It is July and that means it is InstructureCon month! If you’re like me, you’re starting to think about the conference and plan your sessions. There are many great ones to choose from! Every year I get a little overwhelmed when trying to plan my days, so I wanted to share some advice for anyone who might be feeling the same.
Initial Exploration
Use a laptop or computer for your initial exploration of sessions—the app will be available closer to the conference. You can sign in to the InstructureCon Agenda page using the same email address you used to register for the conference or your ticket number. Once you’re signed in, you can begin to peruse session choices and filter each day of the week. You can favorite sessions. There will be a conference app to download (which I highly recommend) that will be made available closer to conference time.
Strategic Scheduling
I always browse and favorite sessions that catch my eye. Later, I review my favorites and begin the process of whittling down my list. This takes time, but is well worth it. Pro tip:
- Keep two to three sessions for each time slot.
- This ensures that if a session is full or doesn’t meet your needs, you have ready-to-go alternatives.
Organizing Your Plan
Another of InstructureCon’s voices of experience, Matthew Jennings (@MAJ18), shared Plan, Build, Iterate: An Unofficial Guide to the InstructureCon Schedule, with an InstructureCon schedule toolkit that he is updating consistently up to the conference. It has some great resources to help you curate a schedule, plan your routes, and make the most of your time at InstructureCon.
Collaborative Note-Taking
Once you have your schedule mapped out, the next step is planning how to capture what you learn. Whether you’re a #solopanda conferencing alone or traveling with a team, create your note-taking plan. My fellow Hoosiers and I have been fortunate to experience several conferences together, and we always share a collaborative notes document. This allows us to get the resources and insights from sessions we might not otherwise be able to fit into our schedules. If you’d like to create something similar, here is a template link to our #Instructurecon2026 Shared Notes doc. Feel free to take it and make it work for you!
The most important thing is to come with a plan, be flexible, and listen for actionable plans you can take back to your district. InstructureCon is a special event, and I’m counting down the days until it begins. What’s your favorite strategy for navigating InstructureCon? Share your tips in the comments below!
See you soon!
Dianna
