"As we've attended professional conferences over the years, we've noticed an interesting phenomenon--the most animated, high-quality conversations often take place outside the meeting rooms," write Settlage and Johnston. Educators often feel frustrated when conferences are dominated by lecture-style presentations. To address this problem, the authors developed an alternative conference model--Science Education at the Crossroads--which brings together science educators across the K-16 spectrum to support one another. Every attendee at a Crossroads conference presents a Vexation and Venture paper to a group of about 12 other attendees. The Vexation is an aspect of their work in science education that challenges them; the Venture is a course of action that the presenter is considering. Using a structured discussion protocol, group members discuss ideas to help the presenter proceed with his or her Venture. A distinctive feature of these discussion sessions is that participants have only hard copies of the Vexation/Venture proposals to refer to--this low-tech approach signals that Crossroads is not a typical plugged-in, multitasking professional development experience. Instead, its purpose is to attentively listen and respond to one another.