Eli Edwards has posted on the SLA conference blog about an epiphany she had for first timers on the Expo Hall. I also had an epiphany that I would like to share. Like Eli, in the past I have always funded my own way to the SLA conferences and was never in a position to buy any of the vendor’s wares. Moreover, the last company I worked at was in such dire financial straits that my paychecks were often late. It wasn’t just that I couldn’t buy the vendor products. It was that there was no circumstance in which I could see being able to use any of those products in my then-job. Since I was also still in school and had never worked in a true “library” setting before, everything about everything in the Expo Hall was theoretical. I had no specific questions to ask the vendors and I had no way of knowing what may or may not be useful to me. In theory, the Expo Hall was supposed to be interesting. In practice, I didn’t get it.
In theory, I was a future librarian and therefore a potential customer ripe for indoctrination. In practice, I could almost sense the disappointment when the vendor realized I was a student with no real experience or questions.
Having graduated a year ago in May, I have been working as a law librarian since last July. Suddenly, the Expo Hall is interesting!!! Now I have specific vendors I want to speak with about specific products. I have real life questions and can say “how can your product help me do this better?” I find myself wondering how I will find the time to hit all of the vendor booths that I want to.
So, while it is nice to wander the Expo Hall as a student sans experience and get some of the freebies, don’t feel bad if you just don’t get the appeal. You’re better off going to the sessions and the happy hours, and meeting people to hang around with and share the conference experience, even if only for the length of your stay. There are some things for which real life experience has no substitute.
And vendors, don’t be too disappointed when a student wanders by your booth. We really do grow up and become baby librarians. The fact that we, as students without a clue, are even at the conference and in the Expo Hall means that we are interested and engaged and in a few years we’ll be back with real questions about your products. Be kind in the interim.
Actually, I always found that vendors were willing to give me the time of day… but it is true that I didn’t always have very many useful questions for them. I don’t think there’s a vendor area for Usability Week in SF, but if there is, I’ll keep your comments in mind!