The ILA Annual conference is ended and now that I’ve had a couple days to get reacquainted with home, I thought I’d review some of my own highlights from ILA:

SPLAT - The SPLAT table rocked. It seemed there was always a crowd there wanting to learn more about IM, blogs, gaming, and other tools for social networking.

Intellectual Freedom Auction - Some folks from the Nampa Public Library shared about the events that took place in their library regarding the challenge of some books in their collection. It served as a good reminder for all of us about the real reasons behind the annual auction.

Tech Time - During the last two sessions on Friday a couple exhibitors and a couple of ICFL staff set ourselves up in a meeting room to talk technology. My “station” was very informal and started just as a conversation. We talked about YouTube and watched a couple videos. We talked about blogs and I showed someone which blogs I read and why I choose them as my regular reads. We talk a little bit about podcasting, but then I sent those questions to Michael Samuelson for more in depth information. We looked at digital audiobooks and talked about various MP3 players. And we even spent some time talking about managing e-mail from a time-management point of view. It was a fund session. While it lasted a couple hours, the time flew by and was finished before I knew it.

All the networking - While ILA was filled with valuable, educational, and informative sessions on a variety of topics; when I got home and answered the “how was the conference?” question, it was all about the networking. The things you learn in the conversations over meals, and in the hallways, and in the “Quiet bar” and just gathering with a group on an available sofa in the lobby. Those conversations are invaluable. They aren’t listed on the conference program, but they are always the highlight of the event for me.