What I Learned "Crashing" a Conference

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I've recently been feeling in a bit of a rut and disconnected from the greater higher ed community. I knew I needed to do something to feel refreshed.

Knowing NASPA was coming to Philly, I reached out on social media to see who I knew that was going. That has always been the most valuable part of conferences to me; growing and maintaining my professional network. It also is always cool to meet people in person I know purely through digital means.

It would have felt like a missed opportunity to not see folks who would only be a short drive away. I never really felt concerned about "crashing" the conference (not paying to attend but meeting people who did). I didn't try to sneak into any sessions or anything. It just does not make sense to me to have to pay exorbitant fees to end up mostly just hanging out with people anyway and skipping the tired old sessions they offer. 

I've written before about my disdain towards national higher ed conferences like ACPA and NASPA. We're in need of a major change with how we provide professional development with these gatherings, which is (and probably will be) a whole other blog post. The cherry on top to all this was that most of the people I met with spoke with displeasure about the session offerings. This feeling is pervasive and indicative of where things are right now when it comes to professional development in higher ed. It's too expensive, it's not relevant, and it isn't giving many people what they want (or need) to grow professionally.

Regardless, what I ended up learning through this process is that you have to sometimes just do what you know is right and what you need. I learned the value of personal (and professional) relationships and that it's important to cultivate them in person when you can. I learned I have great people in my corner and that it doesn't matter how long it might have been since you saw someone last, they'll still be happy to chat if you reach out. I learned that nothing will ever change until we disrupt the status quo.

I feel like I might continue this renegade trend as much as I can. I'd be happy to welcome others as we subvert these outdated paradigms and blaze our own way making experiences that are more valuable and accessible.

I'd love to hear other's thoughts on this. Please reach out via the comments or on Twitter (@HigherEd_Geek).

How to Choose the Best Stationery Supplier for Your Office Needs

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Choosing the right stationery supplier for your business can be a tough and difficult decision. On one hand, it's a mundane task that distracts you from your main focus, on the other hand, picking the wrong supplier could leave you without essential supplies at the wrong moment. So how do you choose the best stationery supplier for your office?

Product range is a key factor in choosing the right supplier. A good supplier will leave no gaps in their product range when it comes to providing the best choice for their clients and maintain a healthy amount of stock too. A good sign of a reputable stationery supplier will have a wide range. You can find the widest range here from Office National. As you can see from the web page, they carry all the necessary business stationery to suit your needs under a very easy to use website. 

Pricing is one of the hardest challenges when it comes to finding a reputable stationery suppler. Cheap doesn't always mean the best quality, expensive sometimes leads costs spiralling; these are all factors to take into account when choosing your stationery supplier. Branding, quantity & quality are all factors that should be taken into account when weighing up the costs of a prospective suppliers' merchandise. Paying the extra for a reputable brand can cut costs in the long run if a product has notable durability. 

Getting hold of essential stationery also has another important consideration: delivery time. It's no use picking a supplier and placing an important order to find out the delivery will take weeks. Ideally you want no more than 3 – 5 working days for shipments to arrive. Whilst quicker deliveries are great, they usually come with a premium, therefore increasing costs. On the other hand, slow deliveries can be crippling to businesses and leave you without vital equipment at the worst possible time. 

The final consideration for a supplier, is how much they value you as a customer. In the world of business to business transactions you will more than likely be a repeat customer. This goes hand in hand with a prospective suppliers after sales customer support. The last thing any business wants is to find their new printers not working correctly and no support to get them running. If a company does have a dedicated after sales support team then they will usually make this very clear to any possible clients visiting their page, like this one. 

Obviously, this article is aimed at those who've got their footing and are preparing to launch into the world of business so if you are just entertaining the idea of starting your own business, or entrepreneurship, then it would be worth your while reading this very informative article, especially if you've just left college. Ultimately you will need stationery supplies at some point and when you do, you should have the supplies to pick the right supplier.

Do You Have A Love For Gaming?

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If you know you’re a bit of a gamer geek, then there are ways in which you can nurture this love and grow it into something better. Gaming for a lot of people offers an escape from the real world. A place to make friends that you don’t feel as though you need to impress, and a place where you can let your imagination run wild. If this sounds like you, then we know how you can take your gaming experience to the next level. There’s so many new worlds out there for you to immerse yourself into, and so many opportunities for you that you might have been missing, If you’re intrigued, then read on to find out how you can grow your love for gaming.

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Virtual Reality

Virtual reality is one of the most exciting and futuristic things to bless the gaming world. If you haven’t tried it yet, you’re definitely missing out. It allows you to literally be immersed into another world. Well, not literally, but it isn’t far off it. All you need to do is pop the headset on, turn on the headphones, and you truly will feel like you’ve left the earth. The great thing about this is that there’s so much variety to choose from in terms of what you do on the virtual reality headset. There are plenty of free games you that can download, but if you get a unit like the Playstation VR, there’s tons of paid games. Even if you don’t fancy having a go on the game, you can go on a nice nature walk through a documentary, and it’ll really feel as though you’re there. A lot of the games that you can buy are fully online, so you get that feeling of teamwork that a lot of people like about gaming. The one major downside to this marvellous piece of technology is the price. If you’re buying one outright, you’re going to be spending a lot of money. You can grab yourself one that’s second hand, but it is still a tad expensive. The games that you can buy are also pricey, but none more so than the normal PC or console games that you’d buy. They’re all fully interactive, and the characters move as you make the motions. It just makes things so much cooler and life like.

 

Making Money

If you really do have a love for gaming, and it is all you do whilst you’re at home, then why not try and make some money through it. There are a few ways of doing this. Firstly, you can think about becoming a vlogger. There are a lot of people out there that search for game tutorials, and turn to vlogs for guidance with regards to which game they should buy next. Whilst it may be hard to get the following up to a decent amount, it is still a worthwhile venture that won’t cost you much. Just use Twitter and other social media platforms to try and boost your views. You can then turn your vlog into a blog, and make money that way. Next you can think about some of the more unconventional gaming methods that make people money. Gambling is a form of gaming, and if you do it right you can make a lot of money from it. For example, the grand ivy casino has plenty of games for you to try your hand at if you’re interested. It is obviously the more risky way of trying to make money, but it does give you the same thrill as playing a normal console game would. Just make sure you’re always betting the money you can, and don’t get carried away with trying to win. If you lose, you lose, that’s just something you’re going to have to come to terms with when it comes to gaming through gambling.

 

The Future

The future of gaming is a pretty exciting place. There’s so much going on that means we’re going to have better games, better game play experiences, and more immersive games through the use of things such as virtual reality. Virtual reality at the minute is just 3D, but there are talks of trying to make it a 4D game play experience in the future. How many years that will take is a different story, but the prospect of being able to touch and feel things within the game you’re playing is exciting. In the short term, there are talks that Spyro is being remastered, whether that’ll come out in 2018, or 2019 who knows! There are also talks of more Crash Bandicoots being released in late 2018.