Post 24, On choosing a conference committee, part 4

The NLS4 committee was pretty much set when I received an email from a self confessed conference junkie who was asking, pretty please, if she could join NLS4 as she was having withdrawal symptoms. Who was this junkie? Margie Anderson, ALIA's Victorian Local Liaison Officer (now called the ALIA Victorian State Manager). I had worked with Margie on the alia07 conference committee and knew what she meant when she said she was having withdrawal symptoms. Managing a conference project is such a rewarding and fulfilling experience and I know that there is a sense of anticlimax after the conference finishes. I had NLS4 planning to look forward to so didn't feel as flat as the rest of the committee.

Margie was a powerhouse of knowledge and expertise during alia07. She had been in libraries for many, many years and wanted to be on the committee for her own personal development, not merely as an ALIA employee. It was Margie who suggested we have 15 minute hot spot sessions, to try and fit in as many great presentations as we could and Margie also gave a fabulous professional development seminar on our PD day, the Thursday before the conference. This sessions was free for ALIA members who were registered to attend NLS4.

Margie was worth her weight in gold, even if she is addicted to conferences :)

Post 14, choosing a conference committee, part 3

The academic program - really the guts of any conference, the heart and soul if you will. It doesn't matter how good the food is, how wonderful the networking opportunities (well maybe this does count for a lot!) or how swish the venue is, put on a bad program and reap the results.

Thinking about the academic program was an interesting exercise. Remember planning was happening years in advance; even the initial call for abstracts would be close to two years before potential speakers would be presenting their papers. This could well have meant that something that was new, exciting, innovative and cutting edge in 2007 would be old, dull and tired by the time December 2008 came through. This then meant that the Academic Coordinator had to have a very good knowledge of current trends in the library world (across all sectors), upcoming trends, as well as have the intuitive feeling required to know if a topic was going to be interesting months down the track. Not only this, but I needed the Academic Coordinator to be organised and be able to identify whether the stream selected by the author was an appropriate fit, create a selection system for us to work through together (as Convenor I was part of the decision making process for the program, as well as for the other Coordinator roles) and develop a model for peer review. Sharon was ideal for this role as she had worked in many different sectors and kept up with library literature. She was always very aware of what was happening in library land.

These posts so far over simplify the process I went through, to an extent. The decisions weren't made in 5 minutes; I also didn't actually have a process to follow or selection criteria to guide me - all of it was done through my own analysis plus experience of being on the alia07 committee.

Tomorrow I'll talk about a conference junkie :)

Post 12, Choosing a conference committee, part 2

Yesterday I finished my post with the bombshell Jenelle dropped on me, she was moving overseas and would have to withdraw from NLS4. As I said earlier, Jenelle was the ideal choice for Website Coordinator and had also been to NLS1 and NLS2 (NLS2006 had not happened yet) so had lots of insights to share.

Jenelle's withdrawal left a hole in the committee, as I really didn't know anyone else with the skills sets she possessed. Although the need to fill the gap was not critical at this stage, I did need to have something in place fairly soon. I had my lightbulb moment writing a youth strategy (of all things!). I had not long returned from Aurora and met Jill Stephens there. I should say 're-met' Jill :) Jill and I had worked on aliaVIC together a couple of years back and we then lost contact when she resigned from the committee. I offered Jill a place on the NLS4 organising committee and we didn't look back :) She had many great ideas (remember, Web 2 had not quite taken hold back then) and established a wiki for the committee to collaborate in, as well as setting up RSS feeds on the site. Importantly, Jill had the committee take ownership of the website, so no one felt as though they were operating in a vacuum.

Another important part to any NLS, established from previous NLS', is the social program. This was an area that I didn't have a lot of experience in, so needed someone who would be able to pick up the ball and run with it. No better candidate than Gemma! Gemma's excitement when I asked if she was interested still makes me laugh! The first thing I asked her to do was get some preliminary costings for the cocktail party and lunches for the conference to prepare for our initial budget to the ALIA Board. She had figures to me by the end of the week and made her famous (within the committee) comment "Who would have thought food would cost so much???" She was right, catering is one of the biggest expenses with any event.

Tomorrow I'll talk about the Academic program :)

Post 11 Choosing a conference committee, part 1

With NLS5 approaching, I thought it would be an ideal time to reflect on my choices, as Convenor, for the organising committee for NLS4 in December 2008. There were 2 avenues open to me - one was to put out a call for expressions of interest and the other was to choose committee members based on my personal knowledge of them. As most of you would know, it takes at least 2 years to organise a conference and looking back through my files, I put in my first expression of interest to the ALIA Board in July 2006, with the formal (and much wordier!) bid going to the Board in August 2006, over two years before the actual event. Taking this into account, I felt then (and still do) that knowing a person's qualities ahead of time would be the strength behind the conference's success. Having already been involved in many committees, I had seen first hand what happened when people put their hands up to be involved and then didn't deliver - it put so much more work on the rest of the committee. I wanted to avoid that so, after discussion with the two previous NLS convenors, made the decision to bypass transparency and choose committee members myself. I also wanted to try and have the organising committee cover different sectors, and, being a national conference, have representation from interstate and regional areas.

As this would be a small, relatively small budget conference, I wanted to keep the committee fairly contained and have a limited number of positions. These were:

Treasurer/Trade
Marketing Coordinator
Melbourne Ambassador
Website Coordinator
Social Program Coordinator
Academic Program Coordinator

Because financials are so important and managing a budget critical, I wanted to have someone who already had experience in this. Kevin Dudeney had previously managed the budget for neXt and was able to put together an interim budget for me to supply to the Board with little effort (or so it seemed to me!). Kevin had also dealt with trade and sponsorship which made him an invaluable asset in this regard as we were able to work out compromises which still gave delegates a good program without impacting too much on the budget. It is not commonly known (but should be) that without sponsors costs would be so much higher for delegates. As NLS4 was primarily aimed at new graduates, based on the assumption of being low income earners, keeping costs lower was even more critical.

When managing a budget, reaching the budgeted number of earlybird delegates is essential (as is budgeting an achievable amount) so marketing becomes imperative and I wanted someone personable who could write well and investigate the multitude of promotional opportunities available to us. Ruth Barton, who was the first Coordinator, unfortunately had to withdraw from the committee and was replaced by Andrew Finegan who, as Librarian Idol, was more than able to rise to the challenge. I met Andrew at NLS2006 and loved the way he handled himself during a debate that was part of the program.

Trevor Mackay was an ideal choice to promote beautiful Melbourne to potential delegates, he knew Melbourne inside and out, a critical factor for this role. Importantly, I knew Trevor had the 'stick-to-itness' that I needed.

As the website was going to be our main source of communication, the Website Coordinator had to be techie, to say the least and who better than our own Victorian techie, Jenelle :) I was on aliaVIC with Jenelle and she was also a brilliant convenor and always followed through. Who better for the Website Coordinator role? Early in 2007, Jenelle dropped a bombshell on me - she was moving to the US to live and would have to withdraw from NLS4!

I'll talk more about my choices tomorrow :)

12 days of Christmas - Post 12 Wrap up 2001-2010

Final post for the 12 days of Christmas Twitter challenge. Many of the participants have contributed a blog post during this challenge wrapping up 2010, either professionally, personally or both. I had this on the agenda for my final post, then had a change of heart and thought I would blog about one or two professional highlights that occurred each year over the past 10 years.

1. 2001 - Commenced at Charles Sturt University for the Bachelor of Arts (Library and Information Science). I had just missed out on enrolling in 1999 to start in 2000 so completed an elective in 2000 just before I had another baby.
2. 2002 - Learned cataloguing :-)
3. 2003 - Got my first Dean's Award for Academic Excellence.
4. 2004 - Started my first professional role as a Children's Librarian, even though I was not yet qualified.
5. 2005 - Presented my first conference paper at neXt 2005: ALIA National Library and Information Technicians Conference.
6. 2006 - Graduated with Distinction from CSU.
7. 2007 - Attended the Aurora Institute courtesy of the ALIA Aurora Scholarship and the State Library of Victoria.
8. 2008 - Commenced a new role with Yarra Plenty Regional Library and convened the 4th ALIA New Librarians Symposium in Melbourne (NLS4).
9. 2009 - Presented a paper at IFLA on issues impacting on the recruitment of school leavers to the library profession with Gill Hallam. Gill is a wonderful advocate for the profession, someone I admire and look up to.
10. 2010 - Acted for almost a year as Operations Manager at Yarra Plenty, an exceptional professional development opportunity.

12 days of Christmas - Post 6 Ramblings

Ok, so I was way way behind in my blogging, well in my physical blogging. My mental blogging was really current and cutting edge. I regularly write about 4 posts at 2am in the morning that I am super impressed with-they are usually so good I just know I will remember them. Guess what? I don't, well not much anyway.

So what have I been doing with my time? Quite a fair bit which surprises me, especially since NLS4 is well and truly over with. Totally over. My final report was submitted a loooong time ago to the ALIA Board of Directors - pleased to say that we more than made our forecast budget. The thing with a conference budget is that it is only ever a forecast - it can be very easy to make something look good on paper, whether it is achievable or not is another thing. There are also so many variables that can affect the bottom line - you can try hard to be prepared and anticipate things, but not everything will ever go to plan. I was so lucky to have a fabulous, hardworking committee - made things go so much more smoothly.

Keeping on top of my feeds in my reader - this could honestly just about become a full time job! I just checked and I have 500 subscriptions - is it any wonder? Not all of these have regular postings, some are probably dead and forgotten by now, however many have multiple postings which could make up for those that don't post or don't post regularly (sort of like me....). It does annoy me when it turns out that some blog postings don't fully appear in my reader. I use my reader as a single point of access so I don't have to visit individual blogs. I have unsubscribed from many that do this. Do I read everything in my feeder - yes and no. Most I skim first and then go back to later. There are exceptions to this - I always read CW's, Jenelle's and Steph's. Actually I always read a heap more and they are in my 'must read' folder.... There are others but these are the three that come to mind instantly (random thought - it is late and I need another cuppa).

Working, working, working.... I've been on a huge learning curve since starting work at Yarra Plenty Regional Library, something I have enjoyed immensely. I also acted for 10 months as Operations Manager, which was a very rewarding experience, although I hit the ground running and don't think I stopped in all that time.....It was definitely something I enjoyed and would like to explore further.

And of course my most recent news that is keeping me busy - I had a baby boy 2 weeks ago that is definitely keeping me on my toes. Loving being on maternity leave and catching up with things.....

NLS4 post #1

It has been a long time between posts and that isn't because I haven't had much to say. A lot of it has been because I have been too busy to put anything together in what I feel would be a coherent form! It is almost embarrassing to find I am posting in reply to people emailing me about posting (or 'not posting').

NLS4 has finally been and gone and in the lead up I had a major change of job positions - now working for the ever fabulous Yarra Plenty Regional Library, as Mill Park Library Branch Manager. I'll discuss that more another time - something that has made such a big impact on me career wise deserves more than a one liner in the middle of a post on another topic.

As indicated by the title of this post, I plan to have a few postings on my thoughts on NLS4 and this one was not supposed to be the first! It has actually come about from many emails I have received in relation to my closing for the conference, which highlighted just how much work goes into preparing and planning for such an event. Not many realise this and some actually thought that it took about 3 months from start to finish (obviously they had not been subscribing to the news feeds!). When reflecting on the entire process of NLS, from start to finish, in preparation for my closing speech, I realised that although I knew it took a lot of work and dedication to make an event such as NLS happen and happen seamlessly and successfully, it may not necessarily be apparent to those attending. Not only this, but the two year timeframe for the committee to put NLS together was not done in isolation to other commitments. During these 2 years, collectively within the committee, there have been:

• 7 new jobs;
• 4 promotions;
• 2 engagements (mine and the ALIA Events Manager, Kamara Schlegal);
• 3 weddings (Gemma's, Jill's and mine);
• 2 pregnancies (Gemma and Jill);
• 2 births (Sharon and Jill);
• Over 600 papers marked (by Margie and myself and this is a conservative estimate);
• 3 Aurorans (Trevor, Jill and myself);
• 35 attendances at national conferences;
• 4 attendances at international conferences;
• 38 papers presented and
• 36 articles written

Every single one of us works full time and 5 of us have young families, so when factoring all of these into the planning process, you can see just how much more of a challenge things have been!

The reviews of NLS have been great, and I'll end this post with a small snapshot of some blog posts about it.

• Connecting Librarian (Michelle live blogged throughout the conference);
• ALIA Board Blog
• Librarian Idol (Andrew was Marketing and Promotions Coordinator for NLS4)
• Libraries Interact
• Quilter Jo
• Roxanne Missingham

And photos too of course :)

NLS4 - registration is now open!

It has been a wait, but I believe the wait has been worth it! The link to register to attend the 4th ALIA New Librarians Symposium is finally live. Click here to see the fabulous, high calibre and engaging program and visit our Professional Development Day page to see what we have on offer on the Thursday preceding the conference - most of these are complementary for NLS4 delegates.

We have a fabulous range of keynote speakers lined up, which we will be releasing over the next few weeks - so stay tuned! We have already announced Dr Sherman Young (sponsored by RMIT University Library) and Erik Boekesteijn with Jaap van de Geer (sponsored by Yarra Plenty Regional Library Service, the State Library of Victoria, Brisbane City Council, State Library of Queensland and Viclink).

We will also have the best social program on offer - a night to remember at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (sponsored by Civica), with dinner overlooking the hallowed turf. Our theme will be announced shortly, so get ready for the opportunity to dress up. I know footy season will be over...but...CARN THE PIES!

All this for a really great price! Visit out registration page for more details.

Hope to see you there!

4 of the 5 NLS4 girls!

Aurora - 12 months on

Ok, more than 12 months have now passed, but the post has been processing mentally for quite some time and I do think it is now time to put it on paper.

Aurora was an experience. It was both the personal and professional experience of a lifetime. It was an experience where future leaders analysed their leadership skills, achievements and perceptions of the profession as a whole. The Aurora Leadership Institute's mission is to help future leaders maximise their potential and position them to be effective voices in our profession.

Although I was looking forward to attending Aurora, my feelings were mixed with apprehension as I was unsure what to expect. How closely scrutinised would all the participants be? Would my performance as a leader come under close scrutiny and be found lacking? I went to Aurora with an open mind, believing this would be the best way to approach such a learning experience.

I explored the changes that are inherent in our professions, and there was the realisation that change needs to come from the top, whether it is for the library or for the profession - we cannot just accept the status quo. Aurora provided affirmation of my beliefs on what leadership should be about and that a stronger, more united approach to workforce planning is needed.

One thing for certain is that Aurora is not a 'quick fix' and doesn't perform miracles overnight. It's a huge learning curve - the processing required to absorb the information is amazing and not, as I just said, fast. The year has gone rapidly and I have achieved many things professionally that I am sure I would have achieved regardless of whether I attended Aurora or not, but I am sure I would have viewed things in a different light had I not attended. The ability to take a 'helicopter view' has been invaluable - being able to understand and think about what I am doing strategically in my position has helped me go forward and also realise that I was not so 'new' that what I was doing was not leadership. Aurora helped me realise that what I saw was not necessarily what others saw - in my position, I see a different picture to my staff and I need to apply my vision and thus influence my colleagues and staff to work towards higher aspirations for my workplace. It was extremely frustrating for me when others did not see the outcomes as clearly as I could. Now I know that this is not my impatience to get there, but is just that not everyone has a bird's eye view. I realised that leaders do lead and sometimes need to have the freedom and confidence to make a final decision. Most importantly for me, I also realised that learning to accept failure is a critical part of professional as well as personal growth.

An important step for me during Aurora was the realisation that I didn't have to be everything to everyone professionally and I made a conscious decision to downsize my committee involvement. During that time I was on six committees and as I took on more roles I didn't want to let other committee members down. I still didn't want to leave any in the lurch, so I drew up a plan and worked out when the best time would be to 'release' myself from various committees without letting any down. Over the next six months I resigned or finished my term with four committees, giving me time to focus more on my two remaining ones - aliaVIC and NLS4 (shameless plug - this promises to be THE event for the 2008!).

I thank ALIA who contributed $4000 towards the Institute fee (I was the recipient of the inaugural ALIA Aurora Scholarship), and also the State Library of Victoria, who, under its Statewide Public Library Development Projects, generously funded the difference between the Scholarship and Institute fees, as well as my airfares to and from Canberra.

Aurora was an amazing experience. Through my involvement I have made friendships and alliances spreading over Australia and New Zealand – an invaluable network that I continuously use for professional and personal support, to sound out new ideas and discuss issues. The Institute allowed me to look at opportunities and threats from a global perspective, instead of just in my backyard, and challenged me to continually aspire to do the best that I can. The inspiration and encouragement I received from all participants and mentors was incredible and I have enjoyed watching the paths that A10 Aurorans have taken over the last 12 months.

NLS4 - right on track!

What can I say? Work and life just seemed to get in the way. Having said that, so many things have happened that I won't enter them all on this post, or it will go on forever! I am not even sure that I can list them in order!!!

NLS4

Last time I posted about NLS4, we had just appointed ICMS as our Professional Conference Organiser. Since then there has been a change in the Committee - Andrew Finegan is now our Marketing and Promotions Coordinator. As well as this **breaking news** the NLS4 website is now officially open and launched! The team decided to launch the site on August 20 (I am behind!) at ALIA's 70th birthday celebrations - we were proud to have one of our milestones linked with such a significant one for the Association.

Something that made me especially proud was the way the team pulled together so we could deliver on time. We all had our own components to deliver to Jill, our fabulous Website Coordinator and we all did it, with time to spare for playing with the aesthetics of the website itself. This is no mean feat, as the committee is spread across four states! Well done Team!

And the latest news - announced yesterday - is that the NLS4 website now is RSS enabled, so anyone can subscribe to the feed and let all the updates come to them, rather than keep checking the site - Andrew and Jill worked well together to get that happening.

We are in negotiations with our preferred venue at the moment - we can't say anything yet, but the team does promise that it will not disappoint!!! What is next? Stay tuned - we will get our patron competition up and running soon....