CoLAB Session: Living the Future Conference April 2008

This was definitely an experimental session. The theme of the conference, Transforming Libraries through Collaboration, drew over 150 from throughout the country, both academic library professionals and Tucson fans of Peter Senge, the keynote speaker.

The goal of this CoLAB session was to help conference attendees quickly connect with each other by learning about the assets they each possessed. It was facilitated after the keynote during the first day of the session and ran for a couple of hours.

The result was a conference unlike any other. The energy was high throughout and attendees enjoyed the "open-access" environment that permitted very open discussions without the usual inhibitions of conferences where it's a lot of work to connect with those you don't know. The CoLAB session somehow gave folks "permission" to connect and reduced the distance between "strangers."

Living the Future Conference 2008

I am happy to announce that CoLAB processes will be used for the first time in a very large group format on day one, May 1st of this outstanding library conference, in Tucson, AZ. Following the keynote address by Peter Senge, Ph.D. and the father of organizational learning, I will facilitate a giant CoLAB session for all conference participants. Our goal is for attendees to connect in a strong way to the available skills and assets available at the conference.

If you've been to a conference and didn't get to REALLY connect with people then you know how important a structured networking session can be. Especially if 150+ people all are interested in the same subject: Transforming Libraries through Collaboration!

To learn more about the conference tracks and presenters, go to www.library.arizona.edu/conference/2008/