I've been reflecting on the benefits of being involved in organising a LIANZA conference - perhaps belatedly after 10 months of working on the conference, but predictable given that I have moved to a strategic role at Rodney District Council. Whilst it's proving a challenge to balance my work load (what's new in that?) I am glad that convening the 2008 LIANZA conference keeps me in touch with professional issues - while my new role has given me the opportunity to see that working in libraries (including organising library conferences and being involved in LIANZA) has provided lots of opportunities to develop a wide range of skills. One particularly useful at the moment is the ability to keep a straight face when people say "but haven't you always worked in libraries?".

Why I am sharing this with you? Well, I think it is easy to underestimate the skill base we develop in libraries and to forget that our skills are marketable and transferable. Barbara McKerrow - CEO of New Plymouth District - is one of the many people who have worked in libraries and now use their skills and knowledge in a different role. Barbara will be speaking on "After librarianship" at the Conference. Those who know Barbara know she is a lively, entertaining and thought-provoking speaker.

While Barbara's session will take us from libraries to other work opportunities, a number of speakers will contribute knowledge and experience from outside libraries, and the programme includes a wide range of speakers with in depth professional knowledge to share with you. I hope you take advantage of the chance to participate in sessions that are not in your speciality area as well as those that are - after all, who knows in what role you will be applying your skills in the future?

"Do not adjust your set"

There have been a few programme changes since the first release of the programme. Some presenters' circumstances have changed and so a few adjustments to times and paper offerings have been necessary.

Note that there will now be a chance for people who haven't had much experience of AnyQuestions to see the service in action. This will include a hands-on try out of ManyAnswers. And there's a session on the te reo version of AQ, UiaNgaPatai. These will be great intros for librarians who have heard a bit about AQ but would like a guided look and questions time, and for those who think they should be promoting the service a bit more.

To fit in with the visit of Professor Lawrence Lessig there's an expanded session on open access to information, including the Creative Commons initiative. Kathy Sheat and Clive Lansink will be giving adjacent presentations on copyright, present and future.

See there's a session on unconferences. It will inspire you to "unconference" all around the conference programme.

The SkyTower dawn tour is filling up fast - register and indicate your interest if you are keen to join it. Other tours and visits will be put into the programme within a day or two. Visits are being offered to Auckland city central library, the business information commons at the The University of Auckland, the NZ National Maritime Museum and the Auckland War Memorial Museum, Maori TV, AUT library, and a corporate law library (Russell McVeagh).

Remember that this conference is designed to give you plenty of networking time and lots of opportunities to have quality conversations with exhibitors. Plan ahead and book in those conversations with the people you want to talk to. The venue is an easy one to get around and so we won't have to spend ages walking about and finding the wrong room.

We are urging presenters to allow plenty of space for audience participation. Be ready to ask, comment, question, debate.

Cheers for now - happy earlybird registering.

LIANZA Conference 2008 Programme now online

The Conference Programme is now online as part of the Registration Brochure but can also be downloaded as a separate document here

Find information about registering here

There’s a wide range of topics – services, copyright, ICT, readers advisory, special libraries, matauranga Maori, history, SIG meetings, supplier relationships, maps and more. One of the new formats is an interactive computer session. This is limited to 20 people so you’ll have to be quick to sign up.

See you in Auckland in November.

Tips on good presentations

I know there are many of you out there who would love to present at conference. You have the ideas! You have the passion! You're just not sure about the actual presentation. I'm much like that myself. Give me a coffee and a comfy seat and I'll go on and on for hours. Unfortunately that skill is no use in a presentation situation. "Stand up? In front of people and talk to them? You have got to be kidding!" is my usual reaction.

With that in mind I started trawling round the internet looking for tips on giving good presentations.

5 ways great speakers connect with their audience from Penelope Trunk's Brazen Careerist
"The art of public speaking is actually the art of connecting." Five tips to help presenters connect with the audience.

Death by PowerPoint (and how to fight it) from Alexei Kapterev via SlideShare
"How to make a presentation and not to bore your audience to death." It's not just about using PowerPoint. There are some great tips on structuring a presentation. (Warning, could be a slow watch on dial-up.)

Presentation Tips from Garr Reynolds
"Organization & Preparation Tips", "Delivery Tips" and "Slide Tips".

Really Bad PowerPoint from Seth's Blog
"Communication is about getting others to adopt your point of view, to help them understand why you’re excited (or sad, or optimistic or whatever else you are.)" Includes "Four Components To A Great Presentation".

Talk Good: Giving Effective Presentations from Peter Bromberg via Library Garden
A list of resources that "...speak for themselves."

Are you inspired to give it a go? Abstract submissions close Friday May 2.

(And of course there will be some great books at your local library!)

Calling all abstracts

Visit the abstracts page at the conference website to find out about the abstracts submission process for the 2008 LIANZA conference. The programme team is keen to receive abstracts on a wide range of topics and from presenters who can think of innovative ways to engage an audience. And so session times have been increased to allow an unhurried presentation and more space for questions and discussion.

There is a choice of format types: oral presentations, workshops, panel discussions, and hands-on computer sessions. Intending presenters are asked to state their primary audience and broad topic areas. This is to help conference goers make good choices about the sessions they attend.

Poropitia - Outside the box is a conference at which both the content and how it's presented should deliver something beyond the obvious. Submissions are due on 2 May. The abstract review and selection process will take place during May-June. Successful authors will be notified by the end of June. The review team will then read the full papers so that presenters receive feedback and advice before the conference itself.

Give it a think!

• Do you want to present? Know someone who should? Nudge them into action.
• A topic you want to learn more about? Keep visiting the blog and add comments so that you are helping to shape the conference programme.

Ideas for presentations, workshops, panel discussions - some of these have been blogged before, others have been mentioned recently. These are topics people want to hear about.

• The social context: libraries and legal compliance ... accessing and using legal information. Official information. Public Records legislation. What do we need to know and why?
  Online social networking and collaboration: how's it being used at work (and maybe for work).
• Getting the best out of the relationship with the IT team: what across-team approaches maximise our effectiveness?
• Training >> learning and development. What are the trends? Where are the gaps? What does the research tell us?
• Knowledge management: alive and well? dead? dying? Someone want to arrange a panel discussion with audience involvement?
• Blogs, wikis, et al. and e-citizenship. What's the scope?
• Marketing - internally, to your manager ... to the executive. What works? Why?
• Writing to impress. Telling your library's story succinctly and complellingly.
• Libraries contributing to community outcomes. What are the challenges for measuring success?
• Story times: what have you tried and evaluated for success? Library-parent relationships.
• Your experience of working outside the sector or overseas ... what are the learnings others need to hear?
  

Do plan for a full-on conference: 3.5 days from Sunday 2 - Wednesday 5 November. More details over the next week or so will convince you that Poropitia-in-full is where you'll want to be.