Training

Infopeople instructor Lisa Bartle is on a mission to make life easier for staff involved in maintaining or upgrading library web pages: her new daylong workshop—“Cascading Style Sheets (CSS): Pixel-Level Control with HTML Ease”—begins with an explanation of what Cascading Style Sheets are and, more importantly, continues with plenty of tips on how to use them to simplify the process of

Because Stephanie Weaver creates experiences designed to change our workplaces, it’s no surprise that her new Infopeople workshop itself provides a memorable experience.

When I’m deeply immersed in creative writing, I love having the opportunity to attend or watch one of novelist-essayist Anne Lamott’s presentations or interviews; it’s a bit like going to church—being calmed and having my faith in the creative process reaffirmed.

A few suggestions for trainer-teacher-learners attending a conference as large as the American Library Association (ALA) annual meeting held earlier this month in Anaheim or the California Library Association conference to be held in San Jose in November 2008: draft a schedule of meetings and events you want to attend. Keep it with you as a basic roadmap of what you hope to do. And deviate from it as often as you can.

Inspired by numerous conversations with trainer-teacher-learners attending the annual American Library Association (ALA) conference in Anaheim a little over a week ago, I’m struck by how much of what we all do is firmly rooted in the concept of building communities while having fun--and by how much a conference can help us in this valuable endeavor.

Anyone who has become totally enchanted by a certain method of doing something—training, teaching, and learning, for example—knows that there is a moment of truth to be confronted: that moment when we become firm advocates of that method to the exclusion of all others.

Infopeople presenter Kelli Ham is a trainer-teacher-learner who consistently tries new methods to draw her audience into what she is doing.

Trainers looking for examples of ice-breakers and other strong ways to open presentations--a hallmark of Infopeople workshops--have frequently been in trainer heaven while attending the ASTD (American Society for Training & Development) 2008 International Conference & Exposition here in San Diego.
Although a few of the examples were so superficial that they could have taken down the Titanic if it hadn’t already sunk, many will undoubtedly remain with us to the benefit of those we train when we return to work.

If there had been a large contingent of library staff attending Marc Rosenberg’s “Beyond E-Learning” presentation for trainers this afternoon in San Diego, they probably would have offered him a standing ovation.