12 days of Christmas - Post 9 - Tips for first time conference attendees

In 2007 I was fortunate enough to be on the organising committee for ALIA07, the ALIA National Library and Technicians Conference 2007. My portfolio was Marketing and Promotions Coordinator, a position I found challenging and rewarding. One of pages I put together for the website was tips for first time conference attendees. With ALIA Information Online approaching, I thought it would be fitting to repost the information here.

Planning before the conference

Plan what presentations you will see in advance by reading the abstracts that are supplied by the conference organisers. Some sessions may require advance booking due to limited numbers, so book in early if you are interested.

Only book for events or tours that you know you are interested in and will attend. It will undermine your credibility if your name is there and you don’t turn up.

Send some emails to the ALIA lists (eg libtec, aliaVIC, aliaNEWGRADS) to see how many others are attending from your state, where the best accommodation might be or the best way to get around the city where the conference is to be held. You may even find a potential room mate!

Attend the first timer’s dinner, if there is one being held.

Before you start

Take comfortable shoes – you will be doing a lot of walking and standing.

Take a bottle of water – air conditioning can make conference venues very dry.

As a mini survival kit, take some aspirin in case you get caught with a headache, and some band aids in case of blisters.

Trade vendors often have giveaways and promotional material regarding new products, so make sure you take a bag that can accommodate your goodies.

Conferences are excellent networking opportunities – handing out business cards is much more professional than writing your details on scrap paper. If you do not have any supplied by your employer, they can be made quite simply using programs such as Microsoft Publisher.

Room temperatures can vary, so try to wear something layered which will allow you to adjust your clothing in accordance with the room comfort level, for example, wearing a short sleeved shirt with a light jacket over the top.

If you are an interstater, remember to do some research about the host city – make the most of this opportunity to visit another city!

Develop some questions to help you break the ice. For example:

*Which presentations are you particularly interested in?
*Have you heard any of these presenters before?
*Are you from Sydney?
*Do you work in a library?

Prepare some good questions to help you liaise with the trade at the venue. For example:

*Are you showcasing anything new this year?
*Can you demonstrate something about this product for me?

At the venue

Turn your mobile phone off or switch it to silent/vibrate mode.

Familiarise yourself with the layout of the conference venue. Find out the way rooms are numbered or named (in the case of concurrent sessions), where the toilets are located and whether there are any water fountains available.

Most conferences provide lanyards for delegate identification – slip some business cards at the back so you always have them with you, even when you are waiting in queues.

Network with the trade vendors, asking some well thought out questions.

Make sure that your name tag is visible to all, not hiding under a jacket or behind your hair. You want people to be able to refer to you by name, which will help them remember you more.

Network with as many people as you can – this is where the business cards will come in very handy!

Fill in the conference evaluation form – it is the way the organising committee can make the conference even better the next time around.

During presentations

A plenary session is usually one attended by all delegates. By attending the plenary, you will have something in common to talk about with the rest of the delegates.

Take plenty of notes. This will help if you need to write up a report for work or study, or if you want to write an article for submission to a journal.

Ensure you know where your next session is going to be held, so you don’t waste time trying to get there.

Try to arrive at the presentation a little early, especially if you need certain seating for a reason, for example to see more clearly or hear better.

If you do arrive late, don’t stress, just take the plunge and sit down! You won’t be the first to be late!

Don’t be hesitant in asking questions. You are among colleagues and friends.

It is common practice to identify yourself, your library, or your place of study prior to asking your question.

The trade exhibition

Make sure that you visit the ALIA stand to meet with local liaison officers and National Office representatives, and learn about the work of our professional association.

Business cards come in handy here. Many booths have competitions where entry is by placing a business card in for a prize draw. You can also hand them out for information to be sent to you at a later date.

If something from one of the exhibitors really attracts your attention, write some brief information on one of their business cards as a prompt for after the conference.

Ask the questions that you have prepared earlier (see above). Don’t be embarrassed if you don’t know anything about a product/vendor – this is their opportunity to inform you!

Even if you are familiar with the trade exhibitors, take the opportunity to see if there is something new on the market that you can learn about.

Remember to thank the vendors – their participation enhances your conference experience and professional knowledge and will also encourage them to continue supporting conferences.

Networking and Social Events

You will be in a lot of queues (tea breaks, lunches, even the restrooms!) so make the most of these opportunities to network with people.

Remember, if you have business cards, bring them with you because they are a useful tool for networking.

If you’re a first timer, try to get accommodation from those recommended by the Committee. This will give you more opportunities to network.

Use the elists to find contacts from your area.

Remember that networking is not only about talking about work-related topics.

If you can, set up dinner groups – gathering around a meal is a great networking opportunity.

Try to attend events that are organised for all delegates, such as the conference dinner or cocktail party. These are designed to bring all delegates together in a fun atmosphere.

Always be positive – try not to put a negative slant to the conversation. You could be talking to a prospective employer!

12 days of Christmas - Post 5 On the benefits of presenting

Yesterday I blogged about presenting at conferences so today I thought I would follow on from that a little and outline some of the benefits of presenting. So many times people ask me why they should bother, or say that it is too daunting for them to even contemplate. I am hoping that these points will help alleviate some concerns others may have because there is so much to gain from writing and presenting a paper to your peers.

• a great networking opportunity - presenting a paper gives your colleagues and peers an opportunity to seek you out to discuss your paper;
• demonstrates the value to your employer of funding conference attendance;
• there is potential to create opportunities to do further research on a topic of personal interest and then develop a project that can be implemented in the workplace;
• asking someone to co-present with you can further build networks in the workplace;
• Many senior managers attend conferences to see what 'new blood' (or 'existing blood') is out there and this can be an ideal opportunity to attract the attention of potential employers;
• a much higher personal profile (your name will be in conference proceedings, published papers, programs, websites etc);
• if you are presenting on an area of research, presenting a paper on your results so far gives an opportunity to test the waters and receive useful feedback;
• you will be a more skilled communicator - with a public presentation you need to be able to get your point across without being long winded;
• there is, believe it or not, an improved ability to listen. Nothing makes you pay attention more than being asked a question you need to answer on the spot;
• increased opportunities for career advancement;
• improved self esteem;
• and most importantly of all, increased self confidence and self satisfaction.

You can definitely do this!

All these were off the top of my head - are there any I have forgotten?

12 days of Christmas - Post 4 On conferences and presenting

Frantic day today and had planned to blog twice but this one took longer than I anticipated!

My first conference paper was in 2005 at neXt 2005: ALIA National Library and Information Technicians Conference and focused on creating partnerships with Council departments to facilitate community engagement. I had done a lot of work at my previous workplace and built sustainable partnerships with Council’s Maternal and Child Health Unit and Kindergarten Unit and thought this conference would be an ideal forum for sharing knowledge with others. The buzz i got from presenting was overwhelming (we wont talk about the nausea that was enveloping me 5 minutes prior to my talk :) ) and made me start to think on how to better my presenting skills. I started to observe presenters and noted their styles, what I liked or didn’t like. I took note of the way they interacted and whether there was something in the way they presented that I wanted to emulate. I had three that I particularly admired – Gill Hallam (Queensland University of Technology), Roxanne Missingham (Parliamentary Library) and Chris Kelly (Brimbank Library Service).

Since that first conference presentation in 2005, I have presented at many other events and conferences, including the Learning Communities Conference, NLS2006 and IFLA last year and picked up many tricks along the way. When I was asked to give a talk for the Victorian New Graduates Groups on Presenting to an Audience, I pulled everything that I had learned together and was surprised at what it actually took to make a presentation work seamlessly. I thought I would share my learnings here.

First of all, you need to think about what is important to you – what do you want to achieve from presenting?

Do you want to engage with the audience?

• Are you happy to read your paper out loud and get it over with?
• Do you want to stimulate discussion and debate?
• Do you want to be remembered?
• Once these are identified, work out how you can achieve them. I personally feel it is very important to engage with the audience and to remember the message being given. Make it look as though talking to an audience is something that happens naturally.

Engaging with the audience

• Start off with polling the audience – ask a question or two – this can be a good lead in to what you are talking about, without starting cold.
• Speak to the audience, not at them – try not to read your paper word for word. My presentations are made up of 3 parts, my actual paper, to be published, my notes for the presentation and my slide show.

Read your paper out loud?

• As mentioned above, try not to read your paper to your audience – looking down at pieces of paper will not help you engage with the audience. I developed a prompt system that had a print out of a slide on the left hand side and some brief notes, in a large font, on the other. I used a large font so I wouldn’t have to focus too much on my page and so I wouldn’t be caught out if I had to put my notes on something quite low.
• Practise talking your paper in your head with your slideshow. Notice I said ‘talking’ not ‘reciting’. Practice as though you are actually talking one on one with someone so it sounds more natural. This will also make you feel that you have identified with the audience more.

Being remembered

• You really want what you are presenting to be remembered. The abstract is the first part that will attract people to your session – make your session representative of what your paper is, and take out key points, rather than just reading it out – this way delegates will go to the full paper and read it. This also makes it easier to not go over time.
• Leave some time for questions at the end to reinforce your interaction with the audience.

Summing up

Before the event

• Ask yourself – what’s important to you – what do you want to achieve?
• Observe presenters
• Prepare brief notes based around your slideshow
• Practise talking your presentation in your head

During the event

• Poll the audience – this will ease you into your session
• Refer to your notes to prompt you along
• Look at the audience frequently
• Leave some time for questions

After the session

• Leave some way for delegates to be able to contact you