The Naace Annual Strategic Conference and Exhibition opened in Torquay in early March 2008. This is the definitive ICT Conference in the UK for all those involved in advancing education through the use of modern technologies in learning and teaching.

Twice a year, Naace offer opportunities to Sponsoring Partners to meet with representatives of the Executive Committee, Board of Management and Officers of the Association who provide updates on key developments in ICT and education. These events also provide networking opportunities and a chance to find out more about Naace activities.

The Social Networking Conference was held at The Palace Venue, Lower Gungate, Tamworth, Staffs, B79 7AF, on Monday 5 November 2007. The aim of the conference was to provide a focus for discussions relating to social networking on the Internet. There were specific references to the educational benefits and potential dangers of social networking, privacy and supervision issues and the legal implications for students and their teachers.

Naace has been invited to offer two briefing sessions in the Local Authority Lounge. These cover ICT CPD experiences for ICT advisors and the use of web-conferencing to support transition and MFL. Naace will be making four contributions to the Seminar Programme covering collaborative tools in teaching and learning, personalised learning, transforming learning and a report on the 'Let's Play Project'.

The most recent update day for Naace Sponsoring Partners was held on 22 November 2007 at the Quaker Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London, NE1 2BJ. The programme included stimulating and thought provoking sessions to provide updates on Government policy, direction and delivery.

Going to BETT is always an exciting prospect. Will there be new interesting technologies that can enhance the teaching learning process? It is impossible to see everything at BETT, in fact sometimes I think it is impossible to find anything at BETT, it's so huge but I always hope to make new discoveries.

Waiting outside in the weak winter sun I talked to the people around me to understand who was coming to the exhibition. I talked to South Africans, Australians and I could see from the badges that this was a truly international exhibition. We should be proud and realise how lucky we are this event has such a draw.

This article is a personal view of some of the things that caught my eye and it is not meant to be representative of the whole exhibition.

I recently gave a talk at the Westminster e-Forum on behalf of Naace. Here is the text of that presentation, which had to last no longer than four minutes. The audience was composed of Members of Parliament, journalists, and high-ranking representatives of skills organisations, companies and educational bodies.

Our second 'hot-seat' guest is Gareth Davies, Chair of Naace Board of Management. He will be answering your questions from 6 February onwards.

Our first 'hot-seat' guest is Phia le Roux. She will be answering your questions from 9 January 2008. Phia has kindly agreed to share an hour per week 'live' at 4-5pm every Wednesday and will pick up and answer any other questions at 8.30am Mondays and Fridays. Please fire all your questions on what podacasting is about, why podcast, how to get started, what you need to get started, potential difficulties, problems encountered etc.

Mick Waters, Director of Curriculum for QCA, is the 'hotseat' guest in March.