I spent much of my morning going over my notes for my panel session in the afternoon. I did manage to get to the end of the Art of Presenting workshop. It was really good and I hope they are able to present again at future conferences.
The highlight of my day was being a panelist for "Stepping up the ladder: Succession planning in libraries". Maud Mundava and Angiah Davis were kind enough to invite me to speak alongside Camila Alire, Peggy Johnson, and Ravi Sharma. I was the final speaker, and asked by Maud and Angiah to speak about challenges in moving up, how my association involvement related to my moving up, and what advice I would offer for others interested in stepping up the ladder. The title I gave to my section was "From Professional Leadership to Leadership Professional." I talked about my internal and external barriers for moving, as Camila Alire characterized it, from level four to level three in the organization. Next I discussed the networking, mentoring, leadership, and organizational understanding opportunities that involvement in professional associations have provided for me. Finally, I offered the pieces of advice for those on all rungs of the ladder related to succession planning in the profession.
A summary of our program is here. I think my presentation was well received. I am glad I was invited to participate in this session. It was a great opportunity for me to think about where I am in my career right now and what I've learned along the way. It's been useful to contextualize my goals in the profession and understand just how I got here. I definitely think this is the start of something for me.
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I enjoyed a great dinner with several people at The Continental. The highlight of dinner was playing "two truths and a lie". I actually did pretty well guessing the false statement. The food was tasty, but the company was better.
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After dinner we went to the all-conference reception at the National Constitution Center. On our way to the reception we had the nicest taxi driver. He was almost done with his shift and had picked up a gift for his girlfriend's birthday. I held the big Macy's box on my lap while I rode in the front seat. The cab driver spoke so fondly about her and hopeful she'd enjoy the gift. All of us approved.
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