Beyond the Sessions
- Kathryn Laster
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
Designing Your Full LFTX Conference Experience
Throughout this conference series, we’ve explored not only the sessions and speakers at the Learning Forward Texas Summer Conference, but also the intentional design choices that shape the experience itself and a lens that can help extend the learning beyond the conference.
As the conference approaches, this final post shifts toward your conference experience: how to prepare, what not to miss, and how to fully engage in the learning, conversations, and community that unfold throughout the conference experience, whether you’re joining for two days or all three. Along with the information provided on the conference Know Before You Go page, consider these additional opportunities and ideas designed to help you fully experience the learning and community of Learning Forward Texas.
Arrive Ready to Participate
Before we learn with Dr. Jill Siler, our first keynote speaker, there are already a few ways to begin engaging with the conference experience.
One of the easiest places to start is the conference game, ABCs of Learning, designed to encourage connection, exploration, and reflection throughout the event. A few challenges are already open now, so you can begin exploring before arriving in Hurst. Whether you’re attending the pre-conference sessions on Monday or joining the larger Tuesday - Wednesday experience, the game offers small invitations to interact with the conference in meaningful ways and collaborate with other attendees along the way.
Add your name and organization, explore the open activities, and bookmark the page so you can continue reflecting and sharing throughout your LFTX learning journey. New reflections and challenges will open each day. (And yes, there are prizes!)
The earlier post, What We Design Before We Build, shares more about the intentional thinking behind the design of the ABCs of Learning game. The experience was intentionally created to support the conference themes of acceptance, belonging, and curiosity while helping participants notice learning opportunities beyond the breakout rooms themselves.
You may also want to download and explore the PheedLoop conference app (PheedLoop Go!) ahead of time to review sessions, build your schedule, and bookmark experiences you don’t want to miss.
This year, we’re also experimenting with an “LFTX Conference Concierge” Gemini Gem to help you navigate the schedule, explore sessions, and make decisions about your conference experience. While Learning Forward Texas is intentionally smaller and more personal than many large-scale conferences, the chatbot serves as an interesting example of how AI tools might support conference navigation and learning in future events.
The Gem was developed by Eric Curts, who also maintains a large collection of EduGems that educators can explore and adapt for their own work.
As you prepare for the conference, consider approaching the experience with both curiosity and intention. Throughout this series, we’ve explored the idea that conferences can teach us not only through the sessions themselves, but also through the design of the experience as a whole. As you participate, notice what you might #AdmireAndAcquire for your own learning events, meetings, and professional development experiences.
What connections do you hope to have? What ideas do you hope to carry back into your own work? And what might you notice along the way?
Stay for the Conversations
In a previous conference interview, Joellen Killion shared:
“I love that conferences come at a time in summer when people are unencumbered by their work responsibilities, and their minds are a little freer and a little more open.”
That sense of openness is part of what makes the Learning Forward Texas Annual Conference feel different. Yes, the sessions matter. But many attendees return year after year because of the relationships and shared learning that happen in the spaces surrounding the formal schedule.
For years, I attended as a local commuter and didn’t realize how many connection opportunities happened before and after the formal sessions until I joined the conference committee. Receptions, lunches, affiliate gatherings, and informal conversations often become the moments people remember long after the conference ends.
This year’s conference includes several intentionally designed opportunities to connect with others throughout the experience:
Monday Welcome Reception sponsored by Kick Up | 4:00–5:30 PM at the adjacent Hilton Garden Inn
Tuesday Partner Reception | 4:15–5:30 PM in the conference center
Lunch provided all three days
Tuesday Partner Showcase during lunch
Exhibitor Experiences during conference breaks
Tuesday Regional Affiliate meetups during reception
Hallway connections between sessions
Informal dinners and gatherings around the area
An Authors’ Corner, where attendees can meet presenters who are also authors and have their books signed
The conference exhibitors, sponsors, and partners are all part of the learning experience. The Partner Showcase and Exhibitor Experiences provide opportunities to discover new resources, ask questions, explore tools, and engage in conversations with organizations supporting educators and professional learning across Texas and beyond.
If you’re attending with colleagues, consider inviting someone new to join your lunch table or dinner plans. If you’re attending on your own, receptions and community spaces can be an easy way to begin conversations with others who care deeply about professional learning and leadership.
Some of the most meaningful learning at conferences happens in the moments surrounding the sessions themselves.
Extend the Learning Beyond the Conference Center
Some of the best conference conversations continue after the breakout sessions end.
If you’re looking for places to gather with colleagues after the conference day wraps up, the Hurst area offers a variety of nearby restaurants and local favorites. A local “foodie” in the area recommended several small, non-chain restaurants within a short drive of the conference center, including Mexican, Thai, Vietnamese, Nepalese, and Italian options. Of course, attendees will also find many familiar chain restaurants nearby as well.
Because FIFA-related events and summer travel may increase traffic in some areas of DFW, you may want to plan dinner locations and transportation ahead of time, especially for larger groups.
Whether you continue conversations over lunch, during a reception, while visiting exhibitors, or around a dinner table, conferences like Learning Forward Texas are designed to support more than session attendance alone. They create space for reflection, collaboration, curiosity, and community.
The ABCs of Learning game launches alongside this post, with additional activities and reflections opening throughout the conference. Along the way, participants will have opportunities to connect, reflect, share ideas, and possibly even win prizes.
As you prepare for the Learning Forward Texas Conference, consider not only what sessions you plan to attend, but also how you want to experience the conference as a whole.
Whether this is your first Learning Forward Texas conference or one of many, I hope you find opportunities for learning, reflection, and meaningful connection throughout the experience.
Safe travels to those joining us from across Texas and beyond. We look forward to learning alongside you in Hurst.
Explore More in This Conference Series
This post concludes a short series leading up to the Learning Forward Texas Summer Conference. Throughout the series, we’ve explored not only the speakers and sessions but also the intentional design choices, learning experiences, and moments of connection that shape the conference as a whole.
If you’d like to continue exploring the people and ideas behind this year’s experience, you may also enjoy:
What We Design Before We Build — a behind-the-scenes look at the design of this year’s interactive conference experience
What Is This Teaching Me? — noticing conference design through a learning designer’s lens
Why Educators Return to the Learning Forward Texas Conference Every Summer
Kathryn Laster brings over 30 years of education expertise as a math teacher, instructional coach, and digital learning consultant. As an independent consultant, she creates and facilitates transformative learning experiences through intentional, human-centered, tech-infused design, with a goal of normalizing excellence in professional learning.
Connect with Kathryn at kathrynlaster.info and at Refined Learning Design.
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