Converts are the worst

Well here it is two weeks later and I still haven't managed to post. I guess I can spare the time today. I chaired a committee that organized a staff awards event last week. It is amazing how much of your life can get sucked up by minute details. The good news is that it went well and my team actually won an award. No, I did not get to vote for myself. I had to excuse myself while they (the rest of the committee) deliberated. I have to say that a good committee can make an event just fall together whereas a bad committee.....

I am heading into conference season with two next month. Now, my first conference hasn't earned me a whole lot of sympathy as I have whined about the cost of the hotel which I will be bearing myself. The conference is at the Fairmont Orchid on the Kona Coast of Hawaii. Hey, it's a real conference, it starts at 7:00AM! Sometimes conferences can seem like a lot less work than they will be eventually whereas ALA Annual will suck the life out of me as it does every year.

Anyone else remember the excitement of their first professional conference? You carefully peruse the inches thick conference book when you first arrive. Careful planning will allow you to attend as many as four programs a day. Meals are slotted in when possible and frequently in the convention center itself. I find that the early career librarian tries to jam far too much into their early conferences when it would behoove them to take their time and make commitments veeerrryy slowly. Those of us whose arms were tired by day two from volunteering for various committees should have known better. But do we warn the newbies? I guess it depends if we like them or not.

Currently conferences for me are chairing meetings that are interrupted by occasional food breaks and then rushing off to ensure that rooms are ready for programs that you have only been peripherally involved with. My colleagues laugh at my event planner thoughtfully provided by ALA. There are more times that show up in red (meaning I have a conflict) than those that don't. One thing that I have learned to do is to spend downtime productively. This only sometimes doesn't involve meeting friends and former colleagues in drinking establishments and heading off to a vendor reception from there.

Sleep is a rookie mistake and conditioning to get by on five hours a night must start soon. I will report back after conference on how successful each was.