There is some great PD coming up in the way of a couple of conferences this year. An iPad conference was brought to my attention by Amie from St Margrets ( thanks Amie). It is a two day conference in August (August 19/ 20) in Sydney.  From the organisers: 
iPad Learning Conference 2014 in Sydney on 18-19 August, 2014
"Today we are officially launching our all new iPad Learning Conference 2014 in Sydney on 18-19 August, 2014
Since our first iPad Learning Conference last year we have been inundated with enquiries about this event…well it is finally here!
This worthwhile two day event in Sydney is about real and solution oriented professional learning around iPad Pedagogy and 21st Century Learning. Come and experience for yourself our unique and grass roots response to working alongside educators and see why our fresh and interactive approach to learning is gaining so much positive attention and getting great results.
Our talented and passionate iPad Learning Conference team are made up of leading educators of iPad Pedagogy that range from K-12 learning environments. They are both classroom practitioners as well as leaders in their schools and networks. We know educators will walk away inspired, skilled up, and have armloads of ideas, strategies, resources, and innovative ways of harnessing iPads for their learning environment. "
We invite educators and school leaders around Australia to join us for this interactive, cutting-edge and valuable event. This is our biggest and final event in Sydney for 2014 and is not to be missed."
The link is :  http://www.mylearningsite.com.au/learning-conference/
The cost is $500 for the two days. Sounds like a great one.

Using Tech Better Conference 
The other one is a " Google " centred one ( but not exclusively). Although sometimes Google sounds like it is at odds with the ipad - it can be very handy. If you have "Google Apps for Education" - you can set your students up with a drive, email and apps for the ipad. This can enable them to create docs, spreadsheets and soon slides on the ipad as well as a storage area for video/ photos/ docs - which are then available elsewhere on any device or computer.

The two day conference is during the next school holidays ( so no release needed) on Sep29/30 at Moriah College. Cost is $220
https://teacherstraining.leadpages.net/using-tech-better-conference/

The Apple Education Leaders session yesterday was a fantastic and inspiring event. It was presented by Jim Hardy, who comes from a teaching background, so he knows what the realities of planning and using iPads is all about. It was a slightly changed session from previous ones - trying to give a perspective of school planning and the role of school leaders. As well as giving some practical and inspirational guidance to the use of the iPad. If you even get a change to hear Jim or attend one of his sessions, I encourage you not to miss it. If we have enough interested people we could endeavour to ask whether Jim would come up to run one of our iPad User group sessions. Let me know your thoughts. 
Just to give you a few of my thoughts that I gained from his talk. 
He started his talk by stipulating that the iPad is NOT a computer. Yes- it can do a lot of what a computer can do, but if you use it solely as a computer replacement then you are missing out of a lot of what it can do. I think this is the main difference between the iPad and what the competetion pushes. I had a person the other day telling me about the benefits of a windows tablet. “It is a FULL version of Windows with a full version of Office”. I must admit I walked away scratching my head, wondering why. I wasn’t sure if they didn’t get it or if it was me. The iPad is a device that does so much more. Jim highlighted the aspect of the creative side of it - iMovie, garage band, iPhoto - all built in. He, of course, wove this into quality pedagogy. He also dismissed the idea of having an iPad full of apps. Stick to the dozen or so that are going to enable you to produce high quality learning. To have students engaged in single apps doesn’t generate higher order learning. 
He showed some great examples. One he showed was “Field of Mars” Environmental Education Centre. Steven Papp has been using iPads, iTunes U and iBooks (which the centre has made) to combine with field studies for environmental studies. Here is a link. http://fieldofmarseec.nsw.edu.au/
Make sure you check out their iBook and iTunes U course. 
Jim spoke of iTunes U and the ability to create high quality course through it. He gave examples of courses that combined high quality, higher order learning - all contained with the necessary tasks, information, required apps and assessments. Combining this with the use of iBook Author for making your own interactive books. 
He mentioned an app that I hadn’t come across before called “Showbe” that a number of schools are using. It is like a Edmodo type app where students can submit assignments and teachers can comment on. I am not sure what it will do that Edmod doesn’t already do but check it out. http://www.showbie.com/
 

A great opportunity has come up for those who  are administering  iPads, interested in doing so or just plain interested in what the iPads will do.  Apple are hosting an "Apple Leadership and Learning Event" in Newcastle in June. These are really great and worthwhile attending. They are designed for Educational Leaders (Principals, AP's or teachers taking a leadership role in administering iPad deployment).  A great opportunity to get your Principal to come along and find out what it's all about.  You can register for the event here  (web site link). The event is on Friday 20th June at the Town Hall (8 am- 10:30am)
Apple Leadership and Learning Event
The flyer can be downloaded here :  (pdf file)
Apple Leadership and Learning Event