One of the best I've ever been to...

By Brooks Kendall

Well I made it back from 2009 Southeast Regional Education Conference (REC) and I'm still full of excitement and impressions from this conference.

2009 Southeast Regional Education Conference (REC) was hosted by Greater Triangle North Carolina ISES Chapter in Raleigh and organized by their members. At this conference ISES members from our region were able to participate in helpful, informative and extremely well produced seminars, panel discussions, and roundtables. In addition we were amazed by the new downtown Raleigh Convention Center. The state of the art $235 million dollar convention center featured 150,000 sq. ft. exhibit hall of contiguous space, a 32,617 sq. ft. ballroom, an additional 32,601 sq. ft. of meeting room space with 20 rooms in all and a one of a kind 9,284 sq. ft. L.E.D. “shimmer wall”. The convention center has been featured in multiple national publications and is one of the busiest booked facilities for 2009, 2010, and beyond in the country.

Our host hotel, the new Raleigh Marriott City Center was attached to the Convention Center. This four-star hotel was the perfect property for our group.

Each session had a big audience and there were a lot of questions at the end of each presentation. It was very nice to see the passion and knowledge of our speakers and members. I have to say that it was one of the best Regional education conferences I've ever been to!

The success of the REC would not have been possible without the over twenty-five sponsors and contributors who put on a flawless production. The conference schedule which was packed full of incredible expert speakers and interesting helpful topics. Our host chapter was a great organization and amazing members. I want to say here once more 'thank you' to everyone involved.