Running Conferences

Earlier this month, I attended a conference for teachers and other people in the education world who use technology in their classroom. The conference was a full day and had hour long sessions. These sessions were presented by teachers, with the content of the session spanning across all different topics ranging from 'How to effectively use videos in the classroom' to 'Here are some applications you might find useful.'

Being at that conference and seeing how all the presenters had an interest and passion for what they were presenting was awesome. There wasn't a 'please buy this product' or 'please sign up for...'. This was just people helping share information.

That got me thinking about the running world. I have been running for over 20 years, and the only thing I've seen that comes close to this are expos at races. Even then, most (if not all booths) are trying to sell you a product. It's great expos exisit, but it's not really a good time for people to learn something.

There are ways to take the same basic concept of the conference I went to and make it relevant to runners. Though running is pretty simple - put one foot in front of the other; repeat. There are so many different parts of running people know a lot about, or people would like to know a lot about.

Things like:

* What technology do you use for running?

* What are good things to use or have for night running?

* What to look for in running shoes?

* How to prepare for a first race?

* How to run with dogs?

* Why training journals a good thing to have?

Some topics like the ones above could easily be turned into a 30-60 minute discussion. I'm sure there are other topics too. The main concept of the topics would be 'I know a lot about...' or 'I found it very helpful to...'

This was just a thought that came across my mind last night. I'm always trying to think of ways of getting people together of all running levels together and share information.