Week 13: Class Reflection -- Webinars

This week for class we prepared webinars in groups to present to the class. Having never seen a webinar before last week (last week? two weeks ago? ten years ago? I have no idea how time functions at this point in the semester), it seemed like a really daunting task. First there is the fact that you have to talk about something for a half hour at a time. Then you have to come up with a powerpoint to go with your talk that will engage people on the other side of a screen, because it's really easy to tune out people who are not physically in front of you. Then there is figuring out how to use the software needed to broadcast a webinar, which is no small feat and plenty of us had "technical difficulties" today. Finally, it's important to rehearse and maybe even write down what you're going to say, because it's really easy to get messed up. Oh, and did I mention that while you're giving your presentation, there is an active chat happening on the side?

tl;dr: Webinars are hard.

But that didn't stop us! No, we forged on ahead, and although no one's webinar went off without a hitch, I'll say that they went pretty well, despite whatever difficulties.

Actually, I really liked my group's webinar topic and had a lot of fun exploring the topic. We chose to present on how to attract pre-baby, post-college Millennials (a group that is kind of "forgotten" usually by library services) to the library. We titled it "Millennials: Get in my library!" which I feel was apt. Anyway, we decided to have fun with the topic and I think it really showed in our presentation. The focus of our presentation was really on the kinds of fun events and services which really cater to the wants and needs of the millennial crowd. These included the Smarty-Pants Trivia Smack Down hosted at the Chelsea Alehouse by the Chelsea District Library, or the 21+ themed Halloween party that my own hometown library throws as a fundraiser, which features drinks, dancing, costume contests, fortune tellers, palm readers, silent auction, a raffle, and a tour of the library's (allegedly) haunted spots. That last bit is actually really cool because a few years ago we had "ghost hunters" come in and they verified the hauntings and whatnot, so it's pretty cool, but it's up to you whether you think it's haunted or not. So the tours go through the areas which the ghost hunters said were haunted in the dark and it's all kinds of creepy. The library shuts down early that day for service and they clear off the circ desk to make room for the bar, and they decorate the whole inside. It's a great party. It mostly works, though, because the building looks like a castle. Not that it couldn't be done in a building that does not look like a castle (re: most libraries), but it's just particularly suitable for this library. See the picture below! 

Hoyt Library - Wikipedia.org

Some other ideas we had for programming we book-themed speed dating events, where singles would be paired up based on their tastes in books. This could just be done as a way to meet new friends, too, especially in an area that sees a lot of new people moving in. We also thought of hosting open mic nights, either at the library or a local coffee shop or brewery/bar, where people with talent want to get up and share their songs, poetry, comedy act, you name it. The last example we had was based on an event that the Ann Arbor District Library is hosting with the A2 Nerd Nite organization, which is a Sega gaming night. That easily translates into just any library offering a throwback gaming night, either with old school video games or board games. 

So the intended message of our presentation was: "Hey, look at all these great things you can do to attract millennials into your library!" But according to our evaluations, what people actually came away with was our final slide on marketing! Admittedly, we put a lot of thought into that marketing slide, because honestly, you can create all the great programs you want and still only have four people show up if no one knows about them. As I was working on that slide, I actually had a lot of fun thinking of ways that we could market the library, and the biggest thing I could think of was that you need to be advertising where your users are. And where are millennials? What do they like? We came up with what I thought were some pretty great ideas, like advertising events on Pandora or the sidebar on Facebook, or in the bathroom stalls of a popular bar. 

I think we were all really surprised, though, that in our evaluations, everyone said they loved the marketing tips! Well, I'm glad that they came away with something useful! Actually, what I get out of that, though, was that I had a lot of fun coming up with those ideas, and I had been toying with the idea of finding a Marketing for Non-Profits course to take as a cognate. Now I think I definitely will! 

Our webinar was not flawless, though, this is true. It's a weird medium to get used to, that's for sure. At one point we had turned off the chat feature because the icon looks like a little whiteboard, and we didn't want people drawing all over our slides in a repeat of Kristin's in-class demonstration. And something weird happened with the polling feature; I think I clicked the show responses option too soon, thinking it would update as people filled it out, and that was not the case. And at one point I got lost in my own notes as I was going along, and couldn't find my place again, so I had an awkward pause and a bit of fumbling. But overall, I would still say that despite these hiccups, it went pretty well. 

We may have been a little heavy-handed with the alcoholic beverage theme, but I don't think that makes it any less true. Go where the users are!