If you were unable to join us today, here’s what happened at our virtual lunch recap of the SLA 2011 Conference!

The Rocky Mountain Chapter was joined by the Rio Grande Chapter for Q&A session with the SLA President-Elect Candidates David Cappoli and Deb Hunt.

Q: Could the candidates speak to what an alternative or different model for conference might look like?

Q: What ideas do you have for bringing a multidisciplinary audience to SLA conferences or partnering to enable librarians to attend non-librarian conferences under member registration fees and get CE credits?

Q: What changes  would you like to see in SLA’s business model to ensure financial sustainability. “In your opinion, how can SLA’s leadership improve transparency with its members?

Q: What are your thoughts on marketing SLA membership outside the traditional MLS/MLIS audience? (e.g., is publicizing our training events a good pull?)

Check out the SLA Blog with all the SLA candidates’ answers to questions: http://slablogger.typepad.com/sla_blog/2011-candidates/

The Presidents from Rocky Mountain (Julie Cavender) and Rio Grande (Nora Stoecker) chapters spoke about their experiences at the SLA 2011 Conference. We also heard from RMSLA Director, Connie Clem, about her experience with the virtual conference component. The  SLA 2011_Recap slides are available for download. Here’s one more quotable from a CI Session:

“Information is everywhere, insight is rare”

There were a record number 22 people in attendance! Sure there were a few technical glitches and we got through them.  It was great having Rio Grande members participate and contribute. We hope to have more collaborative events in the future. And thank you to David and Deb for speaking to our Chapters!

I tracked two separate conferences this past week via Twitter, LinkedIn, and various visual platforms, and SLA wins hands down! The divisional hashtags, the conference twitterstream on the SLA site, the option to be a virtual participant — all have made it so much easier to if not fully participate at least benefit, learn remotely, and provide value-added to our communities. In fact, there is enough value that I will be able to write up a report for my management, convincing them of the importance of supporting this professional affiliation with both time and money. In many cases I have links to presentations, I have SMEs to follow up with, I have trends and resources and vendors we need to be aware of, and my chapter colleagues are now returning and will share even more with me.

The other conference’s tweets were primarily bland PR items from the organization’s communications squad, and there are 2,300 people there, a strong emerging youth cohort, and weak social media. SLA, to put it mildly, ROCKS!!

I’d like to extend thanks to Ellen Naylor for reporting back from the CI Division’s activities, and to Joe Kraus, Scott Brown, Julie Cavender, Marcy Phelps, Mary Ellen Bates, everyone who’s been giving us homekeepers the flowdown – keep writing! Connie Clem, your comments as a virtual attendee have been an eye-opener, I didn’t know that being a virtual attendee could be such a rich experience. THANK YOU everyone!

A few of us RMSLA chickens have spent the last 3 1/2 days participating in the virtual SLA conference. Overall the tech side worked wonderfully, and we had great tech support folks online with us. The virtual program was limited to the keynotes and “spotlight sessions” identified here – (bottom of page) –
http://sla2011.tornado1.com/general-information/virtual-component/

Exchanges/chat with other virtual attendees (known and new, close and from far away) have been fun and useful. And, recorded sessions are available to virtual attendees and people who sprung for an additional fee on their in-person registration. Overall recommendation – if you can’t make it to the physical conference next year (in Chicago, July 15-18), consider attending virtually.

Conference highlights are noted on Twitter at #sla2011. Another filter is the @slavw (sla virtual worlds) account. Other units have their own tags, such as the Competitive Intelligence Division at #SLACID.

For more on the virtual experience, here’s a report from Jane Macoustra –

Day 1
http://slablogger.typepad.com/sla_blog/2011/06/sla-2011-conference-in-philadelphia-the-virtual-conference.html

Day 2
http://slablogger.typepad.com/sla_blog/2011/06/the-sla-2011-conference-in-philadelphia-the-virtual-conference-day-2.html

Day 3
http://slablogger.typepad.com/sla_blog/2011/06/the-sla-2011-conference-in-philadelphia-the-virtual-conference-day-3.html

RMSLA also was well represented by speakers and panelists at the conference, including Ellen Naylor, Scott Brown, Mary Ellen Bates, and Marcy Phelps. If I’m leaving anyone out, I plead virtual access only. Speak up and let us know.

Kudos to everyone who made it all happen. All you travelers, get home safely. Looking forward to the June 22 recap virtual lunch session next week!