Every year, I walk away from the Library Marketing & Communications Conference feeling three things simultaneously: completely energized, totally exhausted, and wishing it had lasted just one more day!
This year in St. Louis was especially meaningful—because we managed to pull it off despite a government shutdown and nationwide flight cancellations. Honestly, the fact that we all ended up in the same city, at the same time, felt like a small miracle.
From the Planning Table
Helping shape the conference behind the scenes gave me a deeper appreciation for the incredible care, collaboration, and intentionality that goes into making LMCC what it is. Especially from my fellow board members and our planning partners at Amigos! From balancing session tracks to securing speakers and creating space for learning and connection, I saw firsthand how much work happens long before the first name badge is printed.
Watching it all come to life again in St. Louis—with packed rooms, engaged audiences, and that unmistakable hum of shared understanding—was incredibly rewarding. It’s rare to be part of something that feels both professionally rigorous and genuinely human, and that’s exactly what this conference delivered.
From the Attendee Seat
Of course, once the conference began, I shifted into learning mode. The keynote sessions set a powerful tone, especially Scott Bonner’s candid storytelling about his experiences in Ferguson and Kaetrena Davis Kendrick’s moving call to normalize care, boundaries, and collective responsibility in our work.
Throughout the conference, I had the opportunity to introduce sessions that blended strategy with real-world application. There were also some very creative titles!
- Celebrate Hyperlocality: Build Community Engagement through Storytelling
- Empowering Ambassadors: Creating a Communications Toolkit for Your Library
- Bringing Data into Focus: Building Custom Dashboards with Looker Studio
- From “I Didn’t Know” to “Whoa!”: Promoting Library Digital Resources
Each one offered ideas I can immediately bring back into my own work with libraries and nonprofit organizations. Because we have multiple tracks, I couldn’t attend all of the sessions, but I have enjoyed going back to look at the slides and handouts posted by the other speakers. Hopefully I’ll get to see some that I missed when the LMCC hosts a mini-conference online next May with some of the most highly rated sessions.
The Magic Between the Sessions
As valuable as the formal sessions were, some of my favorite moments happened in the in-between spaces.
I spent time at the Swag Swap, where creativity and generosity were on full display (and yes, I came away with some gems, see below). I hosted room sessions, which gave me the chance to welcome attendees and feel the pulse of each conversation as it unfolded.
I also loved the moments at the hospitality table, in hallways between sessions, and during dinners—especially the Dine-Around experiences. Those conversations reminded me why this community matters so much: people were honest, curious, generous, and deeply committed to their work.
There’s something special about being in a room (or a lobby, or a restaurant) where everyone understands the unique mix of creativity, constraint, pressure, and joy that comes with marketing and communications in libraries.
The Takeaways
Conferences like LMCC are never just about sessions or schedules. They’re about relationships, shared language, inside jokes, hard-earned lessons, and the comfort of knowing you’re not doing this work alone. Being part of the planning and then experiencing the event alongside so many talented, generous colleagues was an honor. And just like every year……it was over far too soon.
Cordelia Anderson Consulting 