Part IV-From the Chair’s View! SEFLIN Regional Technology Conference

 

Article below submitted by Doug Cornwell
Chair of the SEFLIN Regional Technology Conference 2013

Image Credit: Courtesy of The SEFLIN Conference Planning Committee  

 

Chairman Doug Cornwell-Librarian at Palm Beach State
Keynote Speaker Jamie LaRue
SEFLIN's Executive Director Jeannette Smithee

From the chair’s view, working with the SEFLIN Conference Planning Committee this year was a real joy!  With attendance last year nearing the top, we figured we had a potential problem. The facilities at Florida International University are a great venue, but we could exceed the limitations and turn people away.  We don’t want to do that.  However, after looking at other venues which would bring us to the next level, the costs jumped tremendously. 

 

We thought about Palm Beach County.  Then we looked at the huge number of non-SEFLIN members in Miami who attended, but would not likely make the trip to Palm Beach County.  Would there be an equal or better number of non-members in Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, or Indian River Counties who would pick up the slack?  An informal survey of library directors told us this would not be a possibility.  So, we remained with the Kovens Center at FIU. 

We were overjoyed at the response which capped off at 302 by the end of the registration period. The committee people were all great people to work with and made the chairperson’s job extremely easy!  It was great!  And very rewarding and fulfilling to hear the wonderful remarks! 

 I thought we should spend time celebrating our success!  We had never done that before, in all the years I served on the committee.  So we made arrangements to celebrate at a Duffy’s near the convention center.  We had a small group, but it was nice – to CELEBRATE a job well done!

 Doug

Image Credit: Courtesy The SEFLIN Conference Planning Committee