Did you miss our Evening With Tom of Finland? Here's a quick recap.

We had a fantastic time at the Tom of Finland Foundation. They really rolled out the red carpet for us. You should have been there!

The Tom of Finland Foundation has a very unique mission. From their website:
"In 1984, the non-profit Tom of Finland Foundation was established by Durk Dehner and his friend Touko Laaksonen a.k.a. Tom of Finland. As Tom had established worldwide recognition as the master of homo-erotic art, the Foundation's original purpose was to preserve his vast catalog of work. Several years later the scope was widened to offer a safe haven for all erotic art in response to rampant discrimination against art that portrayed sexual behavior or generated a sexual response. Today the Foundation continues in its efforts of educating the public as to the cultural merits of erotic art and in promoting healthier, more tolerant attitudes about sexuality."

ToFF Founder Durk Dehner and ToFF Library Director Allison Schulte gave us tours of the Foundation. We stayed for a delicious dinner, courtesy of their friend and caterer Michael Kirwan, and we enjoyed the hospitality of their many friends.

A few photos:

A portrait of Tom of Finland:


From left to right: Kaliesha, Charissa, Grace, and Cameron:


Clockwise from Richard (standing): Richard, Doris, Christopher, David, Dena, and Michael:


Clockwise from left: Belinda, Drea, Mary, Lucy, and Bill:


Our fancy coffee and dessert:


Durk serving cake to Mary, Bill, and David:


Our beautiful and generous hostess, ToFF Library Director Allison Schulte (left), and yours truly (right):



Feeling left out? You can arrange your own tour of the Tom of Finland Foundation! They are receptive to small groups. Simply contact the Foundation via their website at http://www.tomoffinlandfoundation.org/. You might also consider becoming a member or donating to support their cause: http://www.tomoffinlandfoundation.org/foundation/Donations/Memb/member.html.

My heartfelt thanks goes to everyone who had a hand in arranging this event, including Belinda Beardt and Peter Johnson, as well as everyone at the Foundation. Thank you to Allison for being our liaison, to Durk for hosting us, to Michael for the wonderful food, and to all of the other friends of the Foundation for making us feel so welcome.

See you at the next event!

-Robin Dodge
SLA-SCC President-Elect

SLA-SCC Downtown Happy Hour, March 4, 5:30pm.

Do you work in Downtown LA? Or do you just love Downtown LA and want a reason to visit? Well then come unwind with us after work! Join us for an SLA-SCC Networking Happy Hour at the Hotel Figueroa, March 4, at 5:30pm. Our chapter Secretary, Drea Douglas, will be our lovely hostess for the evening, at this charming and peaceful little hotel near LA Live.

939 South Figueroa St.
Los Angeles, 90015

When you enter the hotel, walk all the way to the back, where you'll see a poolside bar to your right.

Bring your friends or coworkers. You don't have to be an SLA member to attend! No formal RSVP is required, however if you think you can make it, please try to send me an email so I have an idea of how many are attending. There is no registration fee (it just keeps getting better doesn't it?), and the bar accepts cash and credit cards.

I hope to see you on the 4th!

-Robin Dodge
SLA-SCC President-Elect
rdodge@fidm.edu

PS. I'd like to set up monthly SLA-SCC networking happy hours all over Southern California. If you would like to help host one in your part of town, just let me know.

Inside the 2010 Leadership Summit, part 2.

The Leadership Summit featured a fantastic keynote speaker, James Kane, who spoke about building and maintaining loyal relationships. You can be find more information about Kane, including his books on the same topic, at www.jameskane.com. Here is his presentation, as reported by Robin Dodge.



As a leader, all you need is followers. But how do you create followers? It’s simple really… just make connections with them. Kane ran through a long list (with slide images) of things he likes and identifies with. Where he lives and has lived, what jobs he has held, what he likes to read, listen to, and watch, even his home phone number, address, and social security number (all flashed very briefly on the screen). It took about 5 minutes and at the end he told us that he knew we already thought this was one of the best presentations we’d ever seen (which was true). Now how did he know that? Because we each connected with him in some way in those 5 minutes, whether it was with his favorite book or his hometown or the songs on his ipod. Our brain is hard-wired to make connections with people, so we almost can’t help it.

Loyalty is an emotion. It evolved because when humans work together, our lives are easier. In our first few years of life we can’t live without other humans. Our very survival depends on each other and thus our brains have evolved ways to discern who to trust.

There are 4 relationship levels. A small portion of our relationships are antagonistic. These are the relationships that are so negative you’re willing to tell people about it. The next level is transactional, which are relationships based on some kind of payment or agreement. Kane cautions all of us to make sure we aren’t reading more than we should into our transactional relationships. The next level is predisposed. These are transactional relationships with lazy participants. They are the relationships that exist solely because it’s harder to change and the status quo is just fine. The top level, and the second smallest portion of our relationships, is loyalty. This is the same as love in personal relationships.

The motivation behind decisions are almost never money, but rather they are always about who makes our lives better. Satisfaction means nothing when it comes to loyalty. For example, dogs are loyal but cats are satisfied. You can scream at your dog and he’ll still be devoted to you. Do that to a cat, and it probably won’t come home that night.

There are 3 things the brain has to identify for loyalty: trust, belonging, and purpose.
Trust consists of competency, capacity, character, and consistency. But you can’t focus on trust alone, because it’s expected. Purpose includes vision, fellowship, and commitment. Belonging is much more involved. It includes the following:
1. Recognition: Am I unique, or just a number? Think about all of your working relationships. Do you know everyone’s name? Do you know what they do? What are people saying/thinking about you? We can’t assume our best customers are loyal, they might just be predisposed.
2. Insight: We must figure out why people are doing what they’re doing.
3. Proactivity: This goes beyond transactional. Solve other people’s problems, figure out what others need, and don’t just focus on what you need. What data can you collect to solve their problems? Our brains make shortcuts so if somebody makes our lives easier we will keep them around.
4. Identity: We need to find connections. Get to know people and share with them.
5. Inclusion: we like to be asked to be included.

When we compare in-person vs. virtual relationships, in which case is it easier to do all of the above? We might assume that it can only be done in-person, but actually it CAN be done online. Amazon is a perfect example of this. It has recognition, proactivity, and transparency. Amazon KNOWS WHO I AM.


How are we fostering loyalty in our organization? What can we do to learn more about our members and focus on their needs? Are we conveying a sense of trust, belonging, and purpose? All of this can be as simple as making connections with people, and that’s what the SLA-SCC is all about. If we all keep these ideas in mind as we network and attend SLA events throughout the year, we will be rewarded with mutually beneficial and loyal relationships.

Inside the 2010 Leadership Summit

Conference report by SLA-SCC Treasurer, Bill Lee

I went to the SLA Winter Leadership Summit held January 28 and 29, 2010 in St Louis. The goal is to be viewed as an organizational asset not as a liability. HQ discussed the new fee structure as a response to the depressed economy. HQ has let five full time staff go and everyone is doubling up on the workload, so we can expect slower response times. They stress that there is no cut back in service levels to members. (Is that a contradiction?) Dues pay 25% of costs. Income from a typical member is $138.00 and cost/services are $573.00. That's a $440.58 difference.

Chapters and divisions compete for the same dollars as well as against other associations. There's a long list of benefits available to the members and as leaders we should convey to the members what a bargain membership is.

SLA President Ann Caputo discussed trends in the profession. We are at a tipping point. There are 31 billion searches performed annually, and change is constant. Flexibility matters and attitude is everything (rah rah). We need to be the information tribe and be positive, interesting, inventive and persistent. There is globalization, a depressed market, and disruptive technology and all this leads to disintermediation or a trend for requestors to go get their own info. Our response is to provide the insight that Google never can. We should review the alignment findings and utilize the taskforce of workplace tools. We need to focus on growing the membership and spread the word on differentiation benefits.

There were several PR gurus that advised that HQ is working on new goals and mission statements. Their blog contains actions we can take now. They are creating a uniform visual identity and common language guidelines (new logo and tagline). They pledge to communicate with leaders and the public relations advisory council to promote the profession (rah rah). They provided tips for surveys: be organized into twitter length "bytes", Don't offer them this-or-nothing like the alignment, provide timely responses, tell them what kind of feedback you want, give it a consistent name in the email headers and twitter subjects, so if they get the same message from different formats they will recognize it. Offer prizes, and have dine-arounds. The audience felt that association should create a form for members to respond to so there will be consistent responses. The association should monitor discussion lists and twitter feeds so they can get feedback directly.

After lunch, there was an excellent keynote speaker, James Kane, who discussed the concept of leadership. Stay tuned to the blog for a writeup of this session by SLA-SCC President-Elect Robin Dodge.

In the afternoon of the second day, there was a group discussion about commonly shared problems. In comparison, we are doing very well and are one of the most active and wealthy chapters.

Lastly, the SLA HQ answered specific questions from the chapters and divisions, mostly about the cuts in staffing. HQ re-emphasized there were no cut backs in service, but we should expect delays in responses.


The Summit in photos, by Bill and Robin


Bill and Robin at Busch Stadium (underground by the dugout):




Busch Stadium, covered in snow:




The dugout:




View from Bill's hotel room:




The Gateway Arch:




Shadow of the Gateway Arch over the Mississippi River:




The beautiful Union Station, where the Summit took place:




Inside the Summit:




There were a lot of opportunities for networking:




They bribed us with delicious food to keep us around and keep us focused. It worked.

An Evening with Tom of Finland

An Evening with Tom of Finland

The SLA-SCC invites you to dinner and a tour of the intriguing erotica library at the Tom of Finland Foundation. Come learn about its efforts of educating the public as to the cultural merits of erotic art and in promoting healthier, more tolerant attitudes about sexuality. Our evening will be hosted by Tom of Finland Foundation Library Director and International Liaison, Allison Schulte. Those interested in attending are encouraged to explore the Tom of Finland Foundation website at www.TomOfFinlandFoundation.org in order to get an idea of the erotic art represented in the collection and on display at the library.

When

Thursday, February 18th.

5:30pm Registration/Networking

6:00pm Dinner

7:00pm Tour by ToFF Library Director Allison Schulte and ToFF Co-Founder and President Durk Dehner

Where

1421 Laveta Terrace, Los Angeles, CA 90026

Free street parking is available

Site coordinator: Allison R. Schulte, 213-250-1685, librarian@TomOfFinlandFoundation.org

Cost

$20 SLA Members/$15 Students/$30 Non-SLA Members This includes a buffet dinner with vegetarian options, as well as dessert and wine.

The registration fee covers only the cost of this event, but you can make a difference in the future of The Tom of Finland Foundation by donating to help support their efforts. Your donation is tax deductible. Donate today! http://www.tomoffinlandfoundation.org/foundation/Donations/Memb/member.html.

RSVP

Questions? Email Robin Dodge at rdodge@fidm.edu. Please complete registration form and mail it with your check payable to SLA-SCC no later than February 12^th to:

Robin Dodge

FIDM Library

919 South Grand Ave.

Los Angeles, CA 90015

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An Evening with Tom of Finland, February 18^th, 2010

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