Digital Media in a Social World talk

On my way out the door this morning to give my talk at DMSW event at OSU. Finally finished my slides. Here they are:

Social Media Edge- Feb 2010

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OU Athens Talk

I'm heading out tomorrow for my second Athens talk in 30 days. The first one required a cramped 10 hour plane ride, so I'm really looking forward to the second one because it's only a 2 hour car drive - which also means I'll be home for movie night. :)

For those of you attending my talk tomorrow at Alden Library on the OU Athens campus, here's a link to my slides.

Rethinking Bubbles & other thoughts on the future of libraries

PS: Just realized that this is actually my third "Athens" talk this year. I also did a talk in Athens, GA in July. Think I might need to chalk 2009 up as the year of the Athens hat trick. :)

21st Century Libraries keynote ( Greece)

Event was part of the Megaron Plus Lecture Series - Athens, Greece (Nov 11, 2009).

Most of the time when I have the pleasure to speak to audiences about the future of libraries, I'm usually talking a room of librarians or educators. Last week was a little bit different. Last week I had the pleasure to talking to a large group of community citizens at the Megraron, Athens premiere music and cultural center.

Granted, I know that there were many librarians and library officials in the audience -- the nature of the program topic, The 21st Century Library, would naturally attract such a crowd) but the audience was also full of just regular community members (students, business men and even one famous politician - whom I don't know his name) who were just there to learn more about 21st century libraries and to appreciate the free cultural lecture series that is supported by Megaron Plus.

Anyway, the great audience questions and participation at the end did make the event a highlight. For those that asked, here are the slides from my keynote (a condensed and updated version of much longer I have done before). Thanks to all for a great evening of thoughts and conversation.

Finding Pheonix Athens

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Future Library - Greece

ACLA Talk - 24th Thing

In Pittsburgh this am to do a talk for the Allegheny County Library Association (ACLA). My talk is titled the 24th Thing in part because many of the member libraries just completed 23 Things. But it's also titled this because I'm often asked the question "what's the next thing?" For me the "thing" isn't a specific technology. It's a shift in mindset that we need to begin applying 24/7 to our thinking about library services.

Here is a link to my slidedeck that helps outline my thinking, The 24th Thing

GOLD/GALILEO conference

Friday I keynoted the GOLD/GALILEO conference in Athens, GA. Although the humidity seemed uncomfortably high (I swear I thought nimbus clouds were going to form in the lecture hall before my talk was over) it was great to be back in the south surrounded by so many soothing southern drawls. :)

Here's my slide deck for the talk:

Finding the Phoenix

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ALA Recap - Short, sweet & of course, my slides :)

I spent the weekend in Chicago along with 13,000 other librarians meeting with vendors, traveling back-n-forth across town from the hotel to convention center (& every time, I find myself wondering why the McCormick Center was built in area lacking so many conference amenities, like enough nearby hotels and restaurants) and participating in two sessions. The slidedecks from both my talks can be found on Slideshare and linked below.

• A Thousand Words: Taking Better Photos for Telling Stories in Your Library
  Friday, All day preconference with Cindi Trainor & Michael Porter
  
  
• Life After 2.0
  Saturday, 1-2: with , Meredith Farkas, Lori Bell, Michelle Springer & Jed Moffitt

Thanks to those who attended!

CLA 2009 - The Experience of Play

Had a great morning helping to close the Canadian Library Association annual conference in Montreal. Thanks to all who attended my talk & a special thanks to Derrek, Lorianne, Marie-Anne & Amanda for assisting me with some bubble fun on the big stage. :)

CLA Keynote

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Innovation Starts with "I"

Every time I do this talk, I change things up slightly or add something new. Here's the most recent version of Innovation Starts with "I", a webinar I presented for Project Play this morning.

Innovation Start with "I"

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PS: Enjoy the long weekend

AIMS Keynote

This morning I’m keynoting the AIMS Technology Retreat in St. Michaels, Maryland. The conference location is marvelous -- Right on the bay. I’m wishing I could stay longer than just a few hours – and all the programs look great. In addition to the keynote, I’m also doing a follow-up session on Learning 2.0: 23 Things (yup, the requests to talk about this program just never seem to end)

Anyway, for those in attendance, here are links to my slides...

• From Players to Guides: Learning in a Hyperlinked World
  
• Learning 2.0: It’s all about Play

Finding the Phoenix – UGame, ULearn Keynote

When Eric Boekesteijn quoted me on the stage during his talk with Paul Holdengraber at Computers in Library last month, I knew I had pull the idea into a new talk for my keynote at the UGame, ULearn conference in Delft this Thursday.

Anyway, it took me a lot longer then I anticipated to actually pull my thoughts for this talk together, but overall I’m pleased with the results. Here’s my favorite slide from the 63 image deck.


If you’re interested in the full presentation, you can find it on slideshare - Finding The Phoenix: Feathers, Flight & the Future of Libraries

PS: Here also a brief video chat that Kathy Dempsey and I did with Eric in DC that offers a glimpse of what my talk is about.

CIL2009

Lot's of nice buzz this am about my talk on New Strategies for Digital Natives. Here are my slides for those that asked. Thanks for attending

Strategies for Digital Natives

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Nonprofit 2.0: Navigating the Social Media Universe

On the agenda tomorrow is a quick talk for a great local event, Nonprofit 2.0: Navigating the Social Media Universe.

I'm really looking forward to participating in the panel discussion with Marti Post of the Woman's Fund of Central Ohio and Chris Groves of the United Way of Central Ohio. If you take at both of their organization's websites, you can clearly see that they are both helping to set the pace on social media engagement among nonprofits. I'm looking forward to learning lots. Here are my slides ...

Social Media Edge: Ten Steps to Finding Yours

ICE 2009 Talks

My 6 am flight to Chicago for the Illinois Computing Educators conference this morning came far earlier then I anticipated -- Good news is that a double dose of Starbucks did the trick. :) -- but I managed to keep my energy level up for my three back-to-back spotlight sessions.

Fortunately for me a) the talks were all on topics that I have spoken several times on and b) one of the talks I was scheduled as a repeater. The audience at the ICE conference included lots of media specialists, teachers and school educators. So although the talks were familiar to me, the focus of each talk was slightly different. I had several of those, but I also enjoyed a little bit of eavesdropping this morning at the continental breakfast listening to a few school educators consider whether or not they should attend one of my talks. (follow links to see my tweets) :)

For those in attendance, here's a presentation pack of my slides:

| Get your Presentation Pack

Discovery Place Talk @ ALA Midwinter

Getting up @ 3:45 am this morning is not my idea of a sunshine start. Finding out that your 6 am flight is delayed nearly two hours makes me appreciate Starbucks even more.

The airport delay, however, does give me time to post a link to my slidedeck for today's talk at ALA Midwinter on Columbus Metropolitan Library's ILS system, Discovery Place.

Discovery Place, is CML's own homegrown solution which has faithfully supportive the circulation of nearly 320 billion items over last twenty years. It's a true workhorse and well loved among circulation staff for its dependability and quick response.

I know it's very rare to find in-house developed ILS systems, especially for a library system our size (21 locations) and circulation (annual circulation 17.5 million). So that is why I'm heading to ALA today... to share a bit about CML's experience in developing and supporting our own ILS and the strategies we've set to continually meet customer expectations.

Discovery Place ILS – Columbus Metropolitan Library

If you're at ALA midwinter and have interest in this area, you'll find me at the conference center today @ 2 pm speaking about Discovery Place as part of RMG's Nineteenth Annual Presidents' Seminar: The View from the Top -- that is if my flight isn't delayed further.

[off to find more coffee]

My 24th & final for the year

My final talk for this year was yesterday and it couldn't have been a better venue or audience. The staff at Boulder Public Library seriously rock and in touring their Main library and community, it was easy to see why Tony Tallent jumped at the opportunity to become BPL's Library & Arts Director.

For me this last talk of the year was a bit of self-imposed stretching assignment. I wanted to do something for Tony's new staff that was not only playful and fun and but also steered clear of the topics of social media and technology trends -- my typical presentation forte. I think I succeeded in doing both, but I'm always open for suggestions for improvement, Here are my slides:

BPL: Libraries, Learning & Play

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From a quick recap of my calendar, it looks like I did 24 different talks this year and in all of these, it looks like I only used one slide deck twice. That's a lot of talks ... and a lot of stretching.

Thanks Tony & BPL for a awesome day of PLAY!

LILRC Talk

Last Friday was a long day for me. I flew into NYs JFK, drove to Merrick, NY, found a little deli for lunch, gave a three hour (yes, three hours) talk to a great group of librarians from the Long Island Library Resources Council and then jumped back into a car to return to JFK for an 8pm flight home.

It always amazes me when my timing on my talks comes out just right. 120 slides and 3 hours – that’s a long time to talk and a lot of information to share. When I glanced at the clock upon advancing to my last slide, the hands said 3:29 – just one minute to spare :)

For those in attendance, here are my slides:

It’s Not About Us: Exploring Social Media Strategies in Libraries

Encouraging Organizational Innovation

Encouraging innovation at an organizational level can be a stretch for many libraries. “How do I change the culture?” is one question I’m asked often at conferences when I speak and more often the question goes further depending upon who is asking it. From front-line employees and middle management it’s “if administration/management isn’t willing to change.” From administrators and upper managers, it’s “if our front-line managers/employees aren’t willing to change.”

The funny thing for me, is that almost every time I get this question, what I find is that the person asking it really doesn’t want to hear advice on how to change their organization through their own behavior, they want someone else to change theirs instead. This is sorta the premise for my talk tomorrow at the Innovative Environments conference which is appropriately titled “Innovation starts with “I” and, yes ... it’s totally true. Innovation starts at the individual level. Organizations that recognize this and create environments that tap into their employees individuals’ strengths can create a cascading effect that elevates innovation throughout the entire organization.

No matter where you are on the org. chart ladder, you can play a critical role in encouraging innovation in your organization. The key is that you have to be willing to work at innovation from your own organizational perspective in order to build the trust and relationships (either up, down or sideways) which in turns enables innovation to flow throughout the rest of it.

Granted, innovation works faster when all levels of the organization are working in tandem on this. But if your organization bumbling or if you find yourself asking the questions I shared in the first paragraph above, I suggest that the first is really asking yourself, "what can I begin to do now/differently to help move my organization forward?"

For those that are curious or in attendance tomorrow at the Innovative Environments conference, here are my slides.

Innovation Start with "I"

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PS: If your in attendance, please be sure to also stop me and say “hi”

PSS: A huge nod to Tony Tallent, who co-presented an earlier variation of this talk with me at CIL last year. Wish you could be there too!

IABC Columbus Talk

Yesterday I spent some time at OCLC conference center speaking to a great group of folks from IABC Columbus about social media strategies for businesses. The power outages we experienced earlier this week from hurricane Ike -- Yes, for those of you that may not have been aware, Ike caused major damage in central Ohio with winds speeds that measured at a category 1 level. In fact there are may still with out power (5 days now) and the clean-up is still in progress. – kept me from updating this talk completely for a non-library audience. But even so, I managed to find a few good examples of local businesses that were taking advantage of social media tools to engage their customers.

Slides: The Social Media E..E..Edge: Strategies for a 2.0 World

I know there are many other examples from Columbus area businesses and organizations that I could also highlight and since I’ll be doing this talk again (for another Columbus area group) I thought I’d give a shout out to see if you had any other suggestions of good “Columbus” examples of businesses (especially non-profits) that have successfully intergraded social media tools and strategies. COSI’s Community page and NBC4’s Twitter presence are two that I have found., But I know there are others. If you know of any other good examples, please comment

NEFLIN Talks

Friday I spent the day in Jacksonville talking to folks at NEFLIN's (Northeast Florida Library Information Network) annual meeting. The theme of the day was Games People Play and I was happy to deliver both a talk on 23 Things and the afternoon keynote on “Play” strategies for learning. For those in attendance, here are my slides.

• Keynote: From Players to Guides: Learning Strategies for a 2.0 World
  
  
• 23 Things: Ten Tips to Successfully Implement your own Program
  

Thanks NEFLIN for a great day!

CoASIS&T talk

I’m starting a marathon month of presentations tonight after taking the whole summer off from speaking engagements. In a way, I’m glad that I have six presentations stacked up over the next 16 days to do -- I take it as a good challenge -- even though it means that I’ll also be giving up numerous evenings just to prepare for them. It was not my intention to jump back into the swing of things by doing three back-to-back presentations in one week. But when I booked the first two opportunities over 6 months ago, I had no idea that I’d get so many requests locally to speak. The subject of developing social media strategies is really hot right now. And from the number of inquiries I've received, I can attest that there are lots of organizations out there trying to figure this new landscape.

Anyway, enough of September. Tonight is my first talk of the month and I’m pleased to say that my presentation is finally done (jftr. I finished it at 12:08 last night) . For those in attendance tonight at my CoASIS&T talk, thanks for joining me... and here are my slides. Hope you walked away with a few ideas on how to put some “Es” in your libraree. :)

Engage: Librarees & Social Media

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NTRLS Workshop

I’m a few days delayed in posting my slides from my recent workshop for the North Texas Regional Library System. But since I’m determine to go green (no handouts) with all my workshops and talks these days, I feel a little bad that I didn’t have up on before hand.

Originally at 78Mb and 196 slides, it was a killer to crunch 3 hours of content into something that Slideshare could handle. But I finally succeeded.

Learning 2.0: It's about ...

Thanks Adam, Carolyn, Donna and all the folks from NTRLS. I had a great time and enjoyed the conversation.

OhioNet Talk

It’s been just at a week since I spoke at the OhioNet board annual planning meeting, so I have to apologize to those in attendance at the delay in getting the slides from my talk posted.

Slideshare has been up and down this past week and my internet access sketchy. Fortunately both seemed to have worked out their kinks. :)

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ACPL Visit

Allen County Public Library has been on my radar to visit ever since I saw the iACPL video series. Today I got my chance and I wasn’t disappointed. The library and staff are just as awesome as I had imagined and I great time talking to them about libraries, learning, perceptions and present trends.

For those in attendance for either of my two talks, here are my slides. I actually ended up doing two different, but related talks. So depending upon whether you attend the 8 or 11 am sessions, only one set of slides of may look familiar. :)

• Libraries, Learning & Play
  
  
• Reality Check 2.008: 7 Principles, Perceptions & Present Trends affecting Libraries & Digital Space

PS: And a HUGE thanks for the very fun L2.0 video. I’ve been ribbed for creating a new gang symbol - LOL ;)

Thanks everyone at ACPL for a great day!

TechConnections 2.0.0.8

I’m both keynoting and speaking at my first Ohio library conference tomorrow and am really looking forward to it. It’s a brand new talk, which has actually been a work in progress since last August, but since most of my available time for speaking is booked out months in advance, it’s taken me this long to find the perfect opportunity to test it out.

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Anyway, for those of you attending the TechConnections conference tomorrow please be sure to say hello. Here are my slides in advance. And if you're attending, I’d really appreciate your feedback on this new talk.

DFW TxLA Presentation

As I sat in the airport waiting for my flight home, I just couldn’t get this song out of my head. I’m a huge Stevie Ray Vaughn fan and one of my favorite albums was the one he cut with his brother, Family Style, just before the crash.

Anyway, enough of Stevie Ray, Jimmie and great Texas rock. My trip to Dallas unfortunately didn’t provide me with exposure to any, but I did have a great time meeting folks at TxLA and talking to them about Learning 2.0.

For those of you in the audience for my 2 hour talk looking for my slides, you can find them HERE. And for those who want a sampling of some great Stevie Ray & Jimmie Vaughn guitar playing, here’s a short track courtesy of LastFM.

Innovation Starts with "I"

When I saw that the Innovation & Change track that I was moderating was up on the 3rd floor a bit away from the center of the all the other conference activity, I was a little worried. But when you have a great line up of speakers and good topic, it more than makes up for the elevator ride.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who joined me for the part (or the whole day). Tony and I had fun kicking off the track with our talk. Here are our slides.

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PS: If you’re looking for the video invitation that we showed in the end I hope to post a link to it soon. Tony did that one, so I’ll defer to him.

From Avatars to Advocacy Pre-conference

Wow! What a great day of ideas bounced around this afternoon during the pre-conference that Michael Porter and I gave on “un-marketing.” And thanks to Nicole Engard and her skillful picture taking, we also have all the post-it note ideas capture on Flickr.

During the break, Michael and I must have had at least a half dozen people run in and ask if our slides were going to be available online, and they weren't even signed up for our pre-con. Anyway, the final merged version of our combined talk isn’t up yet (at least I don’t think) but hopefully will be soon. In the meantime, you can view at least half the slides here from my contribution ...

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In all it was a really enjoyable pre-conference full of great discussion and great ideas. Thanks all!

NSLS Presentations

Two presentations today, spanning five hours of talking -- that my voice is extremely tired this evening, I don't think should surprise anyone. :)

Anyway, for those of you attending either of my two different sessions at NSLS, here are my slides:

• Learning 2.0: Lessons Learned from “Play”
  
  
• Engage: Using 2.0 Technologies in Libraries

An enjoyable day, but I must admit I'm glad for one thing... silent plane rides home :)

WebWise Presentation

Thanks to all in the audience this morning for the WebWise session, Introduction to Web 2.0 for Libraries & Museums. The panel discussion was great, but not long enough (at least IMHO) I really wanted to see more of Holly’s great slides and also hear more thoughts from Rob, Beth & Paul.

Anyway… here are my slides.

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PS: For those who think a trip to Miami sounds wonderful this time of year, let me just leave you with this... It was raining when I left Columbus yesterday. It was raining (actually pouring) when I left Maimi this afternoon. :(

Suffolk County Library Assoc. Presentation

My first visit to Long Island today to speak at the SCLA CATS annual meeting (& later in the day to the Suffolk County Library Directors) was a cold one. In fact, it was too cold to jump into the pool, let along stick my toes in the water… unless of course, it’s the web 2.0 learning pool. :)

For those in attendance – btw thanks for the warm reception (no pun intended) -- here are my slides: Jumping into the 2.0 Pool

Intro slides from Lynette Webb's Interesting Snippets Flickr set

PS: Outside of my quick trip to LI, I'm in Columbus all this week meeting staff, getting orientated, house hunting etc. It's chilly there as well... but only outside & because of Mother Nature. Inside, the reception is just as warm. I think I'm gonna love it at CML. :)

SCLA Keynote w/ Michael Casey

Doing the closing keynote for the SCLA conference this morning was fun. And what made it completely enjoyable was that neither Michael nor I had prepared any speaking notes. Instead we decided to "2.0 it" and just share thoughts and reflections related to "Interesting Snippets" created by Lynette Webb.

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In retrospect, perhaps the presentation might have been better titled just simply “unplugged” rather then "a blue sky conversation." But either way it was nice break from the pre-rehearsed package and thanks to all the added audience comments it made conversation even more enjoyable.

Thanks to all in attendance for sharing your thoughts and perspectives. If there’s one thing we can't have enough of within the profession ... it’s just conversation and idea sharing. :)

PS: Lynette Webb’s Interesting Snippets Flickr set & Interesting Snippets book (new!)

IL 2007 Presentation

Murphy's Law is notorious for making a showing, especially whenever I do large crowd presentations, so I've learned to just keep on talking and reply on someone else to troubleshoot the technical part. This year at IL 2007 it was no different. The screen went dark 7 minutes into my talk, but thanks to Meredith and Rebecca Jones the audience was visually handicapped for only 3 or 4 minutes.

Anyway, for those is attendance thanks for hanging in while I jabbered. Here are my slides, in case you missed seeing graphics... Lego Building: Learning Through Play!

NCLA Presentation & thoughts

One would think that after nearly a year of speaking about Learning 2.0 that I would be tired of the subject -- and in some ways I am -- but like this morning, once I get started talking about the importance of incorporating and encouraging “play” into the work flow, I discover a renewed energy for the subject.

This morning I had the pleasure to speak to a group at the NCLA conference and their questions afterwards were both numerous and familiar. However, I did field one question among the bunch that surprisingly within the last year I have not gotten before. A young librarian in the back asked “What was your rational for allowing non-public service staff to participate in the program and get a MP3 player?”

For a moment the question took me back a bit (perhaps it was the phrasing or the tone). But to me it seemed to imply that libraries have two classes of personal; those up front who work with the public and those in the back who do all the other stuff.

I've encountered this divisional attitude many times in libraries before and to be honest, it irritates me. Everyone in libraries works for “the customer.” In reality we’re all “public services!” regardless of how many steps or doors are between us and the customer. Anyway, nuff said on this front. That's for another post. To end, I'll just share with you my response...

“ Since the program was both voluntary and optional for staff to participate in, and provided a reward, it was important that it not be discriminatory. Besides, it’s not only those that work with the public that need to be familiar with these new tools. In our library system we’ve also incorporated many of these tools in our staff communication on our intranet. For example, our system wide strategic plan is available for all staff via a wiki and many departments use blogs for communication. With this in mind, it would be shortsighted to only think that public service staff could benefit from the program. Everyone who works in libraries should be given the opportunity to learn.”

PS: For those in attendance, my presentation slides are here (sorry the “rocky” montage doesn’t work in Slideshare).

ILI Presentation

Wow, what a full day here at Internet Librarian International. In addition to finally meeting in person several people that I've come to know through either their blogs, Flickr or Facebook, I also attended several great sessions.

What amazed me most about the day (and what I also wasn't prepared for) was finding out just how far the concept of the 23 Things program has spread. Portugal is starting it soon, it was just started in the Netherlands, and it's also being launched on Oct 23rd in Sweden (and their using Ning). There's a project underway in Germany to translate it and it's already been completed in Denmark and now the Danish libraries are working on developing "23 Tings +" for their library users. This truly amazes me and what's most rewarding is seeing the concept of "play" taking hold all over the grid. In my mind, I think it just goes to show how powerful online learning networks can be.

For my part at ILI, I participated in an afternoon program along with Bente Jensen and Sara Jorgensen from the Copenhagen and Henning public libraries and as promised here are my slides and a few links to follow:



Links:

• Learning 2.0: 23 Things
• Learning 2.1: Explore Discover Play!

Bonus:

• Wave video of room crowd
  
• Video of me capturing the wave video
  (taken by Rob Coers - Thanks Rob! )

CML Tour & Presentation

I’ve always wanted to see the Columbus Metropolitan Library system and Tuesday I got my chance. After talking to a great crowd of staff about 2.0 stuff for two hours, I received a fast (but fantastic) world wind tour of four of their branches (Linden, Gahanna, Northern Lights & New Albany).

What impressed me most about the tour was how jammed packed almost every location was. In the first two branches we visited, I don’t think there was a spare open seat in the whole house.

Homework Help centers, recently opened in at least 8 libraries over the last two weeks, were jamming and the centers, in addition to having school supplies on hand for kids, even have copies of all the local schools' text books.

Anyway, I know elementary school homework doesn’t actually fit in with the topic I delivered that afternoon. But for me, it was seeing these libraries nearly busting at the seams with kids, parents and tutors working on the basics, that made the biggest impact.

For those at CML, thanks so much for the warm reception. Here’s my slides and links to the videos as promised, and even the little video I captured off my camera of a CML staff wave.

Presentation: 2.0 isn't a "thing" It's a shift & a ... (pdf)
Videos: Shift Happens (Note: better version then the one I used last week @SC)
        Librarian 2.0 Manifesto
        CML Wave on Youtube

Flickr photos from CML.

PS: Oh, I forgot to mention... the space in CML's Operations Center is to die for.

Santa Cruz presentation

By east coast time it’s 2 o’clock in the afternoon, but here in Santa Cruz it’s still morning and I’ve just finished talking to staff members from both the SCPL and UCSC about web stuff, library stuff and 2.0 stuff - yup! "things" :)

Up right now is Dale Poor, a Certified Google Teacher (note: He doesn’t work for Google, but rather is a certified teacher and high school multimedia educator - neat!) who is showing us Picasa, Google Docs, Google Pages, Google Earth, Google Reader and Google Labs. Lots to play with and lots to have fun with here.

Anyway, as promised, here are my slides to my presentation and the links to the two videos:

Presentation: 2.0 isn't a "thing" It's a "shift" & a ..." (pdf)
Videos: Did you know? (aka Shift Happens)
           A Librarians 2.0 Manifesto

Thanks to everyone from SCPL and UCSC for a wonderful reception and best of luck on your Learning 2.0 journeys.

PULISDO presentation

I’m at the airport right now and heading back home after a quick turnaround trip to upstate NY to speak to library system directors at the PULISDO gathering in Utica. Driving over from Syracuse I phoned my hubby, who is from this area. “How’s it look?” he asked. “Nice & green” I responded with a smile.

Indeed, this area of the country is beautiful with it's lazy rolling hills and miles of green pastures. Compared to NC which is currently looking very brown, dry, and brittle, it was a very pleasant sight.

Anyway, enough on the color commentary. For those in attendance today for my talk here are my slides from my program.

Thanks for the lively conversation and comments. It’s always nice to have so many people add their thoughts and views to the presentation. Dialogue is good... not to mention it's also nice indication that I (or the topic) didn't bore you to death. :)

PULISDO: Library & Learning 2.0: It's about ... Play! (.pdf)

VSL & NSWSL Presentations ( ... & other thoughts)

My feet are killing me tonight. After delivering two sessions today at the New South Wales State Library, I walked all over the Sydney harbor area taking a last look before my flight home tomorrow.

My visit to Australia has been indeed memorable. But what has made the visit especially wonderful has been the feeling that I’ve encountered several times on this trip as I met folks like Lynette, Denise, Christine & Kathryn in person for the first time. It’s hard to describe to the feeling; the best way I can is to say that it felt more like a reunion between old friends. And I guess in a way that’s one of the biggest benefits of all these web 2.0 technologies. Because of blogs and social networks, I already knew these individuals virtually. So when meeting them IRL there was already a foundation and familiarity that made it feel more like a home coming then an encounter with new acquaintance.

Anyways, enough on my visit. If you’re interested in my travels, you can check out my pics in Flickr. In the meantime, for those in attendance for my presentations during the last two days, here are my slides in pdf.

Victoria State Library, Melbourne

• Library 2.0: Transforming the Library Through the Web (.pdf)
  
• ImaginOn (slideshare) - PS: Thanks Lois for sharing this. :)
  
• YouTube audience video.

New South Wales State Library, Sydney

• Library & Learning 2.0 (.pdf)
  
• YouTube audience video
  
• Bonus: Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto video

PS: Thanks All! Looking forward to seeing many of you at VALA.

Public Libraries – A Cultural Pearl Presentation

If I've learned anything so far during my visit down under it’s these two things:

1. The Aussies are fabulous hosts
   
2. Wireless access can be expensive (see proof)

Of course the first item more than makes up for the second. :)

Anyway, I’m half way through my trip and after spending the last few days in Merimbula on the Sapphire Coast with no wireless accesss, I’m actually staying tonight at hotel in Lakes Entrance that offers 24 hours of wireless access for only a mere $5 – yay! (Hmmm... perhaps I was wrong on item #2 after all. But I've yet to find free wifi anywhere like it is in the US -- Although I'm told public libraries here in Australia do!)

Anyway, for those in attendance yesterday for my talk at the New South Wales Public Libraries conference, here are my slides. Thanks for a wonderful conference and good conversation. I had a great time!

Library & Learning 2.0 (.pdf)

Tutzing, Berlin & Frankfurt Presentations

It's been an amazing week of conversations and good company. Each and everytime I spoke with either an individual or a group of German librarians, I walked away with not only a wonderful feeling that the world has indeed grown smaller, but also that the issues facing libraries are more global then ever.

It was such a pleasure to talk with librarians, teachers and journalists from all over the Germany in Tutzing, Berlin & Frankfurt, and while the speaking schedule that the American Counsulate set up seemed a bit packed at times, I've enjoyed my stay in throughly.

I finally was able to get FTP to work tonight from my hotel in Frankfurt. So for those of you that who wish to have a copy of my talk, please feel free to grab it.

Library 2.0: Transforming the Library through the Web (ppt)

Also a special thanks to Joerg, Patricia, Marianne, Renata, Nancy & Miriam for making my stay fantastic!

And for those fo you looking for a German version of Learning 2.0 (or are willing to help translate it) be sure to touch base with Patrick over at Bibliothek 2.0 und Mehr ... ( Patrick - u rock!)

UPDATE: A wiki has been setup for the German version of Learning 2.0. You can find it here.

Related link: America@your library

July

If I seem a bit absent around here for the greater part of the month of July, it’s for good reason…

• July 2-4 Conference: New Media and Multicultural America: Digital, Dynamic, Diverse, Democratic, American Consulate, Tutzing, Germany (Yup - I'll be working 4th)
  

• July 5th Presentation & discussion: Web 2.0 - Library 2.0 – Learning 2.0, US Embassy in Berlin, Germany
  
  
• July 6th Presentation & discussion, Library 2.0: Transforming the Library ( & other information agents*) through the Web, Frankfurt University Library, Frankfurt, Germany
  

• July 17-20 Conference: NSW Public Libraries Conference, Merimbula NSW, Australia
  

• July 23 – Workshop: Libraries, Web 2.0 and other Internet stuff, Victoria State Library, Melbourne, Australia

• July 24 – Workshop: 2.0: Libraries, Learning & the Web, New South Wales State Library Workshop, Sydney, Australia

It’s a real privilege to be speaking and representing PLCMC at an international level. But in looking ahead, I know I will be most happy to see the last part of the month come 'cause it's going to kill me to be away from David & the girls for so long. In the meantime, we've synchronized a Skype schedule so we can touch base daily. (thank goodness for Voip) And once I get back, I’ve assured them that I’ll be home for a long, lonng, lonnnnng time. ---->> I’ll have to be, cause I'll be out of vacation. :)

Anyway, if you happen to be among those attending any of these events, please be sure you stop me and say hello. The best thing about the social web is that it provides the ability to make acquaintances, connections and friends all over the globe. :)

* "information agents" - I love this term they use, don't you? It connects so wonderfully with the "change agent" badge I picked up at ALA. It kinda makes me feel like I need code name or something ... :)

ALA 2007 Presentation

With so many ways to explore the use of web 2.0 technologies as marketing and outreach tools, I decided to focus my 20 minutes at the podium (or rather on the floor) this morning talking and providing examples that related to this one slide:



For me, this is really what web 2.0 is all about. Tools that allow users to express themselves, participate in the conversation, and a celebrate and showcase their individual talents. So in looking at web 2.0 and the potential that they hold as marketing tools, it's important to realize that "the library" is really not about us (aka the library, it's staff, and services); it's about our community. And what better way to market to your community and create a sense of ownership then by letting your community members use your brand to celebrete and market themselves.

There's not a lot of text in these slides, but there are several great examples.

ALA 2007 Presentation - Web 2.0: From Avatars to Advocates (.pdf) *

Thanks to everyone who attended the session this morning with Michael Stephens, Steven Bell & I. The conversations and ideas from the group exercise were so excellent. My only regret is that we didn't have PCs at every table, so that each group could have entered their ideas and current uses of "hot technologies" from their libraries in a wiki using the conference's free wireless. Hmmm... perhaps next time. :)

*From panel presentations for LAMA: Ignite your Library's Marketing & Outreach using Hot Technologies, June 25, 2007

LCPL Staff Day

Yesterday I had the pleasure of participating in Loudoun County Public Library’s staff day along with Stephen Abram (I never tired of hearing Stephen speak). It was great day of conversation which culminated in an idea and brainstorming session with their entire staff about how to use 2.0 tools to improve library services.

At first when I saw the outline for the day that Deputy Director Cindy Timmerman had outlined, I was a bit worried that we might be pressing our luck to keep staff engaged in a 45 minute session at the end of the day. But I was pleased to see I was wrong. Not only did the staff keep throwing out ideas, but as the ideas started to float around, we learned that one staff member had already provided leadership in developing a library wiki, Loudounpedia, and senior staff had launched the “Ask Away” blog to support internal communication and dialogue! All this in addition to having nearly 50% of their staff completing LCPL's Learning 2.0 - Wow!

Anyway, for those in attendance for my talk, here are my slides (pdf).

And to Doug, Cindy, Mary Lou, Linda, Virginia & everyone at LCPL – thanks for the conversation, hospitality and T-shirt. You guys definitely have the best summer reading t-shirt that I’ve ever seen.

MLS/NSLS Presentation

As promised, here are my slides from the Metropolitan Library System and North Suburban Library System's joint staff workshop, Library 2.0: Delivering Twice the Value.



All in all, a great day! It was pleasure to meet and talk to so many staff during the this event and I especially enjoyed getting to meet superpatron Ed Vielmetti and Blue Skunk blogger, Doug Johnson, for the first time.

NJLA Presentations

Well I finally got around to trying Slideshare and I must say I’m impressed. Uploading my slides was cinch and the flash player can be embedded into my blog with ease.

Since I have two presentations at NJLA conference tomorrow, I’m opting for the easy route and just linking to both presentations from here. I have to thank Lori Reed and Julia Lanham, PLCMC staff trainer extraordinaires, for developing such a great staff program and for assistance in working up a 45 minute talk for tomorrow. Ideally it would be great if they could delivered the program themselves. But being one of the champions of the program, as well as PLCMC’s first staff trainer, I feel I'm in a pretty good position to share all their excellent work as a runner up. :)

As for Learning 2.0, I am always happy to speak about encouraging staff to explore and play. Listed below are links to the slides (in SlideShare) and supporting stuff. For those in attendance at either of my talks tomorrow, please be sure to say "Hello".

Presentations:

PLCMC Core Competencies
Learning 2.0

Lots of supporting stuff (links to pdfs, etc) for both presentations can be found from the post I did about my CIL talk last week - which was a greatly condensed version of both presentations.

PS: Yay! for Charlotte Douglas airport, who has free wifi - even all the way down terminal B. :) Pah! to USAirways, who's delayed my flight for over a hour. :(

CIL 2007 Talk

Helen Blowers on Learning 2.0
Originally uploaded by madinkbeard.

For those of you in the audience for my CIL talk tomorrow, here's some links to the slides and follow up references:

CIL 2007 talk: From Core Competencies to Learning 2.0 (slides)


Core Competencies:

• PLCMC Core Competencies lists - 4 tiers (.pdf)
  
• The C’s of Our Sea Change: Plans for Training Staff, from Core Competencies to LEARNING 2.0, Computers in Libraries magazine, Feb 2007
• Technology Competencies and Training for Libraries, ALA TechSource Reports, Mar/Apr 2007
• WebJunction: Technology Competencies

Learning 2.0:

• LEARNING 2.0 Blog
  
• Learning 2.0: 23 Things
  
• Customizing Learning 2.0
  
• Nine best Practices for Learning 2.0
  
• List of other libraries doing Learning 2.0 (in Del.icio.us)
  
• Learning 2.0 in the news

Technorati Tags: learning 2.0, cil2007

SDI Exec Conference Follow-up

Being the last speaker for the day is always a hard spot to fill, especially after all the audience members have been saturated with lunch, dessert and a monster cookie break ... and it also doesn't help to be the only obstacle left before the complimentary cocktail hour. :) Anyway, for those of you in attendance for my talk this afternoon at the SirsiDynix Institute Executive Conference, here are the slides from my presentation on Learning 2.0

You can gather more details from the SirsiDynix talk archived as both a podcast and webcast. But for more information about the program also check out these links:

• Learning 2.0: Program Notes
  
• Learning 2.0: Customizing Learning 2.0
  
• Learning 2.0: 9 Best Practices

...and in the press this month:

• The C’s of Our Sea Change: Plans for Training Staff, from Core Competencies to LEARNING 2.0, Computers in Library, Feb 2007
  
• A Roadmap to Learning 2.0, American Libraries Feb 2007
  
• 15 Minutes ad Day: A Personal Learning Management Strategy , Information Outlook Feb 2007

TBLC Talk

Tomorrow the folks at the Tampa Bay Library Consortium are kicking off their Learning 2.0 Challenge. It’s great to see more libraries jumping on board with these types of learning opportunities for staff and from the looks of it TBLC has put together an awesome program.

From those in attendance for my talk tomorrow, here’s a few links that will be helpful:

• Jumping into the 2.0 pool... without getting wet – slides (.pdf)
  
• TBLC Del.icio.us account – links to sites talked about.

Relieved ... [wipes brow] ... :) (SDI Webcast)

I can't tell you how relieved I am to have today's SirsiDynix Institute talk on Learning 2.0 behind me. With my training background and all the hours that I've logged standing in front of group of people, it seems very rare for me these days to work up a good sweat about speaking in public. But for some reason this online thing really threw me for a loop. The main thing I find mind boggling about it, is that 1) there's no way to see the faces of the people you're talking to so you can judge their reactions, and 2) you also don't have audio (laughter, chuckles, moans) to go by. For 50 - 60 minutes straight, your voice just has to fill a dead space in the hopes that some of what you may be saying is making sense to your audience.

Anyway, I'm glad it's over and although I barely slept last night, I feel pretty good about the presentation and was happy to see I was able to cover all the material with just a few minutes to spare.


In a review of my comments, a co-worker did point out one glaring piece of miscommunication in my presentation. So for those of who you attended, let me correct this here. The budget for Learning 2.0 project was 10K, not 1K as I blunder in the online presentation. I'm hopeful that some of you did do the math as I suggested, because 226 mp3 players (one for every participant who completed L2) x 38/player definitely comes out to more than $1000. Add to this figure (roughly $8500) and a new laptop that was raffled off at the end and you get the actual budget of $10K.

With that one misquote aside, everything else I shared was pretty much on target. If you're interested in the slides, I'll try and post them tonight they're added below. In the meantime, thanks to all who joined me on the nerve racking adventure. In retrospect, it wasn't that bad and yes, I think I could do one of those again. I'm just incredibly relieved to have this first one behind me and now all I want to do is get home and recapture my lost sleep.

Slides: Make Play your New Year's resolution (pdf)

PS: Archive of the event should also be up in a week or two.

TALDC Talk

Speaking to the Tidewater Area Library Director’s Council this morning about Web 2.0/Learning 2.0 in Williamsburg, VA was a pleasure. The conversation was enlightening. The accommodations, enjoyable. And the companionship, engaging (thanks again Elizabeth for serving as my tour guide) – Yup, there are those “e” words again.

Anyway, as added bonus to traveling to speak this great group of public library directors from the Virginia/DC area, I also had the opportunity to hear both Nancy Davenport and Jim Rettig speak on their candidacy for ALA presidency -- and I didn’t even have to attend mid-winter. :)

For those of you that were in attendance, here is a copy of my slides. I’m so thrilled to hear that as a larger organization you’re looking at continuing the conversation and launching some 2.0 learning opportunities for staff of your own. Engage, empower & evolve - Yup that’s what Librarees are all about. :)

Librarees: Encouraging Participation, Empowering Users (.pdf)