It’s a snowy morning in Akron, Ohio. Kim, Aiden and I are getting ready to head to Columbus for the conference. There’s always a lot of little things to try and squeeze in a short weekend when you leave for a conference on a Sunday.

Snow fort, Akron, OH

As I was thinking over my To-Do list, one item I wanted to share with the Shiny Youth team was my list of essential information & communication tools that I’ll be packing to use at #OETC12. Here are the items I’ll be using to connect, converse and create at the biggest educational technology conference in Ohio.

iPhone 4 – This is my life blood. Seriously. I take this baby everywhere. Ubiquitous access to any and all information I need. The iPhone is my mobile broadcast center. If I were Christian Slater in “Pump Up The Volume,” this would be my Jeep.iPad 2 16 GB wifi – Eh, it’s ok. I’ll have it and I might use it. Probably runn my presentation slidedecks off of it for the 2 sessions I’m leading. It has all the apps that the iPhone has, plus I have a bunch of ePub files on it that I like to demo and share with other teachers.

Twitter – My primary communication platform. I’ll be following alot of friends and colleagues during the conference and using Twitter to communicate short messages to them. We will question, probe and think together. I’ll also be following the official conference hashtag to make sure I can stay up to date with all the things going on around the Convention Center. App of choice: TweetBot for iPhone. There are a lot of reasons why I use this client. Ask me about them at the conference!

AudioBoo: I love this app for creating short audio podcasts that you can post to your own AudioBoo page and also tweet the URL to your followers at the time of posting. Your podcast has to be 5 minutes or less, but this app is totally free. I use it with my 4 and a half year old son all the time. Since he is just learning how to read and spell, it is the simplest way for him to post messages to Twitter. @bruecka23 rocks!

Evernote: This is my primary notetaking app. I like it because it is free and you can create a variety of note-types. You can record & attach audio files and pictures to your notes. You can organize your notes. I’m not going to lie to you, I still prefer to take notes by hand, with pen and paper, mainly because I am a big-time doodler. I have yet to find an app that replicates the traditional handwriting experience in an authentic way. If you know of any, send them my way!

iMessage/Text Message: I use this pretty exclusively to communicate directly with immediate family members and close friends. It’s the most private and secure platform aside from an actual fact-to-face conversation or a call. It’s also very quick to send & receive messages.

Camera+ and Instagram: These two apps will serve up a variety of photo related services. I’ll use them to cature images around me and post them directly to my Twitter timeline. Photographs and images are a very powerful communication medium. I think everyone should use some type of mechanism to capture and share the unique way they perceive the world around them.

So there you have it. Some of the most essential hardware and software that I’ll be packing for #OETC12. What tools are you bringing? How do they help you create, communicate and connect with others? Looking forward to seeing everyone in Columbus!

Cross-posted on ShinyYouth.com

15 amazing youth, ranging in age from 14 to 18, they are the primary contributors to this space. They represent Lancaster High School, Spectrum Occupational Center (a private school for autistic kids in Lorain Ohio) and Bexley Middle School. With fun and engaging videos, photos and blogs they are documenting the Ohio Educational Technology Conference 2012.