Backdropped by the snowcapped Rockies, I entered the Colorado Convention Center wearing my most practical shoes.
We’ll be on our feet for eight hours a day, so make sure you’re comfortable.
I had listened to the advice about how to prepare for this event. The rest of the Natural Inquirer team had regaled me with tales of their past experiences at the National Science Teaching Association conference — feverishly handing out thousands of products, directing people to our booth like crossing guards, taking turns using the bathroom — so I knew to pack extra snacks and prepare for long days.
Soon, nearly 6,100 attendees descended on the convention center searching for the newest, best, and most affordable educational products.
Why don’t I know about this already?!
We heard this from a lot of educators while they perused our booth. While many vendors promoted curricula and equipment costing money, we handed out free materials, a welcome sight in these days of tight education budgets.
Attendees walked away with more than 5,000 products, including “Meet the Scientist” readers for the littlest scientists, journals based on peer-reviewed science for older kids, and scientist, engineer, and career cards for everyone.
The Natural Inquirer booth was crowded with materials – all free – to hand out at NSTA 2024.
We spent a lot of time explaining how anyone can order sets of these products for their home, classroom, school, even district — all for free — on the new Natural Inquirer website, launched just in time for the conference. We explained the new search functions on the website and how they could filter resources by grade level, topic, and subject. We also pointed out how Natural Inquirer products have been aligned with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) to make fitting these materials into their existing curricula even easier.
But our most often repeated statement? Yes, really, EVERYTHING, even shipping, is FREE!
I’m holding one of the many publications we brought to NSTA Denver 2024. By the end of the conference, the table was nearly empty. FIND Outdoors photo by Bradi McDonald.
Before the exhibit hall opens for attendees, the Natural Inquirer team members pause for a photo at their, for now, fully stocked booth. FIND Outdoors photo.
As the weekend wound down, stacks of products shrank from feet to inches. Many attendees sported bags featuring our longtime collaborator Woodsy Owl. And our website recorded nearly 18,000 new orders!
I thanked my practical shoes for saving my feet and snagged a few Natural Inquirer stickers for myself.
