No More Presentations

August 18th, 2006

Barbie and I had an agonizing conversation this week. It was long, full of number crunching, and very important for our future. But in the end, we came to the conclusion that I knew we would. As of today, and for the unforeseeable future, I will not be accepting any more speaking engagements. I’ll finish up what I’ve signed on to do, and then stop.

I’m figuring on still attending the two major ALA and ITI events each year, but that will be it.

Why did we decide this? Three reasons.

1) Since Ari was born, family life has been very hectic, and if I were to be on the road alot, I couldn’t help Barbie with the kids. Also, and more importantly, I’d miss out on alot the cool stuff. I’ve spoken to many people about this and what I heard from everyone was, “family first”. So, I’m putting my family first.

2) My new job is incredible. It’s fun, hard work, and very valuable and rewarding. I’ve found that instead of coming home and blogging at night, I’m doing day job stuff. I’ve NEVER done day job stuff at night, and that says something about how important it is. Ray and Marge Jassin (my bosses) allow me to do what I love. I have my independence, knowing that they are both there if I need them. I also get to be very entrepreneurial, which I’ve never been allowed to do at such a large scale. These guys really know how to run a company and I’m thrilled to be working for and with them. I want to put as much effort as possible into the new job.

3) I need to concentrate on writing and blogging. When I started out in librarianship, I knew that I wanted to write. The scores of presentations that I have given over the past 3 years were an outcrop of my writing. If I gave up writing, I know that I would miss it dearly. I will miss presenting somewhat (I hate the traveling part), but not so much that I want to continue to do it.

For those that have hired me to present in the fall, fear not. I’m still going to give it my 150% attention and have fun doing it. For those that contact me in the future to speak, I will refer out to my colleagues.

Will I ever get back on the speaking “circuit” again? I have no idea. It’s just not in the cards for me right now.

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