Comments on: My Conference Ennui

By: Laura K

Laura K — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 16:48:01 +0000

I attend ALA largely for committee work. I suppose it’s just a different type of professional development. I think I’ll be going to IL this year, which will be different. I’ll actually get to go to sessions! Perhaps I’ll find they’re not as useful as I expect. But yes, conference attendance when you’re on several committees is a very different beast.

By: Frances Ruth Harris

Frances Ruth Harris — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 18:43:11 +0000

Un-conference worth your consideration: http://www.edcamphudsonvalley.org

By: Amelia

Amelia — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 18:09:22 +0000

As much as I enjoyed NJLA this year, I find that the NJLA Micro-Conferences give me more information since they are specific to one particular topic. At NJLA this year I went to more “fun” sessions than ones that would benefit my job.

By: vanirvinmorris

vanirvinmorris — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 14:25:47 +0000

I have been having the same “I’m over conferences” issue – especially in library world. You hit the nail on the head: sessions are stale and redundant, not cutting edge. I used to attend CIL as well, and I found that conference to be cliquish – you have the same group of speakers saying the same thing year after year. I even submitted a session on distance learning in LIS education during one year’s CFP, but was rejected. After 4 years of attending CIL, I gave up.

I, too, thought I was doing something wrong … that I wasn’t conferencing right. So now I have become very clear to attend only conferences where I can contribute and/or learn substantively. This new stance has led me to seek conferences beyond LIS that meet my professional development needs. For example, I will be attending An Event Apart’s conference this summer to learn more about web design, since I teach that topic within a LIS curriculum, and personally design websites as well. I’m looking forward to this conference and believe it will be a good use of my time.

By: Punch Jackson

Punch Jackson — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 13:35:23 +0000

With today’s technology (video conferencing tools/skype, etc) each of us can organize our own personal conference by inviting a select group to present, share & update. Select topics, track down the people…..very time consuming to organize but then again maybe someone will get into the business of customized conferences (beyond webinars).

By: Librarianry (@LibrarianRy)

Librarianry (@LibrarianRy) — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 11:42:22 +0000

I have found my experiences at the few conferences that I have attended to be similar to what you’ve experienced lately. Many of the sessions I went to i didn’t learn as much as I was hoping to, but like Joe mentioned, the “unconference” presentations I went to were very good. I’m still learning enough to make conferences meaningful beyond just the social aspect, but every year it feels like i’m learning less.

But I also learn so much through the social interactions. The tete-a-tetes and small group gatherings are where I’ve found the best and most interesting information at conferences. Whether it is sitting right before a presentation waiting for it to start, right after, or during the after hour gatherings. I think you hinted at this, Andy, but I wasn’t sure.

By: Joe Kraus (@jokrausdu)

Joe Kraus (@jokrausdu) — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 04:42:04 +0000

That is why I love Unconferences. We can talk about issues and topics that are up to the minute. Are you going to be able to come to STELLA in NYC this November? http://stellagroup.wordpress.com