[Eg-oversight-board] Final conference thoughts

[Amy Terlaga]

All good suggestions, Kathy!

Amy

On Tue, May 23, 2017 at 12:43 PM, Kathy Lussier <klussier at masslnc.org>
wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I haven't read the document closely, but some pieces (new
> sponsor/exhibitor rates) may be something we can implement sooner while #
> of rooms, food expenditures, and other contract items can be planned out
> for 2019. Another thought I've had is that we might want to consider
> putting out the call for the 2019 conference earlier this year. Although we
> put out the call about 16 months ahead of time, I know some locations are
> already fully booked by that time. Maybe we can plan for putting the next
> Call for Proposals out in August / September and plan on resolving these
> questions by then so that the 2019 planners know what the new requirements
> are.
>
> In addition to reducing costs, the other advantage to reducing the number
> of rooms is that it increases the number of conference hotels that can
> accommodate us.
>
> Kathy
>
> On 05/23/2017 12:28 PM, Amy Terlaga wrote:
>
> These are some very intriguing suggestions for future conferences.  I'm
> all for reducing the overall cost to help the project make money.
> Unfortunately, contract signing with the conference venue for 2018 is
> wrapping up today or tomorrow.  I followed this year's plan.  I stuck with
> the formula.  I needed something to go on and felt the pressure of locking
> in the venue as the local committee has been working out a plan with them
> since before the 2017 conference.
>
> I'm sorry some of this can't be executed for 2018, but the work has been
> laid out for 2019.
>
> Grace, you've done so much work - it is much appreciated.  Your insights
> and expertise are invaluable..
>
> Amy
>
> On Tue, May 23, 2017 at 11:39 AM, Grace Dunbar <
> grace at equinoxinitiative.org> wrote:
>
>> I thought it might be useful to provide my suggestions for the Evergreen
>> conference and changes we may want to consider for the future.  Apologies
>> in advance if this is either rambling or redundant, or both.
>>
>> The conference operates on thin margins.
>> Every year the conference committee is confident (perhaps overly
>> confident) that this year they will increase attendance numbers and
>> increase sponsorships.  The problem is that we can't increase our
>> sponsorships without increasing our attendance.  And our attendees who
>> increase our numbers are generally just employees of a library in an
>> existing consortia.  This exact complaint was brought up by multiple
>> vendors - essentially, the Evergreen conference is really only between 8
>> and 10 "clients" and having more circ or cataloging staff attendees at the
>> conference doesn't increase their ROI.  And that's fair.
>>
>> And the attendees who can increase our numbers (local staff) seem to want
>> very specifically targeted information related to them at the conference.
>> The conference surveys have been pretty clear that end-user staff want and
>> expect *training* from the conference.  But that hasn't traditionally been
>> the aim of the conference, nor can we reliably provide that since the
>> programs are solicited from volunteers in the community. Also complicating
>> things for "training" on Evergreen features is that Evergreen is so
>> customizable that "training" or explanations of how to use certain features
>> may not jive with local policy for their consortia or library system.
>> Regardless, I believe we can, to some extent, provide that kind of training
>> in the pre-conference sessions.  However, we will need to be very selective
>> in the process of recruiting the pre-conference presenters (trainers) if
>> we're going to try to actively meet that need.
>>
>> Also, I firmly believe that the conference should make money for the
>> project.  With that money, the project can provide outreach, build
>> infrastructure, and promote the community.  We want to provide a good
>> conference with stellar programs and a welcoming environment.  But the
>> conference is also for building relationships, allowing developers and
>> community leaders to conduct business and brainstorm, as well as providing
>> space for the EOB, committees, and interest groups to meet.  IOW, we're
>> trying to meet a lot of needs and there needs to be balance - we can't make
>> everyone happy all the time.  If you look at the breakdown of attendees,
>> systems administrators and developers are roughly 1/3, end-users are
>> roughly 1/3, and admin/consortia leaders are roughly 1/3.  Those are all
>> stakeholders that are important but their needs are very different.
>>
>> To reduce overhead for the conference and to try to give *everyone* the
>> best experience we should at least look at making some changes. Based off
>> of my experience and the results of conference surveys, I have some
>> suggestions for changes to the structure and the sponsorships.
>> Note that the proposed reduction of the conference to two tracks had wide
>> support in the survey and the track reduction and changes to
>> pre-conferences and when/where IGs, etc. meet, should reduce the overhead
>> for costs associated with meeting rooms, A/V, signage, labor, etc.
>> See attached doc for details.
>>
>> Thanks for sticking with the rambling...
>> And as always, this is just a suggestion based on my experience - I leave
>> it to y'all to decide what to take away from the information and what
>> direction to go.
>>
>> Cheers!
>> Grace
>> p.s. Exhibitor and attendee surveys also attached.  For anyone who
>> prefers visual representations, just let me know and I can share the Google
>> form with you.
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
> Amy Terlaga
> Director of Member Services
> Bibliomation, Inc.
> 24 Wooster Avenue
> Waterbury, CT  06708
> (203)577-4070 x101 <(203)%20577-4070>
> terlaga at biblio.org
>
>
> --
> Kathy Lussier
> Project Coordinator
> Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative(508) 343-0128klussier at masslnc.org
> Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier
>
>


-- 
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Amy Terlaga
Director of Member Services
Bibliomation, Inc.
24 Wooster Avenue
Waterbury, CT  06708
(203)577-4070 x101
terlaga at biblio.org
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