We all lay low occasionally, often because we're too busy to keep in touch with all our networks. Or maybe we just want a bit of space

Every once in a while I become a bit of a digital hermit. I stop writing blogs (look at how long it's been since I submitted a post to TAFE Bytes). I don't update my LinkedIn profile. I stop posting or even looking on Facebook. I don't tweet (actually I don't tweet much at the best of times - who'd want to follow me?).

I know I do this, because all these social networks let me know (Come back! We miss you!).

Amazon tells me I haven't bought a book in a while, and even a major department store tells me that I haven't been buying anything on my store card.

We all lay low occasionally, often because we're too busy to keep in touch with all our networks. Or maybe we just want a bit of space. And I suppose it's nice to know that our online communities care about us, even if it is just to make sure we haven't signed up with someone else (the Next Big Thing).

It's just like in our offline life - friends or family will call us if we disappear off the radar for a while - it's all part of caring about each other. In a previous post I talked about maintaining networks (The Medium Sell), and whether our communities are online, offline, personal or business, it's the relationships between us and our contacts that tell us what's happening in the world and our fields of interest.

Which is why people hold conferences, forums, seminars, colloquiums… all manner of get-togethers to share knowledge and maintain contacts.

Education is changing so rapidly with new approaches and new technologies, that many institutions are holding forums to explore and engage with possibilities for future directions. This is a unique time in education, one in which innovation is an almost daily occurrence. And those who try new approaches, or look at old approaches in new ways, will be the most successful in the long run.

Which leads me on to a forum that we're holding at the Northern Sydney Institute on Thursday November 21st, called (appropriately) the Learning and Teaching Innovation Forum.

It will be a day of conversations, exhibitions and ideas, and hopefully the first of many.

For more details about the forum, head to http://www.learninginnovationforum.com.au. The website contains a description and overview of the day, and anyone interested can register to attend. It's free, and sure to inspire.

For now though, I'm going to stop being a hermit and get back into blogging.

Likes, anyone?