This year marks the Library Marketing and Communications Conference's tenth anniversary, so we are celebrating with a theme:

Flashbacks and Futures in Library Marketing. LMCC has come a long way from our first conference in 2015, when our original planning committee crossed their fingers for 45-50 attendees and instead welcomed 200 library marketers in Dallas, Texas. Over the last decade, we have helped countless library professionals with our annual conferences, continuing education webinars, an upcoming online conference, and more to come.

Now is the perfect time to look backward as well as forward. Give us your lessons learned, your assessment strategies, your tips and tricks, and ways you’ve grown as a professional and/or organization!

We are looking for speakers with demonstrated professional experience who can share their knowledge and best practices and discuss the strategy, actions, and results of your marketing and communications topic.

Successful proposals will provide practical takeaways that can be immediately applied to any library’s communications and marketing efforts. Accepted presentations will apply to other types and sizes of libraries and could be scaled to work for library marketing staff and teams that are full-time, part-time, and everything in between.

We welcome all proposals for consideration, especially those that tie into this year’s theme of Flashbacks and Futures in Library Marketing. Possible perennial topics include, but are not limited to:

• Marketing & communications, with an emphasis on key themes:

- Communications/ PR/ Media relations

- Strategy/ Research/ Planning/ Assessment

- Workflow management

- Staff buy-in/ Internal support

- Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA)

• Community engagement techniques, such as:

- Advocacy/ Funding

- Partnerships/ Collaboration

- Embedding

- User experience

- Engaging audiences with outreach, programs, and services

• Marketing & communication tools such as:

- Videography/ Animation/ Editing

- Social media

- Graphic design

- Website design

- Other technology/ Software

• Topics for beginner, intermediate or advanced audiences

We welcome proposals from individuals or colleagues who want to co-present. We also encourage panel submissions in which speakers share different takes on the same topic.

Speakers should have enough content to fill at least 50 minutes. All sessions are 60 minutes long and should include time for questions and answers. You will be able to share handouts and slides with attendees electronically after the conference.

Library vendors and conference sponsors are welcome to submit a proposal, but must include at least one co-presenter from a library organization. Information must also be relevant to all attendees and not sales-oriented. Sponsors with questions about this policy should contact the LMCG Board at board@lmcconference.org. Library vendors submitting a proposal are encouraged to consider becoming a conference sponsor. LMCC has a variety of sponsorship levels available to bring awareness and engagement to your organization.

Submission Information

Submit your proposal through the online submission form by Friday, May 10. The lead presenter will receive an automated email confirming receipt of the submission and will be notified if the proposal has been accepted.

All proposals must include the following:

• Session Title
• Session Description (100 words or less)
• Type of Audience (Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced)
• Session Format
• Learning Objectives
• Presenter Contact Information
• Presenter Biography

Proposal Timeline

Deadline for Submissions: Friday, May 10

Notification of Acceptances by: Friday, July 29

Criteria for Acceptance:

Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Speakers’ knowledge and experience
• Useful/practical learning objectives
• Topics’ broad appeal and applicability to all library types
• Clarity of description
• Originality
• Interactive elements

Recommendations for a Successful Proposal:

• Please write your proposal clearly, carefully, and completely. If you’re accepted, the information you’ve provided will appear online in the conference schedule and program.
• LMCC reserves the right to adjust session titles and edit session descriptions where necessary.

Additional Information for Speakers:

• Speakers will be responsible for registering for the conference. Speakers will be given a special code to register at the reduced speaker rate.
• Please add LMCC’s email address speakers@lmcconference.org to your contact list so our future emails won’t go into your spam folder.

Questions?

Send us an email with the subject “Speaker Questions” to speakers@lmcconference.org.