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The 11 Best Conferences in 2024 for Anyone Looking To Learn More About Library Promotions and Marketing (and Some Are Completely Free!)

Photo courtesy Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County https://digital.cincinnatilibrary.org/digital/collection/p16998coll12?fbclid=IwAR3gV2a2TMW2DFTLlsU0shgVGKzEFtzSJBYpqyAircAHN3eh6wvoE-siipw
Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

There is nothing like gathering in a room full of people who understand your struggles and your triumphs.

One of the best ways to find your library marketing soulmates… the ones who will nod sympathetically when you talk about how hard it is to get engagement on your social media posts or how your co-workers expect you to make a flyer for every single program is at a conference.

What topics do you want to see covered at conferences this year?

That’s why I’m putting out my annual list of the best conferences for library promotions a little early this year. I wanted to give you more time to plan.

Here’s what you need to know about this list.

  • The conferences have a robust selection of sessions specifically centered around marketing and promotions. Many conferences on this list are not specifically designed for libraries. But if the conference will teach you techniques or new concepts that you can adapt to your library work, I’ve included it.
  • The conferences offer high value for the price. I am keenly aware of budgetary constraints for libraries. That means some really incredible conferences are not on the list.
  • The conferences are listed in chronological order.
  • Some conferences are virtual, and some are in-person. I tried to offer a range for those who wish to travel and for those who prefer to learn at home.
  • Most of the conferences on my list are in North America. There is one exception. But you can scroll to the bottom of this post for a link to a complete list of library conferences around the world and non-marketing-focused state library conferences in the United States.

A final note: I’ll be at the Public Library Association Conference in Columbus, Ohio this year so if you’re going to be there too, let’s meet up!

The 11 Best Conferences in 2024 for Library Marketing and Promotions

Computers in Libraries 2024

In-person event, March 12-14, 2024, in Arlington, Virginia
Price: Ranges from $249 to $929 depending on how many days you wish to attend and whether you want to participate in workshops.

The Communities track is marketing and outreach-focused. There are also sessions on the future of libraries and the impact of AI.

American Copy Editors Society

In-person event, April 4-5, 2024, in San Diego, California
Price: $775

This conference boosts an impressive program packed with sessions that will sharpen your writing skills for all kinds of library promotion including tools for fact-checking, accessibility, creativity, and how to build an in-house style guide.

Digital Marketing Conference Series

47 separate in-person and virtual events happening between April and October 2024 across the globe
Price: Varies by location. You’ll generally pay around $600 for the bottom-tier in-person pass and about $200 for the virtual pass.

This series includes sessions on customer engagement, social media marketing, video marketing, web analytics, email marketing, content marketing, search engine optimization, geo-targeting, and much more. Each event has its own website and agenda so you can pick the right session for you.

Digital Summit Series

8 separate in-person events between April and December 2024 across the USA.
Price: $495 for a main conference pass

This conference covers content, social media, email, SEO, analytics, and strategy. They also got me with this line from their website: “Size and budget shouldn’t lock you out of good marketing.” The cost is reasonable and the programs all apply to library marketing work. They’ve even got a pre-filled email to send to your supervisor, making the case for attendance. And with 8 conferences across the U.S., there’s bound to be one near to you.

International Public Library Fundraising Conference

In-person event, June 9-11, 2024, in Washington, DC
Price: $372.60

This conference is for anyone assigned to marketing for fundraising at a library. Topics include effective direct mail and digital fundraising strategies, messaging in today’s political and social climate, how to turn fundraising challenges into successes, engaging your board, and Library Giving Day ideas.

Marketing Analytics Conference

Virtual event, June 18, 2024
Price: Free

Every marketer needs to know how to analyze data. And although there’s not a program listed yet, a free conference from the American Marketing Association that promises to deep dive into trends, strategies and innovations in marketing analytics alongside industry leaders and experts is a must. I’m registered!

Podcast Movement

In-person event, August 19-22, 2024, in Washington, DC
Price: Early bird prices range from $239-$539, depending on whether you want access to recordings and VIP status

I’ve added this conference because so many libraries are now producing podcasts. With more than 100 sessions and the opportunity to network with other podcasters, plus a very affordable ticket price, I think this conference is definitely worth your consideration.

Online News Association Annual Conference

In-person event, Sept. 18-20, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia
Price: Prices are not yet released but last year they charged $795 for the in-person conference and $350 for a virtual pass with access to session recordings.

I bet you’re thinking, “What is this conference doing on the list?” Last year’s program was packed with sessions that would be extremely valuable for library marketers, especially if one of your 2024 goals is to improve your writing and storytelling and increase press coverage of your library. If they offer the virtual pass again, I think it’s worth your consideration. Sign up for their conference newsletter to get notified when registration opens and when the program for 2024 is set.

Guru Conference

Virtual event, October 16-17, 2024
Price: Free

A favorite of my team at NoveList, I’m thrilled that the date doesn’t conflict with the Library Marketing and Communications conference this year. This free virtual event is packed with tips for email marketing and advice for promotions. It’s energetic and usually has celebrity keynotes (last year was Martha Stewart!). There are no recordings, so you must set aside time to watch the sessions live. Block your calendar now.

Internet Librarian

Virtual event, October 22-24, 2024
Price: TBD but last year it ranged from $199-$329

An incredibly affordable option for library staff, especially if you don’t have a travel budget. The conference usually includes sessions on social media management, video marketing, and podcasting. Registration is not yet open but you can sign up to get email updates on the event.

Library Marketing and Communications Conference

In-person event, November 12-13 in St. Louis, MO
Price: TBD

If you have to pick one conference to attend this year, make it this one. This is an amazing opportunity to learn so much about marketing, communication, public relations, social media, and outreach in academic, public, and special libraries. The sessions explore issues that are important for this niche of library work. The conference includes time for attendees to network and discuss mutual challenges. Registration opens later this year. Sign up for their mailing list on the website to get more information. Join their Facebook group to start networking right now. I will be there!!!

More library conferences

For more library conferences across the U.S. and abroad, visit Information Today.

PS You might also find this helpful

10 Tips to Make The Most of Your Next Library Marketing Conference

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This May Be the Most Difficult Part of Library Marketing: 5 Steps To Manage the Expectations of Your Library Co-Workers

Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

A few weeks ago, as part of a post about exhaustion in marketing, I asked you to share your experience with burnout on the job.

To be honest, I didn’t want to get any responses.

I was hoping my fears about the prevalence of burnout were totally unwarranted and off base.

But….

I received more than a dozen anonymous messages. All were thoughtful. And incredibly heartbreaking.

My readers love their job. They love the library. They are trying their best.

But…

They are freaking tired. They are overworked. They feel disrespected and unappreciated.

There was a common denominator in all the responses. Many of my readers are dealing with unrealistic deadlines and results expectations.

Here is a sampling of responses.

“I have observed a lack of comprehension among management regarding the substantial time investment necessary to fulfill their expectations. It is crucial that we cultivate a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by library marketing professionals and foster a supportive environment that prioritizes their well-being.”

“If a program or event is a success it’s the people who ran the program that made it a success. If it’s a flop it is because it wasn’t marketed well.”

Libraries in general do not respect marketing. They look at us as glorified flyer makers. If you aren’t a librarian, then your opinions and recommendations on how to best promote something are not as valid as theirs. Regardless of how many years of professional experience you have, it doesn’t matter.”

Oof.

I know you are not a miracle worker. You know you are not a miracle worker.

But…

You are expected to be a miracle worker.

And while I cannot promise you that I can completely fix this issue, I can relate. I faced these same issues in my time at a library.

I do have a 5-step guide, created from my experience.

This will not erase your burnout. But it can make your work environment more tolerable. It will do that by building respect and understanding of your library marketing position.

Step #1: Erase the mystery of your job.

I’ll never forget a conversation I had at the Library Marketing and Communications Conference. One of the attendees told me she was so happy to be amongst people who understood her job.

“I feel like I work on an island,” she told me. “Everyone just thinks I sit around playing on social media.”

Your co-workers, supervisors, and library administrators don’t understand your job, just as you might not fully grasp what it means to work in collection development or cataloging.

So, the first step in managing their expectations is to give them an idea of what it is you do every day. Create an internal communications plan to explain, in simple terms, how promotions work to make their job easier.

You can do this by writing a post for your internal staff website, sending an email to staff, in casual conversations with your co-workers, and requesting time at the next staff meeting, as Chris Boivin of the Jacksonville Public Library did.

I’d also suggest you consider allowing co-workers to shadow you for a day, I did that during my time at the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library and it was incredibly effective.

In each of these interactions, explain to your co-workers the timeframe a good library marketer needs to:

  • Research a target audience for a library program or service.
  • Create promotions, including writing creative, impactful copy, making graphics, creating an email newsletter, etc.
  • Tell them about the Marketing Rule of 7 and how you compete with all the other content in the world.
  • Show them how you set success measures for your promotions. 

You might also think about creating an infographic or a timeline chart to visualize the process for them. And then, invite them to collaborate with you. As one of my readers said,

“Marketing is not a solitary endeavor but rather a collective effort that benefits from the ability to bounce ideas and thoughts off one another. Encouraging teamwork not only enhances the quality of marketing initiatives but also fosters a sense of camaraderie and support among library professionals.”

In your conversations with co-workers or supervisors, ask for their ideas. Can they picture a certain graphic? Do they think the audience on a certain social media channel will align with the promotion? What would they write about it if they oversaw the copy?

Step #2: Consider their needs and fears.

Let your staff members and supervisors tell you what they need from promotions.

Much of the criticism of library marketing comes from a place of fear.

Is your co-worker worried about losing funding? Is program attendance tied to their job performance-rated problems? Is the director worried about losing a ranking or their job due to low circulation numbers? Are they worried about being embarrassed when no one shows up for their promotions?

In all your conversations with your fellow staff members, make certain you ask them what a successful promotion would look like to them. That gives you a chance to understand how to explain how doing library marketing right will help them to avoid bad outcomes.

Step #3: Set promotional guidelines.

Now that you and your staff have a clear understanding of each other, it’s time to set expectations.

As you do this, be sure to explain that these guidelines are in the best interest of both you and your fellow library staff members. You are all on the same team and working for the same goals.

Set a clear timeline for when information needs to be submitted to create effective promotions. If your library allows your co-workers to review work related to their department, let them know when they can expect those drafts and what the timeline is.

In every back and forth with co-workers, repeat these expectations and make sure your deadlines are clear. In my job, I use email to ask for review and feedback and I set a day and time, which I highlight in bold lettering.

Step #4: Share your successes AND failures with context.

Reporting is one of the clearest ways to demonstrate to your co-workers why a promotion does or does not work.

You don’t have to share the results of every promotion you do for your library. Pick two each month to highlight: one that was successful, and one that didn’t do as well as you hoped.

“Wait, you want us to talk about our failures?”

Yes. I do.

Share the basics of the promotion. Where did you release it? Was there any positive or negative feedback from the community? How effective was it? What would you do differently next time?  

Step #5: Repeat.

The Marketing Rule of 7 also applies to your internal audience.  And turnover is heavy at libraries. You’ll need to keep working on erasing the mystery of your work, talking with your staff about their needs and fears, explaining your guidelines, and sharing your successes and failures, every month.

More Advice

Effective Library Internal Communication Is Not Impossible! Libraries Share Tips for Keeping Staff Up to Date, Engaged, and Happy

Hats Off to Great Library Marketing

Kudos to…

York Public Library for this email.

Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County for this blog post.

Upcoming Appearances

Will I see you soon?

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You Are Not a Miracle Worker! 5 Ways to Level Set Your Co-Workers’ Library Marketing Expectations

Watch this video

Tell me if this sounds familiar: your library staff wants you to promote their events and programs, but they don’t give you the information that you need to create those marketing messages in a timely manner.

How do you set up a system where your fellow staff members help you help them? I’ll share some tips I learned on the job at my former library to make effective library promotions.

Plus we give away kudos. Watch the video to find out which library is being recognized.

Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for watching!

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10 Tips to Make The Most of Your Next Library Marketing Conference

Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

My phone has a folder just for conference apps. And perhaps this is super nerdy, but I get a sense of thrill from moving an app from the folder to my homepage. It means it’s time to attend a conference!

Conferences, in whatever form they take, give you space to step away from your normal work tasks and learn, network, and get re-energized.  

And for those of us working in library marketing, conference attendance is vital. Promoting your library means you have to balance a number of skills, like creative writing, data analytics, and project management. We need ongoing training and inspiration to do our best possible work. Conferences help you do that!

But, to get the most out of the experience, you’ll need to do more than show up and take notes. Here are my top 10 tips to help you get the most value out of your next conference.

Pick your sessions in advance.

Before you get into the car, train, or plane to travel to the conference, decide on which sessions you’ll attend. Most conferences offer sessions in tracks. Those are a series of related sessions designed to give you an in-depth and multi-layered education about one area of librarianship.

You may be expecting me to recommend that you always attend sessions in the marketing, communications, or outreach track. And I do… but only if your library is sending more than one person to the conference.

If you are traveling solo, choose your sessions based on the needs of your library. Think about the coming year and the kinds of challenges that may lie ahead for your organization. Then pick the sessions that will help you to meet those challenges.

For example, this year at LibLearnX, I attended a session on strategic planning for libraries. I knew that I needed to learn more about the process so that I could encourage libraries to add communication initiatives to their strategic plans.

If you’re on the fence about a session or are having trouble choosing between several speakers running at the same time, do some research on the speakers. Look on YouTube to see if you can find their past presentations. Check their LinkedIn profile, blog, or website. Their presentation style and willingness to share valuable information with their audiences may help you make your final decision.   

Sign up for notifications.

Most conferences will send you notices through email or their app (or both) with helpful info, including places to eat and have fun when you’re not in a conference session. They may also alert you when sessions are added or dropped from the agenda. These can be valuable time savers.

Connect with fellow attendees and speakers on social media before you go.

Start checking the conference hashtag a few weeks before the conference to see who is attending and what they’re excited about. That excitement is contagious!

You might also find Facebook and LinkedIn groups connected to your conference where you can meet attendees in advance. Connecting with conference attendees and speakers ahead of time makes it less intimidating to walk into an event full of strangers.

And while you’re at it, update your LinkedIn profile. You can bet people you meet at the conference will be checking you out.

And you never know… you may find your next boss at the event. I was hired by NoveList in 2019 after meeting my current manager at the Library Marketing and Communications Conference!

Practice how you’ll introduce yourself to new people and have a few conversation starters at the ready.

You’ll be surprised how fast you can freeze up in a room full of strangers. So even though it feels weird, figure out what you’ll say to introduce yourself and then come up with three questions you can ask someone you’ve just met to help get a conversation going.

Can’t think of any good conversation starters? You can steal mine! Of course, they are all library marketing questions.

  • What’s the best way you’ve found to send messages to your community?
  • What social media channels does your library use to communicate with your cardholders? Which one works best for you?
  • How does your library measure your marketing and promotion success?

Get familiar with the venue and pack your conference tote bag.

Try to arrive on the day before the conference so you can go to the venue. Figure out where the exhibit hall, session rooms, food booths, and restrooms are located. Knowing how to get around can help ease your nerves.

If the conference has early check-in, take advantage of it. The registration desk is always busy on the morning of the first day of a conference. You’ll be glad to avoid the lines and get right into your sessions.

The night before the conference, pack a notebook and pens or your laptop, some business cards, a small snack, your water bottle, and a phone charger into a tote bag or backpack. But be sure to leave room for freebies you’ll pick up in the vendor hall.

Take notes in sessions. 

You might be tempted to skip this step, given that many speakers make their slides publicly available after the presentation. But you’ll absorb more of the information if you take notes.

Ask questions of the speakers. 

If you are in the midst of a session and you have a question about the material, write it down. Most conference sessions include a question and answer time at the end of the session.

If you find it too intimidating to ask a question of a speaker, approach them after the session. They’ll be happy to talk with you one on one.

Give yourself a break.

I made one big mistake at my first post-pandemic in-person conference. I went from session to session without any breaks all day long! It was exhausting and I never had a chance to reflect on what I was learning.

So now, I make a commitment to myself to take a lunch break every day of each conference I attend. If I can, I take my food outside of the venue or I visit a nearby restaurant and eat while going over my notes. The breaks help me to regain focus for my afternoon sessions. 

At the end of each day, go through your notes and compile a summary.  

Head back to your hotel and spend about 20 minutes just writing a few paragraphs about what you’ve learned, who you met, and how these ideas can translate into your library marketing work.

The time you spend putting your notes in order will also help to reinforce what you learn. It will also prompt you to start thinking about ways to put those new nuggets of knowledge into practice at your library!

Put what you’ve learned into practice—do not skip this step!  

When you return home, I want you to set aside one hour on your calendar as if it were a meeting. During that time, review your notes and pick two or three things you’ve learned at the conference that you can do at your library.

For example, maybe you learned ten new tips to get more subscribers for your email newsletter. Choose a few of the tips and make a plan to actually try them!

Try to do this within a week of returning, when the material is fresh in your mind and your enthusiasm and energy are high.

More Advice

The Secret To Tell Compelling and Memorable Stories About Your Library That Make People Cry!

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Three Transformative Tips to Improve Focus and Re-Energize You When Working in the Library Doesn’t Feel Fun Anymore

Blue Ash - Sycamore Branch staff: Mrs. Sonia Bibbs (left) Library Assistant, Douglas Robinson, Corinne Hand (right) Children’s Librarian. Courtesy Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted.

The pandemic is exhausting.

Worrying about the health and safety of family and coworkers is exhausting.

Natural disasters, a nation coming to terms with centuries of racial disparity, and a Presidential campaign here in the United States are exhausting.

And yet the library world continues to provide service during this crazy year. Your library probably still did a summer reading program. You’re providing virtual programs. You support students and teachers as they navigate distance learning. You’re promoting books and offering reading recommendations.

The world throws hurdles at you, and your library responds.

Is it any wonder if you feel like you need a nap and a hot bath nearly every day?

Library marketers are expected to be energetic and enthusiastic. More than any other library staffer, you’re expected to have exciting and innovative ideas to promote all these major developments and service changes as well as the smaller services that everyday cardholders rely on.

And you’re expected to produce results, driving people to watch virtual programs, use your curbside pickup service, and follow all the rules for social distancing.

It’s only natural to feel burned out by the speed at which everything happens at your library. And when you get stressed, work stops being fun. The quality of your work suffers.

But your library and your community depend on you. So here are some tips to help you manage your work and avoid burnout.

Prioritize, stay completely focused on your goals, and say “no” to EVERYTHING else.  Humans are all weirdly programmed to say yes, to take on more, to squeeze as much out of life as we possibly can.

Busyness feels wonderful. We’re doing something! Stuff is happening! Progress is being made!

But without space for creative thought, mistakes are going to happen. Your work won’t be what it could or should be. And that means your marketing will be less effective.

So, just like you weed your collection, you need to weed your promotions. This is especially true now, when your audience is suffering from content burnout because of the pandemic.

In my first year at a library, I said “yes” to everything. And nothing I did was any good.

When I realized I was doing too much, I set some ground rules for the goals I wanted my staff to focus on. I aligned these goals with my library’s strategic goals. They were:

  • A promotional tactic (like emails) had to produce a ten percent bump in circulation, program attendance, or usage. If it didn’t, we stopped doing it.
  • A service had to be easy for the cardholder to use to get promotion. Databases are a good example. If a cardholder was required to sign into the library website with their card to get to the database landing page, and then had to create a separate account tied to their email to use the database, we didn’t promote that database.
  • We only did full marketing campaigns for paid presenters. Free presentations got a poster or flyer and a social media mention.
  • All promotional requests had to tie directly to the library’s overall strategy. If the branch or library staffer requesting promotion couldn’t demonstrate how the program or service moved the library’s overall goals forward, we didn’t promote it.

I know that sounds harsh. And some of those rules might not work for a smaller library or a different set of library leaders. That’s okay. Set your boundaries to work within your own system.

Weeding your marketing content will allow you to do a better job and be more creative with the promotions you have left. Evaluate your promotions twice a year to keep your marketing lean and reduce the stress on yourself and your co-workers.

The word “no”, while it may be very small, is liberating. It’s good for you and for your marketing strategy.

Define your workflow and make it the law of your marketing landscape. A defined workflow sounds like the opposite of a creative endeavor. But it ensures that a quality product is created in a timely and efficient manner. It creates space for you to think. And that’s incredibly important for anyone working in a library, especially right now.

There are two options: outward-facing workflow and team workflow. Choose the one that works best for you and your library.

Outward facing workflow means that you approach each job given to you by a senior leader or another library department or partner in the same way.

  • All marketing requests go through one person on your team, who acts as project manager.
  • That person is responsible for looking at the request and determining if it fits into the library’s overall strategic goals.
  • That person sets clear expectations and goals for each project and communicates a plan of action based on realistic timelines and due dates.

This is not to say that your team has no say in the work you do. But the ultimate decision rests with the project manager.

Team workflow is more collaborative.

  • All marketing requests are considered by the team.
  • The team looks at each request and decides what tactics will work, and whether they have the time to complete those tactics.
  • The team sets the goals and determines who will communicate due dates and expectations.

It may take some time to get a smooth workflow in place. Be patient with yourself and with others. Keep reinforcing your expectations. Eventually, your coworkers and supervisors will understand and appreciate your workflow, especially when they start to see results.

Be generous with positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is one of the easiest and quickest ways to improve happiness and effectiveness on the job. It bolsters self-confidence and inspires people to do their best work.

If you see a co-worker doing something well, say so, even if the job is small. A kind word can go a long way to boosting morale and creating energy. Don’t just say, “Well done.” Write out a note or an email praising specific actions or portions of work.

And, if you have a staff, give your employees unexpected breaks. When I was a library manager, I took my staff to lunch off-site. We had field trips to libraries outside of our system. Sometimes we had “reading time” where I would read them one chapter a day from a book we all chose together.

It might sound silly, but these little activities are energizing. They create bonds between co-workers. Staff return to work after these little breaks with enthusiasm for their work. And enthusiastic people do a better job… on the job.

You might also want to read these

Four Important Project Management Lessons You’ll Need to Survive the Next Year of Library Work

COVID-19 is STRESSFUL for Library Workers. Here Are Tips to Help You Feel Better.

Latest Book Reviews

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

All the Broken People by Leah Konen

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3

COVID-19 is STRESSFUL for Library Workers. Here Are Tips to Help You Feel Better.

Watch Now

The Library Marketing Show, Episode 52

Angela talks about the stress that many library staff feel because of the pandemic. The worries in our personal and professional lives are causing us to feel overwhelmed. It’s okay. You are not alone. Here is a great study about how stress affects your brain. Angela shares her personal tips for coping with stress in this unique time.

Do you have tips or coping mechanisms? Please share them in the comments.

Also Kudos to Rutherford County Library System IT Administrator, Kevin Robertson, for creating this great “bounce back” page of resources for patrons. Kevin was nominated by Carol Ghattas of Linebaugh Public Library. Nominate someone to receive kudos by commenting on this post.

What did you think of this episode? Do you have an episode suggestion? Let me know in the comments. And subscribe to this series to get a new video tip for libraries each week!  

6

How Much Library Marketing Should You Hand Over to Your Branches? The Library Marketing Show: Episode 26

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Erin at Casey Cardinia Libraries in Casey, Victoria, Australia, asks: “Could you talk about how marketing can support the branch and then what the branch can do locally on their own. It’s a constant thing coming up in our service and I’m thinking a one-pager with some face to face training will help. Marketing teams (if the service is lucky to have one!!) are generally small and we need everyone to take ownership!”

Plus you’re gonna want to watch through the Kudos sections!

Have an idea for the next Library Marketing Live Show? Submit it now.

Want more Library Marketing Show? Watch previous episodes!

Check the Upcoming Events page to see where I’ll be soon. Let’s connect!

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1

🤷If You’re New to Library Marketing, Where the Heck Do You Begin? The Library Marketing Show Episode 18

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In this episode, we answer a question from Megan from the Redford Township District Library in Michigan. She asks, “I’m brand new! New to the Redford library and new to the Library realm in general. I am two years out of college and my most recent marketing experience is in the automotive field (very different ). I am wondering where do I start? Tips & tricks for just starting off?”

I offer some advice and starting tips for Megan. Be sure to add your advice to the comments! Let’s crowd source a great experience for Megan’s first year as a library marketer!

I also offer kudos to the King County Library system in the state of Washington for their brave decision to stop buying eBooks from Macmillan. They did it in response to Macmillan’s decision to embargo new eBook sales to libraries for two months. It’s brave and if we all band together and follow their lead, we might be able to make a difference! Read this great article from Publisher’s Weekly on their decision.

Stay in Touch

Check the Upcoming Events page to see where I’ll be soon. Let’s connect! I’m doing a webinar soon, so be sure to sign up… it’s free!

Have an idea for the next Library Marketing Live Show? Submit it now.

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The Secret of the 60-Minute Meeting: Six Tips to Keep Your Library Marketing Team On Track and Stay Productive!

I dread Wednesdays.

On that day of the week, I usually have between five and seven meetings. I basically spend the day hopping from one conference room to another.

Not so long ago, most of those meetings would last beyond 60 minutes. Tangents were pursued. Ideas were dissected in great detail. My team and I were often blind-sided by requests to come up with an entire marketing campaign for an idea we’d only learned of moments before. It was unproductive.

As a marketing manager responsible for proving the bottom-line benefits of your marketing, it can be tempting to rely on recurring team meetings and regular check-ins to make sure you know exactly what’s going on with your team. But when long meetings evolve into habit, their value tends to plummet.

No meeting should ever last beyond 60 minutes. There are a couple of reasons for this. After 60 minutes of intense discussion, participants begin to lose interest. Their creativity and energy wanes. And the more time you spend in meetings, the less time you and your team have to do ACTUAL work.

Obviously you can’t control every meeting. But when you’re running the agenda, you can create an atmosphere of productivity and creativity while setting an example of efficiency for the rest of the library staff.

I don’t remember how it started but someone in my library’s senior leadership team took the initiative to institute a more efficient meeting structure. Suddenly, everyone was following this person’s lead. It was amazing and liberating.

I started instituting the 60-minute or less meeting rule about a year ago in my department and it’s worked so well that I recently introduced it in another setting.

I’m the chair of my school district’s bond issue campaign and our core committee meetings are 60 minutes or less. It was funny how many people from that group have commented about my 60-minute meeting pledge! It had never occurred to them that meetings, even ones where important decisions are made, could last less than an hour.

If you want to increase productivity in your library, here’s how to execute a 60-minute meeting.

Super prioritize your agenda.  For my library team, I divide action items into categories: the weekly schedule, immediate concerns, future concerns, and individual tasks. These four categories appear on the agenda every single week. Under each category, I list the items that need to be discussed in order of their priority. Next to each item, I list the name of the person in charge of that item or project. For the bond issue committee meetings, I simply list items in order of their priority without categories.

Time it out ahead of time. Try to estimate how much time you’ll need to discuss each item. If your total discussion time is more than 60 minutes, do some more prioritizing with your agenda. Once your agenda is set, make sure everyone attending the meeting has a copy so they can follow along and stay focused.

Set expectations at the beginning of the meeting. As the leader, set the example and start on time. Remind the team that the meeting will last 60 minutes and that you’ll be working to keep discussions on track. Assure them that if further discussions are needed on a particular item, you will schedule a side meeting. Off-topic discussions will be tackled outside of the formal meeting time.

The first time I made this announcement at the bond issue meeting, everyone looked shocked. I was worried that people would start watching the clock and timing me, thus cutting the productivity. But because I set firm expectations, the group trusts me to stick to them. They end up focusing more on the items we need to discuss. It’s funny how that works!

Watch your agenda word choices. Use words like “update” rather than “discussion” to help frame the conversation and give mental cues to attendees that work for the meeting will need to be done before the meeting actually happens. If a key decision needs to be made in the meeting, use the word “decision” in your action item to cue the attendees that you plan to come to a consensus at this meeting.

Take notes. Make note of who is assigned to each project. Give clear deadlines and expectations for each action item and include those in the notes. After the meeting, send out a copy of the meeting notes so everyone is clear about what they’re responsible for and when it’s due.

Continue to give time updates throughout the meeting. It’s OK to say, “We have 15 minutes left so we’re going to discuss one more item that is a priority to us. The rest of the items on this agenda will be discussed at a later meeting.” This will help keep discussions on track.

The LIVE LIBRARY MARKETING TALK ON INSTAGRAM is changing format. I have decided to pre-record my segments and post them to YouTube! I still want your email questions and topic suggestions ahead of time. Just fill out this form. If I pick your topic, I’ll send you a personal link to the video after it’s posted. I’m going to start posting my video segments on Thursdays so watch your email for that. Thank you to everyone who weighed in on the video decision!

And check out these upcoming events and webinars where we can connect and discuss library marketing. Registration links included.

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