Back from the Twin Cities!

It has been almost a week since I have been back home, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from the cold, cold city of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The VRA + ARLIS/NA Conference was a great experience. It was my first professional conference and I am glad to have one under my belt. I learned alot, met great people, and have alot to think about. It was an exhausting and daunting experience- I went to Minneapolis alone, no other students from my institution were there.

The conference was a joint conference between the VRA (Visual Resources Association) and ARLIS/NA (Art Librarian Association of North America). Since the conference was joint, there were many, many programs, workshops, sessions, and meeting to choose to go to. Sometimes a little too much to choose from. While the organized events were great and informative, the professionals I met and the discussions that ensued were much more informative.

I now have the important task of following up on the networks and contacts that I met a week ago. I exchanged business cards and now just need to make time in my busy schedule to sit down and write to these people. I can't imagine before the prevalence of email and the internet how new professionals and students were to cement the networks that they created at conferences.

Technology has made the "Art of Networking" so much easier.