I have been home for over a week now. The OLLI Conference was a very intense three days. I will try to give you a taste of it.
Debra and I arrived late Wednesday afternoon. After registering and checking into our room, lovely rooms by the way, we went to welcoming banquet in which we were fed the most delicious food and company. We sat at a table with fellow Californians and a group from Miami, Florida. We had a spirited conversation, getting to know each other and talking about the different programs that each OLLI provides. There are 117 OLLIs. We met as many people as we could. Everyone was generous, friendly, and helpful—and curious about what we were doing.
Thursday morning started with a inspirational talk by radio host and communications consultant Terry McNally. He talked about how organizations gain members using attention, engagement, activation and flow. His speech was very interesting and a video of it will be available on the web. I put it on the blog as soon as we receive it.
After that general session, we broke up for the rest of the day into interest groups. I started out that part of the day going to a session about social media. A panel of three guided our discussion and Anne Cardale, Director of Communications, National Resource Center was in the background to listen and comment. The room was full of people who all worked with or were beginning to work blogs, Facebook and Twitter. I learned so much from this group, and more importantly, developed contacts that will continue to provide ideas and support to us in the future. I got the sense that we are not charting this territory alone, but have caring companions as we learn from what we do and what each other does.
I also went to another outstanding session on working with science centers, like the California Academy of Science and the Exploratorium. OLLI received an preliminary grant from the National Science Foundation to pursue this goal. Kali Lightfoot, the CEO of OLLI National Resource Center, is leading this project. We heard how it was going and the successes so far. They are waiting word about a larger grant. I think we can move ahead with this grant or not.
At Friday morning NPR Special Correspondent Susan Stamberg talked about her lifelong learning journey. Another great speech.
The whole experience was packed with wonderful people, a feeling of mutual support, and many new ideas, which will leak out over the next few weeks.
Respectfully,
Richard Simmonds
