May is likely the last month in which you’ll be thinking about presenting at a conference. Inventory! Summer Reading! Eking out last bit of library energy! But it is a great time to begin your research for a professional opportunity to share your expertise.
Questions to ask yourself:
- What size conference am I most comfortable right now in my career?
- Geographically, what makes best sense?
- Is this a good year for me to consider presenting? Why or why not?
- Do I need a partner for some or all of this endeavor?
INDEPENDENT SCHOOL ORGANIZATION LEVEL
Independent school organizations around the country sponsor conferences where our expertise would be greatly valued. A few examples shared from AISL members:
Maryland and DC Independent Schools AIMS
Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, HAIS
Independent Schools of the Central States, ISACS
STATE LEVEL
A great place to start for a wider audience is at your STATE SCHOOL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. State conferences are to home and also offer several types of presentation opportunities. Two examples AISL members shared with me are:
TEXAS LIBRARY ASSOCIATION 2020 CONFERENCE
NEW YORK LIBRARY ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE INFO
NATIONAL LEVEL
Perhaps you’ve developed some cool reading programming, or revamped your school’s One Book, One School program, or collaborated on a science research unit? Here are two examples of places to share collaborative library experiences:
NCTE National Council of Teachers of English
NSTA National Science Teachers Association
OTHER OPPORTUNITIES
Perhaps a webinar is more your style. You can create a proposal to offer an online learning session or recorded webinar:
EdWeb website EdWeb submission form
School Library Connection Webinars
Is technology your specialty? Perhaps you’ve developed programming, or taken your library to the next level. Share your expertise at a similar organization to AISL called ATLIS:
ATLIS, Association of Technology Leaders in Independent Schools
ISTE, International Society of Technology in Education
And here are a handful of other great venues for presenting that AISL members shared with me:
Schools of the Future Conference
AISL has many resources to support your endeavors from helping narrow down a conference possibility to working with you to edit your proposal.
We know it, let’s share it!
Please leave any other suggestions in the comment area.
PRESENTING: LIBRARIANS!
The Publication Group
Debbie Abilock: dabilock@gmail.com
Tasha Bergson-Michelson: tbergsonmichelson@castilleja.org
Dorcas Hand: handd51@tekkmail.com
Christina Karvounis: KarvounisC@Bolles.org
Sara Kelley-Mudie: sara.kelleymudie@gmail.com
Cathy Leverkus: cathyl@thewillows.org
Darla Magana: Darla.Magana@smes.org
Nora Murphy: NMurphy@fsha.org