Saturday, I will be attending my first ever NYLA (New York Library Association) conference. Saturday is the last day of the conference and it will be the shortest day as well. However, there are still several great sessions to attend and I’m sure, some opportunities to meet and network with fellow librarians and future librarians. Naturally, this prospect excites and terrifies me (mostly terrifies).
Sometimes I find it easy to chat up random strangers and other times, I just struggle to make a connection and get a conversation off the ground. I know many librarians (and some of my fellow library students) have gone to these conferences before so many will be reunited with old conference friends. I also know many librarians (including my fellow library students) attend with a friend. With so many librarians coming in with pre-established friends I’m afraid I’ll be the sad, lonely library girl in the corner struggling to find space in other people’s conversations to join in and have some fun of my own.
So, I was very excited to find this pin from one of my favorite bloggers, EZ at Creature Comforts, floating around Pinterest this afternoon after work.
Some of these are sillier than others but, they are great reminders that starting a conversation and networking are as complicated as we make it. Enjoy the full article here. Any networking tips and tricks to share with me before I head out to Saratoga Springs this weekend? Share away in the comments and I’ll “see” you all tomorrow when I share my favorite takeaways from the workshop last week.
Cheers,
~Serena
Librarian On The Loose 