Midwinter Meeting Report, San Antonio 2006
DATE = January 31, 2006
GROUP = Top Technology Trends Committee
CHAIR = Jennifer Ward
REPORTER = Jennifer Ward
EMAIL = jlward1@u.washington.edu
CONFERENCE = midwinter
MEETING = other
OTHER = combined report of experts+committee (morning) and committee (afternoon)
ATTENDEES = 75
CURRENT_ACTIVITIES = This is a report for two meetings involving the Top Technology Trends committee: the morning meeting with the experts plus committee and the afternoon meeting which was solely a committee meeting.
At the morning meeting we discussed a number of issues with the current format of midwinter and annual conversations with the experts. We haven't discussed this for a number of years and needed to find ways to make the events with the experts more interactive, interesting, entertaining, and engaging for all involved. After the business was taken care of there was a brief trends discussion, which was well-covered on the lita blog (http://litablog.org/?p=187) In the afternoon, the committee members talked about how to achieve the goals expressed in the morning meeting and how to better structure our own post-event workflow.
Committee Workflow:
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There was a fair amount of discussion surrounding the way the committee responds to trends that are identified by our experts. In the past, the committee has taken the trends, done research to identify openly-available resources that help explain the issue, then posted the resources to the TTT website. This is a fairly static, labor-intensive way to produce content and the group discussed alternatives. Online forums were mentioned as a way for trends to be discussed after the event, with those that are more popular floating to the top of the list. Since we don't have forum software available for the entire community, the group would like to use the LITA blog to post this information and link to the blog from the LITA TTT website. Jennifer Ward will follow up on requesting additional TTT categories for the blog.
FUTURE_ACTIVITIES = We will continue having meetings with the experts at Annual and Midwinter, to be structured as below.
Meeting with the experts at Annual:
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We will keep the same physical setup as we've had in the past: theater setup with a head table, arranged such that the experts can see one another. As people enter the room, they're handed a note card which they can use to submit questions to the panel. We need a strong moderator: someone who is familiar enough with the issues presented to be able to spot themes and discrepancies and someone who is able to move things along as necessary.
For the first 50 minutes or so, the experts discuss their *top* trend, then they can go around again as time permits. The moderator will be key in keeping the discussion moving, identifying themes, etc. Audience members can submit questions or topics they want to hear more about on their note cards; committee members will collect the cards throughout the event and feed them to the moderator.
At the end of part one, we will have a brief interlude where we'll bring back a trend from the archives and see where the experts think it is now. Or follow up on something from the previous Midwinter. Or let the experts "vote a trend off the island". This will last 10 minutes at most. During this time, the moderator will work with the committee members to identify questions to ask of the experts. The second half will consist of experts responding to what's been submitted on the cards. Again, the moderator is key to keeping things moving. The committee will continue collecting cards and will feed them to the moderator for consideration throughout the program.
The committee discussed creating a podcast of the event. Maurice York is looking into this.
Meeting with the experts at Midwinter:
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To better enable an open discussion between the experts at Midwinter, the event will be much less structured. Experts will be at a U-shaped table in the middle of the room; observers will be in chairs surrounding three sides of the table. Still to be decided is how to get audience feedback/participation while keeping the dialogue between the experts flowing.
Because Midwinter is less structured, it would be an appropriate venue for testing new approaches or technologies (e.g., an IM/IRC backchannel or ask a local person to be an ad hoc expert) before using with them at Annual.
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