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What I do: I manage the logistics of our biennial ACRL Conference with about 5,000 total attendees and 240 exhibiting companies, as well as other meetings and events throughout the year. I facilitate site selection; negotiate hotel, convention center and supplier contracts; execute audiovisual and catering; and work with member committees to help them achieve their objectives for ACRL events. I see my job similar to that of an orchestra conductor: There are so many individual moving parts, and my job is to get them all working together harmoniously to create a terrific all-around experience.
How I got here: Initially, I worked for an association management firm on many different types of clients in technology, health care and manufacturing. I noticed the clients with which I connected with their mission were the ones that inspired me and where I found the work most meaningful. I sought a job with a nonprofit where I could spend all of my time contributing to an organization with goals and objectives that mattered to me.
My greatest career accomplishment: I recently finished our ACRL 2017 Conference where Carla Hayden, the librarian of Congress, gave the closing keynote speech. She seemed impressed with the scope and production of the conference and thanked us from the stage. She was truly inspiring to all of our higher-education librarians and extremely warm and gracious, staying to shake hands and take pictures before and after the event. To be able to give that kind of experience to our members who work so hard serving their communities was a highlight of my career.
Impressive stats or numbers I’m responsible for: I started working on the ACRL Conference in 2003 when we had 3,427 in total attendance (exhibitors and guests) and $1.3 million in revenue. Our 2017 conference had 5,097 in total attendance and about $2.4 million in revenue; that’s a 48 percent growth in attendance and almost double the revenue in 14 years. It’s exciting and gratifying to see that kind of increase.
A specific improvement I’ve made: This past year I worked with DoubleDutch to create the first-ever ACRL Conference app. The app allowed people to create a personalized schedule out of 581 individual events, evaluate those events, chat on topic channels, post pictures and updates in the activity feed, take fun polls and surveys, navigate the exhibit hall and, most importantly, easily connect with each other. Out of 3,499 paid attendees (it slays me that we did not get just one more), we had 2,851 users in the app (an 81 percent adoption rate); and 2,481 (87 percent) of those were engaged users (scheduled/posted/chatted/took a survey). It was delightful to see activity and engagement in the app because making it easy for people to connect is what events are all about.
What I’m working on: The things I find most exciting are the enhancements we’ve made to the conference that add buzz and make it fun. This past year we added Team Trivia Night; a Zen Room, a spalike atmosphere with wall-to-wall faux grass and Zafu cushions, for guided meditation and desk yoga lessons; an Art Lounge featuring sessions in crochet, origami (using dust jackets from books!) and Exquisite Corpse (not as creepy as it sounds); a free headshot studio (massively popular); a Momma Lounge; and volunteer efforts where volunteers read and did crafts with local kids at House of Ruth Maryland. We also offered a Portal by Shared Studios (a gold shipping container equipped with immersive AV technology) that connected our attendees to other librarians and students in Mexico, Afghanistan, Germany, Jordan and Rwanda.
What I do outside of work: Primarily I spend time with my wonderful husband and two small children. I’m on a committee at my Unitarian Universalist church, love to play mahjong (the real kind with the tiles) with friends and read popular fiction.
