I wanted to share with you some of the "a-ha – I must write that down" moments I had in Denver.  I hope you will find them to be as illuminating as I …

From the Leadership Development Institute with Dr. Jose Marie Griffiths on Sunday morning:  we’re seeing a trend emerging called "collective intelligence" – some examples are Wikipedia, Amazon, Flikr.  Also:  information and economics:  information will continue to be an economic driver.

On Monday morning, we were treated to a Synergy Session with Stephen Abram, Eugenie Prime, Clifford Lynch and moderated by Tom Hogan.  Questions had been submitted in advance by the membership and they started off with:

"How can we persuade business leaders that info pros are worth investing in?"  Eugenie emphasized that: 1) WE must be convinced; and 2) we have to DELIVER.  "Otherwise, business leaders have ‘cognitive dissonance’ – they see the facts but they don’t believe."

"How can info pros help their organizations manage and search for information that springs up all over their organizations?"  Cliff pointed out that there’s been a shift that allows the non-specialist to have access to vast amounts of information.  That said, within organizations there’s a vast amount of information that’s being amassed that needs "data curation" to preserve it for re-use so that the value of the investment in the creation of the information can be fully realized.  "This is a huge opportunity for info pros but it reflects a change in role and scope of "traditional" librarian opportunities." 

"What innovation has had the greatest impact in the last 5 years and what’s coming in the next 5 years and what will be the info pro competency?"  All 3 speakers waded in on this question.  In terms of competency, "adaptability and paying attention to what’s happening in the environment broadly."  "We’re not talking about a technical skill. Technical skills become obsolete very quickly." "It’s the leadership competency that allows you to use the technology."  "How things work has a longer shelf life.  How to do it changes quickly."  "No single technology has made the difference.  We are now seeing the cumulative effect of lots of development – cheap camera phones, GPS.  It’s a whole new way of looking at the environment." 

Personally, I found it interesting that the concept of "collective intelligence" came up again (after I had heard it for the first time the previous day): "There will be a need for people to work together synchronously and asynchronously.  There will be more group approaches to problems in business." 

Eugenie’s final words:  "The biggest issue facing our profession is that we don’t run our information centres like a business and we lack the business acumen to do so."

Stephen’s final words:  "Be the change you want to see!"

I attended several other sessions between Monday morning and Wednesday – but I will leave you with a quote from Dave Pollard from the session I attended Wed afternoon just before heading home:  "Here’s what’s keeping business executives awake at night:  1) mitigating risks; 2) reducing costs; 3) increasing value / person; 4) strengthening key customer relationships.  Tell us how knowledge managers, information professionals, librarians can help us with that."

SLA conference – always food for thought.

-Juanita    Chair-Elect, Leadership Division

From Ulla de Stricker, Chair

Notes from the 2007 Conference in Denver

Greetings Fellow LMDers:

We’re back from Denver to our regular lives
… recovering from the intense work of conference-going and socializing with
colleagues old and new – not to mention walking for what seemed like miles in a
very large facility!

For the benefit of those who could not join
us for the conference, I offer a brief retrospective of the LMD sessions.

But first: A heartfelt thanks to the speakers who committed their time and talents
in sharing their expertise – and to the members of the 2007 Conference
committee who had joined me in recruiting the speakers and in moderating
sessions: Shelly Edwards, Paula Ohlde,
Laura Plummer, and Joel Berger. Similarly,
I thank the Continuing Education committee – Sylvia Piggott and Betty-Jo
Hibberd – for their work in setting up a slate of programs.

So
here’s what happened …  Download LMD-June222007.doc

We’re coming up to Denver quickly! In the interest of how to maximize your time spent in the InfoExpo, I have suggested hear some questions that you might consider asking the vendors you see on the show floor. 

# 1              (If you don’t know the company)  Tell me about your business?  (Or, if you do know the vendor)  So, what’s new?  (This is a great ice breaker as you’re wandering the floor faced with hundreds of booths and looking for a place to start.)

# 2                Looking back, how have you seen the industry and your business change over the past few years?

# 3              Coming back to today, who do you see as your main competitors currently?

# 4              What separates you from the other vendors in the industry?

# 5              Who’s your target market?

# 6              How does what you do help your clients to solve their business / organizational problems?

# 7              What is the one greatest benefit my organization will realize from using your services?

# 8              Thinking of the future, how do you think your value proposition will change over the next 12 months?

# 9              Where do you think the information industry is going and how will that impact us as your clients and you as a business?

# 10          How can we partner to realize this future?

So … what questions do YOU like to ask?

LMD has some great programs coming up in Denver. You can browse the list by day on the LMD website. CE programs include Negotiation Skills for Information Professionals, How to Prepare for, How to Win, and How to Keep Your Ideal Job, Service Planning: Design & Portfolio Management, and Systems Thinking and Risk Management: Tools for Information Professionals.