Conversation Starters, Ignite and Poster Session proposals due dates for 2015 ALA Annual Conference

CHICAGO — 2015 ALA Annual Conference attendees have the chance to inspire colleagues and move the needle forward for the profession in one-hour Conversation Starters, five-minute Ignite sessions and 90-minute poster sessions. The poster session proposal deadline has been extended to February 28, 2015. Conversation Starters and Ignite proposals are accepted through the end of March 1, 2015. Find out more about these opportunities and how to submit your proposals.

Poster sessions include descriptions of innovative library programs, analyses of practical problem-solving initiatives, reports of research studies and more. They take place in the Exhibit Hall on Saturday, June 27 and Sunday, June 28. Authors of the posters are on hand to discuss their projects.

Conversation Starters may be in lecture, panel or discussion formats and will take place throughout the day on Saturday, June 27, Sunday, June 28, and Monday, June 29. Each five-minute Ignite Session is accompanied by 20 slides that advance automatically every 15 seconds. There will be six Ignite sessions each day from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., also on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Notifications of acceptance will be sent in April. The proposals go through a public voting process in which the public votes count for 30 percent, staff votes for another 30 percent and the remaining 40 percent an advisory group of ALA members.

The wide range of emerging topics, trends and innovations in  the 36 Conversation Starter and Ignite sessions in 2014 included: connecting teens through YouTube; word-based classification; community/campus collaboration and engagement; TumblarianTalk; “secret shopping;” open-source software; presentation pointers; Pinterest and digital archives; underserved populations; makerspaces and making; thriving as a young leader; the Library as Incubator Project; early literacy; using data; the SuperPAC EveryLibrary; revving up storytimes; Illinois’ Soon to be Famous project; and the blurring lines between media, form and genre. You can also review the 2014 Annual Conference topics and presenters in the 2014 conference scheduler.

Find out more about submitting proposals at http://alaac15.ala.org/how-to-present.

Register and book housing now! Take advantage of the best Early Bird rates through noon (Central) March 16, 2015. Use these making your case to attend resources if you need help.

Ways to stay in touch and get updates include the Annual Conference website; Twitter @alaannual and #alaac15;  the Facebook Event; Pinterest; Google +; Tumblr; and Instagram #alaac15

ALA Annual Conference—Transforming Our Libraries, Ourselves