Top Ten Take Aways from the 20th Biennial Conference of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children

Photo courtesy of Ingrid Dallal Fratz

Attending this year’s Conference for the World Council was one of the highlights of my career in gifted advocacy! It was a week filled with incredible memories of friendships made, heroes met and a wealth of information that will enhance my work in the gifted advocacy.

Where else could I have invited a few friends over for the evening … from across the U.S., Mexico, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK and Vietnam? Where else could I meet leaders and icons from around the world? Where else could I have conversations … deep, significant conversations … with people whose work I’d followed for over a decade?

Attending conferences isn't something parents often do in the gifted community. In fact, many gifted organizations believe that their conferences are predominately for educators and academics. However, I cannot stress enough the value you will find in going to a conference. It doesn't have to be a national or international conference; consider a state or regional conference whenever available.

And now for my Top 10 Take Aways:

#10 Gluten-free diets are ‘catching on’.

# 9  Dabrowski was spot on!

#8   Networking is an excellent benefit of attending any conference.

#7   The World Conference with FREE wi-fi showcased how to use social media to 

an extent never before seen at a gifted conference. (This one’s for you, TylerClark!)

      #6   Friendships made online are even better in real life.

Mary St. George, Leslie Graves, Lisa Conrad and Jen Merrill

#5   Parents are welcome at the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children … 

now they need to get involved.

#4   An older generation is poised to pass on the baton, but who is prepared to accept?

#3   Twitter can be used effectively to enhance the experience of both attendees and 

non-attendees to any conference without detriment to the organizer or presenter.

#2   Fate brought a lot of great people together!

#1   The World Council for Gifted and Talented Children is in good hands!

Missed the 20^th Biennial Conference of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children? Check out these online resources and start making plans to attend the 21st Biennial Conference in Odense, Denmark, August 10 – 15, 2015!

Program for the 20^th Biennial Conference 

Listen to the Keynotes online 

About the Keynote Speakers 

20^th Biennial Conference on Flickr 

20^th Biennial Conference on Facebook 

Virtually visiting the WCGTC Conference in Kentucky from Jo Freitag

International Year of Giftedness and Creativity (My Kite)