I had an awesome time in Dallas, TX, attending the SLA Leadership Summit 2013. Aside from seeing old friends and making new ones (hi, Jason!), we were predominantly busy listening to great speakers or discussing topics at out tables. Thanks, Tom Rink, for making our table the best in the room!
We learned a lot during the past three days -well, at least I did- but at some point I came to a surprising realization: Despite the fact that I had my iPad with me (and you all know I LOVE mu iPad), I found myself using notepads and those bright orange hotel pens during every meeting. It did not really dawn on me until I got to the airport and started reading one of the books I won at a raffle, titled “Boring Meetings Suck. According to the author, the most used items in meetings are not the newest high-tech gadgets but the good old flip chart and marker, pens, and paper. And it’s true! It’s so much more fun to write things down, cross them out, and ornate your notes with a doodle or two … depending on the quality, they might even show up on the Twitter feed. Mine never make it there, I am bad at this.
So, in the end I guess that sometimes simple tools is really all we need

See you in San Diego; maybe I can learn to doodle until then and share my artwork with you. At the very least you’ll get a good laugh out of it!