Thing 15: Attending, presenting at and organising seminars, conferences and other events

Let's be honest here, I balk at the idea of going to library events.

Why is this?

I'm not very good in a room full of people I don't know.  I sort of latch on to the first person who smiles at me and follow them around hoping that they'll introduce me to more people when instead they're trying to get rid of me.  I try to be the person who smiles, engages in conversation, volunteers to speak in front of others, so why do I always feel like the person nobody wants to speak to at a party?

I've only been to a few library events, both related to library careers.  The first one, designed for library staff considering the postgraduate route into librarianship, was at UCL in London.

London - big scary metropolis.  Me - young, female, from the country, out of my depth in the big city.

Well, I get to UCL early (hurrah for the London A-Z) and find the room we're meant to be in (picking up some stragglers on the way).  We wait outside the room, as there seems to be nobody in it.  As nobody else appears we bravely venture into the room to discover that in an anteroom there is tea, coffee, biscuits and all the other attendees!  Don't we feel stupid!?  There should have been a sign on the door inviting us in and specifying that registration/coffee was in another room.  I find myself a cup of tea, and as there is a bit of time, try to chat to people.  It's like being in a morgue.  A deathly hush has descended on the room, and all that can be heard is the crunching of biscuits.

Interesting talks and presentations follow, and lunchtime arrives.  Aha!  Networking!  Surely by now they've loosened up?  So I try to talk to people, but they're all suspiciously quiet and don't seem interested at all.  I'm standing there with a paper plate thinking: is it me?  We're also encumbered by the fact that there are lots of people and no chairs, so we're all trying to sit on the floor whilst eating a buffet lunch.  Later there's another coffee break before the end session of the day, and I've given up talking to the attendees and instead chatted to the presenters.  This was much more rewarding, though does limit the field somewhat: you have to move away when you run out of things to say and then you're stuck in the corner with a biscuit trying not to look like Billy No Mates.

So although it was an interesting event, and worth attending, it was let down by the cheerlessness of the other participants.  I was relieved to discover that on leaving the building my other half was kindly waiting for me (he'd had a meeting in London that afternoon and was kindly escorting me home) and I had someone to talk to!

The other library event I attended was a day for library assistants who were looking to move towards a professional post.  Again, the room was too small for the amount of people hoping to use it.  Due to my train breaking down on the way to Leicester, I wasn't early, but instead an hour late (no sympathy from the organisers, even though I'd phoned from the train to explain that the train had a fault in the air brakes and we were waiting for a tow).  So I and two colleagues were freezing cold (outside temperature -7C) and had missed 2 presentations when we got there. Bad start.  At lunchtime I chatted to my colleagues as other participants chatted to theirs.  Later, there was the usual reticence when we were asked to work together in groups. 

Generally, this event was aimed at people considering the first steps towards a professional post, not people who had already made the choice as to which route they would take.  In my opinion, spending three hours on a train at below freezing temperatures was not worth it for the content of the event.

This event could have been improved by advertising the content of the event as well as the title.  Even the titles of the presentations would have given us an indication as to whether the event would be useful.  The only advantage for me going was to see the newly extended and refurbished library at University of Leicester (my alma mater).

I would like to attend other events, meet other librarians, learn new things, but I have been put off by my experiences in the wider world.  My next task is to join a local group so that there is less travelling and more friendliness (and possibly some cake).