Staff Development Day 2021
Staff Development Day 2021 will be here before we know it! To prepare ourselves for a successful day of learning and team building with our co-workers, we want to start the conversation about what the day will look like this year as we return to an in-person format.
When:
Oct. 11, 2021
There are two sessions, AM & PM
- AM - 7:30am to 11:30pm
- PM - 12:30pm to 4:30pm
Where:
Embassy Suites Northwest Expressway
3233 NW Expressway OKC, OK 73112
Who:
All full-time staff are required to attend, part-time staff are highly encouraged and will need to work with their supervisor on their schedule for that week.
Staff Development Day 2021 Registration:
Your Staff Development Day session has been selected by Larry White, however it is important for the planning committee that all staff register for the event and mark their assigned session for data and communication purposes. The deadline to complete registration is September 17, 2021. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SDD_2021
More Information:
We have put together a video (embeded below) to show you the beautiful space we will be training in this year, and introduce you to the new format. In addition, Larry drew departments and locations in the video to determine which staff will attend which session.
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Comments
Just curious, so either AM or PM session will have 1 hour to eat lunch at nearby eateries (to minimize travel time to and from the Embassy Hotel), and also to drive back to their various offices/libraries within that hour. I would hate to be a staff member from Luther, Harrah, Choctaw, etc. that gets the PM session picked for them, and have 1 hour from the end of their AM session at their respective locations, and have to drive to OKC (with midday traffic) AND have time to eat lunch.
Just a thought
Stan Taucer
IT Tech II
Hi Stan, Thank your comment. Staff will be receiving 30 minutes of paid drive time. They can either eat close to the venue then drive back to their locations then have lunch. In calculating the farthest distance should take about 30 minutes. All the Community Libraries will be reconvening in Choctaw for their team builders.
Not sure if that made sense. Staff can use their 30-minute paid drive time when convenient for them as well as taking a one-hour meal break, being back at their location at the designated time.
Does that help?
Milissa,
Thank you for the clarification.
Stan Taucer
Ooops I just completed the survey but clicked the wrong session time. Is that a problem?
Also there is nothing about people with food allergies for session snacks. My department is scheduled for the afternoon. I've always been able to eat and be around people eating the morning snacks. The afternoon snacks ... many granola bars and trail mixes contain my allergens, nuts will be there and I'm anaphylactic to nuts, etc. I know it says "pack your own if you do not like," but it gets a little morale-lowering to always be the odd one out to take care of yourself, and also worry that items in the air will cause you to have a health issue. (I am also severely anaphylactic to corn in all of its uses - including its inclusion in gum and personal care products - and my throat swells almost every Staff Day.)
Also will tea/hot water for tea be available for those who can't drink coffee?
(I want to stress that I know everyone has been working hard on this and in theory I always look forward to seeing others from different library areas! But in practice for the 15+ Staff Days I have attended - I tend to always have a lot of anxiety and end up using antihistamines and other medications to control my throat swelling, etc. I know, I'm just one person with a weird issue - but attending virtual trainings and such this past year has been such a relief.)
Hi Lisa,
Thank you for your post and feedback.
Also, thank you for letting us know about the wrong submission time, yes it would have been a problem. We have fixed it on our end to ensure you are on the proper check-in list for the day.
Yes, per the FAQ document, there will be hot tea available.
If you need an accommodation for a health condition, please reach out to Human Resources X3739 for assistance.
Oh I'm so happy to hear about the tea.
Thank you Milissa and everyone working on this - I'm sure it's been an even more unique challenge than usual this year and I do appreciate all of your hard work. It will be interesting to see how it goes this year!
Hi Lisa!
Thanks for reminding me to google up all my products before Staff Day! All my hair stuff is full of seed juice and mysterious substances. Even the salt spray seems like it might send you to the hospital. I might just have flat hair that day. But it will be nice to see you!
Oh thank you Margo but I'm hoping that if we're social distancing most people may not be an issue for me this year. (Fingers crossed.)
I'm unusually anaphylactic to airborne corn in all (including very processed) forms so what often sets me off, personal care-wise, is the stuff you can smell, especially at a distance. Almost all perfumes use corn alcohol as the carrier so essential oils, cologne, and aftershave make it difficult and painful for me to breathe. The second product on the list is probably lotion, particularly when it is applied (you rub your hands together and all of those molecules do happy dances in the air.) Only the people I share a bathroom with really need to watch things like hairspray, deodorant, etc. Should not be an issue for Staff Day!
My bigger concern is the "bring your own snacks" combined with the fact that there will be nuts there. Luckily I'm not as allergic to nuts as I am corn, but I've sat near people eating nuts before and have had a mild reaction. I'm concerned about people bringing popcorn, corn chips, or sitting near me with gum and hard candy or open energy drinks - all of which you'd never realize but contain a lot of get-in-the-air corn.
It just makes concentrating on the team building and learning more difficult and makes me feel very anxious - and feel like I'm projecting an anti-social vibe because sometimes I have to get up and move - or there might not be a place to move to, so my throat swells up. I've never used my epipen at Staff Day yet, but I've had to use a lot of oral antihistamines -which make me groggy (hard to listen or drive.) And because of the way my throat swells, affecting lymph nodes which don't just deflate quickly, the pain is comparable to strep throat or tonsillitis - and Tylenol, Aleve, etc. do nothing to stop it.
Which is probably a lot of TMI, but I thought it prudent for those who may want to interact with me to know. I am super excited about seeing people from the Service Center, Edmond, etc. but I need to be vigilant for my own protection.
This is good to know. I won't worry too much about my products, but thanks for the heads-up on energy drinks! I had no idea.
I could write a whole crazy long boring list of everyday products which affect my corn allergy (adhesives, cardboard, wax to pretty up fruits and veggies, etc.) but yeah ... energy drinks are of course designed to give you a burst of power and there's no better cheap "nutritional" way to do that than corn products. Combine that with popping the top (molecules fizz through the air) and that strong "flavor" smell that wafts about, and corn goes right up my nose and activates my mast cells to start the Wacky Immune Response!
Well, you make it sound a lot more fun than it probably is!
Dark humor is an excellent coping mechanism!
Hi,
The registration options are "Full-Time, Half-Time, or Part-Time. I am a Three-Quarter time employee, what option do I choose?
Good morning,
Our apologies, we didn't see this. You would fall under part time. Hope this helps.