<div dir="ltr">All good suggestions, Kathy!<div><br></div><div>Amy</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, May 23, 2017 at 12:43 PM, Kathy Lussier <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:klussier@masslnc.org" target="_blank">klussier@masslnc.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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<p>Hi,</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<p>Kathy<br>
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<br>
<div class="m_-5497637338200583504moz-cite-prefix">On 05/23/2017 12:28 PM, Amy Terlaga
wrote:<br>
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<div dir="ltr">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.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I'm sorry some of this can't be executed for 2018, but the
work has been laid out for 2019.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Grace, you've done so much work - it is much appreciated.
Your insights and expertise are invaluable..</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Amy</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, May 23, 2017 at 11:39 AM, Grace
Dunbar <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:grace@equinoxinitiative.org" target="_blank">grace@equinoxinitiative.org</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
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<div>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.<br>
<br>
</div>
The conference operates on thin margins.<br>
</div>
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. <br>
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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.<br>
<br>
</div>
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.<br>
</div>
<br>
</div>
To reduce overhead for the conference and to try to
give <u>everyone</u> 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. <br>
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.<br>
See attached doc for details.<br>
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<div>Thanks for sticking with the
rambling...<br>
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<div>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.<br>
<br>
</div>
<div>Cheers!<span class="m_-5497637338200583504HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
</font></span></div>
<span class="m_-5497637338200583504HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<div>Grace<br>
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</font></span>
<div>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.<br>
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<div class="m_-5497637338200583504gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">
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<div>+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=<wbr>+<br>
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Amy Terlaga<br>
</div>
Director of Member Services<br>
</div>
Bibliomation, Inc.<br>
</div>
24 Wooster Avenue<br>
</div>
Waterbury, CT 06708<br>
</div>
<div><a href="tel:(203)%20577-4070" value="+12035774070" target="_blank">(203)577-4070 x101</a><br>
</div>
<a href="mailto:terlaga@biblio.org" target="_blank">terlaga@biblio.org</a><br>
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</div></div><span class=""><pre class="m_-5497637338200583504moz-signature" cols="72">--
Kathy Lussier
Project Coordinator
Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
<a href="tel:(508)%20343-0128" value="+15083430128" target="_blank">(508) 343-0128</a>
<a class="m_-5497637338200583504moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:klussier@masslnc.org" target="_blank">klussier@masslnc.org</a>
Twitter: <a class="m_-5497637338200583504moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier" target="_blank">http://www.twitter.com/<wbr>kmlussier</a></pre>
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</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div><div>+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br></div>Amy Terlaga<br></div>Director of Member Services<br></div>Bibliomation, Inc.<br></div>24 Wooster Avenue<br></div>Waterbury, CT 06708<br></div><div>(203)577-4070 x101<br></div><a href="mailto:terlaga@biblio.org" target="_blank">terlaga@biblio.org</a><br></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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