The Little Moodle Moot that Could

I just returned from attending the Oklahoma Moodle Moot. This was my third time attending and it reinforced with me how consistently and well operated this conference is. I helped organize the first three US Moodle Moots and I have been lucky enough to travel internationally to attend both the UK and Canadian Moots. My feeling is the OK Moot is under appreciated and an incredible value at only $99 for the main two-day conference and $75 for the one-day pre-conference. Matt Campbell and his team (Sarah Carper and Tim Loughmiller from Metro Technology Centers, and Ed Hatch from Moore Norman Technology Center) did an excellent job organizing the Moot.

What they do well:

• Pre-conference
• Network access
• Facilities
• Food
• Presenter amenities
• Breadth of presentations

Every year this conference goes off like clockwork. They provide a great one day pre-conference with both in depth instructional and admin training. The network access is always rock solid, due to the venue being located at a vocational technical center geared out to take much more usage than the Moot needs. The rooms are of ample size and have the latest technology. The ball room was outfitted with four giant projection screens projecting on opposing walls; there was no bad seat in the house. The food is always well above average and this year was no exception. I was especially a fan of the yogurt and fresh fruit  snack on the afternoon of the first day. This year the conference added a presenters' lounge with snacks and beverages. I thought this was a really nice perk for the presenters that few other conferences offer. Matt even paid out of his own pocket to take the presenters to dinner (thanks Matt!). The conference offered 5 presentation strands: Business, Curriculum, Hands-on, Technical, and Moodle 2.0. The Business strand was a nice addition this year and I enjoyed getting to see some of the new features of Moodle 2.0 in action. This was further bolstered by the presence of Helen Foster, the Moodle Community Manager, who was able to take direct feedback back to the Moodle development team. If you are shopping for a conference for next summer, give this Moot a close look.

Upcoming posts will include interviews with some of the attendees including Helen Foster.

Links:
Oklohama Moot Official Site
Oklohoma Moot Moodle 2.0 Test Site
Oklahoma Moot Experts Panel video