Do you have a personal learning network (PLN)?  Do you have a collection of connected professionals?  I’m trying some new avenues of connecting with folks and wonder how you stay connected.

My original PLN is still working for me, mostly a Twitter network.  I don’t tweet, I just follow awesome professionals and lurk.  I’ve learned so much from these folks.  The problem is, I don’t have many personal connections.

Recently I have attempted to connect with local professionals via LinkedIn and email.  My goal is to connect with local superintendents, principals, and teachers.  I want to be able to connect with them, ask questions, and receive advice.  The problem is that I’m finding it to be a lot of work making the connections.  There are awesome folks online sharing awesome stuff, but the more important connections are local and personal.

I’ve been working on emailing folks and sharing with folks on LinkedIn, but it is a slow, arduous process.  I hope that I can stay connected because I feel it is important as Chairperson of the Education Department to have powerful, valuable contacts.

What do you think?