…case of every cord and dongle you might possibly need! Not only have I managed to get myself out of some sticky situations by having an abundance of cords with me, but I’ve also been able to help out presenters at a couple of conferences.

I do have a new addition to something I always head to conferences with now though, a plan to visit a Judo dojo where ever I am. I started doing this a couple of years ago, no matter where the conference was, as soon as I registered I would immediately go and look for nearby Judo clubs. I’m not really into the morning run (not a morning person) that some conferences offer, and also not really into the hotel gym (assuming I’d be staying in a hotel as opposed to an AirB&B or similar). So joining a Judo lesson is a good way to stay active, which is especially important after sitting all day long.

Back when I attended OER18 for example, I went to a local club in Bristol England. It was a really great class, and I got to work with a whole bunch of new (to me) judoka. The approaches and techniques were different from what I was accustomed to which was great, and during ne waza (ground fighting) I surprised a few folks. Later that year at OpenEd Global I joined a Dutch class. It was a bit more of a jaunt to get to, from Delft to Den Hag, and the class was taught in Dutch which was awesome (I didn’t understand almost anything). What really stuck with me, aside from the grace and kindness of everyone I worked with there, was that because in Judo we always use the Japanese names of techniques I could kind of follow along. I could listen for key words and watch closely and figure out what we were doing. Well worth the train trip.