BETT
| Bett | |
|---|---|
Bett logo
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| Status | active |
| Genre | Trade exhibition |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Venue | ExCeL London |
| Country | England |
| Inaugurated | 1985, as the British Educational Training and Technology Show |
| Most recent | 20–23 January 2016 |
| Website | |
| www |
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Bett or The Bett Show (formerly known as the British Educational Training and Technology Show) is an annual trade show in the United Kingdom that showcases the use of information technology in education. Founded in 1985, it expanded to the National and Grand Halls at the Olympia exhibition centre in London, England, with a move to the ExCeL London in London's Docklands in 2013, its current venue. Bett celebrated its 30th anniversary at the 2014 show, which attracted 35,044 visitors from 113 countries.
The show was first held in January 1985 as the “Hi Technology and Computers in Education Exhibition” at the Barbican Centre, central London, in association with the British Educational Suppliers Association. As the use of technology in education increased, so did the show, and had outgrown the Barbican by 1993, when the move to Olympia was made.
The show has also expanded from being a purely technology show, and whilst it has played host to companies ranging from multinationals Microsoft, Google and Apple Inc. to small single-product firms, it has also created themed zones for exhibitors, such as those specialising in SEN provision. Introduced in 2015, the "Bett Futures" feature aimed at selecting and promoting 30 educational technology start-ups, selected by a panel of expert educators.
A large number of seminars from well-known providers are held at Bett, which offer training (Continuing Professional Development) opportunities for education professionals. The then Education Secretary Michael Gove gave keynote speeches at the 2012 and 2014 events. In 2015 the then Education Secretary Nicky Morgan gave her first opening keynote for the show.
Criticised in the past for perhaps marginalising teachers due to the increasing business nature of the show, the organisers (i2i Events Group) have introduced a number of teacher friendly events such as TeachMeet and edtech start-up initiative Bett Futures, to turn this around.
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