Digitization 101

At the SLA Leadership Summit in January 2010, James Kane spoke on loyalty.  Out of that came the loyalty project that several SLA chapters are doing with Kane as well as his appearance at this year's Leadership Development Institute (LDI) on June 12 and his keynote on June 15. Having now seen him twice, I understand why people were so enthusiastic about him.  He is an excellent storyteller with a message that every organization needs to hear in order to understand its members/users/customers.

First here is the handout from James Kane related to his keynote and notes from Don Hawkins.  Neither is a substitute for being in the audience (and neither will my notes).  If you get an opportunity to see Kane in person, take it.  [Update 2/7/2012: The handout link is now to another version of the handout.  The one that he had made available for SLA is no longer available.  If this link no longer works, use Google's advanced search to search his web site for a PDF and you may find a current version.]

Kane has studied loyalty.  He had defined what loyalty is and discovered what makes each of us loyal.  What surprised me is that loyalty is more complex that I imagined.

While we are focused on people being loyal, we need to recognize that people (e.g., our members) fall into four categories:

• Antagonistic
• Transactional
• Predisposed
• Loyal

Amazing as it may seem, there will be people who are involved in your organization (e.g., members, customers) who don't like you!  For some reason, they are still involved with you and they - as a group - will never go away.  Thankfully, antagonists comprise a small percentage of the group.

Most of your members/customers/users are either transactional of predisposed.  Those that are transactional buy a product or service without feeling any long term obligation.  To borrow an analogy from a former boss, they see the organization as a soda machine.  They put their money in and get a soda.  Next time they may go to a different machine or even decide to forego a soda and head to a drinking fountain instead.

People that are predisposed like what you have, but would go someplace else if something better came along.  These are the people that were happy to shop a the Great American grocery store until Wegmans came to town, and then switched where they bought their food. (This eventually led to Great American going out of business.)  As Kane says, having customers that are happy with you isn't enough, because happy customers will leave when they realize they could be happier someplace else.

People who are loyal do not measure the relationship based on price or convenience.  They are loyal because the organization (or store, etc.) makes their lives better or easier.  In one of his slides at LDI, he had a goal of having 20% of the organization identify themselves as being loyal.  (Identification is done through a survey on those factors that demonstrate loyalty.)

Now here is what interested me the most...not everyone will be loyal!  We all know that to be true, but we don't stop to think what that means to our organizations/businesses.  Yes, we want people who are truly loyal.  The truth is, though, that we need those people who are transactional or predisposed.  We need to attract them, even if it means attracting a different group of them every month/year. And if we want to build organizations only for those that are truly loyal, then we need to spend time thinking about what that means in terms of services and obligations, as well as the number of customers/members/users.

Thinking about conferences (and not just about SLA), those that are predisposed will attend if - for example - their employer will pay for it, it is geographically convenient, the sessions seem to be useful, and there isn't another conference that looks better. 

Someone who is transactional will attend the conference but may have sensitivities about place, topic, etc.   I could imagine that person might even join the organization in order to get a lower registration fee, but wouldn't see that as a long-term commitment.

Those that are loyal will attend no matter what! With them there is the feeling that which trumps everything (e.g., geography, etc.) that the conference will make their lives better.

Thinking about the Computers in Libraries (CIL) conference, about 50% of the audience each year is attending their first CIL.  Of the other 50%, there is some segment that has attended many of them.  For them, the conference is a "family reunion", where sitting around and talking is as important (or more important) than the sessions.  These are also the people who will go the extra mile to help make the conference a success, because it is "their" conference. 

James Kane is working with several SLA chapters on a loyalty project. The goal is to help the chapters engage their members so that more of them are loyal. Kane's handout gives an overview of the things that must be considered when developing loyalty.  You'll notice that loyalty is a two-way street.  You must give of yourself in order to receive loyalty.  Giving isn't always easy because we think we might be giving something away for free.  That "giving", however, can take a number of forms and what is received is important (loyalty).

Kane has written two books and I suspect a few articles.  I need to get my hands on some of his writings to inform my thinking, because I'm going to be thinking about this for quite a while.  I'll try blog about this more as I gather more information.

The Special Libraries Association (SLA) Annual Conference is now over.  In past years, I've blogged the event either here or in the SLA blog during the conference, but this year didn't have time to do either. Remember that last year, I was a candidate for the Board and "being a candidate" dominated my conference.  Now that I am on the Board, I spent most of this year's conference carrying out Board duties.  In this blog post, I want to tell you how I - a member of SLA's Board of Directors - spent my time.

Friday, June 10:

• Had a seven-hour Board meeting, which included spending time working on a strategic plan for SLA. (Relevant blog post by Rebecca Jones, who facilitated the strategic planning.)
• As we do our strategic planning, we are focusing on the year 2014.  We understand that is only three years into the future and it is a recognition that moving forward cannot wait.  As someone (not on the Board) said, "change is hard and change is good" and that seems to be very appropriate for our process.
• Prior to attending SLA, I gave the plenary speech at the New York Archives Conference, where I asked attendees to think 20 years into the future.  I think there is a benefit to looking 10-20 years into the future - even if the view is fuzzy - so that you can begin to consider how an organization will exist for the next generation.  I'll blog about this later this week.
• Had dinner with the Board of Directors, SLA staff and Board candidates (each paid her/his own way).

Saturday, June 11:

• Had a 1.5 hour open board meeting, which included several reports on various Association activities and time for members to address the Board.
• Worked with other Board members on the strategic plan for three hours.  We still have work to do, but we made an amazing amount of progress over the course of seven hours total.  Thanks to Rebecca Jones for donating her time to facilitate the process.
• Had dinner with the members of the SLA Information Technology Division board (each paid her/his own way).  I have been their professional development chair, so I attended the dinner as a member of that group.
• The SLA Baseball Caucus had an informal get-together and I stopped late in the evening to say "hi".  (I'm a member of that caucus.)  According to an email afterward, 83 people attended this event!

Sunday, June 12:

• Attended the Leadership Development Institute (LDI) from 7:30-11:00 a.m., but had to step out at 8 a.m. to troubleshoot something with a continuing education course that the IT Division sponsored (and which I helped to arrange).  I left LDI at 11 a.m. so I could get lunch for the CE instructors, who were also teaching in the afternoon.  (Their teaching schedule gave them no time to get lunch and have time to relax.  It seemed like getting lunch for them was the least I could do so they'd have time to breathe.)
• James Kane, our closing keynote speaker, talked at LDI about loyalty.  His SLA survey data on loyalty was very interesting, as well as what he knows from working with other organizations.  Based on their responses, people fall into one of four categories: antagonistic, transactional, predisposed, and loyal.While we may want everyone to be "loyal", he believes an organization like SLA should have 20% of its members who are truly loyal.  Most will be divided between transactional and predisposed.
• From  ~12:30-1:30 p.m. I attended in the IT Division board meeting.  Because of a conflict, I couldn't stay for the entire meeting.  I attended this meeting both as a member of the IT Division board (Professional Development Chair) and as its Board liaison.
• From 1:30-3 p.m. I attended the Information Outlook Advisory Council meeting as their Board of Director's liaison.  The Council asked two companies to present information on making Information Outlook an ejournal.  The two presentations were interesting and will help the Council better frame what it wants to consider.
• At 3 p.m. I ducked into the exhibit hall (Info-Expo) for a few minutes before heading back to my hotel room so I could change for the evening events.
• I attended the awards ceremony and opening keynote from 5:15-7 p.m.   The keynote was given by Tom Friedman, who wrote The World is Flat. (notes, notes added 06/21/2011)
• Went to the Awards Reception, which all of the Board members are expected to attend.
• Stopped by the IT Division Game Night to support that effort (as an IT Division member). (Yup...got back to the hotel room late in the evening, which is actually normal for the conference.)

Monday, June 13:

• Proctored the Food, Agriculture and Nutrition (FAN) Division Business Meeting (breakfast, 7:30-9:30 a.m.). Proctoring means that I took some specific notes which I'll give to the SLA Division Cabinet Chair. All Board members are expected to proctor division business meetings.
• Attended the Academic Division board meeting (10:00-11:30 a.m.). I am their Board liaison and so I attended in order to get to know this division better. They did give me a few questions that I need find the answers for!
• Besides the IT and Academic Divisions and the the Information Outlook Advisory Council, I am also the Board liaison for the Virtual Worlds Advisory Council, Emergency Preparedness and Recovery Advisory Council, and several SLA chapters (Kentucky, Florida and Caribbean, Iowa, Arizona, and Oklahoma).
• Neal-Schuman hosted Ulla de Stricker and I in their booth for an "meet the author" event from 11:30-12:30.  Neal-Schuman is the U.S. distributor of the book we wrote.

• 12:30 - Lunch!
• Attended a session entitled "Going Mobile at the Smithsonian" (1:30-2:30-ish).  Inspiring to see the apps and mobile websites they have developed, as well as hear their thinking behind some of this work. (notes, added 06/21/2011)
• Talked to Maurice Coleman, host of T is for Training, who then turned our conversation into an interview and podcast.  Once I have the podcast URL, I'll include it.
• Attended the SLA Baseball Caucus meeting (4-5:30), which had Doug Glanville, Nadia Dajani, and Dickie Noles as its speakers.  (notes)
• Attended the International Reception (6 p.m.)
• Ended the evening between the Elsevier Dessert Party (music and dancing) and the IT Division Author Night (quiet conversation).

Tuesday, June 14:

• Members of SLA's Board of Directors are asked to personally thank exhibitors for being in the Info-Expo.  I had 16 exhibitors (vendors/companies) to thank, which I did between 10 a.m.-noon and 3:00-5:30 p.m.  I not only thanked them, but also tried to engage them in conversation about their SLA experience as well as their products.  
• The exhibitors I visited were the Electrochemical Society, Aurora WDC, Research Solutions, ICE Publishing, Digimind, Future Science Group, ST Imaging, Oriprobe Information Services, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Sage/CQ Press, American Psychological Association, Disclosure Insight, ASME, Mary Ann Liebert (publisher), Haver Analytics, and National Technical Information Services. 
• FYI - Disclosure Insight is not related to the old Disclosure company.  They hadn't even heard of the old Disclosure until people kept coming up to ask.
• I was told by several exhibitors that they were pleased with the level of real interest from conference participants.  Good to hear!
• I had a good conversation with one company that would like to extend its participation in SLA in smaller ways.  I suggested that they consider sponsoring events in specific chapters, even if they could not attend the event.  A sponsor can always send material to be exhibited at an event, sponsor specific unit activities (even webinars), or place advertisements in a unit's publications.  If you (a vendor) have not been contacted by a unit that is of interest to you, contact that unit's leader with an email and make him/her aware of your interest. 
• Attended the session "60 apps in 60 minutes", which was a very popular and information-packed event (noon-1:30 p.m.). (presentation) 
• Attended the Emergency Preparedness and Recovery Advisory Council as their Board liaison (2-3 p.m.).
• Attended the Division Cabinet meeting which began at 5:30 p.m.
• Attended the Joint Cabinet meeting which started after the Division Cabinet meeting had ended.  It ended at 8 p.m. (While I may not have truly needed to be at these two evening meetings, it was very useful to hear what our unit leaders are thinking.)
• After a late dinner, I went to the IT Division Dance Party, which is one of the events of the conference.  Had the pleasure of talking to several SLA members from the UK who were attending their first SLA conference.

Wednesday, June 15:

• Had breakfast with a friend/colleague.
• Attended "Opening the Special Library:Open Source, Open Content and More" (10-11:30 a.m.)  Mike Linksvayer, one of the speakers, has his notes in SlideShare.  The other speaker talked about DocumentCloud.org. (10-11:30 a.m.)
• Attended "All of Your Copyrights are Ours", which speaker Dorothea Salo retitled "I own copyright so I pwn you!"  ("pwn" is a term used in gaming and it basically means "own", but with more intensity.)  (The slides are okay, but you really need to her what she said on each slide.) (12:00-1:00 p.m.) (notes, added 06/21/2011)
• Quick lunch!
• Attended the Association's business meeting and the closing keynote by James Kane (2:00 - 4:45 p.m.).  While Kane' keynote was on loyalty (as is the project he is doing with the Association), he has blogged for SLA on the topic of "selling what others need".  Meeting someone's needs is one component of building loyalty. (notes, added 06/21/2011)
• I'll need to write a separate blog post on Kane's presentation.  Between his comments on Sunday and those on Wednesday, he gave us much to think about in regards to SLA as well as our places of work.(My blog post, added 7/7/2011)
• After 5 p.m., got dinner and a brew with members of the Kentucky Chapter as well as a growing number of "honorary" members.  After a long week, it was then back to the hotel, where I worked on this blog post.  (It took me a lot more writing and editing before I got this blog post done.)

Random Notes:

• I'm pleased that I was able to attend five conference sessions, plus the two keynotes.  Given the things that kept landing on my schedule, I feared that I wouldn't be able to attend any sessions.
• It is very interesting to have a lengthened conference because of my Board commitments.  I ended up being in Philly for six nights related to the conference.  Our longer time at the conference means that our conference expenses are more than those for other conference participants.  (We also meet before the Leadership Summit and meet monthly via conference calls.)
• Board members are often approached with questions, ideas, praise and complaints during meetings, social events, etc.  That actually means that we never have real downtime, except when we're in our hotel rooms.  We're "responsible" and our members don't let us forget that (thank you!).
• An SLA member had asked me prior  to the conference what the dress code was.  SLA is not as informal as Computers in Libraries or some other library/information conferences.  Maurice Coleman noted that SLA attendees and vendors generally dress alike during the day (business or business casual).  Personally I believe that what we wear shouldn't matter as long as it doesn't get in the way of what we're trying to do.
• I created a Paper.li for the conference - an instant free newspaper that finds stories based on Twitter.  Paper.li allows you to specify which Twitter streams it will search for stories (URLs in the stream), then does the selection based on its own algorithm.  I used the conference as a reason to learn about Paper.li.  The results - a daily newspaper - garnered a few readers and kudos.  Now I'm going to turn it into a weekly newspaper and modify the criteria so that it will remain relevant (I hope).  Will it really remain useful?  Time will tell.  
• If you are curious about the Paper.li that I created, you can view its archives and read past stories. Look for the word "Archive" on the right side of the paper (near the top).  You can select a specific date to view.
• Maurice Coleman also noted that SLA is not a conference where people haul around a lot of technology (laptops, iPads, cameras, smartphones).  I think part of this has to do with the amount of walking that we do because of the space the conference covers.  Hauling a laptop from session to session sounds less desirable when getting from session to another may have you walking two blocks (inside the convention center).  It may also have something to do with our attitude.  Perhaps we don't see this as a high-tech conference.  Clearly the rooms are not laid out to be amenable to the audience using lots of devices that must be plugged in.
• While I did take my laptop to the Board meetings on Friday and Saturday, I used my iPhone for the remainder of the conference for tweeting notes and occasionally used pen/paper.
• The 2012 Leadership Summit will be January 25-28, 2012 at the Intercontinental Hotel Buckhead, Atlanta, Georgia.  For those of you unfamiliar with Atlanta, Buckhead is a suburb and is not downtown.  It does look like there are low-cost ways of getting from the airport to the hotel (train).
• The 2012 SLA Annual Conference  will be July 15-18 in Chicago, IL.  Yes, the conference will be in July!  The Academic Division is checking with its members to see if this will cause financial headaches because many academic institutions have a July-June financial year, and this places two annual conferences in the same year for them.  If there are a substantial number of people who are affected by this, perhaps there would be a way of shifting some of the costs into the 2011-2012 financial year?
• Finally...always good to see old friends and make new owns!  And while this was my 20th SLA Annual Conference, there are still many people that I do not know.  I hope to continue to meet more of you whether it is via some online social site, email or a face-to-face event.  I don't want you to be a stranger to me and I don't want to be stranger to you!
  

I have a busy two weeks ahead of me and hope that I'll see some of you.

• June 9, 8:40-9:15 a.m.,  New York Archives Conference (NYAC), Saratoga Springs, NY - Plenary - “Convergence & Sustainability: Why Our Future is Bright”
• June 11, 9:00-10:30 a.m., SLA Board of Directors Open Meeting (participant), Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA 
• June 12-15, Special Libraries Association Annual Conference (SLA) (attending), Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA

I have been in several conversations over the last year about the future of libraries and the information profession.  My talk at NYAC will build upon some of those conversations and the thinking that is going on in various sectors.  With everything that we've experiences in the last two years, our focus has become focused on the short term (now through 2 years).  Several conversations are focusing on the next 10 years, yet I believe that we need to look 20 years into the future and what we want to see at that point in time, then decide what we can do now in order to make that vision a reality.  If you will be attending NYAC, be prepared to be challenged in your thinking and attitude!

Today the Upstate New York Chapter of the Special Libraries Association has its spring meeting and the theme was "Toot Your Own Horn: Measuring & Meeting Your Objectives". The speakers were Jim DelRosso, Sean Branagan and myself.

Why Assessment Matters: Defining Your Results -- You can see my slides below. My key message is that we -- libraries, librarians, library services/projects -- need to capture how we are impacting our users in the near-term as well as for the long-term.   (Yes, think long term!) The data and stories are important for demonstrating our worth to our administration or management.   Yes, we do great at capturing numbers such as circulation or number of users, but not always how our services have changed or impacted our users.   Can you assess the impact that is occurring now?  In the future, can you do another assessment to see what the continued impact has been?
Plural of Anecdote: Assessing the Success of a Digital Repository -- Jim DelRosso talked about the Digital Commons@ILR and how they have assessed it.  Three things stood out to me:

• Define your target audiences and then create personas to represent each target audience.  (Jim said he got this from someone who is in the Boston area, but I didn't catch the name.)  The persona is created by understanding what the demographics of the that audience (group of users) is, as well as other information that makes that group of users different from other groups of users.  The persona is the "picture" or description you can refer to so when you talk about your target audience (users), you have persona to help you can visualize what that audience looks like. 

• You need data and the anecdotal stories.  In fact, sometimes the data will tell you a story OR point out that there is a story there that you don't know.  Jim noted that we always tell stories.  He also said that we make up stories when we see data, so why not provide the stories rather than having people make up stories that could be misleading?
• Sometimes you only need one story (or one data point).  Jim told a story about one use of the Digital Commons that got other people interested in it as well as outside recognition.  One use.  Don't ignore stories even if they are based on what seems like a small use or data point.  They could be very powerful evidence.

Branding and Message Development -- Sean Branagan talked about how you develop a brand and told a number of stories.  Your brand should be distinctive and communicate what makes you -- your library, your service -- different from others.  It occurred to me that libraries don't do a good job at talking about what makes our individual libraries unique (and why each library thus needs to exist).

One activity that Sean advocated that we do is to create a 500-word story about our specific libraries or services (one story per library or per service).  The story (narrative) should communicate what the service is and how it should be used, its benefits, etc.  It needs to talk about the service from the user's point of view.  Once you have that narrative, start cutting the number of words used.  Go from 500 words to 125 words, which means you need to select your word more carefully and think about what is important to communicate about the service.  Once that is done, edit down to 50 words, then down to 25 words.  After you have described the service in 25 words, edit down to 10 words and then to three words. The three-word description is likely your tagline or slogan; however, you may find the 10 or 25 word description to be appropriate to use on different marketing pieces.  It is likely that the 125 and 500 word versions will be narratives that could continue to be used internally to remind staff about the vision of the service.

I can see the benefit of creating personas and stories, yet I know that neither is easy and that many will not stop to do the exercises.  However, I can see the benefit in both and will look to incorporate those activities into one of the classes I teach (Planning, Marketing and Assessing Library Services).

Finally, I have to give thumbs up to the ice-breaker activity Chris Miller had us do. He gave each of us a piece of paper that contained a space for us to each write a question we would ask others over lunch.   The paper then has spaces for 11 names and answers.  Our task was to ask our interview question (e.g., where is your favorite place to go for a walk?) to 11 different people and write down their answers.  After lunch, each person was introduced and then we chimed in with any pieces of information we had learned about him/her.  With ~25 people in the room, it took a half hour to get through everyone, but it was fun and informative!  We all learned something new about each other and it definitely was different than the normal introductions.  I can see using that exercise again.

The Upstate New York Chapter will have another meeting in the fall.  The web site and the chapter's email list will be used to announce it. 

I've got several things on my schedule that I want you to know about, in case there is an opportunity for our paths to cross:

• Feb. 22, 1 p.m. ET: CIP Community Discussion on "IP & Social Media" (online event)
• March 6-7: Attending the Olin Innovation Lab 4, Needham, MA
• March 21-23: Attending the Computers in Libraries Conference in Washington, DC.  Presenting on March 23, 2:45-3:30 p.m., with Maurice D. Coleman and Paul Signorelli on "Planning and Realizing the Fourth Place"
• June 9: New York Archives Conference, Saratoga Springs, NY, presenting on "Convergence & Sustainability: Why Our Future is Bright" [exact time to be determined]
• June 12-15: Attending the SLA Annual Conference in Philadelphia, PA

If we do happen to be in the same place - online or in person - please do take time to say "hello"!  It would be a pleasure to meet you.

The theme for the 2011 Leadership Summit (Jan. 17-22) was "Future Ready: Building Community", although I think it might be better stated as "we are family". Information professionals and librarians from several countries gathered in Washington, DC to understand their roles as leaders in SLA, to get updated on what's happening with the Association, and to connect with their colleagues. A quick list of highlights:

• The Board of Directors meet  on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in both open and closed sessions.  More than a dozen Association members attended the open session on Wednesday morning.  Reports from a number of committees and councils were received.  In the time for open comments, members asked questions and made suggestions.
• From Wednesday through Friday, 200+ SLA leaders met during the actual Summit led by the Chapter Cabinet Chair (Liz Blankson-Hemans) and Division Cabinet Chair (Mary Ellen Bates). 
• At the business meeting in June 2010, members heard about the state of the Association.  The economy had affected SLA as it has the organizations we all work for.  Members heard about the balanced budget and expectations for 2011 from Dan Trefethen, SLA's treasurer.  
• SLA's president, Cindy Romaine rolled out her theme for the year - Future Ready - and invited all of us to contribute to the Future Ready 365 blog.  (You can contribute, too.)
• Daniel Lee introduced us to Operation Vitality, which will give SLA units a new web hosting service and a newly designed theme using WordPress.
• Susan Robertson from ASAE gave an information-packed keynote on why members join and volunteer in any organization.  Her slides, along with slides from other presenters, will be made available to SLA members.
• People brainstormed ideas for units programs, ways of engaging more members, and methods for doing outreach to non-members during sessions and while networking.

That short list may not make you realize how full the days were...but...yes, very, very full!

We are Family:  Families find ways of pulling together, sharing responsibilities, and supporting each other.  During the Leadership Summit, units looked at each other and wondered how they could do the same. There were also conversations about how the units could support the Association.  Any support that a unit gives the Association helps the entire organization (including that unit and its members).  Discussions on that are continuing.

The theme of family could also be seen in the evening as people banded together for dinner and libations.  Everyone was welcomed at the table to continue the day's topics (or whatever the topic of the moment was) and to build stronger connections.  (In networking, strong connections or bonds give the relationship the ability to endure.)   It was great to see that some connections had started through social media, leading to  "hey...I know you..." moments.  (Like @Batty_Towers and @iBraryGuy)

A Beginning: The Leadership Summit occurs at the beginning of the terms of service for SLA leaders.  Thus it is a time for new leaders to understand what their responsibilities are and to turn to each other for support.  It was wonderful to see leaders reach across and lend a helping hand.  The next gathering of SLA leaders will occur in Philadelphia as part of the SLA Annual Conference in June.

My First Board Meeting: At the right is a photo of the entire current Board of Directors (save one).  We are a diverse group from two continents and with a wide variety of backgrounds, job titles, professional responsibilities, etc.  We are the people that have been entrusted by the membership to lead the Association and we all take that very seriously.

This was my first board meeting since joining the Board on Jan. 1.  We'll meet face-to-face again at the Annual Conference and in between we will meet on monthly conference calls to keep the information flowing and to make any needed decisions.  This is definitely a "working board".

Thanks to the Washington, DC chapter for their hospitality and for all of the vendors who participated in the tabletop displays or as sponsors.  Yes, we do see you as partners. (Addendum 1/25/2011: The sponsor and exhibitors at the Summit were: Dow Jones & Company, Proquest Dialog, Springer, Wolters Kluwer Health-Ovid, ASTM, Basch Subscriptions & Prenax Inc., The Reference Shelf, and Reprints Desk.)

I didn't have much free time, so it having time to visit with Henrik de Gyor, who does the DAM blog and podcast, was a luxury.  It was nice to visit with someone who is also observes and comments on topics related to digital assets.

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Taken by SLA staff, in the photo above are (back row from left) Liz Blankson-Hemans, Mary Ellen Bates, Richard Huffine, Ruth Wolfish, Jill Hurst-Wahl, Ann Sweeney, Sara Tompson, Nettie Seaberry, Dan Trefethen, and Daniel Lee; (front row from left) Anne Caputo, Cindy Romaine, Brent Mai and Janice Lachance.  Not shown: Ulla de Stricker.