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Learning Round Table February Meeting

February 15, 2010 By

Our next Learning Round Table meeting is this Wednesday 02/17/2010 from 2-3pm EST.

All Learning Round Table members (and any other interested people) are invited to attend our virtual monthly meetings. We use the meetings for updates and follow-ups to committee work, discussions, sharing and announcements. We use ALA’s OPAL web-conferencing platform for these meetings. Meetings are held at 2pm EST. The following is the current meeting schedule:

  • Wednesday, February 17
  • Thursday, March 11
  • Wednesday, April 21
  • Thursday, May 13
  • Wednesday, June 16

This is a great time to get involved as we have lots of new ideas and projects on the horizon. Registration not required. Just click this link to join in: http://www.conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs423c62c43df0

We look forward to seeing you there!

Lori Reed

Lori Reed, Managing Editor of ALA Learning, has more than 15 years experience in training and is the Learning & Development Coordinator for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library where she oversees the learning & development of a diverse group of staff at twenty libraries. Lori’s passions are performance consulting, learning strategies, and e-learning. Lori is coauthor, with Paul Signorelli, of Workplace Learning and Leadership: A Handbook for Library and Nonprofit Trainers. Lori also blogs at LoriReed.com and can be reached at lori[at]lorireed.com.

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What would Seinfeld do?

February 9, 2010 By

I love the image of the fantasy eager student in Cathy Moore’s Dump the Drone. This learning nerd looks blissfully at his computer screen and exclaims, “I love to sit at my computer and read read read!”

If only training were that easy. Whether it’s online or on-ground, for most training sessions, the audience is a little lower down on the engagement scale. They may be skeptical that the session will be of any benefit to them; or they may feel obligated but not motivated to be there. I’ve been cogitating on just that kind of situation, fretting about an upcoming presentation. I want to prepare myself and my audience in advance to set the stage for success. I wondered what would Seinfeld do? Or what would any comedian with years of experience in front of tough audiences do? So, I googled for lessons from the world of comedy. Whether or not these comedians are memorable, their advice is:

1. Where’s the passion?

If passion is contagious, the converse—a passionless presentation—is deadly. If you’re not jazzed about delivering your material, how can you expect your audience to be? Simon Dunn says, if you’re dying on stage, “you’ve only got yourself to blame.” Vince Martin tells wannabe comics that you need to bring the energy to the audience yourself, “to give away as much energy as you can.”

How to surface your enthusiasm? Back in December, Peter Bromberg (who’s a bit of a comic himself)  blogged about Kevin Eikenberry’s post on Unlocking the Passion Paradox. Read it and then go look for your passion. “Passion is something we want, but we don’t always know how or where to find it.”

2. You talkin’ to me?

When asked by Larry King what makes a comedian really good, Seinfeld replied that it was a comedian who cared about his audience. Comedians will often sit at the back of a club before their act just so they can watch people enter and note their dress, demeanor, and demographic. The more you understand about your audience, the better prepared you are to play to their diversity, arouse their attention and respond to their tough questions. But Seinfeld didn’t say “understand,” he said “care” about the audience.

Trainers often have an advantage over stand-up comics in that they know ahead of time who is registered for the event; you can do your audience analysis before the moment when you’re standing in the spotlights. You can look for their commonalities, their differences, anticipate potential questions and formulate answers. But take it a step further and try to imagine their frame of mind when arriving at the training. What might they be expecting, what might disappoint, how will they have the opportunity to interact and make the material their own?

3. What’s the matter?

John Cleese says, “If you get too neurotic about making mistakes, you’re unlikely to make anything.” Anticipating a tough audience or a difficult training can be stifling. The fear of not connecting, not achieving learning objectives, and basically “bombing” makes it hard to prepare for a presentation. You need to let go of some control. Be prepared to be flexible in response to your audience and to change gears when it’s clear that something’s not working. Vinnie Favorito is known for extemporizing with his audiences. He’s also been known, when meeting with tepid response and weak laughs, to stop his routine and ask “Guys, what’s the matter? What’s going on?” It’s more important to admit that there’s a disconnect and enlist the audience to help fix it than it is to stick to a script.

Well, that’s three good pointers to calm my trepidation and help me prepare. There’s a whole other set of lessons on how to pull off the live performance. That will require a lot more study and practice.

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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LearnRT Events at ALA Midwinter 2010 in Boston

December 10, 2009 By

The following are events scheduled by the Learning Round Table at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Boston. These meetings and events are open to members and non-members. On behalf of the LearnRT board we hope to see you in Boston!

Friday, January 15 from 3:30-5:00
Learning Town Hall Meet and Greet
INTER-Rose Kennedy II

Saturday, January 16 from 8:00-12:00
Open Board Meeting I
BCEC-Room 156C

Sunday, January 17 from 10:30-12:30
Training Showcase Planning Meeting
BCEC-Room 161

Monday, January 18 from 10:00-12:00
Open Board Meeting II
BCEC-Room 206A

Monday, January 18 from 1:30-3:00
Staff Development Discussion
BCEC-Room 203

Lori Reed

Lori Reed, Managing Editor of ALA Learning, has more than 15 years experience in training and is the Learning & Development Coordinator for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library where she oversees the learning & development of a diverse group of staff at twenty libraries. Lori’s passions are performance consulting, learning strategies, and e-learning. Lori is coauthor, with Paul Signorelli, of Workplace Learning and Leadership: A Handbook for Library and Nonprofit Trainers. Lori also blogs at LoriReed.com and can be reached at lori[at]lorireed.com.

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The Learning Round Table: Looking Ahead

August 25, 2009 By

by Pat Carterette, LearnRT President 2009-2010

This is promising to be another big year for the Learning Round Table. We started off with a bang with our official name change – in case you hadn’t heard, we’re now the Learning Round Table. We may be the first round table in ALA history to use a real word as our name rather than an acronym. By the way, our name will be abbreviated as LearnRT in ALA publications. Bear with us as it will take awhile to get all the CLENERTs changed to LearnRTs. I hope you agree that “learning” is indicative of who we are (we’re interested and/or engaged in staff learning and continuing library education) and what we’re all about.


So… what’s up with the Learning Round Table? Already there are projects in the works and more in the initial planning stages. Here’s a partial list of projects and plans for 2009-2010.

  1. New marketing campaign (watch for a new logo, tag line, recruitment plan and more)
  2. New website: alalearning.org is being developed and improved on a daily basis. The goal is to be easily accessible to all our current and future round table members.
  3. First ever Emerging Leader sponsorship – we are proudly sponsoring an ALA Emerging Leader for the first time – the applicant we select will be someone who has a particular interest in staff training and development. Two potential Emerging Leader projects include creating a Staff Day Success publication and planning and producing a series of Learning Webinars.
  4. New Committee Chairs for 2009-2010
    • Marketing and Communication – Lori Reed, Chair
    • Membership – Sandra Smith and Shelley Walchak, Co-Chairs
    • Programming – Betha Gutsche, Chair
    • Training Showcase – Louise Whitaker, Chair
    • Strategic Planning – Sharon Morris, Chair
  5. LearnRT programs at PLA Portland, ALA Midwinter Boston and ALA Washington DC will include planning staff development days, leadership for new leaders, beyond F@F training, and core competencies
  6. Social networking tools we use: a blog, a wiki, Facebook and Twitter
  7. More opportunities for member engagement: interested in blogging, writing newsletter articles relating to learning, training and continuing ed, assisting with the wiki, serving on a LearnRT committee, volunteering to help at ALA programs? Opportunities will be posted on our www.alalearning website… check it regularly!
  8. Monthly Virtual Meetings – all LearnRT members are invited to participate and contribute to our monthly meetings. Log in instructions will be found at our website and a reminder will be sent out to all members prior to each meeting. All meetings are one hour and start at 2:00 pm Eastern. 2009 meeting schedule:
    • Wednesday, August 12
    • Thursday, September 17
    • Wednesday, October 14
    • Thursday, November 19
    • Wednesday, December 9

If you haven’t felt connected to the round table in the past, please don’t give up on us. We are working very hard at finding new ways to engage our members and address your needs. We want to hear from you. We want you to tell your friends and colleagues about us. The Learning Round Table’s mission is to provide a thought-provoking resource for those interested in learning and training in libraries, including self-learning, no matter what your position in the library.


Please contact me, Pat Carterette (pcarterette “at” georgialibraries.org) or the LearnRT board (info “at” alalearning.org ) at any time with your comments, feedback or questions. In conclusion, I feel privileged to be representing the Learning Round Table as your president this year. The energy level and enthusiasm among the board and round table members is not only exciting, it’s infectious! Thank you all for your continued support and contributions to making the Learning Round Table the best!

Lori Reed

Lori Reed, Managing Editor of ALA Learning, has more than 15 years experience in training and is the Learning & Development Coordinator for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library where she oversees the learning & development of a diverse group of staff at twenty libraries. Lori’s passions are performance consulting, learning strategies, and e-learning. Lori is coauthor, with Paul Signorelli, of Workplace Learning and Leadership: A Handbook for Library and Nonprofit Trainers. Lori also blogs at LoriReed.com and can be reached at lori[at]lorireed.com.

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A message from CLENE President Stacy Schrank and CLENE VP, Pat Carterette

June 2, 2009 By

A message from CLENE President Stacy Schrank and CLENE VP, Pat Carterette:

Dear CLENE Round Table Members,

CLENE Board members and some members-at-large have been meeting virtually each month since January (using OPAL web-conferencing software) to discuss ongoing round table business and projects. This has been a wonderful way to communicate with each other.

We would like to encourage all CLENE members to participate in our virtual monthly meetings. This is a great way for members to connect, communicate and collaborate.

Below is our online meeting schedule for the remainder of 2009. CLENE virtual meetings run from 2:00-3:00 EDT.

  • Wednesday, June 10
  • Thursday, July 16
  • Wednesday, August 12
  • Thursday, September 17
  • Wednesday, October 14
  • Thursday, November 19
  • Wednesday, December 9

I strongly urge you to attend the June 10th meeting. We will be discussing a proposed name change for the CLENE Round Table and we want your input!

A recent survey sent out to people involved in training, staff/professional development and continuing education suggested that most people, including CLENE members, have no clue what the CLENE acronym stands for.

The proposed name change is from CLENE Round Table to the LEARNING Round Table. Learning is what we do, what we’re passionate about and what we promote. We’re not all trainers, we’re not all educators but we’re ALL learners… and learning is what brings us all together.

ALA’s deadline for requesting a name change is June 12th. Please join the virtual meeting on June 10th and put in your two CEnts worth before it’s too late.

If you can’t attend the next virtual meeting, please send comments or questions about the name change to Stacy Schrank, CLENE President (sschrank [at] metrolibrary.org) or Pat Carterette, CLENE Vice-President (pcarterette [at] georgialibraries.org).

Join the CLENE virtual meeting in OPAL a few minutes prior to each meeting: http://www.conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs423c62c43df0.

If you’ve never used OPAL before, be sure to run the set-up Wizard. Here is a link to a document on how to use OPAL: http://www.opal-online.org/OPALgettingstarted.htm.
Thank you for your continued support!

Stacy and Pat

P.S. The next issue of the CLENExchange is coming soon and includes a listing of all the CLENE events taking place in Chicago. Hope to see you there!

Peter Bromberg

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