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Thank you for your interest in submitting a program proposal for the 2021 ILA Virtual Annual Conference, October 12-14. This document will provide the information you need to submit your proposal. 

If you have any questions, please contact Cyndi Robinson at robinson@ila.org. 

Submitting Your Proposal

You will be asked to provide the following information about your proposed session:

1. Speaker(s) names and contact information

2. Program title and description

3. Program track and session tags

4. Learning outcomes for attendees

5. Speaker qualifications

6. Preferred day and time

7. Target audience and program level

8. Additional information about your proposed program
   
   

Step 1: Search for Speaker Information

Have you presented a session at a past ILA Annual Conference or Reaching Forward Conference? If so, your information should already be in our system. Before you create a new record for yourself or any additional speaker(s), you can save time by searching for existing contact information from previous conferences. Please enter a Last Name, Email Address, or Company/Library Name in the text boxes below and click Search. If you do not have an existing record, you will be prompted to create one after your search.

Step 2: Submit Primary Speaker/Organizer Information

If you have an existing record from a previous conference, please confirm that your information is correct. If you are creating a new record, you will submit the following information.

Required Fields: First Name, Last Name, Institution, Email, Address, City, State, Zip, Phone

Are you employed by or a trustee of a library (academic, public, school, special), a library agency, or library school located in Illinois?

• YES
• NO

If no, are you requesting a honorarium?
Please note: honoraria will not be paid to staff or trustees of Illinois libraries, library agencies, or library schools. 

• YES
• NO

If yes, what is the requested honorarium?

Speaker Bio and Photo
A speaker biography and photo can be submitted at this point, or later if the program proposal is accepted.  

Step 3: Abstract Information

Program Title
While creative and interesting session titles help capture the attention of both the proposal review committee and prospective conference attendees, be sure that your title clearly communicates your topic.

Program Abstract
In 200 words or less, describe your session using the guidelines below. Try to get to the core of what your session is about, while making it sound informative and interesting. Refer to the call for proposals for guidance in crafting your abstract. If accepted, this copy will appear in the final program listing on the conference website, in the conference app, and in the conference program book. Direct this description to conference attendees, not to the review committee. Additional background information about your proposal can be entered later in the submission process. 

• Do not include presenter's names or biographical information in the description; speakers' information will be submitted elsewhere.

• Do not use abbreviations or acronyms without clarification.

• Sessions cannot be an advertisement for a vendor or demonstration of a vendor-provided product or service. Specific products or services may be described if essential for understanding a session's topic. Library staff who use the product or service must participate in the presentation.

Program Track
Please select a primary track for your abstract. The Conference Program Committee reserves the right to change primary program tracks or list programs in additional tracks.

Collections and Technology Collection Development Technical Services Technology Scholarly Communication	Outreach Services Collaboration and Community Engagement Marketing and Outreach Programming
Core Values Advocacy  Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion  Intellectual Freedom Social Justice	User Services  Adult Services Customer Service Readers’ Advisory Reference Service Youth and Young Adult Services
Leadership, Management, and Staff Development Buildings and Facilities Funding and Finance Human Resources, Recruitment and Retention Personal Enrichment and Growth Safety and Security Strategic Planning, Data Driven Decisions, and Change Management Trustees	Teaching and Lifelong Learning Assessment and Evaluation Instruction Maker Movement Student Success

Session Tags

Select up to three (3) tags that describe the content of the proposed session. The tags will help conference attendees identify additional sessions that may be of interest to them.

Access Services	Accessibility and ADA-Compliance	Administration
Adult Services	Advocacy	Assessment and Evaluation
Best Practices and Standards	Budget Conscious Programming/Services	Budget Planning and Finance
Buildings and Facilities	Campus-wide Initiatives	Career Advice
Cataloging	Change Management	Circulation
Civic/Community/Campus Engagement	Collaboration	Collection Development
Continuing Education and Professional Development	Customer Service	Data-Driven Decisions
Design Thinking	Digital Literacy	Digital Resources
Digitization	Disaster Planning	Distance/Online Learning
Early Literacy	eBooks	Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Facilitation	Failure	Friends Groups and Foundations
Fundraising and Development	Future Forecasting	Games and Gaming
Genealogy	Government Documents and Services	Guidelines and Standards
Human Resources	IACRL @ ILA (academic-focused)	Information Literacy
Innovation	Instructional Design	Intellectual Freedom and Ethics
Intellectual Property	Leadership	Library School Education
Local History	Makerspace	Management
Marketing	Mentoring	Metadata
Mindfulness	Mobile Technology	Multi-Generational Engagement
Multi-Type	Networking	Open Access
Open Education Resources	Organizational Change	Outreach Services
Partnerships and Collaboration	Personal Growth	Personnel, Staffing, Remote Working
Popular Culture and Fandom	Preservation	Privacy
Programming	Project Management	Public Policy/Government Relations
Public Services	RDA	Readers’ Advisory
Recruitment and Retention	Reference Services	Research
Resource Sharing	Rural and Small Libraries	Self Care
Serials	Scalable Programming/Services	Scholarly Communication
Special Collections/Archives	Special Needs Populations	Strategic Planning
Sunsetting	Teaching and Learning	Technical Services
Technology	Training	Trends and Forecasting
Trustees	Urban Libraries	User Experience
Work/Life Balance	Young Adult Services	Youth Services

Learning Outcomes
Please identify three (3) learning outcomes for your session. Learning outcomes should use active verbs, be measurable, and state what the participants should know or be able to do after attending your session. Learning outcomes should not simply repeat topics that will be addressed or activities that will take place during the session. Phrase each learning outcome as a completion of this sentence: “At the end of this session, participants will…”

How are the proposed speakers qualified to speak on this topic? Have they presented on this topic before?
Please Note: This question speaks to the qualifications of the speakers. You will need to submit each speaker's information as the final step of your submission. Do not enter speaker contact information in this field. 

Preferred Program Day
We will attempt to honor requests, but there is no guarantee you will receive your requested time or date.

• No Preference
  
• Tuesday 10/12
• Wednesday 10/13
• Thursday 10/14

Preferred Program Time of Day
We will attempt to honor requests, but there is no guarantee you will receive your requested time or date.

• No Preference
• AM Preferred
• PM Preferred

Please indicate if this program is being submitted on behalf of an ILA Forum or Committee
Check the appropriate Forum(s) and/or Committee(s).

Program Audience
Please check all that apply:

• Academic
• Public
• School
• Special

Program Level

• Beginner (little to no experience with the topic)
  
• Intermediate (some experience with the topic)
• Advanced (expertise in the topic)

Is there any additional information you'd like the committee to have about this program? 
Enter any additional comments here. 
Please Note: Do not enter speaker contact information in this field. You will need to submit each speaker's information as the final step of your submission.

 

Step 4: Submit Additional Speaker Information

You will repeat the process in Steps 1 and 2. You will be prompted to search for additional speakers' records, just as you searched for your record. 

Step 5: Submit Your Program

You will receive an email confirmation with login information for the Abstract Service Center, where you can edit your proposal.

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