I made it to CLI! It only took me 14 years to finally attend. I arrived in Denver shortly before the kickoff reception on Thursday. The evening started by April Campbell welcoming everyone to CLI and setting the expectation for the conference. Steve Dempsey, CLM the Foundation of ALA President shared about the struggles FALA is experiencing on how it can best support ALA. Since FALA is a 501 (C) 3 it needs to come up with some new initiatives for them to get behind. The evening ended with a welcome reception.
We got an early start the next morning with a Welcome session at 8 a.m. The keynote speaker Christopher Meade PhD spoke on Developing Trusted Servant Leadership – A New Kind of Leader for a New Kind of World. Next up did a facilitated networking lunch and followed by breakout sessions. The day ended with a networking reception.
Saturday got rolling with Oliver Yandle JD, CAE giving us an update on the ALA strategic plan. A Town Hall session was held where you could ask the executive board any question related to ALA. Design Labs was next. This was one of my favorite sessions. The concept is when given a situation we as individuals come up with X amount of solutions but when we think aloud with a group we come up with double the amount of solutions. The goal was for the group to come up with suggestion for ALA based on the topic of our Design Lab. Our final break out session was next. The day ended with Leslie Riley motivating the group on Facilitative Leadership – Creating Environments That Empower. As the conference came to a close, I realized how much ALA has to offer us as members that I have not been taking advantage of. Did you know the ALA podcast, white papers, and event planning assistance? Who knew!
I am thrilled I was able to attend CLI and I was not disappointed in how much I learned.
~Karen Turner