9-27-09 Empower!
Friends:
On Friday and Saturday, I was a part of the TASL Conference in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, just south of Nashville. I was the Saturday first general session keynote. On Friday, I attended some great sessions. First, I attended a session by Nick Bruel, author of Bad Kitty and Poor Puppy. Nick is such an interesting and entertaining man. I really enjoyed his session on how Bad Kitty came together.
9-26-09 Nick Bruel, Author of Bad Kitty, presents
After a quick lunch, I attended a session by storyteller and author, Mary Jo Huff. Mary Jo is an extraordinary presenter. She had an incredible amount of great information and ideas for the early childhood librarian.
9-26-09 Mary Jo Huff and her Peeper friends
Talk about storytime pizzazz! Mary Jo had everyone fired up and smiling!!
9-26-09 Ann Reedy smiles in Mary Jo Huff's session on storytellin' fun
That night, there was the awards luncheon. I sat at the table that laughed the loudest. We had so much fun! After the association awards were presented, Peg Kehret and Nick Bruel both received awards. Congratulations to both authors!
9-26-09 Dianne de Las Casas with Nick Bruel
On Saturday, September 27, 2009, it was time for me to present my morning general session keynote. My keynote was entitled “Passport to the Imagination” and it embraced the conference theme: Explore, Excite, Empower! I took the librarians on a tour through my childhood and how I was inspired to write at an early age by many people along the way. There was Hula dancing, interactive book-making, and rousing audience participatory storytelling. I told Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach. It was a whole lot of fun!
9-27-09 Dianne presenting a keynote at the TN Assn of School Librarians Conference 2009
Afterwards, it was time to do my breakout session. I had 50 minutes to present “Story Fest.” Boy, did we barrel through the process and get right into it.
9-27-09 Story Fest workshop - participants portraying a Mardi Gras parade
The workshop participants were so good, working so well together. They were so cute presenting their story theater masterpieces. They presented “The Turtle Who Could Not Stop Talking” and “The Frog and the Ox.”
9-27-09 The Reading Rockstars preparing for performance
The performances were so much fun and the librarians had a grand time. It was a breathless 50 minutes full of lots of “Wow!” moments. After my session, it was time to sign books. The librarians were so sweet. There was such a long line and they were sooooo patient, waiting for me. Thank you so much!
9-27-09 I am a Fan of Dianne! (waiting for Dianne to sign their books)
It was a fantastic conference and I had such a great time with all the librarians! Thank you to Bruce Hester, Lynn Caruthers, Becky Jackman, Nancy Dickerson Dickinson, Allison Roberts and everyone at TASL who made this conference such a success. It was a flawless experience for me and I was given the star treatment! I appreciate being part of it! You are all AWESOME!
9-27-09 Dianne de Las Casas & Allison Roberts
Until next time…
Warmly, Dianne
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But my room was packed to capacity. I received lots of compliments on all my workshops. I also told The Cajun Cornbread Boy at the awards luncheon and afterward, my book, The Cajun Cornbread Boy, sold out. I autographed a lot of books at this wonderful conference! It was a pleasure and an honor to do so.
