9 Tips for Getting the Most out of ALLA's Virtual Conference 2021

 ALLA’s first ever virtual conference is less than a day away, and sure, by now Zoom and Teams and virtual webinars have become standard (thanks Covid), but if you’re looking at two days of online conferencing this can be quite daunting.

To help we’ve pulled together some tips on how to get the most out of (or just survive) an online conference.

Before we get to those tips though, a quick word on the Social Event on Thursday night (23 September 5.30-7.00pm Perth time, via ZOOM) - a live music quiz, brought to you by our friends (and Bronze sponsors) vLex and ALLA (Vic) President.

A little birdy (ok, one of the hosts) told us to wear a hat, fascinator, hair accessory, origami, bird, pet monkey… err something on your head. Why? Is there a prize? Perhaps. Is it to be a great community building moment to embarrass us all equally about dumb hat choices? Also, perhaps. Either way, today’s blogger has got hers sorted, and she’s leaning away from fascinating.

Now for the Tips.

1. Be familiar with the conference environment
   Registrants will have received an email from the conference organisers allowing you the opportunity to test out the virtual portal and watch a demonstration video to familiarise yourself with the portal. Take a moment to do this and work out any tech kinks in advance. You can also personalise your profile with your photo and social media handles and even earn points to win a prize!
2. Be Mobile & Take Breaks
   Techlearning points out if you are able to change your venues, do so –  according to them getting up and moving adds oxygen to the brain and will help you be more alert and attentive to whatever is happening in the session. If you’re in the office, maybe find a nice coffee shop to pop out to for extra alertness increasing coffee and sunshine (the Perth forecast does look good!) Don’t forget to build in snacks and meal breaks – why not treat yourself to a delivered lunch or coffee. 
3. Try some social events
   Virtual happy hour is a bit hard to line up across time-zones, and is not the same as in person networking, but the ALLA Conference will include some great networking breaks (think of these as librarian speed-dating where you will be assigned to a small sub meeting to chat – maybe you’ll meet someone new or see a face from past conferences). And don’t forget the music quiz Interact and be part of the conversation: As a frequent virtual presenter, I know there’s nothing worse than a virtual room of snoozing ghosts. Use the Q&A features, speak up and ask questions! At conferences we are usually restricted to chatting to those we are sitting next to, take advantage of this opportunity for wider discussion. Don’t forget, @AustLawLibAssoc will be live tweeting all conference using the hashtag #ALLA2021 – join in!
4. Focus
   A challenging one when you are still working from the office, and requests come through. If you’re part of a team, why not work out which sessions you each want to attend and agree to ignore emails (and Facebook) during that session. Check out the ALLA Conference 2021 program. For more information on each session, including abstracts, click on the session title. Don’t forget you can set the conference to display your time zone of choice. Jill Schiefelbein, creator of dynamicvirtualevents.com suggests treating it like the real thing and prioritizing the time and your workload to get the most out of the sessions.
5. Visit the Virtual Vendor Hall
   Our sponsors may not be able to supply us with the usual in person swag, but they really took it in good stride when we had to switch to virtual. You might learn about a product or two that you didn’t know about. Our International Vendors have a spot-on Thursday’s program. 
6. Rewatch
   The ALLA Conference 2021 presentations are being recorded and will be available to registrants for 6 months following. You can watch and re-watch as many times as you want. No need to worry about missing a slide or forgetting what the presenter said!
7. Go Old School
   Take your notes on paper! This will save you from flicking between windows or screens – giving the conference the full screen experience! Research also shows that handwriting notes means you are more likely to remember what the session is about, and it increases your focus and comprehension. See Edugage’s 10 benefits of writing notes by hand and A Learning Secret: Don’t Take Notes with a Laptop from Scientific American.
8. Share your Learnings
   After any development opportunity, its valuable to take a few moments to reflect on what you’ve learned. Be this in a meeting with your team or writing some more detailed notes for your own records it all helps. The ALLA (WA) Conference Bursary recipients will be sharing their experience with you (either via the Blog or in a Live CPD event), and the ALLA National fellowship recipients will be preparing something for the Australian Law Librarian Journal. 

Last minute registrations are still available from the ALLA Conference 2021 Website. The ALLA (WA) Committee hopes to see you all there, even if it’s just to judge my hat.