BETT Show London Review

by Kevin J. Gray, President and Chief Content Officer

In late January, Westchester Education Services attended the BETT London conference. The event, which started as a British Ed Tech show 30+ years ago, now draws exhibitors and visitors from around the world, with a heavy presence of UK, US, Middle Eastern, Asian, and Latin American companies. The London show is BETT’s flagship event, and they also have regional sister shows throughout the year in several international destinations.

This year was our first time attending BETT, and we found it to be an enlightening and productive experience. We met with educational providers from countries including Brazil, Kazakhstan, and Hong Kong who were looking for companies like ours to provide high-quality educational content for the global market. There was a heavy emphasis on English Language Teaching, but we also saw a lot of focus on STEM, particularly with regards to math, science, and robotics. Products are often benchmarked to either the US standards (Common Core and NGSS for math and science) or the UK Curriculum, with the need to develop ELT content split between US and UK versions of the language.

Our presence at the conference highlights our growth, not only in the US and UK, but throughout the world. Our ELT Senior Supervising Editor, Walter Henderson, Jr., is excited about the prospect of working on several of the projects he discussed in meetings at the conference. Look for more information about our ELT group, as well as our UK presence in the education market, in the coming months.

Meanwhile, if you missed us at BETT London but would like to meet up to discuss ways we can help you extend your product line, we’ll be in San Diego at ASU-GSV March 30-April 1, or, if your needs are ELT-specific, at the TESOL Convention in Denver, March 31-April 3. We look forward to hearing from you.