From 25-27 March, I was lucky to attend the 20th Conference of the SLA Arabian Gulf Chapter that was located in the beautiful Ritz Carlton Doha. Under the major theme “Enhancing the Digital Knowledge Society’s Information Needs”, the program included several keynotes, regular sessions and plenary sessions with both international speakers and presenters from the GCC region. Part of the conference was also an exhibition area with many international companies (mostly publishing houses), several product presentations in the main program, some library tours during the day and social dinners in the evenings. I very much enjoyed the three days, attending several of the sessions, being at the QNL booth with my colleagues, and making many new contacts along the way! What I really liked was the good mix of regional and international guests and presentations. Also, with up to two parallel streams, the size of the event was quite enjoyable and not too overwhelming. As for the language of the conference, all sessions were hold either in English or Arabic, both with simultaneous interpretation. Apart from the Recitation from the Holy Koran at the start of the opening session (which happens at many official events here), I could not spot any other differences to conferences outside of the MENA region I have attended over the past years. To give you a better idea about the look and feel of the conference and a closer look at some of the presentations, I have created a summary of my #slaagc2014 experience on storify that follows all the sessions I attended. Enjoy!
LIS Traveler 