Introduction
At the LLI Council meeting in April, uncertainty abounded. How could LLI best serve our members during this time of lockdowns and pandemic? How could LLI conduct the Annual Meeting when we could not safely congregate on campus? What should happen to all the excellent, planned SummerFest courses? Should we just shut down and wait for all of this to pass?
Council took its direction from Bard president Leon Botstein: look creatively at the options and use our skills and resources to serve our members. A new LLI Online Task Force quickly formed, adding members from several committees. The task force, co-chaired by Carmela Gersbeck and Susan Christoffersen, put together plans within three weeks. There is a team of dedicated LLI members on the LLI Online Task Force with skills in video, virtual meetings, and online learning. The task force meets at least twice a week to coordinate efforts in addition to countless hours researching technical options and resources.
ANNUAL MEETING
The LLI Annual Meeting will be held online via Zoom, at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, May 15. This is the same time it would have been held had we been able to meet together on campus, but you have to provide your own brunch. You will receive an email invitation to join the meeting a day or two before. If you are unfamiliar with Zoom, we will also provide some practice training sessions to get you going quickly.
The meeting will include updates about LLI now and as we look to the future. Newly elected Council members will be introduced and a few people who are leaving the Council will be thanked for their hard work for LLI and for representing our members. As usual at the Annual Meeting, the budget will be presented. We all recognize that events may change our financial projections greatly over the next several months, and the budget can be revised, if necessary. Members will vote in a Zoom poll to approve the budget as presented.
SummerFest
Next, LLI Online continues with SummerFest and a terrific lineup of offerings — from Magic for the Family with Andy Weintraub to Feldenkrais with Margaret Pierpont. There are courses on photojournalism, opera, science, and poetry. LLI Online is working with presenters to develop Zoom classes and to make the courses as interactive as possible, so everyone can participate actively in our learning experiences.
The courses, which by necessity require virtual classrooms using Zoom, mean we are all continuing our journeys as lifetime learners. For members, this may mean learning about Zoom, for presenters, it is about engaging our members with inspiring content while providing intellectual stimulation, and for our class support team (which now includes technical expertise), it means using technology to deliver courses in a different way.
The catalog is on our website now, with descriptions of all the exciting offerings, and registration opens May 11 at 9:00 a.m. Note: this year SummerFest is open only to LLI members. You will get an email with registration instructions and will have until May 25 to sign up. Registration is first-come, first-served and some classes do have limits.
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