Category: Forum Planning Committee

Forum Planning Committee – September 2020 Report


The group met 11+ times this quarter.

Recent Activities

First Activity
Accessibility/Streaming SubCommittee (last 6 months):
* Met on February 12, 2020 and April 13, 2020
* We can make a call for volunteers for shepherding sessions as a way to get people involved to meet promotion/tenure requirements (badges in ALA Connect?)
* ADAhospitality.org is a great resource to rely upon to ensure Forum is accessible to attendees
*Forum is transitioning to a Virtual Conference
*Project management will be important for tasks that need to get done (we can use tools like, Trello)
**Each subcommittee will have distinct roles for completing these tasks
**Berika will set up a Trello Board for the entire Forum Planning committee.
*Accessibility will always remain a top consideration:
**Presenters will need to be trained on accessibility to describe visuals for those who are visually impaired and captioning (or ASL live translation) will also be needed
**There also needs to be support for call-in users and those with low vision impairment
**Carli Spina is still slated to give a webinar to accepted speakers on accessibility; she will be updated on Forum and followed up with
** We need to first address the overall structure of streaming and offering a Virtual Forum with these considerations
**We need to enforce standards for accessibility for everyone involved
*LITA Office will be handling logistics (incl. streaming with the Platform selected), this subcommittee is to focus solely on accessibility of events)
* Carli Spina released a pre-recorded webinar for accepted Forum session speakers on "Accessibility for Presenters"
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Member Engagement

Second Activity
Programming Subcommittee (last 6 months):
* Met on March 10, 2020; June 2, 2020; July 7, 2020, July 29, 2020
* Call for proposals extended 3 times from original March 30th date (April 8, May 22, and June 12)
* Registration will open soon, waiting on ALA to finish the registration form
* We can use FormStack (or alternative) to evaluate each session proposal
* To reduce bias in evaluation of submissions, identifying information will be removed (Name, Title, Institution) but Institution Type will be present (Academic, Public, School, Special, etc.)
* Total of 80 session proposals and a handful of preconference proposals were received
* *Preconference proposals were emailed about possible consideration in becoming a webinar/web course for LITA, ALCTS, and LLAMA respectively
**Session are still in the process of being selected
**All proposals will know their status by the end of August 2020
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Education and Professional Development

Third Activity
Sponsorship Subcommittee (last 6 months):
* March 5, 2020; June 11, 2020
* After obtaining feedback about sponsorship opportunities for mid-size and smaller companies, we are revising our Sponsorship Propectus and making current sponsor, a top tier sponsor
* On 4/6/20, sponsorship activities were suspended until further guidance is received regarding the COVID-19 public health crisis about Forum Planning (SEE email dated 4/13 on COVID-19 Update.)
*Meeting resumed in June
*Updated emails informing potential sponsors of Core Virtual Forum went out in July 2020
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Organizational Stability and Sustainability

Fourth Activity
UX/Sustainability Subcommittee (Last 6 months):
* Met on March 6, 2020; May 01, 2020; June 5, 2020; July 10, 2020
* Discussed recruiting additional local arrangements subcommittee members/volunteers for the local arrangement subcommittee by reaching regional listservs (when we thought Forum was going to be in-person)
* Had questions for the LITA Office which has since been addressed:
* On 4/6/20, UX/Sustainability and Local Arrangements activities were suspended until further guidance is received regarding the COVID-19 public health crisis about Forum Planning (SEE email dated 4/13 on COVID-19 Update).
* Resumed meetings on 05/01/20
*Met with Emerging Leaders for their project on sustainability for future in-person Forums
*Discussed ideas for structured socialization:
**Virtual Lounge Zoom room
**Collaboration Room
**Schedule breaks (chair yoga, magic show)
**Evening Social Events (game night, happy hour, escape room, netflix party)
*Establishing a sense of place for attendees
**The goal here is to create an environment and experience so that attendees feel like they have a connection to their fellow attendees and eliminate the sense of being with 100 strangers on the internet and replace it with a sense of being among colleagues.
*Create a map of virtual "rooms" or spaces where different activities/conversations are taking place so that people have a visual diagram of what's going on and available to them.
**Assign attendees to a "table" that will then determine their breakout room
**Send an optional swag-bag to attendees with a handful of items that may be useful during the conference to first 100-200 registrants.
*Session moderation and speaker preparation
**Speaker preparation
***Work with Programming subcommittee to provide recommendations for incorporating interactive elements into the presentation (see the SUNYLA best practices doc for some recommendations)
***Work with Programming/speakers to hold a test practice session to ensure all presenters are acclimated to the tools.
***Session moderations – This topic actually didn't come up in the meeting, but I thought of it later. Is it the UX subcommittee or the programming subcommittee that will be responsible for coordinating session "hosts". We do this for the in person conference and I think it will be just as useful, if not more useful to have in the virtual forum.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Member Engagement

Fifth Activity
Web/PR Subcommittee (Last 6 months):
* Met on March 10, 2020; June 01, 2020
*Official Hashtag: #CoreForum2020
*Sent out Targeted communications to LITA, ALCTS, and LLAMA respectively about tracks that might be of interest to membership for Call for Proposals
*We can work on a promotional video to promote Forum
**YouTube offers royalty free audio and library clips where no attributions are needed
*Language for updating the website with a COVID-19 contingency planning update (SEE COVID-19 Update email sent to Forum Planning Members, sent out, 4/13) – website will be updated to announce that Forum will go virtual
*Discuss a weekly PR calendar
**Every other Monday Berika will send out a draft in a Google Doc for promoting Forum
**Friday that same week is deadline for Web/PR Subcommittee to provide edits/feedback on that draft
**Following Monday final draft will be sent to Chrishelle (LITA), Brooke (ALCTS), and Fred (LLAMA) for distribution.
*Volunteer to work on various portions of the Forum website
**Statement of Appropriate Conduct Page – G.
**Planning Committee Page – K.
**Keynotes (will be published this week) — Berika will work with Web/PR Subcommittee on crafting an announcement
**All other pages (forthcoming based on speaker selections from programming and content/work from other subcommittees)
*Will work on article promoting Forum for ALCTS
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Member Engagement

What will your group be working on for the next three months?
* After LITA Office confirms contract with Learning Times, working with them to set Forum schedule with accessibility and UX considerations
* Wait on ALA office to release registration
* Complete accepting sessions for Forum and send all proposals a response
* Complete planning of social events surrounding Forum
*Follow up with potential sponsors again

Please provide suggestions for future education topics, initiatives, publications, resources, or other activities that could be developed based on your group’s work.
All non-accepted proposals will and those that indicated interest for publication will be placed in touch with the appropriate Core Committee for webinars/web course/web series and publications.

Additional comments or concerns:
For Core Forum going forward (after 2020):
Appointments committee must establish a Forum Planning leadership team consisting of 2-3 overall chairs, AND a chair for each Forum subcommittee (Accessibility, Programming, Sponsorship, UX/Sustainability, Web/PR) to reduce stress/burn out on one person. This must happen upfront, before the committee is established.

Submitted by Berika Williams on 08/04/2020

Forum Planning Committee – December 2019 Report


The group met 2-3 times this quarter.

Recent Activities

First Activity
11/4/19 Meeting (Entire Forum Planning Committee):
* Finalized Theme
* Discussed Planning Timeline
* Discussed general ideas for Forum
* Discussed using the 2020 Forum Slack Channel for ideas for invited keynote speakers ideas/leads (Please note, there's a possibility, we will open up both the opening and closing keynote speakers as an option in the forthcoming call for proposals, due to few leads generated from the committee)
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Member Engagement, Organizational Stability and Sustainability

Second Activity
12/4/19 Web/PR Subcommittee (via email)
* Worked on language for the 'Save the Date' Communication about 2020 Forum
*Requested Forum site access for Web/PR Subcommittee members
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Member Engagement

Third Activity
12/6/19 Sponsorship Subcommittee, 12-1pm Central
* Finalized prospectus for potential sponsors: https://forum.lita.org/sponsors/prospectus/
* Developed a list of potential sponsors to reach out to
* Discussed a communications plan for reaching up and following up with sponsors
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Organizational Stability and Sustainability

Fourth Activity
12/10/19 Programming Subcommittee, 12-1pm Central
* Reviewed LITA Forum Assessment Task Force Report from 2017 for Track ideas that could also be of interest to ALCTS/LLAMA
*Discussed Proposed Tracks
*Discussed Theme and Additional Ideas to tie to Call for Proposal Language
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Education and Professional Development, Member Engagement

Fifth Activity
Scheduled SubCommittee Meetings for January and February:
* Web/PR Subcommittee – Jan 15, 1-2pm Central
*UX/Sustainability Subcommittee -Feb 5, 2-3 Central
*Accessibility/Streaming Subcommittee – Feb 12, 1-2 Central
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Organizational Stability and Sustainability

What will your group be working on for the next three months?
Priorities:
*Reaching out to potential sponsors (Forum Planning – Sponsorship subcommittee)
*Work on Call for Proposals (Forum Planning – Programming subcommittee) (incl. sessions, possibly keynotes, preconferences) and opening it up sometimes in January
*Confirming Opening and Closing Keynote Speakers and preconferences
*Call for local Baltimore LITA/ALCTS/LLAMA members to join new local arrangements subcommittee

Is there anything LITA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
N/A — Am grateful and appreciative of Jenny's and Chrishelle's support, feedback and patience. Makes the experience of planning Forum so much easier!

Please provide suggestions for future education topics, initiatives, publications, resources, or other activities that could be developed based on your group’s work.
*Would like to connect with Carli Spina on providing a webinar for accepted speakers on 'Making their Presentations/Talks Accessible'. Depending on sponsorship response, hoping it will enable support for this webinar to be free and compensating Carli for the time and effort.
*Would like to develop a free pre-recorded 'Git for Presenters' talk as a value-added talk for LITA/ALCTS/LLAMA members and accepted speakers. Depending on sponsorship response, hoping it will support the costs of getting previous LITA eLearning Git instructors to do this to allow it to be free to members/speakers.
*Would like to ask current D&I chair for a partnership to provide Allyship training at Forum (2 Forum Planning committee members attended the train the trainer session, and I believe 1 D&I committee member)
*Would also like to partner with D&I and ask for permission to use Drupal's diversity speaker webinar by developing a pre-recorded webinar and adapting to Forum during the call for proposals period. I attended the train-the-trainers session for this, as well. I can spearhead this effort w/o any additional cost…just need to ask permission first. Example of Drupal Diversity speaker content: http://diversein.tech/drupal-sept2019

Additional comments or concerns:
I have suggestions for documenting a generic timeline for the next Joint-Forum (in whatever form that may be) based on lessons learned this year. There needs to be a partnership with this year's Appointment Committee to ensure next Forum Planning Committee has a leadership team consisting of leaders from each Forum Planning subgroup, as well as an overall chair, but I feel at this point, I'm delicately balancing not losing any additional members to ask current members so late in the term. So, I'm managing the best I can. Would like to work with Evviva and Appointments Committee on identifying a Chair-Elect for next joint-Forum Planning committee term to groom/prepare.

Submitted by Berika Williams on 12/18/2019

Forum Planning Committee – September 2019 Report


The group met 4-6 times this quarter.

Recent Activities

First Activity
Sponsorship Subcommittee and past chair of Forum Committee met with current chair on June 7, 2019 to discuss:
* What to expect in terns of a timeline
* Sponsorship process and opportunities to get more sponsors with a joint forum
* Leads for Sponsors and the entire committee is encouraged to participate by sharing personal contacts of potential sponsors/leads
* Action items for a prospectus and sponsorship tacking spreadsheet
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Organizational Stability and Sustainability

Second Activity
Small portion of the Forum Planning Committee met during ALA Annual on June 22, 2019 to discuss high-level ideas about themes and keynote speakers, in addition to growing the committee to fill gaps in subcommittees.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Member Engagement

Third Activity
Forum Committee met on July 30, 2019 to discuss:
* Updates to the RFP
* Forum Site Splash Page
* SubCommittee Charges
* Using the Slack Channel for brainstorming of ideas
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Organizational Stability and Sustainability

Fourth Activity
UX/Sustainability subcommittee met with Chair to discuss charge on September 12th.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Member Engagement

Fifth Activity
Forum Committee met on September 19, 2019 to discuss:
* Updates to 2020 Forum Location and Dates (in contract negotiations)
* LITA Forum Slash page
* New Members added to the Committee
* Brainstorm as a committee on Purpose/Theme of Joint Forum (in selection process currently)
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Organizational Stability and Sustainability

What will your group be working on for the next three months?
Main focus will be on:
* LITA Forum website – adjusted the language to reflect a joint forum, adding dates and location (once contract is set)
* Call for Proposals with selecting them
* Sponsorships
* Communication Plan – Fill out a CAM request form so that the word/buzz for Forum is spread about happening in November 2020, so that people have ample time to ask for budgeting to attend.

Is there anything LITA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
Before Mark left he mentioned that branding for LITA Forum was happening with an ALA graphic designer for the website (SEE minutes from July meeting). What became of that? The splash page that was started by the WCC still has LITA branding and doesn’t take in account a joint Forum. The Web/PR subgroup of Forum Committee will need to adjust the LITA Forum splash page to reflect that but need permissions to the WP site for those committee members, as well as the chair.

As chair, I would like to have a one-on-one meeting with LITA office (copying Emily) on some internal deadlines to suggest to ensure the committee is meeting its planning milestones and in a timely manner.

Please provide suggestions for future education topics, initiatives, publications, resources, or other activities that could be developed based on your group’s work.
Last year’s Forum wrap-up discussed mentoring speakers in order for them to give better session talks that are interactive/hands-on, and engaging, especially since most Forum speakers are new presenters. It would be great if the committee can partner with Dorthea Salo to lead an encore Forum-tailored speaker webinar (with the help from a sponsor) to bring it free to speakers whose talks/sessions are accepted. She currently has a Keynote talk in November that appears helpful (http://www.ala.org/lita/you-can-keynote). Also, Jill Binder recently gave a Drupal Diversity Speaker Webinar the last two weekends that have similar material that would be of interest: diversein.tech/drupal-sept2019 while the call for proposals for DrupalCon 2020 are still happening.

Additional comments or concerns:
Currently having a hard time reaching veteran members of the sponsorship subcommittee who are on the Forum Committee this year. Their leadership and ideas are needed to make sponsorship happen at a larger scale with ALCTS and LLAMA this year. They haven’t responded to any of my direct follow up emails in the past 2 months and as chair, I’m concerned.

Submitted by Berika Williams on 09/30/2019

Forum Planning Committee – May 2019 Report


The group met 1 time this quarter.

Recent Activities

First Activity
Committee met on 04/17/2019 and discussed committee composition of subcommittees and:
• Number of days (keep at 1 day pre conference, 2 full days of forum)
• Timing of Sessions (Beginning/End Time each day): Preconference: 1-5pm, Friday: 9am-5:30pm, Saturday: 9am – 3pm
• Number of concurrent tracks/rooms** – 6
• Number of sessions – 60 sessions (+/- depending on length of selected sessions), 2 Keynotes
** in addition, we may also need a Quiet Room and may need a space for potential sponsors
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Member Engagement

What will your group be working on for the next three months?
This is still to be determined.

Sponsorship subcommittee (Galen, Joanna, past-chair Melody, Berika) will meet on Friday June 7th at 1pm Central/2pm Eastern to discuss past experiences with planning timeline and ideas for getting sponsors.

Also we will be actively recruiting additional committee members (incl. at least 1 LLAMA/and 1 ALCTS member).

There will definitely be a meeting for the entire committee again after Annual to get them energized about their respective subcommittee charges so that they can begin the planning process.

Is there anything LITA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
Appreciated the organization surrounding a new connect space and online roster for 2020 committee!

We still need a Splash page for Forum 2020 as a way to communicate to membership that Forum is happening in Fall 2020.

Please provide suggestions for future education topics, initiatives, publications, resources, or other activities that could be developed based on your group’s work.
(same as last report – would like to create documentation on the LITA Docs site with important milestones/benchmarks for planning Forum so that future chairs know what to expect)

Additional comments or concerns:
Not at this time.

Submitted by Berika Williams on 05/31/2019

Forum Planning Committee – February 2019 Report


The group met 1 time this quarter.

Recent Activities

First Activity
Committee met on 03/15/19 with past/current/future LITA president and co-chairs to discuss the next Forum (Fall 2020) and to ask 2019 members to consider being a part of the 2020 committee. So, far most of the committee wants to be part of the 2020 planning committee. Committee members are excited and positive about planning the next Forum!
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Education and Professional Development, Member Engagement

What will your group be working on for the next three months?
We will need to make a decision in our next April meeting on the following for the Fall 2020 Forum:
* Number of days
* Number of concurrent tracks
* Number of sessions
* Timing of Sessions (Beginning/End Time each day)

We will also set charges for sub-committee breakouts:
* Programming:
* Accessibility & Recording/Steaming:
* Sponsorship:
* Web & PR:
* User Experience/Sustainability:

Is there anything LITA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
Co-chairs will forward a list of 2019 committee members who are willing to be on 2020 committee to Appointments committee and recommend additional members to fill gaps in membership first week of April. We will need an ALCTS and LLAMA member (or need to consult with a rep from each) for the programming subcommittee but waiting on more details/advisement based on the latest 3-Division Steering committee update.

We will need help with getting a 2020 Forum website domain up for committee members to create a splash page so that we can announce to membership that the next Forum will be Fall 2020 and get them excited/curious about the details to come. Ideally, we would like this to happen now (before Annual) to promote branding and communicate buzz. It's important that LITA membership knows what is going on. So, the Communications and Marketing Committee will eventually need to be looped in once the Splash page is created.

Please provide suggestions for future education topics, initiatives, publications, resources, or other activities that could be developed based on your group’s work.
We will definitely create documentation/ checklist for Forum and a timeline on the LITA Forms site. Also, it is my hope to initiate mentoring of Forum presenters to support them with tools to present hands-on sessions more effectively based on feedback received from 2018 Forum Wrap-up meeting.

Submitted by Berika Williams on 03/30/2019

Forum Planning Committee – December 2018 Report


The group met 0 times this quarter.

Recent Activities

First Activity
We are in a holding pattern pending Board discussion at ALA Midwinter 2019.
Meets LITA’s strategic goals for Organizational Stability and Sustainability

What will your group be working on for the next three months?
We are in a holding pattern pending Board discussion at ALA Midwinter 2019.

Submitted by Jake Ineichen on 01/26/2019