When I left the opening session of the SLA conference yesterday, I left inspired. The event opened with a series of awards that recognize professionals in various fields for the numerous contributions. Prefacing each award, there was a "trailer" where interviews and other information on each award winner was displayed on the ball room's large monitors. As a new member to SLA, I found this especially useful as it introduced me to many new people. Not only that, these video presentations benefited from some high quality production work. The award presentations exceeded my expectations and energized me about the profession.
The opening keynote address by Colin Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State, struck a counterpoint to the awards. While Powell did not speak about librarians directly, I still found the speech quite interesting. He covered everything from his many pursuits, his views on leadership and his efforts to modernize the U.S. State Department. His speech also showed that it is althogether possible to deliver a very good speech without PowerPoint or any other visual aids.
Posted by Bruce Harpham.
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