Saturday, October 3, 2009
The Museum Institute at Camp Sagamore
The Barker Historical Museum was awarded a GO! Grant from the Upstate History Alliance that covered the cost for the Curator of the Museum, myself Nancy Brown, to attend the Museum Institute at Camp Sagamore. The Museum Institute took place September 22nd through 25th of this year. It was located at Great Camp Sagamore in the Adirondacks; a picturesque location for a program that was stimulating yet very relaxed. I was able to take advantage of the location and hike two mornings before breakfast and then one final hike after the conference was over.
The purpose of my attendance at this year’s Museum Institute was that the Barker is in the process of writing a long range plan with the assistance of Sally Treanor. Through a GET Set! Grant we are able to pay for her consulting services and she highly recommended I attend this year’s conference. As I was sitting in the various workshops I wrote down bits and pieces of information that I thought seemed appropriate for our plan. Ideals such as:
• create a place that would compel visitors to have an experience with the
object - don't full them with too much knowledge
• creating an opportunity to have an emotional experience
• 19th c people seeking the sublime
This year’s conference topic, audiences, was a relevant topic in the Barker’s goal of a long range plan. I gained ideas on how to increase our audience and how to work with them. Workshops given by some very talented professionals in the field gave me a range of practical advice.
It also gave me the opportunity to network and I met professionals from Museums which have some similarities with the Barker. I was happy to meet the curator of the Elmira Historical Society and she informed me that the anniversary of Mark Twain’s death is in 2010 which although we have a Twain connection, I wasn’t aware of this significance for the year 2010. Twain’s mother, sister and business partner all lived in Fredonia.
Of course the topic of the internet was discussed in more than one workshop. I gained ideas on ways to craft an institutional voice through social media. Today facebook, twitter and blogs = editorial page in newspapers.
Simple and practical advice such as: maintain a position of authority with a human voice; twitter is great for campaigns; blogging once a week is good/twice
better; there is an rss feed on facebook that enables you to link your blog to
facebook; flicker has a place for photos owned by history museums; and when you blog you want to convey the voice of the Barker and become engaging, make it a conversation. I also gained awareness of two resources: The constant contact - email service send out information and forrester.com, a research company with websites to develop a strategy for using social media.
One last item that I want to share, the workshop entitled “Wakanheza” that provided tips on how to help parents who are having a difficult time with their children. No matter where you are, not just in museums, this workshop can be applied. I also benefited from the workshop presented by Julie Heath, although I saw her at the IMLS Conference Connecting to Collections. I also enjoyed Cindy Boyer again for the second time as well. Connie Manchester’s presentation provided good practical advice that I can apply to my present organization.
The purpose of my attendance at this year’s Museum Institute was that the Barker is in the process of writing a long range plan with the assistance of Sally Treanor. Through a GET Set! Grant we are able to pay for her consulting services and she highly recommended I attend this year’s conference. As I was sitting in the various workshops I wrote down bits and pieces of information that I thought seemed appropriate for our plan. Ideals such as:
• create a place that would compel visitors to have an experience with the
object - don't full them with too much knowledge
• creating an opportunity to have an emotional experience
• 19th c people seeking the sublime
This year’s conference topic, audiences, was a relevant topic in the Barker’s goal of a long range plan. I gained ideas on how to increase our audience and how to work with them. Workshops given by some very talented professionals in the field gave me a range of practical advice.
It also gave me the opportunity to network and I met professionals from Museums which have some similarities with the Barker. I was happy to meet the curator of the Elmira Historical Society and she informed me that the anniversary of Mark Twain’s death is in 2010 which although we have a Twain connection, I wasn’t aware of this significance for the year 2010. Twain’s mother, sister and business partner all lived in Fredonia.
Of course the topic of the internet was discussed in more than one workshop. I gained ideas on ways to craft an institutional voice through social media. Today facebook, twitter and blogs = editorial page in newspapers.
Simple and practical advice such as: maintain a position of authority with a human voice; twitter is great for campaigns; blogging once a week is good/twice
better; there is an rss feed on facebook that enables you to link your blog to
facebook; flicker has a place for photos owned by history museums; and when you blog you want to convey the voice of the Barker and become engaging, make it a conversation. I also gained awareness of two resources: The constant contact - email service send out information and forrester.com, a research company with websites to develop a strategy for using social media.
One last item that I want to share, the workshop entitled “Wakanheza” that provided tips on how to help parents who are having a difficult time with their children. No matter where you are, not just in museums, this workshop can be applied. I also benefited from the workshop presented by Julie Heath, although I saw her at the IMLS Conference Connecting to Collections. I also enjoyed Cindy Boyer again for the second time as well. Connie Manchester’s presentation provided good practical advice that I can apply to my present organization.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
