Join SMA at the 2011 National Preservation Conference!

Join the Small Museum Association at the 2011 National Preservation Conference with the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Buffalo, NY on Thursday, October 20th from 12 - 1pm for an afternoon of discussion, lunch and a tour of the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site with colleagues from historic house museums and other small museums from across the country. Fee is $15 per person; call 302-841-0032 to make a reservation and payment.

Hope to see you there!!

What I Learned from Museum Advocacy Day 2011

SMAers Lauren and Lindsey visit their local representative as part of Museum Advocacy Day 2011.

SMA helped sponsor AAM’s 2011 Advocacy Day. A few SMA’ers and I attended. Here are some thoughts I came away with…

What I Learned From Museum Advocacy Day 2011:

• Advocacy matters. Talking to our legislators at any level of government doesn’t guarantee funding for museums but not talking to them guarantees that they will not know the great work we do, the partnerships we create, the money we generate in our neighborhoods, the educational opportunities we provide, or the cultural heritage we preserve. By talking to them – and talking to them often – they are beginning to understand what a critical role we play in our communities and will help us fight for the funding we need. This was the third year of Museum Advocacy Day, and many attendees told me that some of the people they encountered remembered them from previous years. They felt that our message was beginning to sink in.
• Lots of people really do care. Being in a room on Capitol Hill with 300 other attendees felt awesome. Walking around the Hill and running into those 300 other attendees felt awesome. Talking to our representative’s aides and finding that they cared was awesome. I couldn’t get over how many people were really interested in museums and what I had to say.
• Both a lone voice and a big group are important. I quickly realized that each attendee needed to be both about the bigger message and selfish at the same time.  It’s vital to tell my museum’s story, to invite legislators to my museum, and to keep them informed about my museum. By connecting to those legislators in a group – be it other staff, volunteers, board members, members, educators, other museums, companies we partner with, etc – we were a real show of force and made a big impact. By having a focused message to drive home (e.g. sustaining IMLS funding, including museums in the reauthorization of ESEA, etc) and by connecting that message to personal anecdotes and economic impact statements, we were concise and powerful.
• Advocating is easy. While it was a bit nerve-wracking to enter those marbled halls, everyone I spoke to was polite and responded well to our message. It helped that I had looked up my representatives’ websites ahead of time to see what they cared about and figured out how I could match their interests. Now that it’s over, I can follow up with emails and phone calls. Pretty straightforward. (Although I will admit that I was pretty tired from my six meetings with representatives from both Maryland and Tennessee – but a good tired.)
• Don’t expect any actual answers. First, I spoke only to aides (who, granted, are the eyes and ears of the congressmen and women themselves, so I was happy to speak to them). They can’t say what the congressman/woman would choose to do. They couldn’t make any promises. But – they could relay what we thought, share the information packet we provided, and be a cheerleader for us behind the scenes. And they might take us up on our offer to contact us with any additional questions or concerns.
• www.speakupformuseums.org is invaluable. Sorry for the shameless plug, but seriously, the site really simplifies the process, provides the reference materials I needed, and helps me reach my federal level representation whenever I want.  
• It’s not over. Just because I went once doesn’t mean I don’t need to go back next year (or sooner). Just because I spoke with my congressmen and women doesn’t mean I don’t need to speak to my city council members, my county executive, my state senators and my delegates. And just because I spoke to them doesn’t mean I don’t have an obligation to encourage others to speak to them too. 

What’s Next from SMA?

• We’re going to discuss what you told us at the roundtables during the conference. Not there? Have something more to add? Email us at conference@smallmuseum.org
• We’re going to revamp the website (www.smallmuseum.org). We’ll be adding materials about advocacy on the local level and geared towards small museums during the next few months. We’ll also link to resources provided by other organizations’ sites, as there is a lot of good stuff out there now.
• We’re going to help raise awareness of the importance of small museums. We’ll keep you updated as we figure out new ways to do so. Have an idea? Share it at conference@smallmuseum.org.

A Thank You from Conference Presenter Ann Barton Brown

I was so impressed with the SMA annual meeting and all the wonderful dedicated folks I met there that I wanted to give back by sharing a checklist of information that every director, administrator or Board President should have at their finger tips. I started this about ten years ago as a first time professional executive director and entered into a museum in chaos. I have been adding to it over the years. We use it when presenting Pennsylvania Federation of Museums and Historical Organizations Museums 101 workshops. If you have anything to add to the list, shoot me an email. Many thanks and looking forward to seeing you all again next year. Ann

Thank you from SMA Conference Chair!

It was great seeing familiar faces and meeting new friends at this year's annual meeting in Ocean City, Maryland. In about a month, the SMA conference planning team will meet to recap the highlights of our time spent in Ocean City and will brainstorm on how to improve all aspects of the conference for 2012. We hope you take the opportunity to review selected sessions online on our blog, which you may have missed during the conference. Please feel free to email us if you have any suggestions for speakers, roundtables, sessions or even ideas for
a future conference theme.
Thank you again and see you next year!
Jason

Sample Press Release from SMA Conference

Did you attend this past week's conference? SMA has a sample press that you can customize to meet your museum's needs. You can either edit a copy here (Google Docs) or copy and paste the version below. If you use the Google Docs version, please download it to your computer versus saving the version on Google. Thank you. If you have questions about using it, please email conference@smallmuseum.org for more information or for an attachment version.


For Immediate Release
Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Media Contact:
Lauren Silberman
Publications Chair
conference@smallmuseum.org
www.smallmuseum.org

MEDIA ADVISORY

The Small Museum Association Hosted 27th Annual Conference

Ocean City, Maryland – [INSERT YOUR MUSEUM NAME HERE] attended the 27th annual Small Museum Association Conference (SMA) in Ocean City, Maryland from Sunday, February 20 – Tuesday, February 22, 2010. Over 260 people from small museums across the country attended the three-day event. The [INSERT YOUR MUSEUM NAME HERE] believes strongly in engaging with other museum professionals and keeping up with best practices and cutting-edge ideas in the museum field.

“In today’s challenging environment, it’s increasingly important for museums – large and small – to come together and work in a collaborative fashion to help preserve our nation’s history and treasures. Many people are not aware that small museums comprise the overwhelming majority of this country’s cultural sites, and as such, it is critical that we find ways for these institutions to endure,” says Ken Hickman, immediate past president of the Small Museum Association and director of Penn State All-Sports Museum in University Park, Pennsylvania.

This year’s conference featured speakers who engaged attendees with a variety of topics, ranging from strategic planning to educating homeschoolers to managing traveling exhibitions. Comprised of seasoned and emerging museum professionals, the speakers helped members solve everything from basic problems like managing volunteers to monumental issues such as dealing with a fundraising crisis. Additionally, they discussed innovative ways small museums can reach their audiences using the latest technologies. The diverse topics were beneficial to every level of museum professional.

In the Museum Resource Hall, attendees visited with 30 exhibitors in a variety of museum-related professions, including exhibition design, software development, and publishing.

Each year, the conference selects a different theme. This year, SMA incorporated a “Night at the Small Museum: Bringing Museums to Life” theme. Attendees dressed as living black and white photographs, artifacts come to life, and more clever concepts. They participated in a “tableau vivant” or living pictures, in which different groups staged famous paintings for the rest of the conference to guess.

The conference featured a silent auction with items from a number of museums, including a plane ride in a historic 1940s vintage aircraft courtesy of the Air Mobility Command Museum in Dover, Delaware. Proceeds from the silent auction go to support the scholarship fund for future conferences.

The Small Museum Association is an all volunteer organization serving small museums in the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond. SMA's mission is to develop and maintain a peer network among people who work for small museums, giving them opportunities to learn, share knowledge and support one another, so that they, in turn, can better serve their institutions, communities and profession. Additional information can be found at our website at www.smallmuseum.org, its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/smallmuseumassociation, its blog at www.smallmuseumassociation.blogspot.com, or its Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/smallmuseums.

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Thank you from SMA!

Fellow SMAers –

 

Thanks for a great conference in Ocean City this past week!  What an inspiring, fun and professional group of people to be associated with!  As we make our ways back to our home museums full of ideas to bring our small museums to life, please remember to keep up to date with what we’re doing at SMA. 

 

Be on the lookout for more information about SMA’s advocacy program and the first case studies that have grown out of our Listening Lunches held during the conference.  Check out our website, not just for a refreshed look, but also for podcasts from select sessions at the conference [coming soon].  Our Board has authorized the transfer of a modest amount of funds from our general account to an Endowment holding account; we’ll be inviting community foundations and brokers to our next Board meeting brief of us on how we can best utilize this small but important fund in conservative investments.  Look out for a potential “So You Want to Start an Endowment Fund” entry on our website or as a case study.  Finally, keep your eyes open for SMA, we’re figuring out ways to expand our audience and let people know about what we have to offer -  first and foremost our conference, the best deal in the country.  And who wouldn’t want to attend knowing they’d be missing out on all the fun at our famous Monday Night Banquet?

 

As always, feel free to be in touch at any time - mike [at] historiclewes [dot] org

 

Mike DiPaolo

President

Small Museum Associaton

SMA Mad Libs: On Site vs. Facebook

We did SMA inspired mad libs here at the conference and also online on Facebook! Both are entitled "Night at the Small Museum." Words supplied are in UPPERCASE. Which story is best?

On-Site
At the BANANA museum one night, BUBBLES, the curator, was locking up when she encountered a DOG. FANCY, she jumped back and cried, "WOWZER!" Upon which, the DOG DEFENESTRATED. So the curator TRIMMED. Then, she heard THUNDER, and in rushed a FOX STOLE, shouting "ABSOLUTELY!" To which the curator thought, "Just another night at the small museum!"

Facebook
At the STAPLER museum one night, MARTHA, the curator, was locking up when she encountered a BANNER. GALLUMPING, she jumped back and cried, "CRUD!" Upon which, the BANNER ELECTRIFIED. So the curator POKED. Then, she heard BZZZZZZZZZZZT..., and in rushed an OINK, shouting "FUDGE!" To which the curator thought, "Just another night at the small museum!"

Day 1 Highlights!

Before the attendees arrived, some former board members and conference committee members grabbed breakfast at nearby Dumser's.

The pre-conference grant workshop was well attended - three breakout sessions were offered to cater to attendees' needs, such as first time grant proposal writers, collections care grant needs, and writing grant proposals for reaching audiences.

Wow! What a crowded resource hall for the wine and cheese opening evening event.

New this year: Eat and Engage opportunities. I joined the emerging museum professionals (even if I'm not sure that I qualify as one anymore) at Galaxy 66.

And so it begins...

We're only minutes away from opening registration at SMA this year. You can follow all of the activity at our facebook page, which includes links to this blog, our Twitter feed (join the conversation with hashtag #sma11), photos and more. To kick things off, here's a flip-through version of the final program to enjoy. Hope you'll be joining us - live or virtually. After the conference, we'll have information from presenters, podcasts, advocacy information, and much, much more.

Open publication - Free publishing - More program

Conference Presenter: Lindsey Baker

In the spring of 2010, Mary Alexander and I, along with Amanda Wessleman, had the opportunity to present at the American Association of Museums. The three of us put together a session on strategic planning for small museums. We brought the spirit of small museums to the big stage in a big way. Not only did we present to a room full of eager faces, we also took the session virtual and did one of the 10 web sessions as well. We had a blast talking about the ins and outs of strategic planning for small museums. Surrounded by professionals from museums of all sizes, we had fun discussing what special situations arise in small museums--like what to do when your favorite board member who also happens to be your best volunteer and your biggest donor hates strategic planning and thinks it is a waste of time. The special situations that always arise in small museums can be even more interesting when you attempt to get a group of people to plan. Many of the SMA attendees have already been through this process or are dreading the thought of it. We are looking forward to an interesting conversation at SMA with our session's attendees on how to overcome the obstacles to strategic planning in small museums.

SMA Memories from Hotel Coordinator

I attended my first SMA conference back when I was either a sophomore or a junior in undergrad at Goucher College. I remember having no idea what to expect, but really enjoying my time in Ocean City. I had the opportunity to see small museum people let their hair loose on the Monday night banquet and I've been hooked ever since on small museum work. Since that fateful first time, I've attended many SMA conferences but always been an outside observer spending my time mingling with the small museum community I've grown to know and love. This year will be very different. I am the "hotel" person on the SMA Conference Committee--very big shoes to fill because of the excellent job Mike Leister has done in the past. And I will be presenting on several different items--Strategic Planning with Mary Alexander, StEPs with Rod Cofield, and even a book group discussion with Mary Alexander. So I don't think I'll have the same free time I once had to leisurely float from one little group to the other. But I'm hoping that I'll get the chance to chat with old friends and hopefully meet other first-timers--people who are just being inducted into the wonderful small museum world!

-- Lindsey Baker, Hotel Coordinator

Conference Presenter: Rebecca Lawrence

As we get closer to the big conference next month (have you applied yet?), we will be hosting some blog posts from various presenters, committee members, and others involved with the conference. This post is from Rebecca Lawrence, who is leading a session on Monday, February 21, 2011 entitled, ROUNDTABLE - SMA Book Club: Audience Participation and Nina Simon’s The Participatory Museum.

I'm excited to be part of the first SMA book club about Nina Simon's The Participatory Museum. Her text raises key questions about how a museum defines its relationships with various audiences, addresses key trends in technology, how creating participatory programs cross traditional department lines, and ultimately how one participates in a museum! Information about her book can be found online at http://www.participatorymuseum.org/.

It is a text that's inspired me to change the way I think about education programs at the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center, our institution's presence on social media networks, and how our exhibit themes and objects relate to our visitors. Her real world examples and applications to the museum context even serve as great creativity exercises (for example, consider how the personalized voice we see in most major marketing campaigns can impact your institution in a positive way). Simon also provides a participation model you can modify for your own institution, that you can consider as you evaluate your projects.

• How has reading her book left an impact on your practice? 
• What questions has it raised for you? 

We hope to engage in a book discussion on one of the most popular books in our field.  If you've just started reading, what phrases, thoughts, examples resonate with you? Join me, Rebecca Lawrence, and engage in a discussion about the many ideas in Nina Simon's The Participatory Museum. Bring some of your own examples with you to our session and share with us on the SMA blog before and after the conference!

Flip Through the PreConference Program!

Thanks to Issuu.com, you can now easily flip through the pre-conference program without having to download or click on any additional links. It's also available as a Google Doc for easily reading and printing (just use the file and print in the document viewer itself!)

Open publication - Free publishing - More small museum

Conference Presenter: Miriam Musco

As we get closer to the big conference next month (have you applied yet?), we will be hosting some blog posts from various presenters, committee members, and others involved with the conference. This post is from Miriam Musco, who is leading a session on Monday, February 21, 2011 entitled, What Do They Want From Us? Understanding the Needs of Homeschoolers in Museums.

Here's a short quiz for everyone:  

When you see a homeschool group walk through your front doors, do you:

A) Scratch your head in confusion?

B) Cringe?

C) Jump for Joy?

If you answered A or B, I would suggest attending my presentation, "What Do They Want From Us?  Understanding the Needs of Homeschoolers in Museums".  You'll learn about the different types and philosophies of homeschooling and what each of them wants from a museum visit.  I hope that by the end of end of my session, you'll be able to answer C to this quiz.

Conference Presenter: Dean Krimmel

As we get closer to the big conference next month (have you applied yet?), we will be hosting some blog posts from various presenters, committee members, and others involved with the conference. This post is from Dean Krimmel, who is leading a double session on Monday, February 21, 2011 entitled, So What? How to find BIG compelling IDEAS that make your historic site worth visiting.

Ever been challenged by the dreaded “so what?” question? I can hear my professor’s voice now—more than 30 years later. Tell me why you want to research this topic. What can we learn? Why does it matter?

I’m hearing it more and more these days in my work with historic sites and history museums. Except this time it’s coming from the public—usually the local community. Well, the truth is, I’m sensing it rather than hearing the words. People aren’t asking us directly; they’re simply voicing their skepticism by staying away. In growing numbers.

So, what do we do?

First, let’s agree that it’s our responsibility to change people’s perception. Denial and anger only makes it worse. Second, let’s stop relying on mission statements, however well crafted, to communicate our interpretive messages and bring people through the doors. 

What we need are some BIG compelling IDEAS that have the power to stop a distracted public in its tracks, make our sites livelier, and energize our staff, volunteers and board. We need to begin asking ourselves the “so what?” question. We need to dig a little deeper into our mission and the history we interpret.

Are you up for it? Join me and your colleagues at “So What? How to find BIG compelling IDEAS that make your historic site worth visiting.” Together, we’ll get reenergized about the sites and stories we’ve come to love—and discover new ways to convince the public that we matter.

Call for Proposals for 2011 SMA Conference

Our annual call for proposals for the sessions for our 2011 conference is now available!

Access the information here.

The conference is Sunday, February 20 - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 in Ocean City, Maryland.

Submission deadline is September 1, 2010.

For more information, email our speaker chairs here and here.

Photo from SMA Conference 2010.