Summary

  • Context: San Ramon Valley Unified School District (USD) needed to organize a district-wide professional development event for 3,200 educators, their first since the pandemic.
  • Challenges: Scheduling, managing and monitoring 50+ sessions for 3,200 people across 75 campus spaces and two simultaneous locations with a small team.
  • Results:
    • Seamless scheduling of 75 rooms for all sessions.
    • High user adoption… 85% rated Sched “easy to use” in post-event surveys.
    • Teachers had simple access to schedules, session information and sign in.
  • Why Sched? Sched was chosen for its ease of use with organizers and attendees, as well as its highly education-friendly school district pricing.

Meeting PD Goals with a Simplified, Low-Cost Approach

Since 2020, K-12 education has faced unprecedented changes. From adapting to AI to rethinking post-pandemic teaching, educators need personalized learning opportunities to thrive in this new era.

How do you organize a complex curriculum calendar for thousands of educators while ensuring everyone finds sessions relevant to their needs? 

Organizing meaningful professional development for thousands is no small feat.

For San Ramon Valley Unified School District (USD), this wasn’t a theoretical question. We spoke with Jennifer Hunau, Instructional Technology Coordinator at San Ramon Valley USD, who shared how Sched empowered her team to bring their vision to life.

“Sched has helped us 100% meet our goals,” says Jennifer.

With 30,000 students and approximately 1,600 teachers across 36 schools in the district, San Ramon Valley faced the monumental task of bringing their entire educational community together for their first district-wide professional development day since 2020.

The Challenge: Rebuilding Professional Learning Post-COVID

For San Ramon Valley USD, bringing together 3,200 staff members was more than just an organizational challenge – it was an opportunity to reconnect their educational community and tackle emerging challenges in education head-on.

The stakes were high, since this would be their first district-wide gathering after COVID rocked the nation. They needed to ensure every educator could find relevant, meaningful professional development opportunities at this event.

The importance of gathering educators together for this event was paramount.  “We’re just better when we’re together,” says Jennifer, as she reflects on the powerful impact of their professional development events.

To get the event up and running, San Ramon Valley USD needed a scheduling solution that could handle:

  • 50+ different sessions across multiple time slots
  • Two simultaneous events at different locations
  • Complex room scheduling across 75 campus spaces
  • Registration and attendance tracking for thousands of staff members
  • Session filtering by theme and audience type

Finding the Right Solution

Sched’s platform helped Jennifer to organize this big event—which she began planning six months in advance. It also ensured her ability to optimize the event offerings and streamline the scheduling process.

“We cannot organize this event without a really powerful scheduling tool,” Jennifer recalls.

After evaluating three different platforms, Sched emerged as the clear choice for two key reasons:

  • Intuitive User Experience: “All of the processes were very straightforward and intuitive,” Jennifer notes, which was crucial for organizers, sponsors, and attendees.
  • Education-Friendly Pricing: As a public school district, cost-effectiveness was essential. Sched’s nonprofit and education pricing made it accessible where other solutions were “10 times more expensive,” says Jennifer.

The Results: A Seamless Professional Development Experience

The February 2024 professional development day was a remarkable success, thanks to Sched:

  • High User Adoption: Out of 1,600 staff members, only three people needed help with registration on the day of the event
  • Positive Feedback: 85% of attendees rated Sched as “easy to use” in post-event surveys
  • Efficient Room Management: Sched’s conflict detection helped organizers manage 75 rooms across multiple sessions
  • Enhanced Presenter Engagement: Teachers appreciated being able to view presenter bios and session details in advance

“[Sched] has done everything that we wanted. It has helped us 100% meet our goals,” Jennifer said.

Key Takeaways: Building Community Through Professional Development

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San Ramon Valley USD’s success shows how the right combination of tools, planning, and community focus can transform professional development events from logistical challenges into powerful opportunities for connection and growth.

Jennifer’s advice for other education event planners?

1. Build a Diverse Planning Team
Jennifer highlighted the importance of bringing together a diverse planning team with different perspectives. This helps her schools create meaningful events that represent everyone’s needs.

“We had principals, teachers, and administrators – all of these perspectives in the room thinking of things that one individual person isn’t going to think about,” Jennifer said.

This collaborative approach helped Jennifer and her team anticipate everything from technical requirements to nursing mother accommodations for their event, ensuring a smooth experience for all attendees.

2. Survey Your Participants for Special Interests and Needs

For San Ramon Valley USD, this wasn’t just about organizing sessions – it was about bringing their educational community together.

“Having all of our educators back together in one place, especially with all the isolation from COVID, and getting to talk was really, really powerful,” Jennifer reflected.

3. Tap into the power of technology

San Ramon Valley’s event featured 12 sessions focused on artificial intelligence in education, attracting 450 staff members who wanted to learn more about this emerging technology. Rather than follow a set schedule, they had the freedom to select their own path through the material – all organized by Sched.

“We use Sched to organize all of the sessions that were being offered…and teachers love having the option to choose what they want to learn about. So our job was to make sure that [all sessions] aligned with our bigger district vision.”

With Sched’s help, a task that once seemed impossible, became a huge success.

Make your own success by starting Sched for free now! 

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If you’re inspired by this story, then let’s get you started today with your own year-round professional development and teacher training planning.