The eXpO was held on August 23th, 2008 in Birmingham, UK. The XO laptop capabilities and functions were presented to 100+ business and civic leaders, educators, and educational administrators. Guests came from around the city, the state, and as far away as Panama. In addition to OLPC President C.Kane, the numerous speakers included M.Wilson, principal at Glen Iris Elementary, our pilot school, P. Harris, a 5th grade teacher from Glen Iris, the Birmingham City schools director of instructional technology, a Birmingham city councilman, a professor from the computer and information sciences department of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the president of the board of education and two representatives from Mayor Larry Langford’s office. Nine Glen Iris students who created campaigns using Scratch to teach their communities about health care issues showed eXpO participants their projects and taught general use of the laptop. Another highlight of the Expo was a robot controlled via the XO laptop and the Wiimote from Nintendo's Wii Gaming System, created by Tyler Williams, an MIT student and a member of the OLPC team to Mongolia.
Both children and adults came away excited about the XO laptop’s potential. "It looks like a glorified toy,” said Mr. Harris, “but they are not toys. Children need to be doing things that are hands-on. It kind of takes away a lot of the negative behaviors they otherwise would have because they are engaged."
(http://wiki.laptop.org/go/News)
