Conference!

This past week I had the pleasure to visit the state library conference. I was looking forward to it all year because the planners wanted to revamp the usual setup and do something amazing and memorable. I think they were highly successful!

The theme was Play Create Innovate. They offered multiple areas to be creative around the conference as well as offering several thoughtful sessions to inspire librarians to be movers, shakers, and makers. I was fortunate to attend all week - Tuesday through Friday. (Thank you, thank you, thank you for letting me attend, home library!) I would love to share all the awesome that went down in GB, but that might take a while, so I'll share the highlights.

Tuesday Early Literacy Pre-Conference with Jim Gill and Ms. Anna - AMAZING! Jim Gill's energy is fantastic and hearing his music live was mesmerizing. Ms. Anna shared all kinds of "flannels" she uses during storytime. Flannels included props, puppets, early literacy activities, and actual flannels.

Wednesday first full day of the State Library Conference - Time to Learn! I opted to go to workshops that focused on outreach to Latinos, American Sign Language in the library, toy lending libraries, and STEM for littles.

Thursday second full day of the State Library Conference - Connections! Conferences are about making connections and Thursday was that day for me. The morning opened with business meetings from sections and roundtables. It was so good to see my Outreach Services team! After the Keynote about UK's Idea Store, children's librarians gathered for Guerilla Storytime. Amazing! Nerve racking! You should do it!! It was such a great, spontaneous way to meet and learn from friends. From there it was classes on makerspaces, creating a professional playground, the concept of digital badges, then working the Idea Store Way.

Friday the third and final day of the State Library Conference - Goodbye, So Long! The final conference day is so bittersweet. I'm looking forward to returning to life's routine and regular sleep, but it's hard to leave the library bubble. I've met amazing people, gathered awesome ideas, and found a new lease on library life!

What's the last conference you attended? What inspired you most?