Conference Preparation

Tomorrow I am heading to The Alberta Library Conference in Jasper! For librarians and information professionals in Alberta this is THE professional conference of the year. But can you really blame anyone – it is in Jasper which is one of the most beautiful national parks you will ever see!

I was fortunate enough to attend ALC last year and even luckier to be able to go this year! But there is something different this time, and that is I’m going as a presenter. I of course put myself in this position as I submitted a conference proposal last summer and knew that it had been accepted early in the fall. However, that does not take away the slight feeling of panic I have about my presentation on Friday afternoon! First of all I have 75 minutes to fill! I’m aiming for about 60 minutes and hoping there will be questions. And second of all this is my first time presenting at a conference, ever. I am a conference presenter virgin! And while I feel as though I know my stuff (my topic is Engaging Customers Through Social Media) I am worried that I will not be interesting enough for the people attending the session or that I will make a fool out of myself because I’ll just forget everything I wanted to say once I stand up there. But really it’s the former that causes me most stress.

I am sitting in front of a slide deck that I have taken great care in creating. It has lots of pictures and not a lot of words – just what I like when I’m in the audience.  I have lots of presenter notes for each of my slides.  I am surrounded by notes and books. So… I will be ok! And I will just come to terms with the fact that I won’t be able to please everyone that attends my session and the best I can do is hope that at least everyone that attends leaves with ONE new piece of information they didn’t know before.

Wish me luck!