Skyward iCon 2019 delivers new experiences, celebrates district sucesses

For the Metro Wire

Administrators, educators, and industry experts from around the world gathered in St. Pete Beach, Fla. for Skyward’s 17th annual international conference (iCon).

The three-day event featured a better overall experience for attendees, showcasing tailored session topics, a new event app, and dynamic keynote speaker, Dr. Joe Sanfelippo.

Throughout the event, Skyward posed the question “What’s Your Story?” as the conference theme —challenging attendees to use technology to design, create, and tell their district’s unique stories. Presentations focused on discovering new product features, improving the accuracy of student data, and saving costs in the school business office. In addition, participants networked with peers and sat in on research and development sessions to provide feedback on future product features.

“Our customers and industry experts brought an incredible amount of leadership, collaboration, and fun to iCon this year,” explained Ray Ackerlund, president of Skyward. “The level of mutual learning that took place is going to drive a lot of growth for both our customers and products in 2019.”

For the fifth straight year, Skyward recognized the recipients of its Leader in Excellence Award at iCon. The honor distinguishes K-12 districts and individuals using Skyward to forge new successes in education and inspire leaders worldwide:

Individual recipients included:

-Tim Howard, school data specialist and programmer at Calhoun Intermediate School District in Marshall, Mich.
-Dr. Chad Jones, Ed.D, director of digital learning at Lamar Consolidated Independent School District in Rosenberg, Texas
-Georgia Omer, a teacher on special assignments assigned to K-12 curriculum and Skyward at Alpine School District in American Fork, Utah

The district award was given to Streator Elementary District #44 in Streator, Ill.

“I have been to the conference multiple years and each year has been wonderful,” explained Sandy Lakosil, district applications specialist at Community High School District 218 in Illinois. “Skyward’s staff is always so pleasant and fellow districts are always willing to share new ideas and insights.”

To see the moments captured at iCon 2019, search #OnceUponAniCon on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Next year’s international conference will take place Wednesday, February 26-28, 2020 at TradeWinds Island Resort in St. Pete Beach, Florida. For more information, visit skyward.com/icon.