No, I was president of two!
In hindsight, I should have stood down from the president-elect TNLA election the year before. It was too much, way too much, for one person to handle and to process and to lead. But this was an opportunity to lead an association that was tied to my long-time professional career. Libraries needed advocacy more than ever with the constant attack on the profession from all corners. I thought it was a chance to use my advocacy knowledge and skill set to help out the association but it did not happen as I envisioned it would until the very last board meeting I chaired.
Major accomplishments included completing the logo and branding changes from TLA to TNLA, a statement about protecting librarians from censorship, approving two future advocacy events, and a very well-attended TNLA annual conference!
I got back from the Knoxville weekend on Sunday the 9th and was gone to Memphis on Monday the 10th. I stayed at the beautiful tower known as the Memphis Hilton. I had been here a few times before for past TNLA conferences and past TNPTA conventions. As an elite Hilton member, I was able to choose the option of being placed in the highest floor available. There is a beautiful moat surrounding the hotel tower.
I had my conference theme in mind way back in April of 2021 at my president-elect election and had my conference committee appointed and ready to go by May 2021. TNLA requires the president-elect to get the conference committee working two years in advance of the president's annual conference. I think that is just excellent structure to provide maximum planning.
My conference theme and my delegate card for my lanyard. The green square on my card meant that I was ok with hugs, talking/conversing, and not wearing a mask.
This conference had over 50 workshops! 50! And they were well-attended. The complete opposite of the Tennessee PTA annual convention that would be held the following week. We had almost 300 people attending the annual business meeting! We had exhibitors hanging out in three merged ballrooms because there were so many. We had a huge turnout for the board meeting. Here is the 2022-2023 board of directors pictured below.
And pictures from the business meeting that was held the following day.
The TNLA Conference was awesome! It was so much fun, having a large conference committee planning to make things go so much better. It was a pleasure to serve this association to celebrate the stars at every library in Tennessee!
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