ISLMA has in recent months participated in a cooperative venture with the Illinois Computing Educators (ICE) and the Illinois Reading Council (IRC) by exchanging booth space at each association’s annual conference. At the ISLMA fall conference held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Springfield there was sufficient space to allow an invitation to the two organizations to exhibit in exchange for booth space at their respective conferences. IRC accepted the offer and set up a booth in Springfield to bring information about their association to ISLMA members. In February Pam McDermott from ISLMA arranged for booth space and she and other ISLMA members spent many hours talking with participants at the ICE Conference about their respective interests. That event was followed by the IRC Conference held in Springfield at the Prairie Capitol Convention Center where Caroline Campbell, Kay Maynard, Anna Nalewajka and Leslie Forsman spent two days talking with attendees about ISLMA, the LBSS Fund grants and participating in the Monarch, Caudill and Abe Lincoln reading programs.
It appears that this cooperative venture was successful in bringing information and understanding about each of the association to the members of the others and it is hoped that the process will continue to do so in future years. However, when ISLMA holds its annual fall conference at the Chicago Sheraton Northwest in Arlington Heights in early November 2008 there is limited exhibit space, so a decision will need to be made soon concerning the continuance of this cooperative venture. The fall conference for ISLMA is a major part of ISLMA’s funding and the question becomes do we gain enough to continue the joint venture or will we be forced economically to fall back to the previous practice of each organization purchasing booth space at the other’s conference to continue this exchange. My hope is that we can find a solution that will be favorable to all three orgznizations.
Kay Maynard, ISLMA Executive Secretary
