Staff day
Well, I'm home and showered and trying to assimilate what went on today. What a great day! I loved being out at James Island County Park, playing with co-workers (remember play was one of Michael Stephen's words for the day) and hearing Michael speak. It was my second time to hear him and I feel incredibly fortunate. Still lots of good new bits along with such an energizing presence. Make you want to run out there and take on all sorts of new things. He's got us on his blog--take a look. www. tametheweb.com
We'll be following up Staff Day with a committee that we're calling Web 2.0 @ CCPL. Can't wait to hear what you had to say in your evaluations, but please feel free to comment here, too. It obvious that there are more bloggers out there than I've heard about. Please share--I'd love to see them.
We'll be following up Staff Day with a committee that we're calling Web 2.0 @ CCPL. Can't wait to hear what you had to say in your evaluations, but please feel free to comment here, too. It obvious that there are more bloggers out there than I've heard about. Please share--I'd love to see them.
posted by cynthialb at 5:26 PM
29 Comments:
I second that--all you other CCPL staff bloggers out there, 'fess up and post links to your blog here! I'll go first:
http://businessnotesonline.blogspot.com
(Okay, so there are two others on my profile, but there is only so much time in the day!)
:-)
~Amanda @ Main Reference
I think we all owe a "thank you" to Susan, the staff day committee, and Staff Organization. I applaud the choice of speaker, the setting, the food, the weather...
Thanks to Amanda and Cary for commenting so quickly! More please--want to hear from you!
I thought it was the best staff day I have attended at CCPL. The speaker was great...the location was good.
I'm wanting to locate the game..."Dance, Dance, Dance" that he spoke about...it seemed to me like karaoke for dancing! Fun.
Becky@ Main Reference
All-in-all, a valiant effort to break the routine of having staff day "in the room in the basement."
The speaker was excellent, though a little rushed. I would gladly sit through a few more-detailed sessions with him.
Even the weather mostly cooperated, though by mid-afternoon I think it was a bit warm outside for some of our staffers who might have health issues.
I was inside for the second presentation, and it was too hot in there - I'm glad I wasn't outside. I don't think the facility had the air conditioning excess capacity to accomodate that many people.
The obvious problem was with lunch. Expecting to run several hundred people through one self-serve line in an hour and a half is unreasonable. Additionally, the food ran out before the end of the line was reached. IMHO, if the caterer made contractual promises concerning his ability to handle that capacity, then the caterer was in breach of said contract.
The PA was terrible - I'll bring my own next time. :)
Probably the most useful CCPL staff day that I have attended during my tenure here.
K
Becky@ Main Reference said:I'm wanting to locate the game..."Dance, Dance, Dance"
Dance Dance Revolution.
Greetings.
CCPL Staff Day 2007 was well planned, executed, and the content of Michael Stephens was very good. The location change to the James Island County Park was a plus too. The little things such as: schedules on back of large name tags, catered lunch with the ability to eat outside on such a nice day, the relaxed dress casual atmosphere were big pluses. However, still covering useful topics with seriousness -- getting an overview of second life, game playing in the library, and reaching patrons at their points of interests all made this a useful and insipiring staff day.
The things that did not go smoothly were so inconsequential these are not worth mentioning.
- Steven S.
Greetings.
Quick follow-up. In hearing stories about the lunch lines, I should probably ammend my comments.
Lunch was an issue for several people waiting in line, over an extended period of time, to get food and at times the lack of available water bottles was a need that could be better addressed next time. I may have been just been at the right place at the right time not to wait in line very long at all. It seemed to be only about 20 minutes or so for some good hot chicken. I enjoyed talking with people in line to the point I did not notice the wait.
Steven S.
(Mmm, I have got to figure out a way to post as Steven instead of the the generic "admin" ugh!. )...
Wonderful choice of location - thank you Admin! Yes, it was a bit hot in the afternoon but it was definitely worth it. The speaker was fun and informative and the overall atmosphere for the day was relaxed and pleasant. The only negative were the long lunch lines. The choice of food was great but it seems like boxed lunches from previous Staff Day worked better. Or, have more access points to food so that we can spend less time in line and more time mingling with each other. Overall, great!
Having been here 20+ years, I have certainly attended many Staff Days. This was BY FAR the best I have ever been to. The location was perfect, the speaker was excellent (and I'm normally not a big fan of speakers), and the challenge course was a blast. Susan Bednar and her Staff Day Committee deserve a big round of applause. The only "bad" thing is that now that we had such a great Staff Day, it's going to be hard to top it. I look forward to seeing what they come up with next time.
Julie
I had a great time on Friday! It was so different from a normal day that I even feel like I had a long weekend! Spending the day outside was my favorite part. It is not often that librarians get to do that (possibly the only fault in this profession). M. Stevens was my second favorite part. I am brimming with ideas now! Time to get to work! Oh, if anyone has access to the list of websites he talked about I would love to have a copy!!
The Children's Department at JOH has a blog. Please check it out!
http://johnsislandkids.blogspot.com/
Jana
I thought it was a lot of fun,very informative. It was good to be with all the staff members and outside. Only one small adjustment a break in the session. I enjoyed myself. Thank you all very much.
I loved Staff Day! Michael Stephens is a great speaker and the topic was so useful and timely. It was great to see faces from other branches and to catch up with former coworkers who had switched branches. Cynthia has mentioned our branch's teen blog in her blog before, but I would love for everyone to visit the blog and tell me what you think:
www.johnsislandteens.blogspot.com
AS part of the Staff Day Committee - thank you. I had a great time, and I was at the back of the long lunch line. We have learned a few things from this lunch experience and this should not be a problem in the future. Talking to my staff I have learned that they really enjoyed being away from the library and "playing". A few wanted handouts from the speaker, all wanted more water, but on the whole it was a very positive experience for them. This staff day has raised the expectations for what a Staff Day can and should be. The next Staff Day in 2009 has to live up to these expectations. I am excited about what the Web 2.0 at CCPL committee will recommend!
Beth at WA
Just wanted to say that the day after Staff Day (Sat. ) I had a patron at Edisto ask if it would be possible for the library to have a place where patrons could review books and get recommendations such as are on Amazon.com
Thanks Susan and everyone who helped with Staff Day! I really enjoyed hearing Michael.
;-)
Stephanie Roff
Edisto Island/Johns Island
This was of course my first time to attend a staff day. It reminded me of field day at school. I actually had a great time in the afternoon with the outdoor challenge.It was great to know I could still jump rope. It was hot, but ample water was available and shade if anyone needed to stop.
Ray from Otranto was a blast!!
It was great to meet everyone from
all the various branches.
I enjoyed Michael.I found some of his offerings to be quite useful. It was great to know I could understood everything he talked about,and even had my mii for the wii already.
Jana at Johns Island, I have the list of sites. I wrote them down as he was speaking. A habit from just graduating from college last year. I cannot listen to anyone without jotting notes. It would have been nice if he had furnished us all with a printout of the sites and an outline of his talk.
The only recommendation would be to have more than one line for meals. The boxed lunches looked quite healthy and I was wishing I had ordered one. The snacks at 3 were given out just as we returned from our outing and were appreciated.
I love the outdoors, so I do hope that next time the staff day will again be in such a beautiful place.
So there you two cents from the Newbee.
Pamela
SCROOM
I really enjoyed Staff Day--great speaker--great food--great location--lots of good fun!
My favorite part of Staff Day was the time we had to sit at the picnic tables outside, and to eat and to talk with friends that I haven't seen in quite awhile. The setting and the lovely breeze made me wish for more time to be able to spontaneously socialize with staff.
I really love my 15th Year gift. It's so beautiful and useful--a wonderful remembrance. Thank you so much for that.
Staff Org., y'all did a great job with Breakfast.
Thank you, Susan and your Committee, for all your hard work.
Thank you, Friends, for the funds to make all this possible.
Staff Day was very successful and enjoyable--such a nice change.
Kudos to everyone involved in organizing this year's Staff Day! I had a great time all around from the field games to the groovy Web 2.0 guru. The BBQ was awesome as was the hot breakfast. You can't beat a staff day where you get to work on your tan! (Or, as in my case, sunburn.) Let's do it there again next year!
Pam@Main/Children's
I really enjoyed the day, although it was little hot, but just being around other staff members and listening to them bragging about they branches, kinda nice! What I liked about Staff Day this year, staff members who have been in the system for a while, were given certificate and a actual gift - and the Employee of the year was given an monetary appreciation - all this said a lot about management and motivates the recipient and other future staff members to achieve this goal - veggie sandwich was delecious! The speaker was quite interesting/informative, but we probably could use a couple breaks within the two hrs., in order not to miss any of the info - well organized! Susan and her staff did a very good job!
This is so exciting! Thanks for all of you who have posted. Keep it up!
A couple of you have mentioned handouts or wanting to know the links that Michael mentioned. He sent Susan Bednar and me a pdf file, so we have the presentation. We'll be working on how to get it out to everyone.
This was my first staff day with CCPL. I thought everyone- Susan, staff day committee, and staff org-did a wonderful job. I had a lot of fun and really enjoyed the choice of speaker. I especially liked having the opportunity to meet and mingle with all the other staff members. Overall, great job!
Kate @ STA
I must say Susan and the others on her committee planned everything out well. It was great to be outside and away for the day in such a beautiful place. The speaker was so informative I never lost interest in his presentation and proably could have listen to him another hr.Please lets do it again for the next staff day!!
I think that was the best Staff Day we've had since I've been here.
Susan & the Staff Day Committee worked really hard & it showed.
It was so nice to be in the beautiful outdoors of the park & the speaker was informative & interesting.
It was also great seeing people from the branches in such a relaxed setting.
Hope we get to do this again for our next Staff Day!
Thanks again for a great day.
The speaker had some really interesting ideas and I hope that our library system will incorporate some of the changes he suggested. Overall staff day was wonderful! Thanks!
Staff day was a refreshing change of pace from the normal work day. The weather was beautiful, and the heat certainly can't be blamed on anyone in charge! The food was good, the speaker was phenomenal.
The concepts were so different from what the average person would expect from a library. And his excitement about reaching youth was very inspiring. All in all, there were some minor set-backs but I think those are to be expected when dealing with a new place and situation. Wonderful!
Sonya
STA
Thank you to the Staff Day Committee, Staff Org, Susan, and everyone who worked so hard on putting this together.
The speaker was passionate and interesting, and the setting was a very nice change.
My first suggestion would be to have water bottles for everyone before heading out on the challenge course.
Cindy/MTP
Post, with permission from Jeri England.
I am not up to snuff in the blogging department as yet, so I will just follow up with this: Thanks for you time and energy and creative prowess for a very good day at the park. SD was very good for me and (I feel) for my Poe staff. It was a good blend for play and learning and getting to see and meet others in the system that we don't often get to play with. I know you have sighed, taken off your Nikes and celebrated the end of a major project which appears to have been a major success. Thank you! Jeri
I thought Michael was an excellent speaker...very energetic with lots of useful information for CCPL to consider. As for the rest of the day...Great weather, great activities, great peeps to be with :-)
Big ups to Susan Bednar and the Staff Day planners and producers for an all-around fantastic staff day! Although there were a few minor glitches (H2O,AC, lines, etc) I think those have been duly noted and will be taken into consideration for next time so even the drawbacks were a learning experience-and that can only result positively. There was just such a great vibe and sense of togetherness emanating from everyone that made for a really joyful day. I think I have made the rounds at more than a few branches by now so I truly enjoyed catching up with old friends and seeing familiar, smiling faces.
-Jennifer @ West Ashley
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