s/o Conventions - who are the best speakers?

[MouseBandit]

Spin off of the Convention thread.

 

Who are the speakers that are not to be missed? Especially since this will be my first convention, I'd love to have some recommendations!

 

And feel free to throw in reviews and/or critiques of all the speakers - who you liked, who you didn't, who they seemed to aimed at.

 

THANKS!

 

Tracey in Oregon

[birchbark]

I really enjoyed Adam Andrews and Debbie Strayer at our convention this year.

[boscopup]

Susan Wise Bauer

Michael Clay Thompson

Andrew Pudewa

 

Those are the ones that stand out that I've seen (was supposed to see some other big names, but didn't get to).

 

Deniese Eide (Logic of English) was good. She had some good game suggestions for phonogram learning. Janice Campbell was also a good speaker. She talked about evaluating student writing.

 

The only "dud" at our convention was Matthew Poston's "Chemistry for Everyone". We'd gone there on a whim since Adam Andrews didn't show up (I think he was at a different convention that weekend :glare:) and nothing else looked interesting. Most wasted hour of our lives. He just went over material that he has available free on his website anyway. Also, something just rubs me the wrong way when you wear white tennis shoes (with black pants!) to speak at a convention. All the other speakers looked polished and ready to lecture.

[ladydusk]

Depends what you want to hear!

 

SWB, of course (the Homeschooling the Second Time lecture is not to be missed, and it isn't recorded)

Dr. Perrin (Classical Academic Press)

Martin Cothran (Memoria Press)

MCT (and he's not recorded, either. They put him over in the Hyatt this year and I don't think I'm going to walk that far ...)

Cheryl Lowe (Memoria Press)

Andrew Kern

Sonya Shafer

 

I'm hoping Adam Andrews fits here too. Andrew Pudewa is good. I like Dr. Wile, too. Ed Zaccarro and Tom Clark are good for math. I'm excited to try Carol Reynolds (I have a CD lecture from her that was quite good). Diana Waring is a good speaker; very "up." I might try one of Marcia Somerville's (TOG) lectures

 

Obviously, I tend very, very strongly toward the Christian, Classical Educators. If that's not your cuppa, you probably wouldn't enjoy them :)

[radiobrain]

Ones I have seen or heard

 

MCT

SWB

Lukeion

Janice Campbell

Jim Weiss

Andrew Peduwa (but you can get his lectures off the IEW website)

Christopher Perrin (depends on lecture)

Carol Barnier was good, is she there this year?

 

Zaccaro is alright

 

Ones I am looking forward to but have not seen:

 

Shellagh Gallagher

Dwayne Thomas (visual Latin)

some other "gifted" speaker whose name escapes me

 

Remember, if the subject is not something you are interested in, it doesn't matter how good the lecturer is (although MCT's poetics and Vocab lecture are great). And some people are duds, and don't be afraid to get up and leave and get in on another one. :D

[Farrar]

I haven't got a ton of convention experience, but Julie Bogart was really good.

[Dawn E]

This year I greatly enjoyed MCT, Andrew Kern, Christopher Perrin, and Sonya Shafer. I found them all to be well-prepared, inspiring, and challenging.

[SebastianCat]

My all-time favorite speaker was Mark Weber of Weber Associates - he really "got" the scheduling issues that homeschooling moms face, and he was hillarious to boot.

 

I also try to see a lecture by Debbie Strayer every year if I can.

 

Jeannie Fulbright was good too.