ALIA Access 2010 - 6 months to go and who’s counting!
Believe it or not we’ve just said farewell to the last day of summer and welcomed the first day of Autumn. Not only does that mean that we’re in for some cooler weather but it also means that we’er only 6 months away for ALIA Access 2010 in Brisbane. (Its also a reminder that my eldest daughter’s birthday is in 6 months time as well!)
Brisbane in September is normally beautiful – the days are warm and sunny and there is still a chill in the air (at least for us Queenslanders) in the evenings. While we don’t have much control over the weather we are looking forward to presenting our members and other delegates with a dynamic conference. We’ve only had 13 months to plan and deliver ALIA Access which is not much time to prepare and plan for a conference of this magnitude ( there’s nothing like a quickly looming deadline to focus the mind!) so we decided to do something different – a conference that’s more engaging and more focused on our members’ areas of interest.
I expect there will be a number of highlights for delegates. Firstly, there’s the stream or symposium approach to the conference. This will give each of the participating sectors or interest groups an opportunity to discuss, debate and showcase issues, trends and achievements in their own sector/area of interest. Secondly, there is also the converse - the opportunity to engage with other sectors/interest groups. Thirdly, we’re trying new initiatives such as live videostreaming of selected sessions. It won’t be the same as being there but it will enable those who can’t attend the whole conference to participate via the net. We’re still working on the finer details with this so once we’ve got it sorted we’ll advise members accordingly. Fourthly, a new approach to the conference dinner- what we’re calling the ‘Dine Around Dinner’.
I’ve been to some great conference dinners – good food, great music, good company. I’ve also attended some dinners where the alternative drop wasn’t what I would have wished for and the music was so loud I couldn’t talk to my colleagues at the same table. As we’re doing something different with the conference proper we thought we’d do something different for the Conference Dinner. Brisbane has some great restaurants around the conference venue in South Brisbane. The Dine Around’ dinner will give delegates the opportunity to chose their own restaurant from a selected list of establishments and when they get to the restaurant they’ll be able to chose their own food and drink up to a specified value. Delegates will be able to pre-book their restaurant with their registration. We’ll be encouraging delegates to liaise with their colleagues prior to the conference about where they’d like to eat.
So, what am I hoping to get out of ALIA Access 2010? Well, where do I start! Getting ideas and inspiration from other sectors. I work in the higher education sector. Over the past couple of years I’ve attended a couple of ‘broad church’ conferences where I’ve picked some really interesting strategies and approaches to customer service from some the public libraries that probably wouldn’t have been discussed in my ‘home’ sector. Meeting members of ALIA from across the nation to discuss their needs, what the Association is doing well and what we can do to provide new and/or enhanced services. And finally, there is always catching up with colleagues over a coffee or a cleansing ale!
There is still a lot to prepare for the conference. The Conference Organising Committee consisting of ALIA members, ALIA National Office staff and staff from our Conference organiser, ICE, are working hard on the details. There is also a lot of work being undertaken by each of the stream organisers to pull the program together. Conferences like this just don’t happen without the involvement of a number of dedicated people!
Registration will be open soon, but if you can’t wait to find out more about ALIA Access 2010 check out the conference website at http://conferences.alia.org.au/access2010/
Graham
Graham Black
ALIA Vice President and Convenor, ALIA Access 2010 Organising Committee