We all have moments where we realize that we just might be able to do something bigger than we ever thought possible.
I’ve had many of those. I want to zero in on a specific set, though.
The first came on May 8, 2018 when Danieta Morgan, then the Deputy Director of Instructional Systems for New Visions for Public Schools, now a K12 Google for Education Program Manager, sent me an email. I didn’t know Danieta at the time, but I knew New Visions. I had been using their Google for Education (now known as gSuite for Education) Add-Ons, Extensions and Scripts for years!
Apparently they knew me too, because Danieta was emailing to invite me to speak at their 5th annual New Visions Innovation Throw Down! I was so honored! Danieta told me that the event would be at Google’s New York City headquarters and that they would be willing to have me connect via Google Hangouts to present.
Take a moment to let that sink in. They would be at Google’s New York City Offices. I would be in Ohio. I could use Google Hangouts to present remotely.
I sent Danieta the obvious response: “The only way that this opportunity could be more exciting as [sic] if it actually involves me going to the Google headquarters! :-)”
Her response? “If you were able to get to NYC, that’s exactly what it would be!! ;-)”
Well, you can guess what came next. I had to convince my wife that this was a necessary trip. I had to get permission from my school.
Less than a month later, I was on a plane to New York City.
Remember my first sentence? We all have moments where we realize that we just might be able to do something bigger than we ever thought possible. June 1st, 2018. I stepped onto a stage at Google’s NYC offices.
There was a series of talks, each in an Ignite format, which means that I had 5 minutes to cover 20 slides that auto-advanced every 15 seconds. Yup, I flew to NYC to present for 5 minutes. And it was worth every minute of it.
I had never done this talk and I haven’t done it since. It was special for this event because it focused on New Vision Cloud Lab’s tools. But it wasn’t just special for this event. It was special for me. Here’s a video of it:
