The group met 1 time this reporting period.
Recent Activities
First Activity
In September 2019, the Conference Program Subcommittee was tasked with reviewing 10 programs (among the final slate of 120 approved programs) to anticipate those with high appeal. Each subcommittee member was assigned 10 programs to rank on a 3-point scale to indicate, high, medium, or lower/specialized interest. Based on the feedback from the subcommittee, PLA staff was able to prepare a comprehensive session preference survey for all attendees in October 2019.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Organizational Excellence
Second Activity
Conference Program Subcommittee members met on Monday, February 24th at the Music City Center (Nashville, TN) to tour the facility and discuss tips for staffing the PLA 2020 Help Desk throughout the conference. Conference Program Subcommittee members staffed approximately 20 Help Desk shifts throughout the conference, asking questions for attendees and providing guidance.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Leadership, Organizational Excellence
Third Activity
As Chair of the Conference Program Subcommittee, Juliane Morian, was requested to speak at a morning session with visiting AfLIA librarians on Wednesday, February 26th, to discuss PLA's approach to delivering high-quality educational sessions at a national-level conference. Topics included how to recruit quality program submissions, rank proposals, and curate 100+ final selections.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Leadership, Organizational Excellence, Transformation
What will your group be working on for the next six months?
At this point, the Conference Program Subcommittee has fulfilled its charge and has no remaining tasks.
Does the group have any policy recommendations, ideas with financial impact, or other items to bring to the PLA Board for discussion or action
No at this time; if we do engage in a debrief and reflection, we will pass along any insights.
Do you have any suggestions for future products or resources (excluding conference programs) to be developed based on your group’s work?
No suggestions at this time.
Are there other PLA/ALA committees your group might collaborate with to benefit the work of all?
I would recommend continued collaborations between the Conference Program Subcommittee and the EDISJ task force. For the 2020 PLA Conference, we utilized input from the task force to improve the submission form in the pursuit of speakers and topics that advanced the greater themes of equity, diversity, inclusion and social justice.
Have there been any issues related to meeting participation/attendance for any of the group’s members?
No
Is there anything PLA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
No, our PLA staff liaison, Angela Maycock was very supportive and instrumental in the success of the Conference Program Subcommittee.
Submitted by Juliane Morian on 03/15/2020