Storified - A new voice?

Today's blog is like no other I have attempted before - a bit of a Social Media Mash-up, if you will.  Let me explain.

Like many L&D professionals, my Team and I attended the Learning Technologies Conference and Exhibition at London Olympia in January - a fantastic event all round, organised by Don Taylor and his team.  I came away with my head buzzing with ideas, new things to investigate further, my dendrites firing to make connections which were relevant to me and and my team's work in progress and in the future.

Needless to say, the day job got in the way of all that as soon as we got back to work.  Much to do, not enough time to reflect, share and apply.  So we arranged a meeting at which we shared our 'Top Three' takeaways from the Conference with each other.  All well and good, but how to share with our other colleagues and our Personal Learning Networks in the L&D community?

I tweeted mine, and challenged Debbie and Melissa to do the same.  The both stepped up to the plate (a bit of encouragement and challenge never goes wasted) and shared their top three too.  But I know that lots of people still don't access Twitter as a matter of course and I wanted to be able to pull together all three sets of top tips - our 'Top Nine', so to speak - in one place.

So I turned to my Twitter PLN and asked how I could do that - filter our specific tweets into one place or document which I could then onwardly share as required.  Sure enough, first to respond was @CraigTaylor74, suggesting Storify, closely followed by @megbertapelle confirming Craig's suggestion.  I was into the Storify website straight away and within HALF AN HOUR, I had assembled my first 'story', published it and Tweeted it to the world!  This is a tool I will definitely be using again and again.  Thanks to Craig and Meg.

Incidentally, thanks also to @wrightlm, who later also suggested Summify and paper.li, which I have still to investigate.

So, why the SoMe Mash-up talk?  Well, before I wrote this blog, I took myself out for a walk this afternoon, up to Devil's Dyke on the South Downs.  I wanted to reflect on how to tell this Storify story and explain why I never got round to writing a blog directly about what I learned at the Conference.  And as I walked, the shape began to form but I needed to capture what I wanted to say before I lost it.  So I got my iPhone out and for the first time, fired up the ipadio app, and told myself the story I wanted to share with you.  And I've published that as well - my first ever solo podcast!

So, I have two links to share with you in conclusion.  I'd be really grateful for your feedback about the blog, the Storify summary and/or the (very raw, one-take, walking in the countryside) podcast.  Have I bitten off more than I could chew?

Storify Link: Click here

Podcast Link: Click here

One way or another, I'm still learning and applying stuff!