Becky's Virtual Training Offerings Available Immediately

Now that libraries are really settling in to the fact that they will be working from home for the next month [at least], I am beginning to get more requests for virtual training. The good news, I am a already virtual training veteran.

I am able to provide you with training immediately; however, the not as good news is that due to demand and the fact that I am also writing a book, I cannot create all new material from scratch.

But, I do have many programs that are excellent training for ALL library staff and a few that are specialized toward adult and teen staff specifically. I can do them as traditional webinars or interactive zoom classes.

And, the best news, I have slashed my base prices by $100 while we are under stay at home orders. So my 60 minute trainings begin at $250, but if you book 3 or more, I can offer them at $200 each.

Let me start with my extremely popular general RA training programs [click on the titles for descriptions and sample slides-- not always the most current slides.]:

• My signature RA for All is all about how to reconnect your staff-- every single member of your staff from pages and maintenance to the Director-- with your brand....Books! This is a program I can do in 60, 90, 120 minutes depending on how much interaction you want and it would be for the $250 baseline price no matter how long. It is an excellent team building exercise and comes with take home [virtual] exercises to keep the learning going. 
• Booktalking Your Way to the Friendliest Library in Town can also be 60 or 75 minutes, again for the baseline price. This also comes with follow up exercises that work now, in a virtual setting, and later when you reopen. It is for all library staff because everyone on staff can participate in some way with booktalking.
• #OwnVoices for All Readers: Incorporating EDI Values into RA Service: This is one I give frequently and is an important and frank discussion of equity, diversity, and inclusion issues for ALL library staff. This makes a great entry point for larger EDI discussions at your library.
• 2 programs for adult and teen genre training. All of the major genres, their appeal, trends, and top authors with slides that serve as a great resource.
• Demystifying Genre is an overview of all the genres
• Staying in Genre Shape is how you can easily keep your skills up 

Then I have:

• RA Rethink: Merchandising and Upselling-- a popular 60 minute program where I talk about displays and general library marketing based on RA principles. This program has always had in-library and virtual options as examples. I am updating it for a webinar later this month which was booked in advance of the current situation.

And don't forget about my extremely popular Book club training-- Recharge Your Book Club. In this 60-90 minute program I go over how to hold better book discussion meetings including a detailed discussion of my well documented Group and Leadership Norms. I often offer this program in conjunction with an actual book discussion. That double program does cost $500 and is 3 hours total. It can be split up over different days or offered back to back with a break The idea is that we talk about how to recharge your book discussions and then I lead a live discussion for book discussion leaders. 

Book discussion leaders rarely get a chance to be participants. This alone is energizing. But in this training, I also pause the discussion itself for "teaching moments." We talk about issues as they come up. It is one of my useful and quite honestly, favorite, programs. 

And here is the bonus-- we can do it as a Zoom or Google Hangout and I can model how that would work for your book clubs too. 

No matter what happens post Covid-19, I think that patrons are going to crave and demand more live, virtual book clubs. The text based ones on platforms like Facebook and Goodreads aren't going to cut it anymore. Now that we have shown people that we can offer virtual services, it is going to be very hard to go back to saying "we can't." So why not participate in one now and get ready for the future.

Now let me be clear, I am not offering these program myself. I am not set up to do that in my "corporate" structure. I offer my trainings through individual libraries or through their systems. I use their set-ups. They host, they handle sign-up, they decide who gets access and if it is free for their members or not. I do allow recording for future viewing. But I am simply a trainer that is hired by a library organization to provide programming.

For example, on April 16th Reaching Across Illinois Library System [RAILS] is offering my brand new, 90 minute Horror Readers' Advisory program to anyone and everyone at 10 am central. However, only RAILS members will be able to view the recording. You can signup for that program here. It has never before been seen in America and is brand, spanking new. And free! I wouldn't miss this one.

Please contact me, or pass this post on your your supervisors and have them get their systems to contact me. I can do up to 3 programs a day currently but you will want to book soon so I can work out the details with you. I create contracts and have all of the payment paper work ready to go. Like I said, I am a veteran and my goal is to offer you effective and interactive training with very little work on your part.