TeachmeetBETT26: Twenty Years On and Still the Best Thing in the Room #TeachmeetBett26 #BettUK2026 #ALT #OpenEducation #openscot

Twenty years. That's how long the Teachmeet movement has been rattling around in classrooms, conference halls, and the odd beermeet event and it shows absolutely no signs of slowing down.

The Teachmeet movement started in Scotland in 2006. A group of  Scottish teachers who wanted to share practice without the formality and expense of traditional CPD. No budgets, no keynotes charging four figures, no hotel conference suites. Just people who cared about learning, talking to other people who cared about learning. 

It spawned from a community around early Scottish Educational bloggers - Scotedublogs ( still going strong).  Over years  I offered sponsorship and venues when I could - though I did speak at a few and the teachmeet format moved around the world. 

But I do think we have stalled a bit in Scotland would be good to see much more grass roots activity. 

At the time and now,  it is refreshing to hear - fresh voices sharing their challenges and solutions.

 
For anyone who hasn't come across Teachmeet before, where have you been? The concept is beautifully simple.

• Practitioners suggest they will  share something useful, interesting or half-baked in two minutes or seven minutes. 
• These are added to pot and then selected at random.
• No PowerPoint decks full of bullet points. 
• Perhaps an illustration or something to demo.
• They stand up and use their allotted time.
• Generally a safe space not usually live streaming.
• If you take too long you get a cuddly toy hurled at you. 
• Audience gets a useful link or idea to take away and look at later. 

No consultants selling you something. Just real people doing real things in real classrooms and colleges, sharing what works and what doesn't. 

It's bottom-up professional development at its very best, and in an age where we are drowning in AI-generated content and slick vendor presentations, that authenticity matters more than ever.

What genuinely lifted my spirits at Teachmeet Bett 2026 was seeing new faces embracing the Teachmeet methodology. The audience was a good mix ; teachers, lecturers, learning technologists, people from schools, colleges and universities and the energy in the room was real. That's the thing about Teachmeet. You can't manufacture that energy. It either happens or it doesn't, and on that  Wednesday night it absolutely did.

It is simply great staff development. 
The presentations are all available here and there's also a lovely tribute to Teachmeet's twenty-year history worth exploring if you want to understand just how far this grassroots movement has come.

I used my two minutes to plug learning design, Open Education #openscot , and membership of ALT. I make no apologies for that. These are things I genuinely believe every college professional working with technology should know about. CMALT in particular remains one of the most underused professional development tools in Scottish further education, and events like Teachmeet are exactly the right place to spread the word.

A challenge 

• At the end of the night, the challenge went out: organise one. Your college, your school, your academic team , your local authority, your professional network. It doesn't have to be big. It doesn't have to be slick. It just has to happen. 

• I genuinely believe every college in Scotland — every college anywhere — should be running at least one Teachmeet a year. The cost is minimal it can be zero . The return in terms of practitioner confidence, professional community and shared ideas is enormous.

• To Scottish teachers and lecturers it is hard making your voices heard but you need to be brave for your learners. Teachmeets and Scotedublogs are great vehicles to share open practice. There is a community you can be part of.   

In the background there is some work underway to restate some Teachmeet assets like original wiki to help keep global momentum going.

Hat doffed to all teachmeeters past and present. I am looking forward to meeting future generations. 

Twenty years of Teachmeet. Here's to twenty more. Hope to see you at #teachmeetBett27 #tmbett2027