Before I attended this year’s Lake Superior Libraries Symposium, I was told repeatedly how much fun I would have and how much I would like my fellow attendees. I was suspicious: maybe I wouldn’t have fun, and after getting my hopes up, maybe they would be crushed a little extra.
Fortunately, that was absolutely NOT the case – it was great!
I have been to a lot of conferences, all over the place; and I inevitably spend what seems like hours driving around the venue looking for a place to park where I can be reasonably sure my car will still be there when I get back. Then I discover I missed a pre-conference event, or I can’t find the registration area, or any number of other disasters caused by poor planning
NONE of that happened here! Not only was everything easy to find, but the organizing committee kept us well informed – even sending out maps of the parking area where we could park, stationing people to wave signs at us, and providing a constant series of directions and information before, during, and after the conference! It was wonderful! Continue reading Thanks to the Lake Superior Libraries Symposium!→
It turns out, even the writers at the Farmers Almanac like to have a little fun. Looking for ways that you may position yourself as the Cliff Claven of the family this holiday? Try these on for size, or use in some way with students too as the holiday approaches!
Need a break from the day? Or something to get your brain going again? Check out Book Riot’s compilation of The Ultimate Book Trivia Challenge. Students will enjoy these, too – many test the taker’s memory for characters and lines, and they’re timed, too! From Shakespeare to Harry Potter, there’s something here for everyone!
Each year I am in charge of purchasing school supplies for my son. The first year, I selected the standard box of 16 crayons. Then, he graduated to a box of 24 for school and a larger set of 64 for art projects at home. I wonder how many parents have taken the time to read the names assigned to each color? They are far more descriptive than orange (Mango Tango), green (Inchworm) and yellow (Canary).
This post if for those of you who love researching unusual and interesting facts. In this link, Merriam-Webster defined 10 unusual colors and the history behind their names. It’s worth a look-Just for Fun!
Words cannot describe the boost of energy I received as a result of going to the MEMO Conference at the St. Cloud River’s Edge Conference Center last week. It was great connecting with so many of you from Central Minnesota. I wish we could find a way to get every media specialist in our twelve county region to the conference next year!
The rock star keynotes couldn’t have framed the theme any better. They included the bigger picture, but also sprinkled in great application ideas and enthusiasm too, which is a good blend for most. Shannon McClintock Miller, Kathy Schrock, Gail Lovely, and author Mary Amoto all added support, wisdom and practicality to the overall conference theme of Leading Change. The breakout sessions offered great variety, and you could just see the ideas percolating throughout the crowd. And finally, pairing a great lineup of authors with book lovers is always a match made in heaven, and the big smiles and armloads of books testified that the “matchmakers” got it right!
Kate Bessey, Julie Notsch, and I have been planning the Friday night Conference Cantina since March. We wanted the event to energize people and focus on fun and easy networking. I think we got our wish…a cash bar and music, prize raffles, build your own taco bar, and team trivia led by the Trivia Ninjas kept things lively. Many tables had diverse age ranges, which served them well in the trivia contest. I can attest to the fact that I did not know Honey Boo Boo when I needed to, but a youngster on our team did! The Schrock Superstars team won the trivia contest and received personalized candy bars and beads with winner medallions on them. Schrock proudly posted her beads on Twitter at pic.twitter.com/x5UY497r. Finally, there were exciting moments of spontaneous chair dancing and debauchery, which was so much fun to see. I wouldn’t have changed a thing!
And, it was great to see Kathy Schrock and Gail Lovely proudly wearing their “brag swag” on Saturday, with keynote Mary Amato also including commentary about the great time she had in the Cantina. We have lots of requests to repeat this type of evening programming. Give us your ideas and thoughts when you fill out the conference evaluation at http://goo.gl/9TDBP
Trivia Ninja (Pete Nyblom)
Shrock Superstars
And yes, it is daunting to return to reality, but resist the temptation to allow yourself to be sucked into the madness before taking time for the reflective thinking. In this fast world we live in, it is easy to grasp the quick fix, the bandaid, the sound bite!
Dig deep to reflect on what you took away from the conference. I am firmly committed to doing some specific work around Social Reading and in using Good Reads, but also would like to try out a tweet chat to see if we might want to do that in our region around a topic. What was your takeaway or area of new understanding? Did you leave the conference committed to doing something new or different?
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