NeXConf/NEDA Attendees ‘HAPPY’ with ‘International’ Conference

*NeXConf Master Panel: From left, Harold Jarche, Dave Gray, Jane Hart, Beth Kanter, Bob Bertsch, Moderator.*

Rarely does a conference end with attendees dancing in their seats, but at the National eXtension Conference/National Extension Directors and Administrators joint meeting they literally did just that!

More than 300 people, including attendees from Australia and Canada, celebrated successful keynote speakers, concurrent sessions, networking and awards, exhibits and technology demonstrations that all took place in beautiful Sacramento, California. For many attendees, escaping winter weather was frosting on the cake as they heard learning experts Dave Gray, Jane Hart, Harold Jarche, and Beth Kanter share their insights and integrate their own philosophies on learning networks into Cooperative Extension’s work.

One attendee noted: “This was the first eXtension conference I’ve attended. I was very satisfied. I was even more surprised at the level of excitement veteran attendees had throughout the conference. I thought we were exposed to top-tier speakers that shared cutting edge trends and ideas that will definitely enhance if not totally shift the Extension pro gram’s paradigm of how to effectively reach out to the communities we serve.”

One unique part of the conference was the creation of a YouTube video customizing the popular Pharrell Williams song “Happy”. eXtension’s LuAnn Phillips and Dmitre Raposo captured attendees throughout the conference dancing during breaks, meals, and at the opening reception. The result is here!

As more than 50 concurrent sessions were delivered live in Sacramento, those same sessions were streamed via Internet to more than 550 participants throughout the world. Communities of Practice, Learning Networks, Institutional/Innovation Teams, eXtension focus areas all gathered with exhibits to share their ideas and successes with attendees, including extension directors and administrators from across the country.

NeXConf/NEDA was alive and well on social media! On Twitter 434 people sent 3,655 tweets reaching 762,006 accounts with 27,359,601 impressions. On Facebook, 5753 unique users reached with 603 users engaged and 18,256 impressions. On Pinterest the conference had 91 pins on 14 boards with 59 followers and on Instagram there were 168 posts by 27 people with 405 likes.