Library Conference Planning 101:

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It was a dark and stormy night. The streets had
the faint odor of unwashed clothes. A
bone-chilling scream cut through the night like a
knife through hot butter. It was an all too
familiar sound.the sound of a conference
planning committee with their
BACKS TO THE WAAL
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OUR CAST OF CHARACTERS
Jim Buckett -- Head, Collections, Access
Technical Services, Steenbock Library,
UW-Madison Sylvia Contreras -- Library Director,
Oscar Rennebohm Library, Edgewood College Julie
Schneider -- Assistant Director for Information
Resources and Scholarly Communication, Ebling
Library, UW-Madison Deb Duncan --Technical
Services Librarian, Polk Library, UW-Oshkosh Eric
J. Robinson -- Wisconsin Library Services,
Memorial Library, UW-Madison
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Valerie Malzacher, DirectorChalmer Davee
Library, UW-River Falls Karen Dunn, Information
Services, Steenbock Library, UW-Madison Ulrike
Dieterle, Distance Services Outreach
Coordinator, Ebling Library, UW-Madison
Gretchen Revie, Reference Librarian, Lawrence
University, Appleton, WI Nathan Dowd, MATC
Library, Library Technology Coordinator, Madison,
WI Heather Weltin, Interlibrary Loan, Memorial
Library, UW-Madison John Elliott, Head of
Technical Services and Technology Librarian,
Oscar Rennebohm Library, Edgewood College Andrea
Kenny, Head of Public Services and Reference
Librarian Oscar Rennebohm Library, Edgewood
College Maureen Olle-LaJoie, Head of Library
Technology and Circulation, Chalmer Davee
Library, UW-River Falls
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First call from Valerie Malzacher My call to
Sylvia Contreras March 2006 Finalizing the
committee making sub committee task
appointments May-June 2006 WAAL 2006 Final
Report June 2006 WAAL Bling t-shirts and the
WAAL pin
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General Conference Planning Outline
First Planning Meeting at the Wintergreen Resort
- July 2006 Working with WLA and Lisa Strand
July 2006 Setting a Theme July/August
2006 WAAL Call to Conference September
2006 WAAL Luncheon Speakers September 2006 WAAL
Conference Website September 2006 WLA Poster
Session October 2006 WAAL Program Call and
Outline November 2006 WAAL Social Events and
Tours November 2006 WAAL Poster Session Call
November 2006 WAAL Donor and Vendor Support
January March 2007 WAAL Program Book February
April 2007 WAAL Conference April 17-20,
2007 WAAL Survey July 2007 WAAL Report for WAAL
2008 August 2007
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PROGRAM PLANNING

• 2-Person Program Planning Team
• August 1st call for programs sent
• Reminders sent out in September and October
• Call for Programs extended by 1 week
• Team meets in the Rathskeller with the list and a
  chart of program slots
• December Speaker contracts and equipment need
  documents sent out
• Slots filled and our work is now done?

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PROGRAMMING CHALLENGES

• More programs than time slots.
• Programs arriving past the deadline
• Requests for other stuff meeting space,
  vendor space, etc.
• Questions about conference registration etc.
• Cancellation of program in February
• Conference starts in 7 weeks, now our work is
  done?

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SECURING A KEYNOTE SPEAKER

• July 2006 Initial email to Stephen Abram about
  being a keynote speaker
• August 2006 Acceptance of keynote speaker offer
• September 2006 Stephen Abrams agrees to
  expenses and honorarium
• March 2007 Stephen emails to say that his
  flight was changed and he can not now be the
  keynote speaker for WAAL
• March 2007 Plan B

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D
E
S
I
G
N

raphics
D
Conference theme Mood and feeling Marketing Event
sand more events Flexibility
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PROGRAM BOOK DESIGN
Plan for a clean design and use fonts that are
easy to read PagePlus SE1.0 - freeware
program Editeditedit Learn to back-up your
work! .pdf format for final version Be flexible
learn to adapt and adopt
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REGISTRATION
Registration materials Signage Volunteers Ready
Reference
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FOOD

• Has to be settled before registration key
• Has to be something that you get solid numbers
  for
• Think of it as wedding planning vegans, no
  shows, cost
• You will have to give your catering solid
  numbers have them do backups
• Know your catering taxes, tips, and price per
  item
• You have to plan for lunches, dinners, breaks
  and special events
• Location can drive issues
• What is available, other options outside the
  facilities
• Can you bring in food, catering or equipments
  from the outside?
• What is the type of service you want can the
  facility cater to that?
• Why fight where people go inform them of
  major choices in the area.
• Key is youre just trying to cover cost, but
  it is an area that if
• a profit can be made, it can support other
  costs (speakers, etc.)
• YOU CANT PLEASE EVERYONE!

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ENTERTAINMENT
This can go on till later, but make sure that you
know that going too long totally destroys
contractual timelines Have a back-up plan
something is going to go wrong. (aka The
Singer) Everyone has an opinion and it has
probably already been done. Reservations to do
something another group has done is unwarranted.
They did it for a reason. Be realistic about
the crowd that is coming and what the majority
is interested in. Librarians dont typically do
Kiss cover bands they do Sinatra and
cocktails. A good starting point can be to
simply think about parties you would throw. Then
multiply what you need by 10 Everything is cost
find vendors and other means of supporting
doing the event.
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Local Problems during the Course of the Event
You should always be on your feet a lot floating
you need to know what is a problem and who and
if you can solve it. (Just find a way!) You
better know the local planner at the facility,
and you better thank their crew. The Russian
wait staff who runs to find chairs for you is
not doing their job for their boss they are
helping you. Let them know you care,
becausehellyou may need them again! Have fun
otherwise the persona is that the event is
hellish stress and you cant keep chaos in
order.
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Someone is going to be angry listen to their
concerns and truly do what you can for them. If
they are being unrealistic, your time is better
served helping someone who can be rational
forget it and move on. Something is going to go
wrong negotiate. Find a way to get people to do
things, but make sure you know up front what it
is going to cost. (An extra table cloth doesnt
come for free). Visualize the event as best you
can before hand again like wedding
planningsomeone is going to get sick and you
will need to deal with it. If you have prepared
yourself and those that are helping you you
should have a game plan for some of the stuff
that comes up.
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