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2010 Leadership Summit Remarks |
Welcome to the Leadership Summit! I am very pleased to see so many of you here. If this is your first Leadership Summit, I know you will find that this is a very special gathering . . . an opportunity to connect with, and learn from, a select group of SLA's most loyal and committed members . . . the people who have chosen to be leaders.
And leadership is indeed a choice. An association is simply a group of people joined together for a common purpose. Togetherness is wonderful . . . but it has no forward momentum . . . no power to grow or develop . . . unless it has leadership. Without leaders, SLA would be a like a packed bus without a driver--or worse yet, like a plane stuck on the runway without a crew. It would be a group of purposeful people stranded in place.
You made a choice to take on the responsibilities, and the rewards, inherent in leadership. You volunteered to put in the extra effort to keep SLA, and the professionals it represents, moving forward. By doing so, you not only provide purpose and momentum . . . you also inspire the next generation of leaders.
A group of very special SLA leaders has been working hard for months to make sure all of us enjoy our stay in St. Louis, and they have really outdone themselves! My special thanks to Marianne Cavanaugh, Geri Heberlie, Betsy Williams, and Patrick Hendershot, president of St. Louis Metro Area Chapter. May I ask that all the members of the chapter who are with us today stand to be recognized. Let's give one more big thank you to the St. Louis Metro Area Chapter.
Special thanks also goes to the SLA Board--please stand to be recognized--and especially the Cabinet Chairs, led by Ruth Wolfish and Ann Sweeney, for their work in putting together this summit.
I would also like to take this opportunity to introduce some members of our SLA staff. Some may be off attending to other matters, but if you are in the room, please stand when I announce your name:
Linda Broussard, our Chief Community Officer, who worked with the Cabinet Chairs to put together this conference.
Kristin Foldvik, our Director of Events
Maura Kennedy, our Director of Strategic Communications
Kim Richter, our Leadership Services Associate
Nancy Sansalone, our COO and CFO.
Cara Battaglini Schatz, our Director of Public Relations
Now, I am a bit of a history buff, so I did a little research on the founding of St. Louis recently . . . and I ran across a delicious coincidence. The founder of the city--a fur trader named Pierre Laclède--was originally from France. However, after founding the settlement of St. Louis, he returned to his adopted home: New Orleans. That, of course, is the site of our annual conference this year.
I would like to talk about a word that you will be hearing more about as our 2010 Annual Conference gets closer. It's "lagniappe"--a special New Orleans way of describing "something extra"--like a baker's dozen, or a mint that arrives with your dinner check, or even the host at an outdoor café who dusts off your chair before seating you.
Lagniappe can take the form of goods or of services. It is unexpected . . . unnecessary . . . and frequently delightful.
Lagniappe usually involves little in the way of expense; it truly is the thought that counts. That's because each time lagniappe is offered, the person receiving it knows that someone was thinking about how to make an ordinary experience extraordinary . . . memorable . . . even meaningful. And it is the thought behind the little gift of lagniappe that can transform a simple transaction into a loyal relationship.
We will hear more about loyal relationships from our keynote speaker, Jim Kane. Jim, who describes himself as a Loyalty Strategist, has consulted with some of the nation's leading companies and organizations on how to create and maintain loyalty in professional relationships.
I think the sort of value-added experience captured in that little word "lagniappe" is a good model for what SLA as your association, and you as information and knowledge professionals, can do to be successful in these tough economic times. We can use our powers of thought, informed by the knowledge we have acquired, to strengthen our relationships with one another and within our organizations.
If your budget is slashed and your staff is cut . . . or even if you are just concerned that cuts are coming . . . there is a natural tendency to lie low . . . to hunker down . . . to be invisible. But hard times call for strengthening relationships, not severing them. And as Woody Allen once observed, relationships are like sharks: they must keep moving forward or they die.
Now, it is true that relationships, even business relationships, can sometimes be messy and complicated: witness the recent debate about our proposed name change.
Relationships are hard, and while debate can be unpleasant, silence would be deadly. When relationships get tough . . . especially when times are tough . . . the tough get going. And one of things they get busy with is listening.
We have listened to what members have been saying. And as your professional association, SLA's strategy for 2010 is to develop the tools you need to demonstrate your value in the workplace. We want to give you that little something extra--that lagniappe--you need to show that you are in tune with your customers' ever-changing needs, that you are in line with your organization's goals, and that your place on the balance sheet is under "assets" rather than "costs.
Our SLA 2010 President, Anne Caputo, will talk more about leveraging the findings of our Alignment research when she speaks in a few minutes. Before that, I want to take the opportunity to thank last year's president, Gloria Zamora. Gloria is an inspiring leader of our SLA tribe and deserves the praise she has received from all quarters for her outstanding work last year.
Gloria's motto was "Align in '09," but in truth, we have only just begun to tap into the wealth of information contained in our Alignment research. In the spirit of the profession, we will work together to transform that information into knowledge . . . knowledge that will guide SLA in advocating for information and knowledge professionals, and knowledge that will help those professionals demonstrate their value in the workplace.
In the spirit of lagniappe, we will also endeavor to share best practices . . . including the big and little things that have helped SLA members get the recognition they deserve for the contributions they make to the success of their employers. Simply put, it is imperative in this economy to be viewed as an organizational asset rather than a cost.
These are tough economic times for SLA, too. Although we were delighted to draw record numbers to our 2009 Annual Conference in Washington, overall revenue from the conference fell. With everyone struggling with the economy, we had fewer sponsors, we had more attendees taking advantage of the various discounts we offered or just coming for one day, and we had higher expenses. Putting together a successful conference under those circumstances was a real challenge.
So, in the spirit of lagniappe, we tried very hard to be thoughtful about it . . . to use what we have learned at past conferences to retain those things attendees most appreciate and to add some new features, like the "unconference" sessions and wifi, that people had asked for. We will take the same approach this year, including adding a virtual conference component to the lineup.
You are SLA's leaders, I am asking you now to make every effort to encourage members to attend this year's conference. First, it's going to be a lot of fun--how can you NOT have fun in New Orleans? We have political pundits James Carville and Mary Matalin lined up as our opening keynoters. If you have watched them on TV, you know this is going to be a fascinating session!
And the sparks will continue to fly right to the end, when we will hear from Nicholas Carr of the Harvard Business Review. You will want to listen to his thinking about why information technology is becoming irrelevant . . . and why organizations must think of different ways to create competitive advantage.
The second reason for encouraging conference attendance is that each and every member who attends brings something to the table. There is no doubt about it: the more people who come, the better a conference we will have. In fact, encouraging conference attendance is probably the most important thing that you, as an SLA leader, can do to ensure the future vitality of SLA.
I have the highest regard for virtual networking . . . but there is simply no substitute for the face-to-face networking that takes place at conference. Bring thousands of information professionals together in one location . . . mix well . . . and you create a sort of laboratory . . . a perfect medium for new ideas and solutions to flourish. And the seeds of friendship that are planted at conference are the green shoots of the future of the profession.
The conference also helps SLA stay on firm financial footing, which means we can do more for you and all our members. I think it is important to remember that SLA is nothing more, and nothing less, than an association--a group of people bound by a passion for a profession. As an association, we come together to advance that profession and each other's careers. We are not a corporation, and we do not make profits. Any revenue we earn goes right back into SLA's programs and services . . . an investment in your future.
One reason our revenue is down is that we ARE our members, and it is no secret that many SLA members have lost their jobs or had their incomes slashed over the past year or so. I am very proud of the steps the Board and staff has taken to ensure that no SLA member has to give up membership because of job loss . . . especially the new dues tier that allows those who are unemployed or making less than $18,000 a year to retain full membership for only $40 a year. However, I will be frank: when we introduced this new dues tier, we did not know that so many members would need it, especially in the U.S., and that it would have such a devastating impact on SLA's finances.
For that reason . . . and because the cost of everything continues to increase . . . and because SLA's bylaws allow us to raise dues only once every three years, and we had not done it in four . . . we had to raise dues this year. We also created another dues tier . . . this one for members who make more than $75,000 a year.
We made other painful decisions as well. The hardest one was to let five excellent staff members go and leave two vacancies unfilled. Remaining staff have taken on the significant responsibilities of those who left. At the same time, all staff salaries have been frozen for the second year in a row . . . and we have had to substantially increase contributions for health insurance. I informed the board this week that I, too, will forego a salary increase this year, just as I did last year. The only lagniappe we had to offer was some extra time off over the holidays. And I am amazed to say that we have done all this without reducing the extensive list of benefits and programs we offer our members. It may take us a little longer to return a call or answer an e-mail, but your member benefits will continue uninterrupted.
As SLA's leaders, you need to know this: the economy has complicated our challenges immensely, but those challenges will not magically go away when the economy improves. The dues that SLA members pay have never come close to covering the true cost of membership. In the past, subsidies from various sponsor, vendor, and advertising relationships filled much of the gap. The rest has been made up of donations from many SLA members over the years.
In fact, membership dues pay for only about a quarter of SLA's costs--they make up $1.5 million of a total of $5.7 million of the association's revenue. Other revenue streams such as conference registration, exhibits, advertising, sponsorships, donations, and mailing list rental cover and pay for basic member services like Click University, leadership and volunteer activities, research, information resources and general operations.
With our different tiers of dues, the average dues paid by a member decreased in 2009 to $130.85 . . . yet the cost to service each member increased to $571.43. As you know, we work hard to generate the remaining revenue ($440.58 per member in 2009) from exhibitor fees, sponsorships, advertising, donations, and so forth.
But the playing field has changed. Donations to our Campaign for Tomorrow have been discouraging. The sponsorship picture has become very difficult, with industry contractions and even competition among SLA, its chapters, and its divisions for dwindling sponsorship dollars. These are real challenges that we will face together in the years ahead, and there will be no simple solutions. Together, new must envision a structure, policy, and practices that that will guarantee SLA's long-term financial stability.
But even though times are tough . . . in fact, because times are so tough . . . I firmly believe that SLA members need their professional association more than ever. That is why, over the past years, we have added significant value--some real lagniappe--to the benefits members receive.
I am often surprised at how little many SLA members know about their benefits. Communicating those benefits is an important role for you as our leaders. I am going to go through a little list . . . and ask you to make a mental note of anything that does NOT sound familiar so you can learn about it later. Don't worry; I won't be asking for confessions; I am fairly sure there is at least one item on this list that will surprise each of you. Here goes:
Networking
- Searchable online Membership Directory.
- Membership in one chapter and one division.
- SLA's discussion lists, wikis, blogs, and other social networking
- And of course SLA's Annual Conference & INFO-EXPO
Learning
- SLA professional development opportunities include Click University, SLA's groundbreaking online learning portal. Here's what you can get from ClickU:
- Certificate programs in Competitive Intelligence, Knowledge Management, and U.S. and Canada Copyright Law.
- Free for members Webinars and replays to help you master the latest technical skills and knowledge without leaving your desk.
- Free member access to special e-libraries on leadership, management, and knowledge management.
- Free member access to ExecuBooks . . . a great way to spend about 15 minutes a week reading executive summaries of the hottest books in business.
- Free member access to the online Innovation Laboratory, where you can try out the newest Web 2.0 technologies including technology skills training that consists of nearly 40,000 tutorials on more than 120 software applications for both Macintosh and Windows platforms.
- Even a self-paced program where members can commit just one hour a week to experiment, learn and practice 23 new technology tools for free.
Career and Personal Development
- SLA's Career Center has special job listings, access to career coaching, and a wealth of other resources.
- Of special interest to you, we have a wealth of online leadership training resources.
- Competencies for the Information Professional for the 21st Century.
- SLA's awards and recognition program. Have you submitted a nomination lately?
- Opportunities for scholarships and grants.
- SLA's salary survey and calculator.
- Even access to health insurance.
Money-Saving Resources
- Multiview Industry Vendor Search.
- Virtual INFO-EXPO.
- Nexcerpt News Connections.
- Factiva News Connections.
- Free RSS Feed Reader.
- Discounts to major industry conferences and on publications through partnerships that include Information Today, SIIA, Freepint, Mintel, Institute for Competitive Intelligence, EBSCO, and Outsell, American Society of Information Sciences and Technology (ASIS&T), Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA), Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP), Canadian Association of Law Librarians (CALL), Medical Library Association (MLA), The Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP), Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), Australian Government Libraries Information Network (AGLIN).
- Discounts on office supplies.
- Discounts on higher education through partnerships that include Drexel University, Kent State University, San Jose State University, Syracuse University and University of Toronto.
Information Outlook is probably the most visible benefit of SLA membership, and the resource that many information professionals turn to first when they want to learn about the trends and developments affecting their profession. Last year, at the urging of the magazine's new editor, Stuart Hales, we formed the Information Outlook Advisory Council, comprising seven SLA members. They are helping Stuart ensure that IO focuses not only on the issues that are affecting you today but also those that will challenge info pros in the years to come. Advisory Council members suggest theme and article topics, recommend authors, and develop the IO editorial calendar.
In 2010, the Advisory Council will be laying the groundwork for "Information Outlook 2.0," a blueprint for making IO a collaborative publication that will allow SLA members to participate in shaping the content and direction of articles. Members will also be reviewing the results of the recent IO survey and suggesting improvements to the magazine based on survey responses.
Collaboration is, in fact, key to all that SLA does with and for its members, today and into the future. Working together, we will continue our successful programs and benefits, identify new ways to add value to SLA membership, as well as new ways that SLA members can demonstrate value in the workplace. Working together, we will find new and better ways to share information, build knowledge, and provide ever-more-exciting professional development opportunities.
You already know that success requires that little something extra--the passion, the commitment, and the professionalism that make each of you a leader. You have that something extra--that lagniappe--and you give it generously to SLA and the members of your units. Thank you for your willingness to add value to SLA and this profession.
Now, I would like to introduce a truly gifted person . . . one whose professional accomplishments and dedication to the profession and SLA inspire me every day. Please welcome our 2010 SLA President, Anne Caputo.
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