by Grace Feldman
You probably have heard that UELMA was enacted in Pennsylvania this week! Comprehensive information about UELMA can be found on the AALL Government Relations website and some quick FAQs are addressed as well. From the AALL UELMA FAQ page:
- UELMA (the Uniform Electronic Legal Materials Act) is a uniform law that addresses many of the concerns posed by the publication of state primary legal material online.
- UELMA provides technology-neutral, outcomes-based approach to ensuring that online state legal material deemed official will be preserved and will be permanently available to the public in an unaltered form.
- UELMA requires that if legal material is published only in electronic form, it must be designated official. Electronic legal material that has been designated official must be :
- Capable of being authenticated;
- Preserved; and
- Permanently accessible to the public.
As of September 25, 2014, 12 states (including Oregon and California) have enacted UELMA. See more details here. AALL has also provided advocacy materials in favor of UELMA on their website. To read more about the significance of adopting UELMA, read Judy Janes’ Why States Should Adopt UELMA.
by Laurel Evans
Last year I attended Steve Hughes’ “Own the Room: Presentations That Captivate and Win Over Any Audience.” Apparently it was such a hit that they had him back for AALL 2014 in Texas. Hughes’ talk came up in our most recent LLOPS meeting, where members shared their favorite takeaways from this year’s conference. I thought I’d share my notes from last year with you all. I still use what I learned from this session in presentations today!
Steve Hughes’ advice was directly applicable to the teaching and training I do regularly. He shared techniques for more successfully soliciting questions from the audience. Hughes recommended making handouts interactive by leaving blanks that participants need to fill in. Keeping programs interactive makes them more effective by capturing audience members’ fleeting attention. Hughes mentioned the startling fact that the average attention span is 3-8 minutes, so at these intervals you need to do something different to keep the audience engaged: change a slide, pause for questions, move around the room for no reason, ask them to fill in the blank on a handout, etc. And so, moving on…
Some other useful tips from Hughes for more effective and interactive presentations:
- Pre-load the point. (Interestingly, another session I attended on writing recommended this same tactic, calling it by the military acronym “BLUF” for “bottom line up front.”) Frame the point you’ll be making from the perspective of the audience and put it FIRST. I’ve started using this in emails where I have to ask a question or make a point. Before I send an email, I often end up moving my question to the beginning. It seems like I get a better response rate with this method.
- When you use PowerPoint slides in a presentation, obey the 4×4 rule: no more than four bullet points per slide and no more than four words per bullet. The audience should be listening to you, not reading your slides.
- Ask the audience to do things. (For example, ask someone to share their search string or ask everyone to be thinking of their most important takeaway from the class for later on.)
- Use phrases like “Make a note of X.” (This helps reiterate the point you’re making and also suggests action. Suggesting that your audience do something may prompt action and thus reboot their attention span.)
- Ask questions often and throughout your presentation. Get comfortable with silence so that people have enough time to respond. Ask questions like:
- What is your experience with X?
- What have you found when you do X?
- Suggest specific areas where they may have questions or comments. (“Are there any questions about selecting search terms?”)
- If you ask whether there are any questions and no one has any, be ready to supply your own example questions. Hughes suggested couching your questions in terms like “What people often want to know is…” to make the audience feel more comfortable with the idea of asking questions.
posted on behalf of Carol Watson, 2014-15 AMPC Chair
9 Reasons to Submit an AALL Program Proposal for Philly (It’s ok to ask, “What’s in it for me?”)
- Get valuable speaking and/or program development experience.
- It’s a resume builder.
- Create positive change.
- Share your knowledge. Use your skills to benefit others.
- Be a part of AALL.
- Make new friends and professional contacts.
- It’s a scientific fact that volunteering has many health benefits.
- AALL members are in need.
- You can be a hero! Now is your chance to make an impact.
The Call for Proposals for AALL’s 2015 Annual Meeting is now open. AMPC would like to extend a special invitation for chapter members to collaborate on program submissions.
- Has your chapter held a well-received program that could be repeated for a larger audience?
- Do you have special expertise within your chapter, particularly in the top 30 must-have programming topics?
- Is your chapter sponsoring a VIP who would be a good speaker or panelist on a program?
If you have any questions about the program proposal process or if you would like feedback about your program proposal before submitting it, contact AMPC Chapter Liaison, Carol A. Watson.
The deadline for submission is October 6.
WestPac in Seattle is right around the corner (the opening reception is at the Burke Museum!):
WestPac is also looking for dine around hosts. This will give you the chance to show of our city/local cuisine and meet other librarians. Reach out to Tim Kelly, WestPac President or Alana H. Carson, Local Arrangements Chair if interested.
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