TLA: Survival, Nerds, and Crayons

TLA this year was a lot of fun. For those of you unfamiliar with the acronym, it stands for Texas Library Association. Every year they hold an annual conference in a different location, with this year's festivities being held in our wonderful capital--Austin! For the past five years or so, I have wanted to move to Austin. It is such a freeing place, where people can be what they want, do what they want, and play arcade games that are in still good working order (like I did at Pinballz!). Forgive me for my digression, but I am happy that we were able to spend a little bit of time in this awesome city.

Sure, most of the time was spent at the conference (obviously). I was thankful that I picked some pretty good sessions this year, though I was skeptical at first. Picking what you're going to attend is one of the biggest challenges for me. Sometimes the description is not at all what you thought it would be, but you just have to roll with it, get out your TLA App and find something else!

The first day was good, though nothing explicitly to write home about. Carrie and I attended Bluebonnet 101 which was a crash course on all things Bluebonnet. It would be a great event for beginning librarians or people new to elementary school. We've been doing it for a while now and it seemed not really appropriate for us.

We then ventured out into the world of the Exhibit Hall. It was smaller than last year and definitely the year before that. There were few freebies, which is understandable. We didn't spend much time here before we headed to lunch at Royal Blue Grocery--so happy they are coming to Dallas! Then we went to some other seminars. I went to Dan vs. Dan, which featured Dans Gutman and Yaccarino. It was hilarious! They discussed school visits and their ongoing prank wars. Ah, there's nothing like a good prank.

Then, Carrie and I went to something called App Smashing by a local to Dallas librarian. It was very informative regarding how to use multiple apps to have kids basically create library lessons for others. Its something that we might have to start in the early fall but we might have some really cool lessons by the end of the year. Maybe even our fourth grade leaders would be able to be put in charge!

I went back to the Exhibits and ran into some friends from my PPLS days, also talking with some story tellers and getting cards. Their handy-dandy phone charging station saved my behind! After hanging out there, I went to a Google thing with Carrie but we only stayed a few minutes before heading back to the Exhibits.

The following day was amazing. It was my last in Austin but it was so full of great workshops and stuff I did not mind. Morning sessions included story telling, marketing 101, and more exhibit time. This exhibit time, Carrie and I spoke with a bunch of different vendors and storytellers. Then...the Bluebonnet lunch!

The Bluebonnet lunch this year was much more fun than in years past. Drew Daywalt is probably one of the funniest dudes I've ever seen give a speech and Oliver Jeffers is always charming and nice. So, of course, I went to the autograph line to find out they were giving away 250~ copies of The Day the Crayons Quit and of course they would autograph! I didn't get a picture with them per se, but of me having the book autographed to me and my husband. I then asked Mr. Daywalt his advice for movie making, since he is seasoned in the horror genre, and it was simply to move to LA. I groaned and told him my husband will never like it, and he brainstormed with me a quick minute of what would work best. Mr. Jeffers said just to make as much stuff as possible and get it out there. Mr. Daywalt said if ever we come to LA, look him up and he'd be happy to meet up with me.

WHAT.

How cool is that? Ok, its pretty cool. I'll admit that. I felt like I could conquer the world simply by one person, even though he just met me in a non-Hollywood, non-cinema context, that he believed in me. I don't hear that from my family that often.

It was awesome.

Needless to say I think this TLA was pretty awesome. I learned a lot about brand cohesion, programming tips, and generally gained more knowledge and confidence as a professional person.