Back from the second conference now. Fairly exhausting doing two back to back like that; never mind the traveling (a little under 6 hours one way for both of them).

But it's funny how life changes life.

Sitting in that 'green' room on the second day of presentation/interview, one of the topics that had come up was the fact that three of the candidates had seen AB speaking at one venue or another. I'd recognized the name from professional reading but as all three spoke so highly of his humor and skill as a presenter, I made a mental note that if I ever had the chance I try and catch him.

At the conference we had various workshops to choose from and I spotted AB running one of them. The subject wasn't one I'd naturally choose (marketing/publicity of libraries or library services) and there was another workshop that I'd have normally picked. But on the basis of the effusive reviews he'd had, I decided to see what the fuss was about.

And I'm glad I did. He not only presented very very well, his content was good too. But even more interestingly he was very inspirational. I'm not a member of our publicity team, but I sat there thinking "I'd like to sign up!" (no pun intended). The creativity and enthusiasm he exuded were easily the highlight of both conferences for me.

I wonder if I can persuade either library - or both - to get him to come down for a training event? I could envision a session where he spoke to most library staff and basically presented his story as he did at the conference; followed perhaps by a workshop for those specifically involved in that kind of work. Morning at one place and afternoon at the other??!