Seen and Heard: Here’s the Rub About the AASA Conference
One of the most popular venues inside the NCE Marketplace in Phoenix over the past two days has been the Relaxation Station, a place for attendees to relieve tension with a complimentary back massage.
Sponsored by Chartwells School Dining Services, a firm specializing in providing students with healthy meals, the Relaxation Station was a hit during the AASA national conference.
"They loved it," said Jeff Vigue, a regional sales director with the company. "One of our masseuses said she massaged over 30 people one day."
Norm Yoder, superintendent of Heartland Community Schools in Henderson, Neb., said it was a great service to have at the conference. "After walking around the vending areas, the station really revitalized you," he said. "Superintendents are up and down a lot, but we're not so used to walking around this much."
Easy on the Feet
Ever since Mark Bielang, AASA’s president, made a quirky entrance to the conference’s 1st General Session riding a Segway, the motorized device has been firmly in the possession of the AASA conference director, Chris Daw.
Daw covers a lot of ground each day at the huge Phoenix Convention Center so at the end of each day and the beginning of the next, he has used the Segway to give a little comfort to his feet and legs by riding it the two blocks between the Sheraton Phoenix and the conference site and sometimes in the corridors of the building during less crowded hours.
Books Aplenty
Lisa Parady, the first-year superintendent in Point Barrow, Alaska, is maximizing the learning experience at her first AASA national conference.
Parady logged lots of time in the AASA Bookstore, purchasing five bags full of new titles and getting autographed copies of several books whose authors were on the conference’s speaking schedule.
Parady told AASA staff member C.J. Reid that she intended to share many of the books she purchased with colleagues back in her remote school district on Alaska’s north shore.
Tyranny of Travel
The woes of air travel to Phoenix over the past week ranked as the No. 1 conversation starter.
Gary Marx, president of the Center for Public Outreach in Vienna, Va., joked about his travel experiences with the audience at the 88th annual Horace Mann League Luncheon on Friday. He shared how it seemed that airports were shutting down just as he left them enroute to the AASA conference.
He left from Washington, D.C., for New York City just before the Washington area’s three major airports were shut down after being clobbered by a mid-week snowstorm. He then left from New York City’s Laguardia Airport, which was closed temporarily as the storm raged on in the Northeast. After leaving Dallas-Fort Worth International to eventually make his way to Phoenix, that airport too was hit by heavy snowfall, and more than 200 flights were cancelled.
AASA officials estimate several hundred pre-registered conference attendees never made it to the event.
Cancelled But Still of Use
The inability of so many to reach Phoenix because of the terrible weather forced AASA to cancel about a dozen planned sessions and print three-foot Cancelled Session placards for placement outside the affected meeting rooms.
Those placards came in handy for Jim Brady, moderator of a session on school design during the conference’s final time slot. When the flip chart he had requested didn’t show up in his session room, Brady wound up using the backsides of the placards along with a Magic Marker to improvise for his presentation needs.
Bird’s Eye View of Berliner
David Berliner draws in a large audience whenever he speaks. During his presentation on Friday at the Phoenix Convention Center, a small bird apparently was eager to hear what Berliner had to say, finding its way into the conference room. The bird flitted away the entire time.
(Compiled by Jay P. Goldman with staff contributions)