I finally went ahead and registered for the ISTE 2017 conference. The cost to attend is $450USD, and although I received approved the total allowance (including airfare, accommodations and conference registration) is only $1200. So I waited a little while before committing to the conference. The benefits of the conference registration (apart from going to San Antonio in June and participating in the best Ed-Tech conference) is it includes a one year membership. This gives me access to countless resources on their site and access to community groups (based on my interests). It is in these groups that I can connect in discussion forums, Twitter chats, and online PD.