I took it pretty easy this morning, sleeping in until after 8 and not getting to the conference hotel until 9:30. My first presentation was on EbscoHost (see previous post for links, I’m lazy…) and went pretty well. My part was not terribly polished and on the short side, but overall there were lots of good questions and lots of head-nodding, so things were fairly well received. My boss was in the back row, threatening to make faces at me as I talked until water shot out of my nose. I made eye contact with every person (around 50 or so) in that room – but him. No water leakage!
The second presentation – the one I did with Bobbi went REALLY well. It was our second time doing it and we were very comfortable with the material and each other. I did manage to make eye contact with everyone in the room again (even my boss, who just looked proud that we were on his staff, as opposed to making crazy faces) and got even more good head-nodding feedback (and great, sometimes hard, questions, too!). At the end of the presentation, one woman came up and asked us if we could do this program at her library for her staff. It’s not official yet, but we are hoping to be able to take this dog-and-pony show out on the road soon!!
After the presentations, and lunch at Red Lobster, we separated and I went out to the “Library Central” building of the Springfield-Greene Library. It’s a beautiful building with LOTS of cool features (including a permanent Friends shop and a cafe). I noticed they used the SAM PC Management Software – the same one we use – and so I got to speak to the head of Reference (who selects which software is used for their public computers) about their experiences with it. It was all-in-all a great use of my time – even if I did miss a few sessions at the conference. After that, as I was driving back to the hotel, I detoured at the world famous Bass Pro Shop and went through their museum, shopping areas and arcade. It was fun! Now I’m back at the hotel, checking email, posting this and killing time until 9, when the “Hollywood Librarian” movie will be shown.
