0:03
Hello and welcome everyone to today's info people webinar planning a palooza creating collaborative training opportunities for Library staff. Our presenters today are Angela Gloucester ski deputy director for the Sequoia Regional Library system and Canton Georgia and Tracy Walker the programming manager for Forsyth County Public Library system and Metro Atlanta and I am now happy to turn the webinar over to Angela and Tracy. Hi everyone. Thank you for joining us today for our webinar and taking time out of your busy day to hear what we have to say Mary. I want to thank info people and you for allowing us to come in here today and talk about our palooza experience. These are these are visuals to go with the wonderful introduction that Mary just gave to us a little bit more about our kind of our background with with program planning specifically.
1:01
I am the deputy director for Sequoia, but I I have my very first Library job professional Library job was in programming and that's kind of what gave me my very first job was adult program planning and that's kind of where our interests for this kind of started and I'll let Tracy give a little introduction of herself as well. Hi, good afternoon, everybody. I've been in programming for about 17 years now about 14 years of those in in public libraries a good portion of that is working with youth programming and then more recently getting into the area of adult programming as well. So you didn't come to hear about us but to hear about our palooza. So before we get started with the with the content of our webinar just want to give a little bit of background about the palooza and kind of how this came to be for us Tracy and I are actually we're really good friends outside of the library world and one night. We were having dinner relaxing off.
2:03
Clock of course by talking about work and we were we were talking about the challenges and adult programming and how everyone kind of she was sharing some of the barriers and obstacles that her staff was was facing and I was sharing the same and we were realizing very quickly. It's the same barriers. It's the same questions and just talking about how wonderful it would be if we could get our staff members together and let them kind of talk it out together and figure out these answers and come up with some solutions and come up with some some fresh perspectives on everything and so we were like well certainly this exist. I mean this cannot be hard to find a way to make this happen to get our people into the same room and we were kind of doing a little bit of research looking to see what was available to our state level and and locally to see what we could do for them. And we really couldn't find anything that was conducive to what we were imagining in our heads. So we decided well, we'll just take what's in our heads and make it happen. And that's where are our palooza was.
3:03
So we have done to adult programming palooza so far in the state of Georgia and we are currently working on our third event third event, which is still Statewide for Georgia and going to going to be held in December. So that's kind of the background of what the palooza is and kind of how it how it came to be.
3:23
So today in the webinar, we have specific objectives objectives that we want you to walk away with. Mainly we want everyone in here to walk away with the ability to create their own palooza, whether it be an adult programming palooza, but we also kind of are presenting this information on two levels. You will be able to completely mimic everything we've done with the adult programming palooza, but it's more than just the adult programming aspect of it. We really want to show and share how you can create this very collaborative driven participant driven training platform that you can Implement with any training topic anything that you see a need for among your staff or among yourself or just through conversation from professional conferences. So as you listen to our content, you're going to hear us kind of flip back and forth between saying adult programming palooza and talking about it in that terms and then just talking about it.
4:23
Terms of the palooza of a training palooza and what that can look like for you and for your staff or whoever or whatever organization you want to carry out this with but our our webinars going to be our contents going to be divided into these five learning objectives today and we're also going to have another element we're going to have some exercises for you to do throughout our webinar a lot of the times I find when I join these webinars, I spend about an hour of my time listening to Great content and then the webinar ends and then I've got like a list of things that I have got to find time to do because I Heard lots of great ideas, but I'm never going to have time to implement it or when I have to carve out some time.
5:08
So as we move through the webinar, we're actually going to lead you in some exercises to where you will you will leave this webinar with an actual outline a skeleton outline of Appaloosa that you could Implement start implementing as soon as this webinar is over because We're going to kind of get you started on that track. So just make sure that you have some something to write with something to write on so that you can kind of reflect on some of the the questions and exercises that we're going to we're going to lead you through and so with that before we start our content we want to kind of just get a feel for who we are speaking to. Yeah, we just we would love to hear about what your roles are in your home libraries. So we have a quick poll. That's up there on the screen. If folks don't mind please responding to that and then we'll delve into our content for today.
6:08
So just kind of let us know we're looking to see if your main part of your job if it's training is sometimes a part of your job. Sometimes accidentally a part of your job or it's not really something you have experience with but you could definitely Flex into that. If you saw the need that's kind of what we're just trying to get an idea true and just to share as well. Neither Angela or IR our trainers that's not you know, that's not part of our role, but you don't have to be a trainer in order to in order to put on Appaloosa or to participate in a Palooza.
6:49
Alright, so it looks like so it looks like we have a lot of trainers in the room. That's that's a great one because you will this will be very natural for you and you'll be able to easily easily Implement what we are what we are showing and for those of you that it's not really that's okay too because we're going to be speaking to both of that. So that's great. We're really great to have everyone in here.
7:13
So moving into increased training and collaboration, you know, the world is getting smaller and bigger all at the same time in technology is providing wonderful ways for us to connect with each other across the miles. I think this webinar is a great example of that. But but we can't about forget about the importance of face-to-face Collaborative Learning opportunities. There's something magical that happens when you get a group of like-minded people in a room together to share ideas and to brainstorm there's there's a metamorphosis that that occurs and you know, and looking at learning styles to for some people that in-person Collaborative Learning style is how they learn best.
8:09
It's it helps having something like a Palooza In order to be more well-rounded so that we have both the technology and the face-to-face learning experience and you know and in looking at the palooza that that Angela and I have put together our palooza happens to be a Statewide event, but the best part about an event like this is that it doesn't have to be it can be on a much smaller scale. It might be something that you put together with libraries neighboring libraries or not. Library systems might be something that you do within your own library system or of course, it could be Regional or Statewide but it's very versatile this structure, you know, and Palouse has create a sharing Network which only strengthens our profession as a whole Librarians and paraprofessionals are able to make connections with one another they're able to form.
9:13
A support system and sometimes even commiserate which is really important, especially when it's something like programming because I think for those of us who are in programming we've all been there during highs and lows and and that can help to be able to talk through those things and come up with Solutions in working with with your colleagues. So a creating an event like this is also a great way of identifying where training is needed and we'll talk a little bit about evaluations and evaluating a little bit further on but through evaluations and networking you can identify those areas where additional training might be of use to people and we noticed that in the area of adult programming for us.
10:07
There's so much available to Librarians and paraprofessionals who work If you switch is very important and is wonderful, but we notice that there wasn't nearly as much out there for those who are working in adult programming and it's an area that is growing by Leaps and Bounds, but often times those who are responsible for creating and implementing adult programs aren't given the opportunities to really form a foundation in it or to have training in it. How do you put together a program? What are the aspects that you need to consider? And as Angela mentioned earlier, we will be doing some exercises throughout the webinar and we're coming to our first exercise in planning a palooza which is deals with your training or palooza topic. So take a few seconds and think about what training topic will be the focal point.
11:13
Point of your palooza like we have mentioned ours happened to be adult programming but perhaps yours would be for youth programming or customer service some other topics from us just doing palooza other topics. We have heard our own attendees say they want stupid loses around her topics like Outreach sharing different ways of people approaching Outreach in the communities. We have heard managerial training because it's not it's not something that libraries come plan to do. So a lot of the time it's that it's that topic that tends to be a trend or something that everyone is expected to go forth and do well but no one actually has the the documentation the training the key the guide to how to do it. So I am sure you probably have training topics that your own staff has shared with you and said it would be great if we could know what the neighboring system or the neighboring state or you know the library, you know.
12:13
It's south of us is doing so that's really what this comes down to is coming up with that training topic but it kind of drives how the rest of the day goes. And if you want to do adult programming will then we we have a lot of that that we have we have worked toward. So hopefully you've got that you've got that kind of that sketch down for you or going to move into the next objective, which is the foundations of planning Appaloosa. So this is really going to be the meat of our content. How you go about creating this day what this actually what's the paluzzo looks like something you're going to hear Tracy and I refer to a lot in terms of the palooza is that this is and always must you have to remember this is a fast-paced fun and energetic event. That is the whole. I mean that is that is why we went with the word palooza because we wanted to make sure everyone saw it as something that was exciting.
13:13
Being and and a way of training that was more than just lecture style or something. You were going to hear from an expert. It's all about that fun fast-paced feeling and so the attendees who is at your event is key that's key to who to how the day of the palooza go. So it's all based on participation to few participants and it's not going to work and too many and that's not going to work either. So Tracy and I recommend that a palooza be 50 to 75 people now, we don't have any science to show that that is the that is the golden number but we have we have seen you know, how it wouldn't work with fewer or more than that just because of the format of the day, which I will I will go into that but when you're looking at that 50 to 75 people, the next idea behind it is it has to be your participants have to have a variety of who's in the room. You don't want.
14:13
In the room to know each other right because the idea behind the palooza is it's all about sharing and it's all about coming together to solve these problems and I'm not saying that that can't happen. If everyone in the room knows each other but there's something to be said with everyone coming with different experience and a different knowledge base and having having come across problems that the person next to them has come across but hasn't been able to overcome an obstacle that they are facing now that you have already faced in solved and in your situation, so it is really really really beneficial when the room is made up of people who don't all know each other who aren't from the same Branch or the same system. We as mentioned we ran our program as a Statewide program, but this definitely could be done as a large system or as a region or as within an organization.
15:06
So if you know if your state is having a conference or or you're having a your An organization is having a having a day-long workshop. This is definitely something that you could fit into that venue as long as you know, that those those kind of situations are already arising in your Library community. But it definitely think along the terms of those 50 to 75 people. So moving from the foundation of it. We want to talk about location and funding and location is actually one of the most important parts of the palooza. There's a lot of elements to the room that you have to have in order for the event to go to move through the day the way the way it needs to you want to have a room that is big but you don't want it to be too big you want your tables. You want your piece you want everyone to be almost uncomfortable not in the sense that they're sitting on top of each other, but in order to force the sharing amongst everybody, which is what you're going to be doing.
16:08
You're going to have to be forcing them to share and brainstorm and And work together. So you're going to want them to be tight enough to where there's really no other choice, but to kind of talk to each other. There's no corner for someone to hide in and this is why it's important when you're sharing about the event that it's very clear. This is this is the kind of event it is so nobody comes under under a different preconceived notion, but you're going to want to a room that has enough space for everyone to move around in but not enough room to kind of be on a Solo solo Island you're all so if at all possible you really want to have tables that we recommend the round tables because it forces everyone to share in but even if you can't do round tables you can see in the picture on the slides right now. It's a there Square tables with the way they've been set up as it's conducive for sharing and collaboration. So you're really going to want to make sure that the tables encourage everyone to to share what we would refer to as sharing inward instead of having to turn around.
17:13
Making anyone do anything that forces them to share. You're also going to want to make sure of course that you have AV Equipment. We always encourage and remind that everyone needs to be accessible. So making sure you have mics in the room for everyone. So everyone can hear that of doing the whole can everyone hear you should just assume they can't and always use your microphones and having AV Equipment of course is a big plus and then the last one is a little silly but it's important but access to food because this is a full day training event. And you know when you may not you may not have the funding to to have people be able to be catered or have food available to them and people may have to break if if you want to do this program at a lower end of the budget scale you're going to want people to be able to break to go get their own meal. So being in a place where that's accessible and everyone's not taking, you know, three hours to go find food is important. So the food part brings me into the funding.
18:14
Nine times out of ten the first question. Everyone asks about poses. How much how much does it cost to run? Well, you can see that this is the day itself is very scalable. You could do this what I would call on the cheap which is just the Manpower of organizing the day of bringing everyone together making sure there's of course the basics like water and everything, but you could do this on a full level are very first one we had our state organization and to neighboring libraries sponsor. So we were able to bring in food we were able to bring in keynote speaker so it can get you know, you can't have a high price tag, but it doesn't have to it's very scalable. So you really can work within the budget and the funding you have access to.
19:01
The moving from location and funding I'm going to talk about the actual event. So what the actual day of a palooza looks like this is our what I would call our Bare Bones event format for our adult programming palooza and you can see it's very there's nothing complicated here. It's quite easily laid out its again the timing of everything how it moves is all about the fast-paced and the energy the key to the day are the two events that you see listed there that have the word sharing in them. And that would be the speed date sharing and the sharing round table. So as if someone were to ask an attendee of the adult programming palooza, what was the best part of the day or what did you what did you enjoy the most nine times out of 10? It's going to be the speed a shearing or the shearing round table because this is really where people get to learn this really where they get to flex their brains where they get to you know.
20:00
I have what brick what Tracy was talking about earlier with the commiserating and and getting answers to the questions and you know erasing some of that confusion is the speed data sharing and the sharing round table. So as you if you choose to plan and hopefully you do definitely having these two elements of the day or important. So I'm going to kind of break those down and what exactly are they and the speed date sharing is exactly what it sounds like this was the idea of this was built around that good old-fashioned speed dating format where one person sits at the table and some person is ringing a bell and they move through the people and ask them their three questions of like, you know, they're pertinent questions. They learn all about them and decide who they're going to move forward with and who they're not going to move forward with this is the same basic format that we've kind of Taken for this so you can already see how this would be fast paced and energizing but we basically have using our round tables. We have a what we call.
21:00
Our table share but you could call them the presenter. So we have a person stationed at each table in the room at each round table and that person the table share is a knowledge base of a specific program in this instance since it's the adult programming palooza a specific program that they found successful that they found all inspiring that they just love they were passionate about and they want to share with others. So this table share is sitting at this table and they are ready to go to share and with all their knowledge and we have all of the attendees line the perimeter of the room and then Tracy Rings a cowbell and then everyone runs to the table that they want to date first and they have five minutes with that presenter in that presenter spins the five minutes talking about the the need to need to knows about that program. So maybe the the Mets if it's not if it's not intuitive what it was about what the program was about how much did it cost?
22:00
Do maybe some some successes or some barriers that they encountered that they didn't intend to but this is how they overcame they spend five minutes talking and it goes very very fast much faster than you would think then we ring Tracy Rings the cowbell again. They have two minutes then with the with the people at the table can ask questions of the presenter. So anything that wasn't covered in the five minutes, they ask questions of and then they walk away with what we call a one sheet. So just like in real estate how you have a one sheet about the house with all the ins and outs of the house is a one sheet with all the ins and outs of the program. So looking at the at the slide you can kind of get an idea of how we do this on the on the presentation slide.
22:45
You can see there are there are nine programs that bottom one human library is actually the white table so it had to it had to be in black but you can see each program behind this lady's head is color-coded and at each table there's a little flat With a color on it so you can see in this picture. It's a red flag in the center of the table. So that coordinates so when we would ring the bell, they would run to the table. They want to now the trick to the speed-dating share is there's more topics than there is time. So this presents like a challenge stress so it gets fun. Everyone's excited too. Oh, I wanted to make sure I get a get a seat at this one. And if there aren't enough seats, they have to move along. We don't what we don't let people just stand its kind of the we we basically gamify the sharing so we make it fun. We make it energizing and they get to that table and they have rants get fast walked galloped whatever to get to that table and now they're excited to sit there and learn and they're energized and it just it just really works. It just has for us. So that's the speed date share. And again, this is with adult programming, but you can see how you could tailor this for any topic.
23:51
So the next one is the sharing round table. So the sharing Round Table is kind of in the same idea, but it's of the speed dating but it's a little more calm we would have again people line the perimeter of the room and we would have all of them shout out topics that they want to discuss. So this could be topics they want to discuss because they have their very successful in it or they have questions or they just need to brainstorm whatever we have them shout out their topics and we write them on the big sticky the big big sticky notes and then we put those topics at the tables and then we ring the bell and they run to the table of their choice again chairs are limited. So they don't get a spot they have to move on to a different table and during that we give them about 20 minutes 15 to 20 minutes depending on at the feel of the room and they spend time brainstorming on that topic.
24:43
So again, there could be someone at that table who knows a lot of I'm trying to think at our last adult programming we had people Shout Topics such as Partnerships or budgeting or Millennial programming and so everyone at that table would take that topic and they can ask questions to themselves or of the group or they can even ask questions that can be asked out later. They could brainstorm ideas. They could whatever they want on those pieces of paper. It's just a time to encourage that conversation and get them to walk away with some answers and then we usually repeat the process based on the ceiling of the room.
25:20
So we've talked about the event for Matt and I want to spend some time talking about outcomes outcomes are a big deal when people are deciding to send staff members to training events. They often want to know what's the outcome. What am I going to get out of coming to your palooza day and the outcome for Appaloosa is actually a little difficult to Define because as the planner your job is really putting the pieces together that is what you do as a planner of the palooza. You're not actually bringing any content to the table. All of the content is coming from your the the sharing between from the attendees. So the outcomes get to be very personal would personable which is great because it means people can come to the event with their own outcome going back to the event format.
26:08
You can see the very last thing we do is what we call the open mic session and and this started for us as just we were just like, how are we going to close out this day the day felt we We felt like we needed something to wrap up the day. So we you know decided. Oh, let's just this will be fun. Let's just do an open mic session, but it ended up being one of the most important parts of the day because it allows everybody to ask the questions that they want to make sure are answered. So it's there. It's their personal time to come to the table and say, okay. This is a problem. I'm having or I need advice with this. It's basically like an in-person listserv. So, you know, a lot of times on the listserv people will ask questions such as I'm trying to do an author of and how do I get started? You can ask this of a room who does exactly or who all came to the table to talk about the same thing that you're asking the question on right now. So oftentimes are open mic sessions don't end when when we're done with the event they all they all keep talking.
27:07
So the outcomes again very personal when it comes to when it comes to our palooza event. So we're going to move into our next exercise. So this is exercise. Number two. This is where we talk about the where of the palooza so on your your paper, wherever your jotting notes just try to think of three potential training locations. So you have an idea of what the day should look like you have an idea of what's going to happen in that room. So just think about different places you could hold this event. So these could be your library. It could be a community center. It could be a neighboring Library. That's what if our first one was at at Tracy's Library actually and then our second one was at a library that actually invited us to come who wanted us to hold this in their space. So think about different elements that you would need in that room. That's true. And that's that's a wonderful thing to think about too when you hold your first Palooza.
28:07
That's something you know towards the end of the day that you can bring up to your colleagues as well, you know is would anybody system be interested in hosting a palooza and that because especially with some of your larger systems you might have great interest from folks who would who would really like to have something like that within their system and then in addition in this exercise, it's time to think about the funding so think of three ways to that you would find your palooza and it's okay if the answer is I have no way to fund this palooza because that is an answer and that gives you an idea of what your next step is and what you can and can't do during the day. So that's true. And that's something that we faced as well. I know, you know our second one that we put on compared to our first we had a lot we didn't have nearly the funds that we did as we did for the first one and there are challenges to that.
29:03
But but you also have to get creative which Um, there are some wonderful things and Librarians are good at getting creative when the funding is not there. So it did not it did not hamper our day. So moving from exercise to hopefully you've got some thoughts written down there. We're going to move into our next objective which is gaining by in and participation and one of the most important things you can do in your planning process is getting the word out and there are so many ways to do this. But of course, you know word of mouth is a wonderful way to do that. If you're going to other Library conferences or other meetings with with colleagues that those are terrific places to get the word out about your palooza and just having some simple materials with you even simple flyers or bookmarks that you can have available to share with with colleagues when you're when you're at other other events is a great.
30:06
I am sharing the word Angela and I have found that listservs are a fantastic way of getting the word out about an event like palooza. In fact that has been our primary way of sharing the word about the Palouse has that we've put on so so listservs are invaluable when it comes to to sharing information with your colleagues about an event like this and then of course you want to promote the event with your own Library staff as well within your own system, but then also in promoting it to other directors and other administrators asking them to share with their staff as well.
30:51
One of the most important aspects for Angela and I when we were developing the palooza idea and and putting together the structure of the day one of the most important aspects for us was In the day accessible to all people. This is not just a day that's for administrators or for managers. This is a day for anyone involved in programming or the topic that that you choose to have your palooza focus on. I know that you know, we talked a lot about having Librarians and paraprofessionals together, especially folks who are actually implementing the adult programs who are who are doing the hard work of actually putting the programs on it's such a valuable experience to get to collaborate with with colleagues and and work in that in that way in terms of sharing ideas.
31:55
And also coming up with solutions to problems that you encounter along the way so that accessibility is is a very important aspect of the a and then you know when you're when you're looking at at gaining by in and Driver participation marketing is important to and when I say that I don't mean big or fancy but as Angela pointed out earlier you we want the day to be fun and exciting and energy filled and what you do with marketing the event can really help to lay the foundation for that and so like Angela and I we have you know, we have our slogan and our logo and and that goes on everything connected with the palooza when we when we send things out and share information and are our tagline is it's your library all grown up so that goes on everything and it and it also it helps to to Garner interest, but it also helps to build trust for the event as well and knowledge of the Then so as time goes forward people began to recognize it and they come to recognize that it will be a good day of learning and collaboration as well. And now we're going to move on to our third exercise in planning a palooza which is promotion and we're going to ask you to take just just a little bit to jot down some notes about who your target audience is who would your day include and then think of several ways you could reach out to that audience that you think would be effective ways of reaching the people that your day would be centered around. Yeah.
33:51
I think I think knowing exactly who you're going to have in that room is important and there is kind of a sense to I mean, this is definitely something open to the people who need it, but you do want to have some control on making sure You have some key people in there, especially when it comes to your table shares how you're going to get those high-energy table shares in there. I wouldn't I would if you're if you can avoid it, I wouldn't do an all call for table shares like just put on the list should list serve who wants to share we have done that we have but we have also hand-picked exactly we heard about a program. We know that we want them in there. So in especially Innovative creative programs out of the box programs are great programs to highlight at something like this because that that gets everybody thinking outside of the box and and brainstorming and a really great way. So hopefully you've got some notes there about your audience and how you're going to reach their we're going to move on to the next objective which is all about Implement. Oh I went too far is about implementing your palooza.
34:59
So I'm going to say it again, even though I'm sure you guys are tired of hearing it the environment of the day needs to be fun and Whimsical and Have a sense of high-energy Tracy and I when we were practicing earlier I said you want your palooza day to go of appaluse away. And that is our corny tagline for how the day needs to go. I mean seriously the we call it palooza because it's supposed to be fun and silly and goofy way for everyone to kind of get out of the building or get out of there their day-to-day what they do and have the sense of we're going to learn and it's going to be fun and we're going to talk about things that are bothering us and things that we've done well, so it's true and it also you know for some folks especially with adult programming if it's something that's brand new to them. It can be a little bit scary. There can be a little bit of fear surrounding it and having a day of with a fun atmosphere like that helps to alleviate some of that. I think it does. I think I think it does. I think it's it's it's nice to know.
36:06
When you're sitting next to somebody that you've never seen before who does something similar to you that you know, they have the same problem that you do and it's not it's not just you that you work so hard and then nobody came to your program. It's it happens to a lot of people so establishing that environment we talked before about the roundtables and that is important and having a setup but it's also more than just the setup. It's having this this fun kind of environment. Hopefully through the pictures that you've been seeing on the slides. You can see that Tracy and I have have tried to do that. We always have we're strong Believers in a lot of stuff on a table for some reason that makes us feel Whimsical and we Embrace that we do everything from fidget toys. I highly recommend fidget toys if you could have your system by them and then use them they're great at meetings to if you guys haven't embraced fidget toys at meetings or training events something to think about. I always have fidget toys on the tables out of palooza. We have candy we have anything from like, you know shredded paper confetti.
37:06
Little Flags the lots of colors. It is not uncommon to come to a palooza and see balloons. It really gives it this element of you. It is a fun day. You're going to have fun you're going to learn and it's okay to relax and be comfortable with learning stuff and not knowing stuff as well and hearing from someone who's more knowledgeable than you. It's okay when it comes to supplies again. This is an area that's totally scalable some stuff that Tracy and I find find that are must-haves especially if you're doing a palooza where your attendees are not going to know each other. So for us we did we do always do it on the Statewide scale. So are our attendees most the time don't know everyone in the room. We always have folders just cheap little pocket folders and inside those pocket folders, you will find an attendee list that has everyone's contact info. So we I know in the state of Georgia, there are Library systems were not everyone has business cards that idea of sharing the business card not everyone can afford.
38:06
Have their own business card. So we find that providing the contact sheet that has everyone's info already on there. It's already we've already set the mood for the day of sharing like we've already handed your information out. So it's okay to ask questions and follow up with people because that's what it's all about. Of course. We do allow people to opt out if they don't want to share their info but the whole idea is that everyone can follow up with anybody and get more and hear more and expand that knowledge. Another part of our supplies that we love is our swag if there are ways for you to get swag on your tables or in your event. That's great again for us. We did it on the Statewide level. We do have vendors who work with our entire state. So we reached out to them and told them we were doing but if you're outside of vendors, you can also if you're doing this on a smaller scale reach out to Partners in the community who may have swag Peaks and extension office. We have gotten swag from our local universities and colleges who we had a key.
39:07
Our very first one who talked about she was a professor from a local University and she talked about the the science behind adult learning which was fascinating and we had some some swag from the from the college but people love to walk away with something again. It makes it it makes it fun and makes it an exciting day to go back and share with their colleagues what they did and you know how they felt their so if you can if you can add that element to your to your day and to your to your attendees, I think it's great to do that and then outside of so and then of course the food which we have touched on as well having there's nothing wrong with some sugar and some snacks and coffee and water to go on with the day and then finally running the day this is again, we've talked about how high energy it needs to be for your attendees, and we focused a lot on that but you as the presenter you're really you're not the presenter you're the MC of the day that is your whole job is to keep this day going and to keep the energy.
40:06
Up and to keep everyone excited for the next thing. So having that opportunity is is really important. They're going to take the cue from you. So if you keep going they're going to keep going as well and the other part I want to talk about running. The day is the transitions you I think twice now maybe three times. I've said moving people to the perimeter of the room that whole idea you could definitely do this day and not make people move around as much as as much as we have people move around book. We find that that just the movement just the getting up and restarting and resetting helps people wrap their heads around the next thing that they're learning. So having that element of the movement is really important as well to your day.
40:50
And that will take us into our next exercise, which is exercise. Number four. This is the last exercise we will be doing but this is all about the implementation. This is a little bit heftier. So it's definitely something you're going to have to come back to after the after the webinar but list some possible segments for your Pluto. So we gave you a great outline and if you love that outline, you should definitely run with it. But definitely incorporate at least one of those sharing elements either the speed date or the round tables because that's really what the day is all about. Is that high energy type and you may have some other sharing ideas that you can incorporate into the day that would encourage people think about what supplies you will need and when I say need I don't just mean by but what do you already have access to what supplies do you already? Would you be able to incorporate to make your to make the room fun and Whimsical or maybe you have a stash of swag from a vendor that you didn't have enough to hand out to your patrons because you only had 50 of them, but this would be a great, you know.
41:50
Place to hand it out to and then definitely spend some time making a map of your space not just the size of your tables and if they're round or rectangular, but think about how people are going to move throughout the day and being having that elements where people can get along the perimeter and move toward the middle and move about from table to table without knocking things over and no no violent attacks on people trying to get two chairs or anything that everyone can comfortably get around to each table. That's true. And you do what you want people to be to be comfortable. But you definitely want to create the atmosphere of intimacy.
42:27
I think that that intimate atmosphere really promotes the sharing atmosphere that the day should have and makes people feel more comfortable in In sharing their ideas and and also in sharing some of their some of the struggles they've encountered and sharing Solutions as well. So with that we will move into our final objective and evaluating your day is so important in helping you determine the next steps and one of the ways that we evaluate our palooza ziz through surveys and you have so many options when it comes to surveys you project outcomes SurveyMonkey, you can create your own we always have a paper survey at the end of the day, but we also make that link available as well in case folks aren't able to stay to to fill out the survey while they're there but with find that that Anonymous feedback is so helpful and it really does Drive.
43:41
What we decide for the next palooza we take all of those suggestions to Heart in planning the next event and we're working on that right now with the next one coming up in December. We're really looking at the last two and thinking about what we would most want to add that would be most helpful to people and I just wanted to share some of the questions that we asked on our surveys and the first two questions are pretty obvious, but they're also two of the most helpful questions to receive answers on because that really does give us the information we're looking for and that is what did you enjoy most about the day and what did you enjoy least about the day we also asked what was your biggest takeaway or aha moment of the day. What is something new that you learned?
44:37
If you were to make one change about this event, what would it be and That one has been very helpful in looking ahead. I think what sessions would you like to see at Future palooza 's and then of course, we always leave room for attendees to to leave their own personal comments. And those have been incredibly helpful as well verbal feedback from people is is important. I find that one of the best parts of the day is at the very end after we've formally wrapped up the day. We find that a lot of people tend to linger they linger to network with other people that they've met throughout the day that they've Maybe started conversations about programming, you know that they've earlier in the day and they're able to continue those conversations. But but the room does not empty immediately, which is wonderful.
45:35
We have a lot of people who stay and and really continue on with the Jack matter but it also gives us a chance to talk one-on-one with attendees to get their feedback verbally from them and that's a wonderful way to gauge. You know, how effective the day was and What needs what what to keep and what to change and all of those kinds of good things but using all of that information that you collect will help you determine your next steps or your next palooza and in looking at the one that where we're developing for December, we've been looking back at subject areas that people have expressed interest in and one of those is marketing. You know, how can you especially if you're from A system that doesn't have a lot of funding, how can you how can you get the word out about your own in our case adult programs?
46:34
So, you know at our next palooza we're looking at, you know, possibly offering something on Marketing Basics simple things that you can do to get the word out about your programs and also, you know it since ours is at a state level looking at your your State Library. Are there State programs that would be of interest to people attending your palooza and having a guest speaker come in possibly from your State library to talk about some of those programs It's a Wonderful space to do that because you have a large number of people who can take that information back and share with colleagues back home as well. And now I'm going to turn it back over to Angela who's going to summon our wrap this up and I know that there have been questions and I want to answer answer those as well. But just just some final thoughts as we as we close out the palooza format and how to run this definitely the key.
47:41
You to the day as remaining flexible the day that you plan on is not the day that's going to happen because of bullet number two. This is all about your participants. And this is all about them driving the day and how they want it to flow. So very often things will we have had before where we've done the sharing roundtables and we did the first round and not are there everyone wanted to know I think about the same three topics. So we didn't do a second round. We just let the people switch out and go to the table that they really wanted to hear about some so many of them have the same topic. So being flexible in that way again, being fast paced being high energy making the room creative give making sure that you're doing everything you can as the MC of the day to encourage them to be sharing a lot of the questions we get about losses. What do you do? When what happens when you get a group that isn't so into sharing that isn't, you know into the n-word sharing and I can honestly say that hasn't happened to us. We know I think we do a great job.
48:41
At making it known from the start that this is a high energy High sharing day everything. We send out from the beginning kind of sets that tone. So we have not had and a lot of times the people coming want to know this if this is important they want to know this information for their job. So we have not had that instance before where people weren't into the Fast Pace in high-energy. So hopefully hopefully you can prevent that from happening from the beginning and I just want to before we close. I want to share a quick little story from Tracy nice first palooza because I think it's really important that you not underestimate the need for whatever you're thinking of doing a proposed on and that you don't end underestimate your interest when Tracy and I were sitting at dinner that night. You know, she and I both thought this was the best thing in the world in our goal was we were like certainly, you know, we could get 40 people to want to buy into this idea with us and join us for this palooza day.
49:40
I mean this was before we had Ever, you know started even planning what the day would look like and when we opened up we did registration through one list serve on our Statewide membership list serve and we just did registration through a Google form and our Max was we want to have at least 40 people and when we sent the email out within six hours, we had 65 people register and that was just within six hours of the first push for that event. So and what we knew that day six hours later when we looked at the attendee list and we had 65 people we knew that we had stumbled upon something where people needed help they needed resources, they needed access to information and to two colleagues where we they could get professional advice and they could get resources outside of Pinterest or webinars, which webinars are great. But sometimes there is that element of training that you get from face-to-face. Were you able to walk away with what you really want to know? So I just want to end and close with that story. 
50:41
So that you don't if you're just thinking I don't think anybody would want to sit and talk to me for a full day about this. You're probably wrong. They probably do very much want to talk about it. So I want to thank you guys for listening to us share with you our passion. We're very passionate about our palooza. We're very passionate about adult programming but also this training format. We have seen it work very well twice now and we're very looking forward to our third one to get some new attendees in there. So we have our email addresses up there, please like don't hesitate. We if you are if you're going to do this send us pictures and we want to hear how it goes for you and what works well and what doesn't please do we're excited to hear about your kaluza's. Yeah, maybe one day we can have a palooza about palooza. That would be great. All right. Turn it back over to Mary.
51:29
All right. That was fantastic. You guys did a great job and we do have some questions. Hey, okay, so can you do a palooza as a countywide in-service day with multiple topics or would it be better to have the palooza as just one breakout session on a single topic?
51:51
Hmm. That's a great question. I think just my immediate first thought would be I think it works better if it's on a single topic like that and I think at the whole day can be focused on something specific like that. However, if you did multiple breakout session multiple oozes within a day, I think that could definitely I definitely think you could use the format to to I mean, this is the format is totally it's totally scalable. I mean, I guess it just depends how many people you're talking about and the wide variety of topics, but I definitely think it's doable as in regards to a county in service day. Absolutely. I definitely can see this taking place. A lot of people have their the staff days or the the in-service or the or the dedicated training days, but I definitely think you could use since this is a day long format. You definitely could use this form.
52:50
And some wait for that we have not done that we have not used it as a on multiple topics, but I'm sure there's a way yeah.
53:01
Okay. And do you have a template for the one sheet Angela? I've also heard about training one sheets that you do for Library services and resources. I would love to hear more about one cheats in general. Okay, we don't have a template for the one sheet. But in the handouts, let me see. I think I can see the handouts to in the handouts. There is a handout for planning a con. That's an example of a one sheet. So the one sheets are created by the table shares and they all look different and Tracy and I find that to be fun. We like that they all look different. We like that they all do their own thing. So I do not give them a template when we asked the table shares to create a one-sheet. We actually just send them examples of one cheats, but it's kind of fun. You guys were kind of we like this whole fun and Whimsical thing it's better when they look different it is and it also is great because you know, we've been fortunate and that we could a wide variety.
54:00
Eddie of Library systems who come to the Palouse as and so you have some systems that are incredibly well funded some that that do not have a large budget to work with and so I think it gives a wide range of examples to you know, so what yeah what actually so that but if you want to email me I can send you more examples I can send you the other one sheets that people have have sent out as well and then to the rest of it the training one-sheets I do I'm a strong believer in one sheets because I really Embrace Embrace micro learning I think at I know it my library and I have no doubt at many of you at your library's your front line staff. They barely have time to come up from are at the front desk. So asking them to set aside dedicated time to train I'm talking about Frontline Frontline staff asking them to set aside training time is often a task that they cannot even begin to fathom.
55:00
You to you know Embrace because they just they can barely get time off to go take a break because of how busy they are and how needed they are on the front. So once sheets are something I do I do have them for we do one a month in our library system. It's exactly what it sounds like. It's one sheet on a training services meant to be able to be digestible very quickly. So that's what if you want more information. You can email me and I can share some of those with you as well. I'm all about sharing. I'll share anything with anybody and then did you guys mentioned something about a senior prom was asking what a senior prom? Yes. That was one of our table shares it was I was probably on thats on the slide where we had all of the where we had all the programs listed but that the senior prom was a program done where this this librarian she organized a prom where she invited Assisted Living folks from Assisted Living.
55:55
So it was literally a senior as in you know age Pages 55 and older prom so she decorated the meeting room with lights and she had a I think she had a saxophone. She had like a jazz band come play in the corner like and and basically she built up the attendant she invited specifically assisted living and they came they came via the buses and it was a wonderfully attended event. So that's what she shared on that that events and whoever asked that question. Send me an e-mail. I'll send you the one she on there and this is a more of a comment. It's C or yeah, I started to recently say and training surveys what can be improved instead of what did you like least like that? That is I like that too weird. We will take note of that. That's a great question. What can you sense that? Probably yields much better answers. Thank you for that suggestion. And we will we will use that.
56:57
And how do you find the experts slash knowledgebase folks who talk at the Palooza?
57:05
So I'm guessing that's referring to the the the table shares a lot of for our first palooza when we were just dipping into this. I know each of us had people from our own system share because again, we were at the state level. So we were we were able to pull from multiple libraries and just from people we knew and what we knew people were doing and asking around, you know, does your library have strong adult programming? Is there any program you're super proud of but we did also once we once our networking ended and we kind of Hit the hit the road with a roadblock with who we already knew we did do an all call to our attendees. So people who are already signed up to come we asked them if they would be willing to share and actually for our for our first palooza when we hit our when we hit our waitlist in our for of signups.
58:01
We actually used the presenting as a way for people to get in so We did it. We said if you're willing to present, so what I'll say is your first time doing and it just depends what scale you're doing. But the first time you're doing it it might be more of a shot in the dark of who your table presenters are but as you do more of this and if this is something you would do, you know multiple times you kind of learn who those go to people are in your Library community.
58:30
That's the last question. I have I'm not seeing any there questions or comments and it's perfect timing though because we're just a minute before the top of the hour. So I'm going to go ahead and say thank you again to both of you Tracey and Angelo. That was fantastic. You really did a great job. Thank you. And thank we loved talking about this. We're passionate. So thank you for giving us this platform marries patient. Absolutely.
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