First day of the conference.

Day 1 - I was quite nervous. I don't particularly like public speaking - would I be OK? Would the speakers turn up on time? Did I choose the right ones? What if... But, just after my welcome speech, which was fine, Karyn McCluskey head of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit delivered an amazing talk which set the tone and totally captivated the audience. 
The rest was a whirlwind of talks, workshops, lots of books with the publishers' exhibition, and cupcakes..
Talks and workshops seem to go down well and there was a genuine buzz. The photo is the Scottish Youth Libraries Group committee - since I chose Diversity as the topic of my conference, they dressed in the colours of the rainbow. 
In the evening we reawarded the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals to our winners, and announced a new partnership with Amnesty International. The Amnesty CILIP Honour which will span w both the Carnegie (fiction) and the Kate Greenaway (illustration) awards. It was a very emotional moment. Followed by a great dinner, honorary membership warded to Joy and Helen (more tears) and a great Ceilidh!!