-based learning platform and one of the world’s fastest-growing learning brands with millions of monthly active users in over 180 countries. Kahoot! makes it easy to create, discover, play and share fun learning games in minutes—for any subject, in any language, on any device, for all ages.
  • littleBits (Booth 2524) - littleBits makes technology kits that are fun, easy-to-use, and infinitely creative. The kits are composed of electronic building blocks that are color-coded, magnetic, and make technology simple and fun. Designed with educators, the littleBits curriculum is rigorous and engaging, allowing students to develop their creative confidence through hands-on learning.
  • MaxCases/EdTechTeam (Booth 1828) - Max Interactive Inc. designs protective cases for Chromebook, iPad and other technology devices. We specialize in 1:1 rollouts and can accommodate most special requests for adding school logos and custom logo requirements. Max continues to innovate new designs and look forward to helping you with your next project. EdTechTeam is a global network of former teachers turned educational technologists dedicated to inspiring and empowering educators.
  • Newsela (Booth 2438) - Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that brings together engaging, accessible content with integrated assessments and insights. The result is more engaged readers—and engaged readers are better learners.
  • Newseum (Booth 2368) - Unlock a deeper understanding of free expression and First Amendment freedoms in the Newseum’s 30+ exhibits and theaters. Online, visit NewseumED.org for free primary sources, videos and lessons on history, civics and media literacy. Curated resources on civil rights and woman suffrage movements, elections and civil liberties vs. public good.
  • Otus (Booth 2152) - The Otus Student Performance Platform combines an LMS, an Assessment Platform, a Data Warehouse, and a collection of Classroom Management tools on one platform. When classroom tools and learning data are centralized, students can be supported like never before.
  • Pear Deck (Booth 2602) - Start engaging your entire classroom with Pear Deck! Created by educators, Pear Deck lets you add formative assessments and interactive questions from within Google Slides. Built for 1:1 programs and integrated with Google Apps for Education, Pear Deck helps teachers create powerful learning moments for every student, every day.
  • Quizizz (Booth 591) - Quizizz is a free quiz game for classrooms that lets students work at their own pace. Fun features like avatars, leaderboards, and memes get students excited, while teachers save time with features like auto-grading, LMS integrations, millions of pre-made quizzes, and much more.
  • Seesaw (Booth 430) - Seesaw is a student-driven digital portfolio that helps students create, collaborate, and share their learning.
  • Soundtrap (Booth 2611) - Soundtrap is an easy-to-use, online music and podcast recording studio enabling creative collaboration in your spare time or in a safe classroom using any device.
  • Squirrels LLC (Booth 2262) - Education is better with Squirrels. We make wireless screen-sharing and device-monitoring software used in over 100,000 classrooms. Our solutions range from cost-effective mirroring apps to advanced classroom operations software. Use our technology to wirelessly view, manage and display classroom iPads, Chromebooks, Android devices, Surface Pros, Macs and Windows devices.
  • Texthelp (Booth 1076) - Hello we’re Texthelp. We believe that literacy is every student’s passport to academic and professional success. It’s our genuine desire to help students understand, learn and express themselves. We create smart, user-friendly literacy and learning solutions, that provide the support each student needs; through reading, writing, math and research features.
  • WeVideo (Booth 1258) - WeVideo enables deep learning with an easy-to-use video creation platform. Used by more than 6,500 schools worldwide, anyone can access WeVideo, from any device inside or outside of the classroom to capture, edit, view and share videos with secure storage of their content in the Cloud.
I am also going to try to make sure I visit at least exhibitors that I don't know much about as part of my Expo experience. This will be part of my wondering experience.

Exhibitors love shout-outs on social media. If you have a favorite or have a great experience, be sure to give them a thank you on Twitter. Be sure to tag them (@ . . . ) and use the hashtag #ISTE18

Thank you to all of the incredible ISTE 2018 Exhibitors and Sponsors. If you have a favorite exhibitor that I missed or question please post in the comments below.

If you are interested in more ISTE Tips, please take a look at my posts: ISTE 2018 Tips and Tricks and The Awesome Session Facilitators at #ISTE18.



Popular Posts