First of all, how have I not posted anything since APRIL??? I'm so sorry about that! 

Second, Jennifer Abel, current President-Elect of NCSLMA, planned Conference 2022 and I am not looking forward to following the awesomeness that it was. She did a great job and I'm thrilled she'll be helping with the planning of this one.

Third, NCSLMA's Conference could not happen without a slew of people to work on it. You'll see a lot of different names over the next year, some familiar, some not, but everyone who helps is appreciated so much more than I can say. 

T-50 Weeks

Just under one year to go for Conference 2023. 

The theme next year is Magic Happens Here: The magic of books, libraries, and librarians. There is a fun thread in the NCSLMA School Librarians Facebook group about using session titles that are magic-themed. Feel free to join in! We’re keeping this theme in mind when planning every aspect of conference, from swag to speakers to advertising and social media. 

Speaking of keynote speakers, we’re also brainstorming who to invite. Keynote speakers are not free. We pay them a stipend to speak, but we also pay for their travel expenses and hotel accommodations while at the conference. Same for our authors. We love and appreciate everyone that shares their talents at conference.

Since Conference 2022 ended two weeks ago, we have contacted a couple of convention centers to inquire about potentially moving the conference there starting in 2024. Our contract at Benton is up with the 2023 Conference and we are trying to find a location that will be a good fit. 

For the 2023 conference, we are brainstorming what swag we will buy for our members for when they check in. We are considering a planner that has a notebook and address book integrated into it. While it would be a fun little thing, it would also allow you to take down contact information, social media information, and slide deck links in one spot. We’re also looking for more rhinestone lanyards because they were SUPER popular and we ran out. :-)  The bags were also popular, so we’ll try to get those as well. If you have other ideas, feel free to let Kristy or Heath know. kristysartain@ncslma.org or heathradford@ncslma.org 

Because we have a Conference Director for the first time, we are working to figure out exactly what the duties of President-Elect will be going forward and what the Conference Director duties will be. That will probably be an ever-changing document, but having guidelines will make things much easier in the future. I am fortunate to have Heath Radford as the Conference Director so we can build the position together. He is full of ideas and although I’ve already had to tell him No a few times, he doesn’t seem to hate me yet. ;) He is invaluable as a sounding board and idea man and I know he will help make our next few conferences amazing. We will be putting out blog posts about once a week to let you know what goes on behind the scenes of planning a statewide conference for 400+ people. We hope this gives you a better idea of how much work it is and the struggles we encounter as we plan. It is not an overnight process. We’re already starting working on the 2024 conference and it’s only 2022!