A look back at ALTC2016

May 19, 2023 1:13 pm

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by Kerry Pinny, ALT COO

As we look forward to our 2023 Annual Conference and ALT’s 30th Anniversary, we are taking a moment to look back at ALT Conferences over ALT’s 30 years. If you have reflections and memories you would like to share, email blog@alt.ac.uk.

#ALTC2016 was my first annual conference. It was held at the University of Warwick in September 2016. While I had been working in HE in IT Training and learning technology roles for ~6 years, I was not aware of ALT or the conference. My colleague introduced me to ALT and it remains a surprise (and source of shame) to me, all these years later, that I had not heard of the organisation at any of my previous institutions.

I remember being amazed at the size of the conference and the number of people there. The conference was distributed between the Arts Centre and Social Sciences building meaning a short walk was required between buildings to attend the different sessions. I remember there was a poster exhibition too. The keynotes were held in the Art Centre theatre and held ~400 people. I remember looking around at the other delegates and how insignificant I felt sitting in a room of people who had been doing this longer than me and knew more than me.

Keynotes included Josie Fraser (Head of Digital Policy at National Lottery Heritage Fund), Ian Livingstone CBE (co-founder of Games Workshop), Lia Commissa (Head of Programme Delivery at National Institute of Teaching), Dr Jane Secker (Senior Lecturer in Education Development at City, University of London), Dr Donna Lanclos (Anthropologist and consultant) and David White (Head of Digital Learning at University of the Arts London). You may know Jane Secker from her role as co-chair of ALT’s Copyright and Online Learning Special Interest Group and David White is ALT’s President. I remember taking something away from every speaker that year.

I remember attending a lot of sessions. My colleague and I ran a 15 minute session too and we had entered the team awards that year. I remember being so nervous to talk in front of the other delegates. I think we did a competition of film quotes in our session because, and it remains true to this day, I don’t like to take anything too seriously. We were in a slot with four other speakers so the pressure was heightened following their informative and polished presentation. Sadly, we didn’t win the team award but were highly commended *dies a little inside*. I remember walking around the Warwick campus thinking how nice it must be to work there. Then I did, for five years. I also remember thinking, as I do at every conference of ALT’s, how they put all this together and now I (definitely) know. I’ve been working as ALT’s Chief Operations Officer for over a year now.

I hope you enjoyed this brief trip down memory lane. If you would like to read more about that first conference, you can read my blog from that year. Visit the conference archive to see the full programme from 2016. Watch the 2016 Award Finalists on YouTube or watch one of the keynotes from that year.

We will be back at University of Warwick for the 2023 Annual Conference and to celebrate ALT’s 30th year. I hope to see you there!

Find out more about our 2023 Annual Conference: https://altc.alt.ac.uk/2023/