Two-day online conference was a brain booster

I spent 7 hours a day for two days in an overly air-conditioned, windowless room and I emerged energized and refreshed! Trends in Library Training and Learning, the online conference resulting from the power partnership of WebJunction and the Learning Round Table, was stimulating and boundary-stretching, capturing and holding the attention of 500-700+ viewers per session.  The lineup of presenters was top-notch. The visuals were often stunning. The chat window was often so active, it was dizzying. Some participants have said it was the best online conference they had ever attended—so absorbing in fact that multi-tasking was set aside for the duration.

WebJunction staff (Jennifer, Sharon S, Betha) live-blogged all of the sessions.

T is for Training devoted today’s podcast (titled I forgot my underwear) to an enlightening (and funny) debrief from the perspective of presenters, attendees and organizers.

Thanks to the wonders of webinar technology, you can still savor the selection of presentations through the archived recordings.

Day ONE:

• Born to Forget: How to Survive and Thrive the Age of Information Overload
  Jay Turner’s mind-expanding keynote
• Happiness Through Personal Learning
  Marianne Lenox
• Lights! Camera! Action! Using video for patron and staff instruction
  Angela Nolet and Amber Slaven
• Getting Admin Buy-In for Training
  Sarah Houghton

Day TWO:

• Instructional Literacy and the Library Educator
  Char Booth
• Tech Training Skills for 21st Century Library Staff
  Crystal Schimpf, Kieran Hixon, and Nancy Trimm
• Beyond 23 Things: Enhanced Self-Paced Training
  Julie Erickson and Jane Healy
• Cultivating the Library as a Site of Participatory Culture and Learning
  Buffy Hamilton

Not only can you immerse yourself in the conference experience, you can organize a viewing party to watch the archives together. The viewing party guide and the session discussion questions will enrich the event.

Betha Gutsche

Betha Gutsche has been a virtual librarian ever since receiving her MLIS from the University of Washington Information School. Immersed in the online community of WebJunction, she has cultivated community connections through forums, live online events, and writing stories about the library community. She has delved into e-learning design, curriculum development, needs assessment, and all things connected to social learning in the online world. Betha is the editor-in-chief of the Competency Index for the Library Field. She is now the manager of Project Compass, a program working with public libraries to augment their service to communities impacted by tough times. Underneath it all, Betha is an artist and loves to raise awareness of visual literacy and introduce people to the power of image.

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