 And I'd like to welcome everybody to this session with Patty Wong, surviving and thriving at professional conferences. So I'll just turn it over to you, Patty. Great. Thanks, Sue. And welcome everyone to this evening's session. Tonight I'll be talking about a little bit specifically about ALA, but also I think some of the things I refer to can be applied to any professional conference that you go to within the field and outside the field as well. So good crowd tonight. Thanks for coming. So the first thing I wanted to start off with is congratulations because in attending tonight and also your strong interest in attending professional conferences, you're investing in your own professional development. It's a really, it's a real critical piece to our continuing education, even though in many specters we're not required to continue that progress. And also, I think it will extend your learning and also engagement and involvement, not only through professional associations, but also expanding your experience as you further engage in the MLS program at the School of Information. So let me ask you and feel free to type in the chat or just take the mic. Why are professional conferences important and valuable to you? What do you think you're going to get out of today? And then I'll just let go of the mic and hear what you have to say. So I see Jess is typing. Jess says it seems like a really good networking opportunity. Melissa also says networking. Eileen says meeting people. Theresa, comments, continue learning and networking? Absolutely. Great. Those are all really good reasons to engage. Stella writes, I like the idea of being able to collaborate and find new ideas and solutions to bring back. Wonderful. Terrific. Anybody else? And don't be shy. Oh, Ryan says get energized. Absolutely. Wonderful. Anybody else? I see Sasha's typing. And feel free at any point to raise your hand or type in the chat and if I don't catch your question, then definitely Sue will. Sasha writes, collaboration also helps to see the same topics from a different perspective. Absolutely. Theresa's writing. So there's a lot of great things that you've already uncovered in terms of your own professional development and why you might attend a professional conference. Oh, Patrick writes, training. Absolutely. It's actually a really, if you bundle all of those things that you're getting out of one conference, there's a lot of different training opportunities and it's a fairly inexpensive way to learn. Theresa writes, since this will be my first conference, I hope it will open my eyes to new things. Absolutely. And that's actually exactly where I'd love for you to be, is to have that open mind and to be actively listening for new ideas to bring back solutions to engage in networking with and learning about other individuals who are actively in the profession and specifically at the conference. So let's continue. So here are some good things that I've uncovered in working with a number of students and colleagues about why they attend professional conference and why it's valuable. Definitely, the networking is definitely a part of it. Other goals, just collegiality. I think one of the things that sometimes we miss a little bit in an online environment is we don't touch as many people who are also interested in the same professional things as we are. So that's networking opportunity and that ability to reach across the table, so to speak, to talk with total strangers perhaps. But ones that individuals who really believe in the same value system that you do who are committed to intellectual freedom, who are interested in serving customers of a wide range of perspectives, who bring a lot of different kinds of experiences with them. And it's all about people, isn't it? So one of the things that we're going to do today is to really reflect and determine what your professional and personal goals might be in terms of attending conference, what that looks like, how to make it easier and a little more fun. Really, the goal is when you attend a professional conference, whether it be within the library and information field, archival work, what have you. Internet librarian is also a really good one. There's a lot of actually professional associations that are tangential a little bit to what you might be interested in that actually also might be interesting to attend as well. And so I encourage you to look at it from both perspectives. Attending a conference also gives you tools for future leadership opportunities. For instance, many, in many cases, professional associations always are made up of committees of strong determined committed people who are interested in bringing those different ideas and the programs to life as part of our communal continuing education process, but also are interested in getting the work of the association done. And if you are interested in engaging in that process, I have to tell you that the upcoming American Library Association warmly would welcome you. And in terms of engaging at any level that you would like to participate in. I.e., for instance, you can actually go to almost any meeting unless it's stipulated closed. And audit and get to know the chair and talk to them a little bit about what they're doing. And if it's something that strikes you either from the description in the program or looking at their work online or even just through that auditing process that you find stimulating and engaging, you can always ask a couple of questions about ongoing participation. One, oftentimes they will actually greet you and make you feel welcome. But the other thing that you can offer is what your goals are as a library school student, what your role is there, why you intended to come to conference, and that you might want to participate a little more fully. Oftentimes they can add interns to their roster in terms of the committee structure, but there are many students who hold leadership roles within our professional association. And so I encourage you to kind of consider that as a possibility. The other aspect of going to conference is that, you know, our time together as instructors and faculty and students is somewhat limited because you're all going through your process of pursuing your master's degrees. And you may be looking for additional employment or another kind of job that most closely aligns with our profession a little bit further down the line. You never know what kind of relationship you're going to be able to really engage in as a result of attendance at that professional association conference. The other aspect of this is that there's a job placement center at most library professional association meetings, whether it's at California Library Association or another state chapter or at ALA or anything in between. And oftentimes they are looking for individuals just like you. One of the ways of getting more familiar with the job placement center and what employers are looking for definitely is to register at the center as a prospective candidate looking for employment. To bring your resume, make sure that you've holed that up and have developed and crafted it in such a way that really makes all of those wonderful experience that you're engaging in now including your coursework. Just make that shine. And we do often actually at ALA, at the job placement center, we also have workshops on how to do mock interviews and how to create a craft, a better resume and a number of other opportunities for you to develop as well. So I think one of our team members this afternoon mentioned training. There's a lot of different trainings that happen at the conference as well. And then, of course, I talked already about how to become involved in the professional association in terms of activities. Myself, I've been an ALA member now since 1983. When I first got my, I got the Sydney B. Mitchell Scholarship through the American Library Association for as I was pursuing my degree at the School of Library and Information Studies then at UC Berkeley, it isn't called that anymore. But it was a wonderful opportunity for me to engage really quickly within the association because I had benefited as a student who had received a scholarship. It also provided me with the background and I think a taste for community service within my own profession, which I have found a lot of strength and opportunities throughout my entire career. And, of course, I also believe that our local chapters, the California Library Association and this particular case is also a wonderful way to engage. So let's talk about conference preparation because for some of you, as Theresa mentioned, that's her, this is, she's going to be attending her first conference pretty soon. And there's a few things that you might need to think about as you prepare. One is I hope that almost every one of you has registered already. But if you haven't, it's still not too late. You can register as a student to get a considerable discount. So please take advantage of that. But one of the things to think about, you might have a question, well, how do I dress? Is it always professional? Do I always have to wear a suit? Well, remember, we're going to be in San Francisco if you're planning to go to ALA. You have to think about a number of things, the weather, the climate, maybe layers because sometimes it gets really cold. Downtown San Francisco, you're going to be running around. You might, you're going to be on bar a few times and getting from place to place. Sometimes it's not that easy to do. And so I would suggest that you dress business casual. There's going to be times when a pair of jeans is great to get around. Some people do bring extra changes of clothing with them. And they even carry them around in their backpacks or whatever, you know, parcels that they've got and change at the other location, depending on what's happening at the other end, because there's a fairly large amount of traveling that happens at a professional conference, especially one as big as the American Library Association. But likewise, this also applies to other conferences as well. You really need to take the time to scope out what is expected dress-wise from that conference. And so you can actually take a look at images of people because there's lots of photos of ALA attendees everywhere online. And so you can kind of take a look. But we're in a new era where there's a lot of, there's a lot of more freedom, I would suspect. ALA used to actually have a lot of individuals who dressed in a very, not prescribed, but very more conservative dressing in terms of suits and ties. And a lot of the women were, you know, also suits, but also dresses. We actually came from an era where we used to wear hats all the time. And that those things have changed over time in terms of the culture of the organization and of the conference likewise. So I would suggest that you always be comfortable, that you wear, that you bring a pair of walking shoes. You need to do that. And a lot of people don't change their shoes throughout the whole conference. So we're not looking at your feet, mostly, so be comfortable and take care of yourself during lots of water. The demeanor in terms of conference preparation that I would like you to consider is one of openness. So active listening, active engagement, you're there to learn. But you're also there to share your own talents and skills. One of the things I did teach a course through San Jose, through the School of Information, that talked about trans spotting and professional socialization and specifically working the ALA conference and California Library Association and a number of conferences, which is part of the reason why I'm sharing this with you today. The demeanor and the approach that you take with your colleagues is really one of engagement and sharing. There's a book by Darcy Rezak, our EZAK, called Work the Pond, and he's a Canadian author. The big critical difference between his perspective and maybe some others is that he believes in many ways that you can offer as much as you receive in return. And so the goal is, you know, networking sometimes has a funny feel to it. People think that there's something, not unscrupulous about it, but that it's not, it may not be totally professional, but it really is. And you have as much to offer all of the colleagues that you're going to meet as they have to offer to you. And so a couple of ways of doing that and getting to know people is through business cards, whether they're physical or virtual. And I'll show you some examples of some, that some of my colleagues and students have created as a result of that, because you're in a different kind of situation. You don't, you may not necessarily have a library job or a library-related position right now, and you're going to be an MLS candidate, and you might want to specify that. You also maybe want to share some of your talents in other ways, sometimes artistically. Other times it's through different words that you choose to use on the card itself. I strongly encourage most of my students and other colleagues to actually get some business cards, physical business cards. They're not that expensive, and they are a token of ambassadorship for yourself. They are a way that you can share that, that's the meeting that you've had. Oftentimes, those individuals who actually take this networking as seriously as you do will follow up with you, but likewise, you want to make sure that you ask them for a card in return so that you can keep up with them after you've had this really good interaction. There are virtual business cards. I've seen a lot of them around lately, and they are very, they're very interesting to use, and you can, you know, for those of us with all of the phone exchanges, you can just kind of connect them together, and then you share the information. But there is something very positive in terms of the connection between two people who share, even though it's a piece of paper, that's what it means. Because that's part of you, and that's your representation. Remember, actually, the other thing to think about, as if you're going to a professional conference, especially as an MLS candidate and as a student, you're representing also the School of Information in San Jose State. And what I mean by that is that the mutual learning and the professionalism that we hold very dear to our role permeates your position there. So when you go to conference and you're speaking with a lot of people, they actually, they want to know more about you, and they want to know what you're interested in what library school is like, and what kinds of great skills you're learning, and also what you can provide to them as potential employees in a number of different ways, and also as colleagues. But you also share with that individual that you're meeting the reputation of our organization. And so that's not something that we take lightly. It's something that we actually expect that you will hold in high regard and respond appropriately. So as you meet people, as you meet people, your personal presentation is a pretty important piece. It's sort of like thinking about that elevator speech that you want to convey to that individual. And a lot of times it might be just the introduction or something that you feel passionate about or something that really strikes you in terms of wanting to share with that other individual. They're going to take the time to listen. So sometimes, so take your time. I know you're nervous when you meet people for the first time we all are. Shake hands. If it's culturally appropriate, look them in the eye. And as you, sometimes, you know, I've had a lot of our students practice, and they actually have done the action of actually greeting with their, you know, they're shaking hands with the right hand. And then having their business card, oftentimes holding it with two hands. And that's cultural respect in many, many traditions. And so, and then sharing that with the individual across the table or in whatever context that you're working in and asking them for one of their own. Oftentimes, I write on the back of the business card that I've received from them a, how I met them, and then I follow up later. Other ways that you might want to engage in is having a conference buddy come with you. So if you know that, if you know another student who actually is going to be attending the conference, you might want to write in together. It's oftentimes a little bit easier to work in teams of two or more. So tools to navigate your journey. All of the different individuals who attend conference all rely on a variety of different resources to make their conference experience a little stronger. Professional journals. So you see the ALA conference is a really big deal. We have about 20,000 people who come, especially to San Francisco, and that includes the vendors. There are, you know, ALA is a big deal when it, especially the annual conference, when it comes to a city because there's a lot of revenue that's being exchanged. There's a huge influx of individuals. We're also competing with other conferences that are coming to town. So there's a lot of buzz around the professional journals, whether they're online or in print. And so keeping up with that and what people have to recommend as programs and different events that you should partake as you go through conferences is important. Oftentimes, if you're a member of the ALA student chapter or if you're currently a member of the California Library Association, you're going to see a lot on the ELIS back and forth about conference and what's happening and things to attend and invitations to receptions and a number of different other ways of engaging to find out more about the conference that you're attending. There's lots of virtual resources. ALA has a wonderful website to devote it just to the, and are getting better all the time for ALA annual conference websites. Recommendations from colleagues in the field, of course, is always very important. And then ALA puts out a paper every day, a physical newspaper, and it's called ALA Cog Notes. That's a great way to keep up with what's going on in conference. So as you pack, what I mean by dress is you don't have to bring a dress, but do dress casually, bring a lot of different kinds of clothes so you can interchange. But you don't have to overpack. So part of the beauty of packing for professional conferences is mix and match things that you can use again. Nobody's going to know. And this way, you pack light that you're dressed for lots of different kinds of occasions. Remember, there's going to be a couple of evenings where there might be some dressier things that you might go to, but the comfortable shoes is really, really important. Even though you have your cell phone and your smartphone and things are going well, and that's the way you keep in time, I would bring a watch because there's lots of opportunities where actually looking at your phone may not be the most appropriate professional thing to do to check the time, but looking at your watch certainly is. So it'll keep you on target, and I know it's a little old-fashioned, but it's a nice accessory to have as you're going through the different programs that you're attending. The other thing is what image do you want to convey? As you are thinking about what you want to wear, be yourself. There's no sense in pretending to be somebody else, but if you want, if you have a more professional side and you're very comfortable with that, go ahead and bring all of the clothes that make you feel that way. It's a nice opportunity for all of us to share in each other's different styles, and it really shows that you've given a lot of thought to it, but also it shows who you are, and we are most comfortable in meeting other people when our clothes and our demeanor speak for ourselves. And so I don't want you to stress out about it very much. Just pack what you think is most appropriate. I have asked in the past, I had a good friend who was working at Macy's, and he was a buyer, and so he would ever come all the time to some of my classes when they were face-to-face, and actually shared what might be considered a professional wardrobe. You don't have to go down that road, but oftentimes talking to someone who's already been to conference and who has a familiarity with your wardrobe may be helpful as well. But be comfortable, please, and always make space for room for things to take home, because you can rent another suitcase if you're coming from another location. Remember that there's a post office there, so you can actually mail things, and oftentimes you can mail them library rate, so it's all good. It costs a little bit less sending things home. Sometimes I haven't always received it in a timely manner, so usually I send it certified, so that I know that it's going to come, because they pay extra attention to it. But there's a lot of swag that you're going to be able to pick up, and a lot of different kinds of information, so make sure that you have enough room to bring all those goodies back. So, I talked about the business card already. I've talked about the delivery of the business card and how you communicate with others. One of the things I want to think, to encourage you to do is be in the moment. So, we are inundated with technology. You're going to be tweeting, you're going to be communicating through email, you're going to be texting folks, sometimes it's going to have something to do with conference, many times it's going to have to do with what's at home, and all kinds of things in between. I encourage you, since you are investing in yourself, to actually take the time to really engage in that moment, whether it's a reception, whether it's a meal, whether it's an event, whether it's a session, whether it's a keynote address. Even, you know, casually meeting somebody who's, you're putting your feet up together and you're sitting next to each other, because you found a comfortable space to sit down. Be in that moment, and that means engaging with whoever you happen to be around, and being open to what's being shared with you. That's, we're never too busy to meet other people, and that's really kind of what it's all about in terms of the conference itself. One of the things that I want to encourage you to do also, and for some of us who are naturally shy, this may be a little difficult, but to step up a little bit, and engage in reading somebody new every day. And so, that might be somebody who you're meeting and you're walking, you know, you're waiting in line for something. It might be an author's signature, or you're waiting to get into an event, or you're waiting to sit down to a meal. Try to meet somebody, and sometimes, if it's good for you, maybe even ask them if they want to sit down and have coffee or something. There's a lot of people that you can meet in a casual way, but it's just another way of extending yourself and learning more about others. Okay, so this is a little messy, and forgive me for doing this. I was trying to fix everything on there, but you can see that there's a whole lot of business cards that are on here. Some have mentioned that they're a graduate student in, for instance, David is a graduate student in information architecture. Rowena was an MLS candidate, and it says when they're going to be graduating. And it has their e-mail address and a phone number and their address. Some of it can be very, very simple. Others have images of the individual. Some have done artwork in the back. Others have captured maybe some copyright-free images that they want to post on there. You know, it really kind of depends. So these are all students, actually, that shared their business cards with me. And I know that we're recording this, so you'll have it. If you want to refer to it, I'd also be, you know, I'm happy if you want to share a business card with me or someone else to go over it with you about what to include as well. Okay, so I would suggest that you always go to the conference of your choice that you're going to go to their website and explore. Really take a good, hard look. Most of our professional association conferences do not have a printed program anymore. Everything's online, it's easy to use. Oftentimes, there's a scheduler or something, some other mechanism, an app that you could actually, you know, download all of the information you need, put it in your phone or other device that you've got, and then you're ready to go. Please make a note of the key activities and the scheduled events that you want to go to ahead of time. Preparation ahead of time is really, really important in order to get the best out of the conference. Now, of course, when you go there, everything's new, and it can be overwhelming. So one of the reasons that I suggest that is to kind of make it a little easier for you to navigate if you have an idea of where to go, where to park, how much it's going to cost, keeping track of all of those things. And maybe that's one of the reasons why you go with a buddy, because oftentimes if someone else has gone through this process already, they're just going to give you a leg up in terms of the understanding of how things work in the conference. Please register in advance if you can. You'll save some money. You can't get an exhibits pass at $60 at the door, but I have to tell you that many of our vendors out there give free passes, and they continue to do that. I have received several from my integrated library system, so I use innovative interfaces, but Demco, BroDar, they all have them. So I would suggest that if you, and you can actually go on their website and just sign up for it, and it will be waiting for you at registration, and it's not too late. So if you're planning on going and you weren't planning on, you know, to be honest, one of the things though that you do need to know is that the exhibits only pass, really only pertains to exhibits. So technically, they're usually, they're getting a little bit harder and harder, but it's, it will not allow you to participate in any of the scheduled events and activities. Now I believe, obviously, you can go to the San Jose's, the School of Information's Reception, and I'll talk about that in just a couple minutes, but if you plan on going to any of the events, I would strongly encourage you to get the full registration at the student rate, or if you're just going for one day, you can also do that by day by day, if that is best for you. You can also get in through some volunteerism, and I'm not exactly sure that it's passed already, but whenever ALA comes to the town that it's in, they often tap some of the school students or other related individuals to volunteer, and I think that time may have passed already, but if I find out more about it, sometimes that springs some registrations that you don't have to pay for. So, but if I know of anything, I'll be sure to post it somewhere, actually, probably on the school's Facebook site. The other thing, and it's a little bit, not that it's late, but it is kind of late now. If you are planning on going to any conference and you check them out a little earlier, you might be eligible for a travel grant, so there are dozens, literally, of travel grants that are available for ALA, for instance, or their scholarships. There are, you also may get some support from your institution, but there might be other ways that you might get support. There's a really good piece on ALA's website, always under the website for the annual conference and also for midwinter, making your case to attend. It gives you a lot of good information that you can use with your community to justify your presence there. So, I just did a, I wasn't sure that I was going to have enough time to take you through the website itself, so I just screenshot. This is exactly what the annual conference and exhibition website looks like for ALA for San Francisco. The theme is transforming our libraries ourselves. Courtney Young is our current ALA president, and you can see, all you need to do is click, and it's really easy to navigate. There's a scheduler that actually will import all of the things that you want to attend, and you can send yourself a PDF, or you can import it in. It's part of their app. There's a lot of highlights of different really critical events that are happening inside the conference as well as a little bit outside the conference. You have a hashtag up there already, and so you can kind of tweet to kind of see what's happening. There's that making your case to attend, general information in the exhibit hall. The trade show is one of the biggest trade shows that we have available to us actually internationally. So literally there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of vendors who are there to share what they do with you. Some of them are prospective employers. Don't forget that. Others are there to, you know, for you to come up with new ideas about bringing us the new service back to your home institution, or maybe even to help with an assignment that we're something that you're working on through your MLS progression. Hotels and travel, that's always a part of this, and then you can see there's resources for exhibitors. There's a lot of resources for first timers, so for Theresa and anybody else who is a first timer, there are a lot of good resources there to take a look at. This is what the scheduler looks like, and I just wanted to make sure that you saw this because they have a quick start guide that you can kind of see in the middle in that little brown-gray area and a help section. There's a couple of things. One, this is, ALA is a little bit different from maybe some other conferences in that they would prefer that you actually, whether you're a member or not of ALA, they want you to register to get the scheduler to import into your email or whatever, wherever you decide to send your information. And so they ask you to register through ALA Connect, and so you can be a guest, and you can register, and there's no charge for any of this, but they do like to have that connection. Otherwise, you can search it as a guest and not register. It will not give you the full capabilities of the scheduler, so I encourage you to do that. If you have, if you're an ALA member, which I believe almost everybody has the potential for that, within the program, you just simply use your login information to get onto ALA Connect, and then you can use the scheduler freely. Any questions that I go on? Okay. But feel free to stop me at any time. Conference program analysis, think about what you want to get out of your participation. Is there a certain, are you interested in gaming? Are you interested in working with young people? Are you interested in working in an academic situation? And a reference community? Are you interested in ALA governance? Are you interested in prospective employment? There's a number of different things that will dictate kind of where you spend your time, because it's a big conference on a large footprint. I don't want to diminish that, because I want you to understand that there's literally about 2,000, maybe 30 hotels total that are part of the ALA San Francisco campus. That's normally what we refer to it as. The Moscone Center is where almost all the exhibits are going to, well, all the exhibits are going to be, but there are several meetings and big receptions, and ALA Council and the President's program and the awards session all happens at the Moscone Center. And I believe we have the South, I think we have two halls. So it's a large campus, but if you navigate it well, if you actually kind of do a little homework before, it won't seem so overwhelming, and you'll be able to get around. Remember another way of conveyance is that, you know, you can go through BART to get on the other side, so if you go on Market Street and go on BART, you can come up on the other side, especially if you're like me. Sometimes I forget when the parade's going to happen, which is another thing that's happening at the same time. It's Pride Week in San Francisco. There's a lot of great activities. I encourage you to participate if you want to become active in that manner. It's a really good experience, and it always happens. I think there's some intentionality behind us actually participating around conference at that time, but a lot of different, a lot of our members actually participate. The big thing is how do you contribute to your own learning and that of others? So, I've already mentioned that it's really great to share your experience and skills with others, and likewise they will be sharing with you. There are pre-conferences, there are keynotes, there are sessions and membership meetings, there are, I'll talk a little bit about meals and receptions and after hours meetings. The exhibits are really key. I would encourage all of you to at least go to it once. You will find that probably you will need to go more than once. And, you know, I hesitate to tell you to pick everything up because you're going to be laying down, and there are going to be places within the conference that you can actually check. That's a nice service that we've learned to offer to all of our members, because you don't want to carry all of those things around. And remember, you're going to be going from one place to another depending on what opportunities you want to take advantage of. And then there are unofficial meetings that happen. So, as you're going through the scheduler, one of the things that you'll notice is that right away the key things to attend, the things that ALA believes are very important will pop out at you because they'll have the keynotes, the opening general session will be identified. And we have a great keynotes speaker, the Logan Pardoma. There will be, it's a large group setting now. Oftentimes, the keynotes in the opening session and a lot of people go. When you're in that moment, if you have a conference buddy, it's really kind of nice to find somebody to sit next to. And I would encourage you to take notes or do whatever you do to retain some of that information. A lot of the days when there's going to be lots of handouts at the front door, that isn't happening anymore. There are some programs that actually have built in handouts that are already uploaded. And so, you'll be able to find those a little bit later after a conference. But in many ways, being in that moment and taking advantage of what's going on is really part of the conference experience. Meals. Okay, so you're there and you're hungry. And San Francisco's not that inexpensive of a place. There are formal and informal meals. I do need to let you know, to know about a couple of them. If any of you are PLA members or are interested in public libraries, you do have to be a PLA member. But there is a breakfast that will be held at conference where the awards reception is going to be part of that. So, you'll see Daniel Handler, who the Lumine Snicket author is awarding the first Lumine Snicket Prize, and that will be going to Scott Bonner from Ferguson Public Library for his good work through, in the height of adversity in his community. And so, a number of those other PLA prizes, but that's a, I'm not saying that everything is a free meal, but that's a free meal. I do invite you to actually go to the School of Information Reception. I'll be talking about that in a minute. There are lots of other invited small events. I just got, if you do work for a library, I just got invited to a really wonderful reception that's going to be at the Fairmont Hotel from recorded books. But Alexander Street, a lot of vendors have receptions. OCLC has a lunch. There's a lot of different ways to get food at the conference and not spend a lot of money. And you don't necessarily have to always be in that venue in order to, you know, I mean, IE, you don't always need to necessarily be a customer to participate. And in fact, a lot of people bring guests. So, be assured that those things happen. There are also receptions. And for those of you that are active in ALA and actually had something to do with any of the campaigns of any of the presidents, they always have a thank you reception. A lot of times, people come and you're not crashing or anything. So, if you are ever in need of something, don't hesitate to email me. And if you want to go to attend any of these events, I'd be happy to come with you. Meetings and programs, official and unofficial programs. So, all of the official programs are listed in the scheduler, but there are some unofficial programs, and they'll say you and IE. Every conference has its own language and its own deciphering kinds of opportunities. And ALA is also one of those. I would strongly suggest one of the things to take a look at as you're going through the schedule is the difference between closed and open meetings. An open meeting anyone can go to. A closed meeting is usually that which requires debate or some deliberation from the group. So, it's not meant to be closed from an undemocratic perspective. It's because they're deliberating on some, it's usually an award kind of event or they're planning a program or there might be some legislation or some other things that will require just the committee members to partake. But other than that, it's kind of open to everybody unless, of course, it's ticketed. If it's ticketed, it will say so, and it'll indicate how much it is to participate. The trade show, the opening reception is Friday from 5.30 to 7. There's an exhibit ribbon cutting. So, you'll see a lot of ALA leadership there with the big scissors, and they'll cut the ribbon and then everyone will go in. Why is Friday evening important? Well, it's important for a couple of reasons. One is the vendors know it's a, there's a big reception that they put on. There's an exhibitors round table. They all collectively put in and they really serve some wonderful food there. So, there's lots of hors d'oeuvres and lots of things to do, but they also put out some of the best swag you can think of. Everything that they, you know, sometimes they're advanced proofs that are really on the slick side or anything that they want to share, oftentimes they're giving away bats and other kinds of things that you can bring home to share with other people. And they have limited edition things that they put out Friday night, specifically for that purpose. One of the things that ALA will also supply to you, and I think it's put out by school library journal and library journal, is an aisle by aisle stack coupon book. And so, oftentimes a lot of our members fill out those coupons and that's your ticket to get in to participate in a contest or a raffle or some other giveaway kind of thing that they're doing. Oftentimes you don't have to be present. Sometimes you do. You have to follow the instructions, obviously. I would suggest one thing. And then if you ever have access, I usually have my staff print out a set of Avery labels for me that's on those regular 8.5 by 11 address labels. And they just put down my name, my affiliation, my address, and my email. And I put it on that, you know, so I don't have to fill out all those coupons. But that's just another way of working that. There's another reason for the business card, in addition to meeting lots of people and getting to know others, is oftentimes you can just put that in little of the coupon and whatever receptacle they have for them. I often go down every aisle at least once. That's my first go-round. And then secondly, when I go to the exhibits, then I pick the exhibitors that I really want to talk to again. There's a lot of friends and a lot of people that you want to meet over time. It's a really, it's a real good networking get-together, as a lot of you have mentioned already. The closing discounts. So ALA has a very collapsed schedule now. And so Monday, the exhibits closed at 2 o'clock. They start packing up at about 12. That's a really good time for you if you're interested in lower cost materials. A lot of the children's books, a lot of, you know, a lot of the author sign copies will go for a significant discount. And in many cases, there's a lot of giveaways that happen at the end of the conference. Because they don't want to ship it on. So that's just a little tip there. Remember to wear your badge everywhere you go. It's your association with the conference. It allows you to go anywhere, especially for the exhibits they will be looking for that badge. There's a member pavilion within the conference floor. And so you can pick up lots of ribbons, affiliations that you are part of. And wear them proudly on your badge to kind of, a lot of people sometimes have competitions to see how many little ribbons that they can put on their badges. But they will be checking certainly at exhibits for that, for the badge or the exhibits pass or whatever you've got. If you haven't a full registration, then you can go anywhere, as I mentioned before. I do encourage you a lot of even new and returning folks. We always forget that when we leave that conference, you need to take your badge off. Because there's a lot of things that happen between you at the Moscone Center and your final destination. You don't want everybody knowing your name. They will be able to see it if you wear your badge outside. And frankly, we have a lot of, you know, a lot of tourism and a lot of different things happen in a big city. And so I would encourage you to be safe and to keep your badge and take it off as you need to as you exit the conference. Okay, deciphering conference, there's a lot of acronyms. Each of the hotels has a three-letter code that's associated with it. Normally, it's pretty easy to figure out, but you might have to become privy to it. If there's maps anywhere with all of the hotels listed, I would pick up a couple and just have it handy. You never know when you're going to need that. There's lots of conference acronyms, but the locations of the hotels are very critical because a lot of them are the same. So it may be a Hilton chain, but it might be or the Hyatt chain, but it might be the Grand Hyatt, which is up on Union Square as opposed to the other Hyatt Regency. And so pay attention to the conference language. And there is actually a glossary that's kind of on the ALA website that you can refer to as well. Okay, recommended events on Saturday, June 27th, San Jose is going to have their school of information reception, and it's at the local kitchen and wine merchant on 1st, I think it's between 1st and Front, at 331st Street. San Jose does a marvelous job. If you've never been to the reception, you're going to have some really good food. And there's always, you know, our dean, Sandy Hirsch is always there, as well as a lot of the key staff and a lot of faculty go. It's an opportunity to really meet all of those individuals that you've been spending time online with, and our dean has really great vision, and she's got some wonderful things to talk about in terms of the future of the program and how it's, you know, how it's evolving and other good services that the school is providing to all of us. Pride events, I've mentioned that already. Please attend the opening general session. If you can, it's kind of a really nice experience, and there's literally about 7 to 8,000 people in that room. It's going to be at the Musconi Center in the Escalade Room. Each division and roundtable has a conference 101. This is really good for new individuals, and even those who are returning, I know I learned a lot of things, too. The new members roundtable is specifically for new ALA members. It's kind of, you know, it sort of dissects ALA and makes it a lot easier to understand, and there's always someone who's got some helpful tips about how to navigate conference and how to do a good job, and they also usually give away prizes, and there's a number of things. But every single entity within ALA has its own conference 101 to decide for conference and make it easier for you. So if you can, check them out. It's a good resource. I encourage you to go to the ALA Awards President's Program. That's on June 28th, also at 3.30, also in the Escalade Room at the Musconi Convention Center. That's what MCC means. And then, of course, I encourage you please to take a look at our booth at San Jose's booth at South, in the South Hall of Musconi Convention Center at booth 3535. So let it things to check out for the conference. Many of you may have heard of ALA Center for the Future of Libraries. They have sponsored a number of programs throughout all of the sessions. They're each labeled Library of the Future. So if you type that in, the schedule will pop up. So if you're interested in new things that are happening across the country and actually internationally around cutting edge kinds of thinking around libraries and innovation and different services, that might be something good to check out. I've already mentioned the General Session, the Awards President's Program. There's an unconference part of the program. So, you know, it's now it's pretty much traditional, but at many conferences, sometimes there's an anti-conference or another kind of conference that happens. And it's really a networking opportunity where they segregate a certain place within the conference that actually, where you don't necessarily have to attend anything, but just to get to know one another. There's a lot of tweets that are happening there. And oftentimes there's a, you know, a screen with all those tweets kind of coming through. The awards are a wonderful opportunity to get to know any conference. They are the pride and joy of ALA and what we have to offer in terms of literature and awards that represent a variety of different opinions and perspectives. A point of connection, Newbury Caldecott Wild War Awards has a massive banquet. I think it's about an $80, $90 ticket. You do not have to pay to go in. You do have to pay to eat, but they have a section at the back end of the big hall where you can go in and listen to the speeches. And so I encourage you to do that if you haven't done that. The reason why I'm talking about the difference between paying and non-paying is because it is kind of expensive to go to a professional association conference. And so I strongly encourage you to save money where you can, but still engage as much as possible. So I've got a list of the different award functions there. Other features, the exhibits always have a lot of authors and illustrators at ALA specifically, but also there's always something buzzing around any conference with the trade show. So there's pavilions at ALA, there's stages, there's a bookbugs theater, there's cooking, there's a pop-top stage, which actually is about innovation and different new popular trends that are happening. There's a graphic novel and a gaming stage. I strongly encourage you actually to attend the Diversity Fair. It is only a two-hour span of time. On June 27th, it's going to be in the special events area in the exhibits. And the focus on this year is library service for people experiencing poverty and homelessness, and that affects all of us, no matter what kind of library or institution that we happen to be working in. The job placement center is at the Moscone Center. It's usually close to the ALA offices. There's also the ALA store to pick up lots of different things. Read posters, if there are young children in your lives, there's bibs and onesies and all kinds of things focused on literacy and reading to your baby, and bookmarks and all kinds of things that you can think of. There's also a lot of vendors in the ALA exhibits that actually sell clothing and all kinds of things related to reading. And oftentimes, they are benefiting one of our literacy programs or another program that's worthy, so please take a look. Internet room, those computers are available 24-7 whenever there's access to that room. I believe there's going to be more than one room available at the conference because the convention's so large, so take a look. You just have to stand in line and wait your turn to get on, but it's absolutely free. For those of you who are interested in doing some more work with ALA, all you need is your badge to get in, but if you go into the office and you ever have to type something up, you can use, there's a bank of computers and printers that you can use for professional purposes. And this way, sometimes you get to know the staff a little bit better, too. And then, of course, there's a post office. Thank you very much, too, for including all of those URLs for the placement center and for navigating conference. Other important tips, please make the most of your time. The meetings, preserving a record, what I mean by that is actually as you're engaging, if that meeting's worthwhile, then stay. If it's not, you don't have to stay. I mean, that's kind of what the conference is all about, is you selecting the things that resonate with you and now sometimes it's a little awkward because you might be in the middle of a row, so when you go into a room that's very large and you have a choice of seating, I would not sit in the middle of the middle because it's going to be hard for you to leave if you have to get something to drink, go to the restroom, or if it's not interesting enough. Do it professionally, though, so make sure that, you know, you might do it in between speakers or in a number of different arenas, but if it is something that is of value to you, remember it somehow and commemorate that whatever that looks like, that might be through taking notes or taking images or what have you. But preserve a record of that experience. When you connect to meet with people, remember who they are, follow up with those business cards and email them, I would say within two weeks after conference. If you wait any longer, you're going to forget, and you're going to also forget why you met them and why they were important to you. So I always scribble a little bit of a note to myself behind the business card. The other thing is if you do something on both sides of your business card, share that with that individual who's receiving that card. Because they don't often look on the back. So if that's important to you, that's a moniker for you, please share that with them. They'll find it very delightful, frankly. Expenses key track, remember that you may not necessarily need to do this, but actually, a lot of your professional experience is tax deductible up to whatever is allowable. So make sure that if you have deductions that you make on your taxes, that your professional development and your commitment is, you know, falls into that gap. Test time, oh my goodness, have a good time, but make sure that you balance the fun with the professional learning and then your downtime. If you're exhausted, don't push yourself, you know, take the time you need to kind of take a nap or sit down and just relax, chat with somebody new, take a break, please keep hydrated, you need to keep drinking water. It's very, very important. But have fun, you know, in some ways, remember that you're representing. So anyway, there are 55,000 members within ALA, unfortunately, we're declining in membership, but there's a healthy representation of all kinds of walks of life. There are affiliates that are associated with conference. Some of them are based in a wide range of anything from music to all of the ethnic affiliates and everything in between, make sure that you may not be able to reach all of them, but you may be able to talk to them virtually. So don't worry about something that you're missing, because not in the right place at the right time. Enjoy yourself and really get involved. If you have a chance, ALA Council is our governance structure. We are about 166 strong and we'd love to see you at any of the council meetings. There are three of them. There's also ALA membership meetings. There's also membership meetings for all of the different divisions and roundtables as well. So next steps, you're going to plan. You're going to determine how to get there in the most expeditious and inexpensive way. I think you should might think about who you want to see, who you want to meet, who you want to engage with. I would definitely put the School of Information Reception on your to-do list. Right away, you'll find Kindred Spirits who are happy to share some of the conference experience with you. And then really think about how you want to bring it home. What are you planning to do with all of this great information and all these good ideas? Don't let all of that go to waste. Now, you may not use it right away. Sometimes I go to conference and I might use something that I learned like three years ago. But the timing wasn't quite right and now I'm able to implement that. So I wanted to thank you for being here today. Here's how to reach me. This is my cell number plus my two email address personnel and at work. And if you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me and have a good time at conference, whether it's ALA or in any future conference. Thank you so much, Patty. That was excellent. Does anybody have any questions? You can either grab the mic or type it in chat or if you want to contact Patty later on, please do so. Thank you all for coming and I appreciate your attention. And if you know anyone who missed this that might have questions or I know we're going to archive this in the recording, but I'm also going to be delivering it, I think again on June 11.