Am I a Prop Comic?

Yesterday, the NEFLIN staff fanned out all over the region. This was the first day for media specialists to return for the new school year. We were invited to give presentations about NEFLIN to the media specialists in Clay, Duval and Alachua counties.

Patty went to the Duval meeting in Jacksonville, Stephanie to the Alachua meeting in Gainesville, and I went down the road to the Clay meeting at Fleming Island High School.

When preparing for our talks I was informed by Patty and Stephanie that I would be using our tradeshow display (available for members to borrow through our
Equipment Loan Program!). They would be going with just themselves, a one-page handout, and a few toys. That's it.

I began to think...am I the "Prop Comic" at NEFLIN? If you don't know, a prop comic is sometimes looked down upon by his colleagues. There are the comics who can just stand at the mic and make you laugh until you burst. Then come the prop comics who need props or gimmicks to get laughs.

Do I need the display to remember what services NEFLIN offers? Am I getting that old and forgetful? Thankfully I voiced my concern over this and was told we were asked to bring a display to fit in with the many poster sessions throughout the room. I must report that I went to the meeting and this was the case. The display was a hit, and NEFLIN was too.

Thank you to the folks at Clay Schools for having me. I had a great time, met some new friends, and remembered how to get back to the NEFLIN office all by myself.

Stephanie writing now....

I thought I would follow up with a little bit about my visit with the nice folks at Alachua County Schools. Every time I drive to Gainesville I'm reminded how far you all travel when you come to workshops at NEFLIN and why it is SO important for us to continue to offer training in other locations.

I had a great visit at the Sivia Center. Did my run through of all the NEFLIN services (thank you to Patty for creating the handout that keeps me from forgetting anything) -

• face-to-face training in various locations
• online training - live and recorded
• webconferencing - one of the new services we're rolling out in October
  
• multimedia lending library
• equipment loan - lcd projectors, that great display board in Brad's photo, and coming soon, GAMING equipment
• survey tools - touchscreen and web-based (unlimited web-based surveys are now available)
  
• quick reference guides (I even came back with a request from someone)
• the blog
• vendor discounts (thanks Betsy for reminding me of this one)
• and, coming next year - 23 Things @ NEFLIN - the Learning 2.0 program for our members

We'll be doing many more of these sessions as our member school districts return to start the new year. If you would like a NEFLIN staff member to come talk to your staff about the services that are available and how you can best take advantage of your membership, just give us a call (904-278-5620).

From Patty:
I enjoyed speaking to about 100 Media Specialists from Duval Schools at First Coast High School in Jacksonville. Besides the services mentioned above, I also mentioned that our members consider

• applying for the NEFLIN Continuing Education Committee - we are currently looking for new members for 2008-09 (see my blog post from August 11 for details)
• suggesting workshop trainers and ideas - I'm always looking for new trainers and input from library staff on what topics you would like to see us offer
• thinking about teaching a class or leading an Interest Group discussion for us. We know there's lots of talent and expertise out there, and we would love to have you share that with others

I would be happy to speak with you at any time about these.