As a first time ALA annual goer, my real struggle was deciding when to attend sessions and when to have coffee or meet with someone to network. Let me just tell you, it is four days later and I didn’t find a good answer to my dilemma, except do the best you can to balance both.
My days here at the conference were filled with sessions, meetings, workshops, presentations, informal meet ups, and receptions. But every hour was a debate in my mind of whether to go to this session or that meeting. I had my phone calendar pulled up with the ALA scheduling app, and I would spend the entire 20 minute shuttle ride trying to decide what was most important and where I should go. Then, when someone would ask to have coffee or lunch it added more fuel to the fire. I’d have to stop in the middle of my day, re-look at my whole schedule and see if I should even say yes to these informal meetings.
The internal argument in my mind this weekend was constant, and now that there’s only one day left of the conference, I’m still not sure I made all the right choices. What if I missed out on a really awesome session? What if I lost an opportunity to make a connection with another librarian who could be a great resource in the future? What if I didn’t make it to that meeting and missed important information? What if, what if, what if…
Well, as we all know, there will always be what ifs. But the only things we can do is try our best and do all we can. And as I’m sitting here, reflecting on my experiences over the last few days, I believe I balanced it all decently well (and by decent I mean barely keeping my head above water). I missed out on some sessions, but I built relationships and networks with other librarians who gave me great ideas. I didn’t go to all the meetings, but I was involved in the ones I did go to and networked when I could. I didn’t go out with friends, but got some really helpful information and strategies from presentations and panels. There were things I missed out on for sure, but whatever I was doing instead gave me new ideas and opportunities.
So next year, if you’re a first time ALA annual attendee like I was, just breathe and know you can’t do it all. And that is okay. Sessions are great. Informal meetings are awesome. Formal meetings are wonderful. Networking is amazing. (Can you see where I’m going with this?) Everything at ALA annual is informative and you’ll get excellent ideas to bring back to your home library no matter what you attend or who you talk to. Just get out there and find your balance.