Each year at our conference, AIIP recognizes members’ and other thought leaders’ contributions to the industry, the association, and individuals. Join us at #AIIP21, The Virtual Conference for Independent Info Pros, as we honor this year’s award recipients on April 14th at 4:30 pm EDT. Visit https://virtual21.aiip.org/ to register for the virtual conference and reserve your spot at the Awards Ceremony.
Continue reading Join Us as AIIP Recognizes Exceptional MembersTag: AIIP 2020
The Role of Info Pros in Information Retrieval: From Text to Thought, Presented by Joyce Ward
The Roger Summit Lecture Award is funded by AIIP Past Presidents to bring an inspiring and stimulating speaker to the AIIP Annual Conference. Roger Summit, the founder of Dialog—a pioneer in online information retrieval—and a longtime AIIP supporter, has inspired AIIP members with his demonstrations of self-renewal and continual learning. The 2020 recipient of the award, Joyce Ward, rolled with the punches after our conference was cancelled due to COVID-19 and delivered her lecture virtually on May 5th, 2020.
Joyce has 30+ years of experience in knowledge management and information retrieval technologies. She served as a VP of Enterprise Products and director of Content Classification at Northern Light, a product manager and director of Taxonomies and Semantic Enrichment at LexisNexis, and most recently as a senior ontologist and content specialist with the Amazon Search Knowledge team. She shared her deep expertise with AIIP members as she reviewed the role information professionals have played in bringing excellent search results to users of search engines.
Joyce recognized the role Roger Summit played in her own career as Dialog revolutionized research and led her into the world of taxonomies. She shared that search has evolved greatly and now produces more relevant results for complex, ambiguous queries. Joyce adds that, thanks to the information professionals working in the background, search results have a high level of precision despite complex data sets, ambiguous search queries, and algorithms that favor quantity over quality.
Information professionals advocate for the users through their understanding of the users’ vocabulary and what users see as good answers. We also look for patterns to improve search results.
Information professionals provide the machines with structured knowledge—classification schemes, taxonomies, rubrics, and blacklists, for example—which are used to develop models for improved search experiences Human classifiers are always better than machines, and precision in search results is directly due to their expertise.
Information professionals are experts who integrate diverse collections of content and map metadata to build filters that refine large data sets into relevant results. Their work ensures result sets are more than merely lists of “hits” and they are organized to make them more relevant to users.
Joyce suggested that there are opportunities for information professionals who are interested in taxonomy and ontology. There will be a new generation of search that is “accurate, intelligent, and well-mannered” and that will need the deep understanding of structured knowledge and subject expertise that is the domain of the information professional.
Phyllis Smith is a partner in ITK Vector Inc. in Ontario, Canada. She is currently developing her “encore career” working with empty nesters who want to reflect on their own life experiences and share them through stories and photos.
Effective Leadership During Difficult Times
After the cancellation of the AIIP 2020 conference, Elizabeth Suarez, the designated keynote speaker, presented a webinar called Effective Leadership during Difficult Times.
She began the session by asking participants:
“What keeps you up at night?”
“What is the one thing that could help you stop this worry?”
“What can we do with everything?”
Elizabeth focused on two topics: leadership and to how to pivot an offering. She began with the second point, pivoting an offering.
Three basic factors are compelling business owners to pivot: life changes, uncertainties, and the need to pivot. To do so, Elizabeth said it was important to create a strategic plan to show leadership and get back to the basics. To formulate a plan, it’s essential to establish structure, understand the needs of those you work with, and have transparent conversations.
The goals we made for 2020 may not seem relevant in the age of a pandemic. Many people are experiencing a level of frustration and uncertainty, which leads to questions such as, “Will clients be economically viable in the future and able to pay for my services?”
After asking the participants to share one word to describe their feelings, Elizabeth explained that the current situation can be compared with the stages of grief. Acknowledging and recording feelings in order to express them is critical for leadership, starting with defining reality, ending with saying thank you, and – in between – being a servant leader.
Elizabeth discussed and illustrated six steps for showing leadership:
- Say what you know
- Acknowledge that you don’t have all the answers
- Outline your plan
- Outline what is needed
- Acknowledge things will change
- Establish regular updates and checklists
It’s important to engage others to carry out these six steps. Recognizing strengths, and also getting help in improving skills that are not as strong, can be done best with input from others.
Making a plan can be done easily by going back to basics. Plans written now need to be able to be changed quickly and cover the right content. She recommended the field reporter approach, which consists of gathering information, assembling it, and sharing it with the target market. Understanding what clients need and developing an impactful plan based on the information received can be accomplished by going down a path based on the five “W” and one “H” questions. She mentioned these questions:
- Why do we care to help our clients?
- What do we want to provide to help our clients?
- What’s the difference between needs and wants?
- Who should be our ideal client?
- When is the right time to introduce a new offering?
- How will this pivoted service be offered?
Using the answers to these questions with the WEAVE approach – write, edit, assess, vet, and engage – forms the basis of a powerful and effective plan. It’s also important to remember that business owners should continue networking, stay in servant mode, and keep themselves relevant and top of mind with others.
Elizabeth’s webinar was very informative and easy to follow for the more than 50 AIIP members who attended. It was an interesting exercise to see how easily thinking through various these points could be when people may be experiencing difficulties with finding new ways to work in these changing times.
Rhonda L. Bowen has been a communication guide in her own business, bells, since 1988. Having worked with people from more than 70 countries, she provides services for BEST (business, engineering, science, technology) professionals to improve their communication across cultures.
AIIP 2020: Don’t Miss Early Bird Registration!
by Karen Klein, AIIP 2020 Conference Chair
Did you make a New Year’s resolution? Did it include bettering yourself, learning a new skill, starting an information business, or growing your existing business? Convert those resolutions into reality and register for AIIP’s annual conference in Denver, Colorado, USA from April 23-26, 2020.
You will meet consultants, researchers, freelancers, marketers, writers, and knowledge managers who have several things in common – they run their own businesses, want to succeed, and want you to be successful too.
The four-day event features dynamic speakers, thought-provoking sessions, and multiple networking opportunities. The program is built around four learning themes:
- Professional Development
- Business Development
- Tools of the Trade
- Personal Enrichment
If you are an AIIP member, take advantage of the Early Bird discount that expires on January 31 and save $100 off your registration fee. If you are not an AIIP member, now is the perfect opportunity to join and take advantage of the early bird conference rates. AIIP’s allied organization members in PIUG, SLA, and STC receive the AIIP member rate.
Over the last few months, AIIP members have shared their thoughts on the conference.
“It is literally my favorite conference of all-time.”
“I’ve gotten value from all the sessions and have met amazing people who ‘get’ what I do.”
“I go for the shot-in-the arm of catching up with colleagues and making new connections.”
“No matter what stage you are at in your business, you will come away having learned many new things that will be helpful to you in your business.”
“The programs are laser-focused, the content is of the highest quality, and there is always an impressive line-up of presenters.”
“When I attended my first conference, I was warmly welcomed and have continued to enjoy the camaraderie, especially at the social events and dine arounds.”
In addition to the full-conference program, you can attend two premium pre-conference workshops for more in-depth learning opportunities.
Kelly Berry of ResourceAbility will present an interactive workshop “InfoPro Grow: Business Planning Techniques to Grow Your Business.” Kelly will share templates and techniques for looking at your business and determining key next steps for growth. Topics for discussion include clearly defining your services, conveying a professional image, creating customer personas, developing a strategic plan, and assessing all 4 Ps of B2B marketing.
Kelly Schrank of Bookworm Editing Services will present the workshop “To Be More Efficient and Consistent, Build a Better Checklist.” Workshop attendees will learn how using a comprehensive checklist that is created and updated for a specific task helps differentiate workflows, systems, and activities; increases quality, accuracy, and consistency; spells out details needed at the moment they are needed; tracks progress; documents metrics; and gives a sense of completion and peace of mind.
Check out these conference highlights:
- Joyce Ward, the Roger Summit Award Lecture recipient, will share her perspective on making information findable. The long-time taxonomist and ontologist will draw on her experiences working for Northern Light, LexisNexis, and, currently, Amazon.
- Keynote speaker Elizabeth Suárez will guide attendees through her exclusive and effective system that will leave you feeling prepared, confident, and excited to negotiate for everything you want – in business and in life.
- Attend thought-provoking and educational sessions in a variety of formats from lecture-style to intimate roundtable “Tips” sessions led by skilled facilitators.
- Take advantage of evening dine-arounds at local restaurants to spend quality time with fellow attendees in a relaxed setting
- Speaking of food, your full-conference registration includes the opening reception on Thursday evening, Saturday night’s gala awards dinner, three breakfasts, and two lunches.
- AIIP members are known for their collegiality and generosity. Meet long-standing members of the information industry along with attendees who are at the start of their independent journey.
I look forward to meeting you in Denver. Keep your resolutions and be sure to register before January 31 to get the Early Bird discount.
Karen Klein is the owner of Fulcrum Information Resources, which provides businesses with customized research, technical writing, editing and project management services so they can make appropriate tactical decisions, improve their bottom line and use their resources effectively.
AIIP 2020: Save the Date!
by Karen Klein, AIIP 2020 Conference Chair
Set against the backdrop of Denver, U.S.A and the Rocky Mountains, AIIP’s annual conference takes place April 23-26, 2020.
Don’t miss this gathering of independent business owners, including consultants, researchers, freelancers, marketers, writers, and knowledge managers. It’s the ideal setting to meet with like-minded professionals with the shared experience of operating their own businesses.
Continue reading AIIP 2020: Save the Date!