(via Steven Bell, Temple University)
We anticipate over 250 ACRL members will be attending their first ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. We’d like to help our first-time attendees make the most of their conference experience. Experienced conference-goers attending ALA 2017 are invited to be a buddy for a first-time ACRL attendee by providing advice and guidance before or during the conference.
It’s easy — you don’t have to have all the answers, just be willing to help a newbie out. If you’ve ever been to an ALA Annual conference before and are willing to commit some time to helping a new person navigate the conference and learn more about ACRL, that’s all it takes. You may want to meet up with your “buddy” at the ACRL 101 session on Saturday, June 24, at the Hilton Chicago, Continental C, from 8:30 to 10:00 AM (a great start for newbies, and a refresher for veterans), or at the Exhibit Opening Reception on Friday, June 23, from 5:30 to 7:30 PM.
It’s easy to sign up. Just go here. Read new attendee profiles, and click “sign up” to be a buddy to that person. The deadline to sign up is Thursday, June 22. Keep in mind that for the ACRL 2017 conference, we had way more first-time attendees seeking buddies than buddies willing to match up, so we were unable to meet the need. Let’s try to make sure every first-time attendee has a buddy for ALA 2017.