Here is a selection of 8 conferences taking place over this school year.     

January

Future of Education Technology Conference USA, 24-27 January

At the time of writing I've been unable to access the Agenda page, but maybe you'll have more luck when you receive this.

Bett London, 25-28 January 2017

This is the biggest education technology conference/exhibition in the UK, and one of the largest in the world. It's been going for over 30 years.

Westminster Forum Conference: Child online safety in the UK: technology, education and policy priorities   London, 26 January

This will bring together policymakers, industry representatives, parents, educators and charities, areas for discussion include progress made in filtering and technologies; latest progress on tackling emerging new dangers, and longstanding risks including cyber-bullying, sexual grooming, pornography and radicalisation. Also, the changing role of parents and teachers, particularly in light of increased mobile internet access out of the home and at school; how well different organisations and sectors are helping tackle the issues; and the developing policy framework in light of Brexit, as well as longer-term issues for government and regulators.

February

Learning Technologies London, 1-2 February

There are lots of free seminars and a large exhibition at this event. It's geared to using technology for training at work, but sometimes there are interesting things to discover.

March

Westminster Forum Conference: Next steps for the UK children's content market: commercial strategies, public service and international competitiveness London, 9-March

This seminar will examine the key commercial opportunities and challenges for UK children’s content industry - both in domestic and international markets. 

It takes place in the context of Ofcom’s annual PSB report which found a decline in investment for original UK children’s programming, in anticipation of a finalised BBC Royal Charter which includes a contestable fund for “at risk” genres including children’s, as well as with uncertainty over the future application of EU-level legislation on the protection of minors and rules on commercial communications around children’s content.

Sessions will examine how the sector is adapting to shifting consumption trends across devices, including around the challenges of content discoverability on digital platforms, innovation in production and delivery, and ensuring diversity in voices and stories to reflect the UK audience.

The Education Show Birmingham, England, 16-18 March

This promises to include quite a varied line-up of speakers.

June

Edutech Australia, 7-9 June

Large conference, with 8 'Congresses' to choose from, eg 'K-12 Ed Leaders', and Masterclasses.

ITTE Hull, 21 June

The 31st annual conference of the Association for Information Technology in Teacher Education.

ISTE USA 25-28 June

This is a massive conference: 500 sessions apparently, and around 15,000 attendees.

If you go to education conferences (or would like to), you may find my book useful. It’s called Education Conferences: Teachers’ guide to getting the most out of conferences. Click on the link for more information (affiliate link).

This article was originally published in the Digital Education ezine.