A Taste of Chester County - Week 1

We hosted our first program in the A Taste of Chester County series.

Wine Tasting was hosted at the Kreutz Creek Winery. Karen Clinefrom the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail talked about the upcoming events happening around the wine trail and Carole Kirkpatrick, owner of Kreutz Creek Winery talked about how she got into the wine tasting business.
Both were wonderful and engaging!

The crowd was diverse, the energy was great, and the wine just kept coming!

The Advocacy Coordinator did a wonderful presentation about our library, and even found a way to tie the library and wine together by noting that there was 24 hour access to librarians on ccls.org that you can use to answer all of your wine tasting questions.

We had 30+ attendees who all left with big smiles and rosy cheeks.
Many called as soon as they got home to RSVP for the other events on the program.

This program was awesome. Even the people who presented said they were nervous about how "successful" this would be, and they were pleasantly surprised to see how great it turned out.

Both presenters expressed an interest in hosting other library related events, and I look forward to seeing what other successful programs we can plan!

Program Review - Internet Safety and Cyberbullying with the CVC

Just presented Internet Safety and Cyberbullying for Parents.

The Crime Victim's Center of Chester County and the Chester County District Attorney's Office came to present the program.

The presenters were extremely knowledgeable and well versed in the different types of bullying and the different web devices that are being used for bullying.

Questions were accepted with open ears and the group was able to create a great dialogue on the information that they wanted to know about.

I would highly recommend this program for any of the libraries. The event is free and the quality of the presentation was of an high caliber.

To schedule the event e-mail Abby Boyer at education@cvcofcc.org

Program Review - Writing for Effectiveness

The Chester County Library hosted Writing for Effectiveness: Finding & Unbridling The Passion on March 3, 2010. Salvatore Grasso, a self published local author was our host for the evening.

The program had 20 enthusiastic participants from a wide range of backgrounds and age ranges.
Discussion topics included How to create character scenes, building effective factual presentations, and how to better open stories and presentations for effectiveness.

Sal did a wonderful job of engaging everyone in the room, and covering a variety of ideas to ensure each attendee could take something away from the evening.

He presented using notes, which he sometimes relied a bit too much on, but as soon as he looked up and starting engaging the group in a conversation on writing, the dynamic of the presentation changed and everyone participated.

I believe this was one of Sal's first presentations, so I anticipate his next presentations will be better and better as he gets more practice.
This was a great general overview presentation for anyone interested in writing a book, or writing more effective letters and correspondence.

The only room requirement would be tables, since there were writing excercises during the presentation.

Sal presented his program for free, and conducted himself in a professional and engaging manner. I would recommend this program for any library in the system. It would be a great unique addition to your program lineup.

I look forward to working with Sal in the future and creating some programs on more specific writing techniques as sort of a "part 2" to this initial presentation.

Programming Librarian | Making the Case for Library Programming

Programming Librarian Making the Case for Library Programming

Program Review - Solar Made Simple

The Chester County Library in Exton hosted Solar Made Simple on September 22, 2009.
The program was presented by Michael Chambers from Chesapeake Solar, a GroSolar Company.

The 56 participants came prepared with notebooks and questions galore. The presentation had the potential to take a sales-pitch turn, but Mike was really understanding that this was a library and removed anything resembling selling in his PowerPoint before the event.

There was some reference to "I can't talke about that" throughout the presentation. But for the most part, he did stick to information that could be used by all.

Mike even learned some new things from participants. Did you know that a Solar Panel is sized using a Golden Ratio? Or that Germany is trying to develop a way for Solar Panels to collect energy even when it's cloudy?

Our participants really did their research!

For the amount of effort needed by the library (none) this was an extremely successful and stress free event. Mike came prepared with his presentation, a table of information, and a sign that displayed the way solar power works, which we posted outside of the room as a welcome.

The Green Valleys Association came with some flyers for their upcoming Chester County Solar Tour, and gave a little blurb at the end of the program to let participants know they could come.

All in all, the event went great. The people gained tons of new knowledge and information, and the library had people scurrying around, post program, using computers, and looking for books that further would help them with solar knowledge.

Program Idea - Understanding Home Care Care Options

Program Name: Understanding Home Care Care Options

Presenter: Karen Devine, Community Liaison for Bayada Nurses
Contact Information: 610-992-9200 kdevine@bayada.com

Program Fee: Free

Program Description: Home care is a very personal service and choosing an agency is an important decision. With the growth in home health care and the number of agencies that provide these services, consumers are faced with a wide range of choices when selecting a home care agency. If you are considering home care, ask questions and learn as much as you can about the agency that will be sending caregivers into your home.

Length of Program: 1 hour

Preferred Audience Size: n/a

Presenter's Requirements: Projector and Screen, Table for display materials

Presenter will bring: PowerPoint presentation, and refreshments (if requested)

Which Libraries will they present at:
Bayard Taylor Memorial Library
Chester County Library
Chester Springs Library
Coatesville Public Library
Downingtown Library
Easttown Library & Information Center
Henrietta Hankin Branch Library
Honey Brook Community Library
Malvern Public Library
Paoli Library
Parkesburg Free Library
Phoenixville Public Library
Tredyffrin Public Library
West Chester Public Library

Program Idea - Erasing Myths, Discrimination, and Violence

Name of Program: Erasing Myths, Discrimination and Violence: Helping our students achieve in safety and free from labels, danger and fear

Presenter: Michele M. Paiva, Author, International syndicated writer former legal educational book advocate, "Mom"
Contact Information: 484-574-3795 mmpaiva@mac.com

Fee for Program: Free

Program Description: The program is twofold. The program helps parents of K-12 and College students to best communicate with schools and to best advocate for their child in a way that is non-confrontational where the goal is not to "win" but to work together in the best interest of the child.
The other aspect is to help those who have or may have a learning disabled, gifted, or talented child OR any child to achieve their abilities without ceilings and to help parents do so in a way that is economical and proactive.
It would be fantastic if I could bring my teens and have a second room where parents who can't afford babysitting could have children watched (school age/elementary) even if that meant my teens are in the book areas with the children as a helper.
I want this to be easy for parents - they have enough on their plates!

Length of Program: One hour - 90 Minutes

Preferred Audience Size: 20-50 works well. More is always fine.

Presenter Requirements: Table for books (if books for sale are allowed)

Which System Libraries will they present at: ALL