Guest blog post by Jeffrey LeGrand Douglass

The exhibit hall at the 8^th Annual STEM Forum & Expo, hosted by NSTA, is gonna be so LIT that even the rolling fog of San Francisco won’t be able to hide the excitement and experiences that await all who are attending! Enjoy the beauty of the City by the Bay while benefiting from the enrichment of attending the NSTA STEM Forum & Expo. Our exhibit hall is truly not to be missed, and with over 70 amazing companies already on board to exhibit, there will definitely be something for everyone to see and do.

NSTA will kick off exhibit hall activities Wednesday night with a two-hour exclusive preview reception from 4:30 to 6:30pm. Enjoy eating and drinking while exploring the hall, networking with fellow educators, and mingling with exhibitors followed on Thursday and Friday by two additional days of fun activities and engagement.

A special shout out to STEMScopes for sponsoring this year’s attendee bags. Bags can be picked up with your registration materials, and be sure to stop by their booth to thank them for their generosity and support. Use your bag to hold all of the amazing swag you are sure to collect from our participating exhibitors.

So what can you expect to see on our exhibit hall floor? Check out just some of the highlights from a small group of our current exhibitors.

• Learn about ODYSSEY, the unique instruction program for general chemistry from Wavefunction.
• Let 3Doodler show you how you can reach learners who have trouble grasping abstract concepts with their 3D printing pens.
• Carolina Biological can help you prepare your students for STEM careers with their STEM products.
• Lodestone is offering FREE resources for the K-12 educational community that include topics for math, physics, and chemistry, to name a few.
• If you like robots, then go see Kinderlab Robotics to find out about KIBO, a screen-free robot kit that lets 4–7 year olds build, code, and run their own robots.

Just in case that wasn’t reason enough to make sure that you don’t skip the exhibit hall this year, NSTA is very excited to announce that TeacherGeek will be sponsoring a brand new engaging makerspace area for all attendees right on the exhibit hall floor. According to Darren Coon, CEO of TeacherGeek:

“Zip, Bang, Grab, Woo-hoo!!! These are the sounds you will hear coming from the TeacherGeek Maker Space area at the STEM Forum & Expo. Are you up for the challenge? Compete against other attendees for fun prizes: creating racecars, breaking bridges, performing undersea tasks.”

These and many other wonderful companies will be on the exhibit floor; they all want to meet you, talk with you, and demonstrate to you that they share your devotion to STEM education and are there to help you succeed in preparing the next generation of learners.

New exhibitors are signing up every day, and you won’t want to miss one second of the fun that is sure to take place. Make sure you register to attend the 8^th Annual STEM Forum and Expo, hosted by NSTA, July 24–26, 2019, at Moscone Center West in beautiful downtown San Francisco.

Tony Bennett may have left his heart in San Francisco, but what you will be taking with you from San Francisco will leave an impression on you for years to come.