Dear MER Membership,
At the spring board meeting of the directors of the Museum Education Roundtable, held April 29th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a slate of nominees, proposed by the Nominations Task Force of the Governance Committee, received unanimous board approval. This slate includes the following candidates for a three year term of office, from October 2009 to September, 2012, first term to be followed by a second term if confirmed.
Please vote to accept or reject the slate of candidates for the MER Board by cutting and pasting the survey link below into your browser window. If you received an e-mail about voting for the slate and already visited the survey, no need to go again!
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=jIE2jCwKOFVtEddk1GcwrQ_3d_3d
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Network News: From the Editor
Network: Summer 2009
AAM Redux
From the Editor
Cynthia Robinson
Director, Tufts Museum Studies Program
Most of the articles in this summer issue of Network focus on the recent AAM conference in Philadelphia (with one bonus review of the National Art Education Association conference). Museums educators are always well represented at the AAM conference and, as a result, there are always a plethora of sessions for and by them. So whether you attended or not, these review articles will remind you of what is important, what you know, and what you don’t know – but should.
As always, we invite you to join in our conversation!
Cheers,
Cynthia
AAM Redux
From the Editor
Cynthia Robinson
Director, Tufts Museum Studies Program
Most of the articles in this summer issue of Network focus on the recent AAM conference in Philadelphia (with one bonus review of the National Art Education Association conference). Museums educators are always well represented at the AAM conference and, as a result, there are always a plethora of sessions for and by them. So whether you attended or not, these review articles will remind you of what is important, what you know, and what you don’t know – but should.
As always, we invite you to join in our conversation!
Cheers,
Cynthia
Words from the Prez
Network News: Summer 2009
By Erik Holland, President of the Board, Museum Education Roundtable
May in Minnesota means daffodils, fritilaria and other spring bulbs blooming, epimedium and hundreds of other perennials leafing out in the yard and hundreds of spikes of martigons and others in the genius Lilium beginning to expose themselves from under their winter blankets. This time of year also brings the annual meeting of the American Association of Museums and the associated Museum Education Roundtable quarterly board meeting, the annual EdCom/MER co-sponsored reception as well as the MER reception. The MER board is hard at work fulfilling our volunteer responsibilities to provide leadership, structure and coordination for the Museum Education Roundtable. Last fall’s retreat resulted in a positive yet aggressive strategic plan for this current year and committees have been making progress on all fronts. We are solvent, healthy and looking forward. The JME is a quality publication that we all can be proud of. Currently we are focusing on improving communications with members by re-building our website and re-invigorating Network.
Quarterly Board Meeting
In the past several years, since a fair number board members attend AAM, we have expanded the agenda beyond the specific coordination of AAM related activities and undertaken more of the business of the board. These meetings offer another opportunity for many on the board to have a face-to-face meeting. The board meeting this year was held at the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage. The agenda included the usual budget update, minutes approval and committee and taskforce reports. Also the board unanimously approved a slate of new board members to participate in the board orientation and the fall planning retreat and board meeting in Washington, DC in August and begin their terms at the October board meeting.
EdCom/MER Cosponsored Reception
The reception this year was held in the close and garden behind the Elfreth’s Alley Association’s building at 126 Elfreth’s Alley. This wonderful block-long street near the Philadelphia harbor is one of the oldest continuously inhabited streets in the country. Nearly 100 museum educators socialized and participated in tours of the street and enjoyed the pleasant spring evening together.
MER Reception
The American Philosophical Society hosted MER’s annual AAM reception. Fifty-plus museum educators enjoyed light hors d’oeuvres and toured the wonderful exhibit, “Dialogues with Darwin: An Exhibition of Historical Documents and Contemporary Art.” The APS has the largest collection of Darwin manuscripts in North America, including some 800 Darwin letters. The holdings are second only to the Darwin collection at Cambridge University in England. If this interests you, check out their website at http://www.pachs.net/dialogues-with-darwin/.
After some socializing, the group sat down for a facilitated discussion of interpretive planning with Journal of Museum Education guest editors, Jody Koke and Marianna Adams. The conversation was lively and enjoyable. It was difficult to break up the small group discussions that followed the formal presentation. In fact a number of folks walked a couple of blocks to a Belgian pub that had more than 300 different beers on their menu.
“Museum Education 101: Program Development and Presentation” Session
I was invited by Jim Hakala, president of EdCom’s board, to develop and present a 101 session on museum education. What are the things that are absolutes that museum educators think about when planning a presentation? Jim, Mary Kay Cunningham and I spent several long phone conversations discussing what to include in this 101 session. It is a difficult task for seasoned veterans to decide what is critical and should be part of a beginner’s toolbox. All three of us have presented, planned, trained and evaluated programs and much of what we do is nearly second nature. As we focused on critical elements like themes, goals and objectives, tangibles, intangibles, universals and Freeman Tilden, we helped the audience understand that, “asking an interpreter a question should not be like taking a drink from a fire hose.” We discussed the importance of objects, planned questions and strategies to use to plan and document quality programs. We offered a 19-page handout which is available to print out from AAM by going to the website http://www.projectionnet.com/AAMHandouts2009/PDFbyday.aspx and then choosing Saturday and the Museum Education 101 session and then follow the prompts. You may also want to read the review (unsolicited by me!) of the session by an emerging professional in this issue of Network.
Erik Holland has been planning, developing, training and delivering interpretive programs at historic sites for more than 30 years with the State Historical Society of North Dakota, Milwaukee Public Museum, Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation and the Minnesota Historical Society. His term as president of MER’s board will be completed September 30, 2009.
By Erik Holland, President of the Board, Museum Education Roundtable
May in Minnesota means daffodils, fritilaria and other spring bulbs blooming, epimedium and hundreds of other perennials leafing out in the yard and hundreds of spikes of martigons and others in the genius Lilium beginning to expose themselves from under their winter blankets. This time of year also brings the annual meeting of the American Association of Museums and the associated Museum Education Roundtable quarterly board meeting, the annual EdCom/MER co-sponsored reception as well as the MER reception. The MER board is hard at work fulfilling our volunteer responsibilities to provide leadership, structure and coordination for the Museum Education Roundtable. Last fall’s retreat resulted in a positive yet aggressive strategic plan for this current year and committees have been making progress on all fronts. We are solvent, healthy and looking forward. The JME is a quality publication that we all can be proud of. Currently we are focusing on improving communications with members by re-building our website and re-invigorating Network.
Quarterly Board Meeting
In the past several years, since a fair number board members attend AAM, we have expanded the agenda beyond the specific coordination of AAM related activities and undertaken more of the business of the board. These meetings offer another opportunity for many on the board to have a face-to-face meeting. The board meeting this year was held at the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage. The agenda included the usual budget update, minutes approval and committee and taskforce reports. Also the board unanimously approved a slate of new board members to participate in the board orientation and the fall planning retreat and board meeting in Washington, DC in August and begin their terms at the October board meeting.
EdCom/MER Cosponsored Reception
The reception this year was held in the close and garden behind the Elfreth’s Alley Association’s building at 126 Elfreth’s Alley. This wonderful block-long street near the Philadelphia harbor is one of the oldest continuously inhabited streets in the country. Nearly 100 museum educators socialized and participated in tours of the street and enjoyed the pleasant spring evening together.
MER Reception
The American Philosophical Society hosted MER’s annual AAM reception. Fifty-plus museum educators enjoyed light hors d’oeuvres and toured the wonderful exhibit, “Dialogues with Darwin: An Exhibition of Historical Documents and Contemporary Art.” The APS has the largest collection of Darwin manuscripts in North America, including some 800 Darwin letters. The holdings are second only to the Darwin collection at Cambridge University in England. If this interests you, check out their website at http://www.pachs.net/dialogues-with-darwin/.
After some socializing, the group sat down for a facilitated discussion of interpretive planning with Journal of Museum Education guest editors, Jody Koke and Marianna Adams. The conversation was lively and enjoyable. It was difficult to break up the small group discussions that followed the formal presentation. In fact a number of folks walked a couple of blocks to a Belgian pub that had more than 300 different beers on their menu.
“Museum Education 101: Program Development and Presentation” Session
I was invited by Jim Hakala, president of EdCom’s board, to develop and present a 101 session on museum education. What are the things that are absolutes that museum educators think about when planning a presentation? Jim, Mary Kay Cunningham and I spent several long phone conversations discussing what to include in this 101 session. It is a difficult task for seasoned veterans to decide what is critical and should be part of a beginner’s toolbox. All three of us have presented, planned, trained and evaluated programs and much of what we do is nearly second nature. As we focused on critical elements like themes, goals and objectives, tangibles, intangibles, universals and Freeman Tilden, we helped the audience understand that, “asking an interpreter a question should not be like taking a drink from a fire hose.” We discussed the importance of objects, planned questions and strategies to use to plan and document quality programs. We offered a 19-page handout which is available to print out from AAM by going to the website http://www.projectionnet.com/AAMHandouts2009/PDFbyday.aspx and then choosing Saturday and the Museum Education 101 session and then follow the prompts. You may also want to read the review (unsolicited by me!) of the session by an emerging professional in this issue of Network.
Erik Holland has been planning, developing, training and delivering interpretive programs at historic sites for more than 30 years with the State Historical Society of North Dakota, Milwaukee Public Museum, Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation and the Minnesota Historical Society. His term as president of MER’s board will be completed September 30, 2009.
Technology’s Growing Role in Museum Education
Network Summer 2009
By Margaret Aiken, Museum Education Student, Tufts University
Reviews of “Using Web 2.0 to Reach Global Audiences: International Perspectives,” chaired by Laura Mann, Business Development Director, Mediatrope; “Idea Lounge: The Formalization of Museum Studies,” chaired by Redell Hearn, Founding Director/Assistant Professor, Masters of Arts Program in Museum Studies, Southern University at New Orleans; and “Technology Tutorial: Design and Maintain a Blog,” co-chaired by Charlotte Sexton, National Gallery of Art, London, and Perian Sully, Judah L. Magnus Museum, Berkley, at the 2009 AAM conference.
As an emerging museum educator, I am beginning to realize that one of the most marketable skills I can gain is the ability to understand, utilize, and promote interactive technologies. Just based on observations of my friends’ obsessive attachment their iPhones and middle school students’ addictions to MySpace, it is easy to see how important technology is today and how it is being used to promote social interaction. For this reason, I narrowed my focus at the AAM conference to sessions concerning education and technology. There were a surprising number to choose from. Below you will find reviews on three of my favorites.
“Using Web 2.0 to Reach Global Audiences: International Perspectives” illustrated how three museums are currently using technology to engage their audience as participants. For those who are not particularly web-savvy, Laura Mann, the director of Mediatrope, explained that Web 2.0 is the phenomena of using the internet to create conversations between the museum and its audience, the audience and museum staff members, and audience members with each other.
Catherine King, from the wholly virtual International Museum of Women, described her museum’s staff curates conversations, raises awareness of issues affecting women, and inspires action from audiences around the world. The lesson I learned from the IMoW is that if virtual museums can accomplish such strong connections in cyberspace, brick and mortar museums should also be able to engage their own audiences and reach out to non-museum goers by adopting some of the Web 2.0 strategies. Check out the International Museum of Women at http://www.imow.org/
Presenters, Malene Rordam and Rasmus Nielsen from the Danish National Gallery spoke about how they have used Web 2.0 to create an interactive site for teens with social networking and user-contributed content called “U.L.K.” which stands for “Young People’s Laboratories.” Their MySpace-like website created for teens, by teens is an off-shoot of the Danish National Gallery’s main website, http://www.smk.dk/ . I particularly appreciated the presenters’ honesty about the amount of time and energy it takes to maintain the site, and their difficulties in keeping the site’s content relevant and related to the museum. The U.L.K. website is in Danish but can be translated into English by going to the site and clicking the upper right corner. It can be viewed at http://ungeslaboratorierforkunst.dk/.
Andreas Henning, a curator at the Old Master Picture Gallery in Dresden, talked about a truly mind-blowing 3-D virtual museum project. The Dresden Gallery hired a design company to create a 1-to-1 digital clone of the museum in Second Life, a virtual world where avatars navigate 3-D virtual worlds and interact with each other. Apparently all of the museum’s details are meticulously reproduced, including the wallpaper and the parquet floors. Even the institution’s special exhibitions are offered for viewing in Second Life.
I downloaded Second Life in an attempt to find the Old Master Picture Gallery. Unfortunately I did not find the museum in my search, but I did find quite a few other galleries and museums in Second Life. The thing that is most bizarre is how hard it is to tell what “museums” are fictional, created by a group unaffiliated with the real life institution, and which ones are authentic and created by the actual institution. A few of the “museums” listed in SL were the Royal Museum of Art, Cyber MoCA, Lagna Art Museum, Austria Art Gallery, and the Manchester Art Gallery.
It is hard for me to believe that a brick and mortar museum would spend what must be exorbitant amounts of money to digitally reproduce their museum in cyberspace. While visiting a 3-D reproduction of a museum and its artworks is novel, it is certainly no substitute for the actual experience of being there in person. For me, entering theses spaces in Second Life was a very surreal and unsettling experience. Regardless of how eerie it felt to look at art in a virtual world, Second Life is increasingly popular and a truly remarkable platform. I will definitely keep my eye on it to see if and how museums will participate in Second Life.
“Idea Lounge: The Formalization of Museum Studies” was a roundtable discussion of students, educators, university program directors who shared their backgrounds and opinions on whether requirements for a museum studies degree should be standardized. For me, the most useful aspect of this session was realizing that there is currently no standardization in the field.
Roundtable participants discussed the value of establishing standards for training the next generation of museum professionals. Possible categories of standardization included creating a reading list of accepted texts, establishing a list of competencies, or focusing on particular themes. While standardization might make comparing programs a bit easier for potential students, the majority of roundtable participants seemed to be against standardization, arguing that it would limit options for students and restrict freedoms for university programs.
What I gained from this discussion was an appreciation of the diversity of the museum-related programs being offered in universities today. There is currently no website where information can be found about the burgeoning number of museum studies and other similar programs. Many of the students in the room, myself included, expressed frustration at how difficult it was to research and choose a program. I personally had no idea there were museum or arts administration programs at Brown University, the University of Toronto, and Columbia University until a few people in the room stood up and introduced themselves!
I think instead of standardizing museum studies, there is a dire need for a comprehensive website where potential students can access information about all of the programs available in museum studies, museum education, or arts administration and the ability to understand what these programs offer and how they differ.
“Technology Tutorial: Design and Maintain a Blog” was a hands-on workshop that taught participants step-by-step instructions for creating, launching and maintaining a museum blog. The speaker, Charlotte Sexton from the National Gallery in London, gave tips on ways to make a blog posting successful such as:
By Margaret Aiken, Museum Education Student, Tufts University
Reviews of “Using Web 2.0 to Reach Global Audiences: International Perspectives,” chaired by Laura Mann, Business Development Director, Mediatrope; “Idea Lounge: The Formalization of Museum Studies,” chaired by Redell Hearn, Founding Director/Assistant Professor, Masters of Arts Program in Museum Studies, Southern University at New Orleans; and “Technology Tutorial: Design and Maintain a Blog,” co-chaired by Charlotte Sexton, National Gallery of Art, London, and Perian Sully, Judah L. Magnus Museum, Berkley, at the 2009 AAM conference.
As an emerging museum educator, I am beginning to realize that one of the most marketable skills I can gain is the ability to understand, utilize, and promote interactive technologies. Just based on observations of my friends’ obsessive attachment their iPhones and middle school students’ addictions to MySpace, it is easy to see how important technology is today and how it is being used to promote social interaction. For this reason, I narrowed my focus at the AAM conference to sessions concerning education and technology. There were a surprising number to choose from. Below you will find reviews on three of my favorites.
“Using Web 2.0 to Reach Global Audiences: International Perspectives” illustrated how three museums are currently using technology to engage their audience as participants. For those who are not particularly web-savvy, Laura Mann, the director of Mediatrope, explained that Web 2.0 is the phenomena of using the internet to create conversations between the museum and its audience, the audience and museum staff members, and audience members with each other.
Catherine King, from the wholly virtual International Museum of Women, described her museum’s staff curates conversations, raises awareness of issues affecting women, and inspires action from audiences around the world. The lesson I learned from the IMoW is that if virtual museums can accomplish such strong connections in cyberspace, brick and mortar museums should also be able to engage their own audiences and reach out to non-museum goers by adopting some of the Web 2.0 strategies. Check out the International Museum of Women at http://www.imow.org/
Presenters, Malene Rordam and Rasmus Nielsen from the Danish National Gallery spoke about how they have used Web 2.0 to create an interactive site for teens with social networking and user-contributed content called “U.L.K.” which stands for “Young People’s Laboratories.” Their MySpace-like website created for teens, by teens is an off-shoot of the Danish National Gallery’s main website, http://www.smk.dk/ . I particularly appreciated the presenters’ honesty about the amount of time and energy it takes to maintain the site, and their difficulties in keeping the site’s content relevant and related to the museum. The U.L.K. website is in Danish but can be translated into English by going to the site and clicking the upper right corner. It can be viewed at http://ungeslaboratorierforkunst.dk/.
Andreas Henning, a curator at the Old Master Picture Gallery in Dresden, talked about a truly mind-blowing 3-D virtual museum project. The Dresden Gallery hired a design company to create a 1-to-1 digital clone of the museum in Second Life, a virtual world where avatars navigate 3-D virtual worlds and interact with each other. Apparently all of the museum’s details are meticulously reproduced, including the wallpaper and the parquet floors. Even the institution’s special exhibitions are offered for viewing in Second Life.
I downloaded Second Life in an attempt to find the Old Master Picture Gallery. Unfortunately I did not find the museum in my search, but I did find quite a few other galleries and museums in Second Life. The thing that is most bizarre is how hard it is to tell what “museums” are fictional, created by a group unaffiliated with the real life institution, and which ones are authentic and created by the actual institution. A few of the “museums” listed in SL were the Royal Museum of Art, Cyber MoCA, Lagna Art Museum, Austria Art Gallery, and the Manchester Art Gallery.
It is hard for me to believe that a brick and mortar museum would spend what must be exorbitant amounts of money to digitally reproduce their museum in cyberspace. While visiting a 3-D reproduction of a museum and its artworks is novel, it is certainly no substitute for the actual experience of being there in person. For me, entering theses spaces in Second Life was a very surreal and unsettling experience. Regardless of how eerie it felt to look at art in a virtual world, Second Life is increasingly popular and a truly remarkable platform. I will definitely keep my eye on it to see if and how museums will participate in Second Life.
“Idea Lounge: The Formalization of Museum Studies” was a roundtable discussion of students, educators, university program directors who shared their backgrounds and opinions on whether requirements for a museum studies degree should be standardized. For me, the most useful aspect of this session was realizing that there is currently no standardization in the field.
Roundtable participants discussed the value of establishing standards for training the next generation of museum professionals. Possible categories of standardization included creating a reading list of accepted texts, establishing a list of competencies, or focusing on particular themes. While standardization might make comparing programs a bit easier for potential students, the majority of roundtable participants seemed to be against standardization, arguing that it would limit options for students and restrict freedoms for university programs.
What I gained from this discussion was an appreciation of the diversity of the museum-related programs being offered in universities today. There is currently no website where information can be found about the burgeoning number of museum studies and other similar programs. Many of the students in the room, myself included, expressed frustration at how difficult it was to research and choose a program. I personally had no idea there were museum or arts administration programs at Brown University, the University of Toronto, and Columbia University until a few people in the room stood up and introduced themselves!
I think instead of standardizing museum studies, there is a dire need for a comprehensive website where potential students can access information about all of the programs available in museum studies, museum education, or arts administration and the ability to understand what these programs offer and how they differ.
“Technology Tutorial: Design and Maintain a Blog” was a hands-on workshop that taught participants step-by-step instructions for creating, launching and maintaining a museum blog. The speaker, Charlotte Sexton from the National Gallery in London, gave tips on ways to make a blog posting successful such as:
- Using mixed media such as photos, videos, and audio clips
- Coming up with catchy headlines
- Writing short sentences
- Formatting the page so its easy to read
- Writing slightly contentious material that will generate audience responses
- Updating the blog’s content on a regular basis (at least 2-3 times a week)
Charlotte also brought up important issues to consider such as blogging ethics and rules of engagement. She pointed us to the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis which has excellent guidelines posted on their website. (These guidelines can be found by typing “Walker Blog Guidelines” into Google.) Other issues and questions the participants were asked to consider were:
- Will the blog be written by a single voice or multiple voices?
- Who will moderate the content?
- How much should the blog reflect the museum’s main website?
- How can you promote your blog to increase readership?
- How often will you update the museum’s blog?
Charlotte reminded us that a blog is merely a tool to communicate with today’s tech-savvy museum audience. One of the essential lessons I learned from this session was that the relevance of the blog’s content is what will ultimately drive traffic to your blog. So, if your museum is thinking about starting one, Sexton reminded us to “Start with the purpose, not the technology.” And so I did…
During this technology session I created my own blog as a way to document my experiences at AAM and beyond. Check out Margaret’s Museum Mumbles, http://museummumbles.blogspot.com/. I began the tutorial confused and clueless about blogs but came out realizing that they are a fun and relatively easy way to connect with your audience. Really, the hardest part about blogging seems to be remembering to update it regularly and keeping strong opinions and feelings in check. It is quite tempting to “let it all out” as you would in a private journal but it’s important to remember that because it is posted on the worldwide web, you never know who will be reading it!
Recap
As a first time participant I was both inspired and overwhelmed by the conference. There were so many sessions that sounded fascinating and I found myself wishing there was someway I could use my Second Life avatar to fly from one session to another so I could experience them all. I left Philadelphia feeling like I had learned about some possibilities for using technology to enhance visitor learning and interaction but ultimately realizing that technology alone is not the answer. I am definitely looking forward to the conference in Los Angeles next spring!
Margaret Aiken is currently pursuing her Master's degree in museum education at Tufts University. This summer she will be an intern in the education department at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
A Funny Thing Happened On My Way To The Museum
Network Summer 2009
By Valerie Albanese-Fraher, New York-based Museum Professional
Review of “Identity-Related Visit Motivations: Tools for Supporting the Museum Experience,” chaired by John Falk, Professor in Free Choice Learning, Oregon State University at the 2009 AAM conference.
“Visitors may not be sure why they are there and we don’t give them a clue,” said John Falk, elaborating on the need for “improving visitor experiences in diverse museums” by understanding their motivations for visiting. People visit museums for many different reasons. Their reasons are not necessarily a part of their permanent identities but rather are based on a context of time and space extending beyond the walls of the museum.
In considering this, I was inspired to reflect on my motivations related to a recent (spontaneous) trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. My evening went something like this:
Review of “Identity-Related Visit Motivations: Tools for Supporting the Museum Experience,” chaired by John Falk, Professor in Free Choice Learning, Oregon State University at the 2009 AAM conference.
“Visitors may not be sure why they are there and we don’t give them a clue,” said John Falk, elaborating on the need for “improving visitor experiences in diverse museums” by understanding their motivations for visiting. People visit museums for many different reasons. Their reasons are not necessarily a part of their permanent identities but rather are based on a context of time and space extending beyond the walls of the museum.
In considering this, I was inspired to reflect on my motivations related to a recent (spontaneous) trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. My evening went something like this:
5:30 p.m.: Read an interesting article from Time Out New York indicating that a couple of comedians were going to lead an unofficial tour at the MET. That was my hook! I’ve been to the museum before but never to listen to comedians humorize art.
7:30 p.m.: Met my husband in front of the MET. The tour was scheduled to begin on the museum’s front steps at 8 p.m. Since we arrived early, we purchased our tickets and decided to do some independent exploration of the galleries.
7:45 p.m.: While gallery hopping we talked more about our day than the art around us. With grumbling stomachs, we circled the museum’s café a couple of times (like vultures) contemplating menu choices but, indecisiveness got the better of us. Instead we found a bench, sat, and people-watched. The museum was pretty crowded and we were too tired to get lost in this big bustling space.
7:55 p.m.: We decided to venture beyond the museum in search of more dining options. Upon leaving, we saw a large group on the outside steps and assumed this must be our tour with the comedians. We quickly hopped in a cab and rode away, saving our art laughs for another day.
I don’t think I’ve ever spent under a half hour in a museum before! Our motivations for this visit kept changing. Initially we intended to tour the galleries with comedians however, once at the museum we were curious about dining options. Ultimately recharging our batteries was the best part of this experience. As John Falk explained during his opening remarks, people visit museums for numerous reasons and with varying expectations. Falk identified the following identity-related motivations:
- The Explorer: motivated by personal curiosity.
- The Facilitator: motivated by/because of another person (such as a parent bringing a child to the museum).
- The Experience Seeker: motivated to see and experience places (such as a tourist visiting a new city).
- The Professional Hobbyist: motivated by specific knowledge-related goals.
- The Recharger: motivated by contemplative/restorative experience.
As research supports the claim that the majority of museum goers can be categorized as visiting for one or some combination of these five related reasons, some museums are already incorporating these ideas into their exhibits, programs, partnerships and staff training. Session presenters shared how they applied these concepts in their institutions.
Jim Covel, Manager, Guest Experience Training & Interpretation at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, facilitated an engaging presentation to demonstrate how his staff interacts with visitors to “pin down motivations” by first asking questions and following up with suggestions of activities and exhibits to visit based on the visitor’s response. Covel stressed the importance of bringing staff into the conversation of why it is important to understand visitor motivations and to be sure to get “everyone on board” with methods and applications.
While Covel’s strategies focus on the interactions between visitor and staff, Judith Koke, Deputy Director, Education and Public Programming at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, elaborated on how her museum utilized visit-related motivational identity theory as a planning tool for the museum’s new expansion’s layout and design. Museum staff members came up with innovative approaches. To satisfy explorers, they installed summary interpretive text panels and conduct mini tours. For rechargers, they play ambient music in selected galleries. Experience seekers enjoy a café in the middle of one of the galleries (this area is a great stop for visitors-on-the-go to enjoy a beverage and a great view of the city while being surrounded by art).
Our audiences have a variety of motivations in visiting museums. How can we embrace these motivations as part of their experience? Photo: Lynn Museum and Historical Society, May 2007 by Valerie Albanese-Fraher.
As demonstrated by these examples, numerous strategies and approaches can be applied to meeting your visitors’ needs. In considering your options, it is important to keep in mind that the needs of visitors change and that there is no hierarchy of motivations. Embrace these varying motivations and challenge yourself to incorporate opportunities of interest with different needs in mind. Seek support of staff and spark conversations with visitors to gage what they want and expect. Be creative with your approaches, experiment, and share your findings!
Note: John Falk’s new book, Identity and the Museum Visitor Experience, will soon be available from Left Coast Press.
Valerie Albanese Fraher is a graduate of the Tufts University Master’s of Arts in Museum Education Program and recently relocated to New York City where she is actively seeking employment, spending her free time blogging (www.valeriealbanese.wordpress.com) and museum hopping. This article is adapted from her original blog post, “Riddle Me This: Why Do People Visit Museums?” at http://valeriealbanese.wordpress.com/2009/05/16/riddle-me-this-why-do-people-visit-museums/
What is Authenticity?
Network Summer 2009
By Ann Caspari, Early Childhood Education Specialist at National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Review of “What Do We Mean By Real? Debating Authenticity in Museums,” chaired by Stephanie Weaver, Visitor Experience Consultant, 2009 AAM conference.
In this very provocative session, representatives from a science museum, a living history site and an art museum presented ways in which their own museums have struggled with “what is acceptably fake and where to draw the line.” Lured in part by seeing Mary Kay Cunningham’s name among the presenters and not really sure what to expect I sat down in the session to find… no Mary Kay, but plenty of thought-provoking surprises and even emotional moments.
Wayne LaBar of the Liberty Science Center in New Jersey spoke first and focused on the authenticity of the interactive exhibitions that we find in science centers. These interactive are fun and exciting learning opportunities for children and adults alike. However, what is the relationship of this kind of experience to the actual experience of “doing science?” What are scientists actually working on today and how do these museum experiences provide authentic science experiences? For me, this is an important question not to be taken lightly. Too often, in all kinds of museums, interactive components are added to exhibitions without thoughtful consideration of whether they really add measurably to the learning environment.
Rob Lukens opened his talk by introducing his museum, Historic Yellow Springs. He wove an engaging tale of the history of the site, smattered with the kind of lively information that audiences enjoy—the name was derived from the Lenape Indian name for the place, that bodies are buried on the grounds…all information that has existed in the museum’s interpretation of the site, but is unauthenticated. Anyone who has worked at a historic site is familiar with the myths and folklore that build up. How should we deal with these myths when they are beloved by the interpretive staff and public alike? What if the myth is integral to the public’s understanding of the place? One suggestion was to sort out which of the myths are outright falsehoods and which could quite possibly be true but cannot be authenticated. Some of these myths could continue to be included in interpretation as long as they are identified as folklore and not fact.
Kelly McKinley of the Art Gallery of Ontario was the final provocateur of the group. She described what happened at her museum when an installation artist created an artwork in a historic site associated with the museum. The artwork mimicked an archeological dig and created the story of a fictitious person—and her intriguing activities—who purportedly once lived in the house. The fact that the piece was art and not “real” was not revealed to the interpretive staff of the museum or the visitors until the exhibition ended.
This last example of a museum’s struggle with authenticity was perhaps the most provocative. Audience members responded to the story in a variety of ways and in the Q&A expressed the range of emotions that the piece brought out in them. Some were quite offended and felt that the artwork undermined museum work and the work of archeologists and anthropologists. They pointed out that museums benefit from being highly trusted institutions and questioned whether it is wise to play with the public’s trust. Other participants found this artwork to be powerful its ability to evoke the past. Even a secondary experience of hearing about the artwork caused us to question, feel strong emotions, and wake up. Is this not exactly what this type of art is meant to do? Why can’t history harness this technique as an interpretive tool?
All three presenters gave us a great deal to think about with regard to boundaries, authenticity of objects and experiences, and what it means in diverse kinds of museums.
Ann Caspari specializes in early childhood in museums and currently working with 3 to 8 year olds at the National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall. She coauthored a book on inquiry learning with Carol Kuhlthau, a professor of Library Studies from Rutgers University and Leslie Maniotes, a curriculum specialist, titled Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century. Ann serves on the MER board.
By Ann Caspari, Early Childhood Education Specialist at National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Review of “What Do We Mean By Real? Debating Authenticity in Museums,” chaired by Stephanie Weaver, Visitor Experience Consultant, 2009 AAM conference.
In this very provocative session, representatives from a science museum, a living history site and an art museum presented ways in which their own museums have struggled with “what is acceptably fake and where to draw the line.” Lured in part by seeing Mary Kay Cunningham’s name among the presenters and not really sure what to expect I sat down in the session to find… no Mary Kay, but plenty of thought-provoking surprises and even emotional moments.
Wayne LaBar of the Liberty Science Center in New Jersey spoke first and focused on the authenticity of the interactive exhibitions that we find in science centers. These interactive are fun and exciting learning opportunities for children and adults alike. However, what is the relationship of this kind of experience to the actual experience of “doing science?” What are scientists actually working on today and how do these museum experiences provide authentic science experiences? For me, this is an important question not to be taken lightly. Too often, in all kinds of museums, interactive components are added to exhibitions without thoughtful consideration of whether they really add measurably to the learning environment.
Rob Lukens opened his talk by introducing his museum, Historic Yellow Springs. He wove an engaging tale of the history of the site, smattered with the kind of lively information that audiences enjoy—the name was derived from the Lenape Indian name for the place, that bodies are buried on the grounds…all information that has existed in the museum’s interpretation of the site, but is unauthenticated. Anyone who has worked at a historic site is familiar with the myths and folklore that build up. How should we deal with these myths when they are beloved by the interpretive staff and public alike? What if the myth is integral to the public’s understanding of the place? One suggestion was to sort out which of the myths are outright falsehoods and which could quite possibly be true but cannot be authenticated. Some of these myths could continue to be included in interpretation as long as they are identified as folklore and not fact.
Kelly McKinley of the Art Gallery of Ontario was the final provocateur of the group. She described what happened at her museum when an installation artist created an artwork in a historic site associated with the museum. The artwork mimicked an archeological dig and created the story of a fictitious person—and her intriguing activities—who purportedly once lived in the house. The fact that the piece was art and not “real” was not revealed to the interpretive staff of the museum or the visitors until the exhibition ended.
This last example of a museum’s struggle with authenticity was perhaps the most provocative. Audience members responded to the story in a variety of ways and in the Q&A expressed the range of emotions that the piece brought out in them. Some were quite offended and felt that the artwork undermined museum work and the work of archeologists and anthropologists. They pointed out that museums benefit from being highly trusted institutions and questioned whether it is wise to play with the public’s trust. Other participants found this artwork to be powerful its ability to evoke the past. Even a secondary experience of hearing about the artwork caused us to question, feel strong emotions, and wake up. Is this not exactly what this type of art is meant to do? Why can’t history harness this technique as an interpretive tool?
All three presenters gave us a great deal to think about with regard to boundaries, authenticity of objects and experiences, and what it means in diverse kinds of museums.
Ann Caspari specializes in early childhood in museums and currently working with 3 to 8 year olds at the National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall. She coauthored a book on inquiry learning with Carol Kuhlthau, a professor of Library Studies from Rutgers University and Leslie Maniotes, a curriculum specialist, titled Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century. Ann serves on the MER board.
Contemplating our Practice
Network Summer 2009
By Stacy Fuller, Head of Education, Amon Carter Museum
At the National Art Education Association’s annual conference in Minneapolis this April there was one word that kept running through my head as I attended sessions: reflect. Reflect as an action word, not showy or ineffectual, but quiet, considerate, and constant.
During Kelly McKinley’s keynote address at the museum division pre-conference, which discussed the Art Gallery of Ontario’s visitor-centered installation, she challenged each of us to consider our museum’s core values and how we could address them as an entire staff on a regular basis. In the session Art Museum Education: What Do We Value? led by Victoria Ramirez from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and William Crow from the Met, I was inspired to think about each audience that my museum’s education programs serve and contemplate what I value about what we’re doing now and what we could be doing in the future. David Ebitz’s session, Questioning the Litany: Ten False (?) Truths about Museum Education, pushed me to consider what I actually believe about my personal practice and professional place as a museum educator—both institutionally and in the field—and reminded me that the beliefs that I hold (whether founded or not) can remarkably impact my effectiveness. And after Dabney Hailey’s session, A Collaborative Approach to Installing a University Art Museum’s Permanent Collection: The Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College, I left with a renewed appreciation of semantics and how the language that I use within the education department and with curators, administrators, and our board of directors has the possibility of uniting visions that, because the terms we use are often so different, at first appear to be at odds.
Many conference sessions showcase best practices in programming that inspire attendees to develop new initiatives of their own. However, during this time when the economy has forced many museum educators to struggle to maintain established programs, let alone start new ones, the idea of reflection seemed especially pertinent. How much of my time as a museum educator is spent reflecting on my practice and encouraging my team to do the same compared to delivering programs? Do we take enough time to truly consider how we can best serve various audiences and how we can modify existing programs to better serve them as they evolve? Do we leave the “big picture” reflection of strategic planning and evaluation to other staff members, or are we making our voice heard as those who should always be the first champion of visitors?
As I further investigated the word reflect, another definition crossed my path: to bend or fold back. After considering our practice and values, it is often necessary to rethink or modify our beliefs…in other words, to bend or fold back. By doing so, we’ll create a cycle that will consistently improve us as museum educators and, in turn, help us better serve the collections and public that we love so much.
Stacy Fuller is the Head of Education at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, where she oversees all aspects of programs and services and specializes in educator and accessible programs. She holds a M.A. in art history and a B.A. in museum management. She joined the board of the Museum Education Roundtable in October 2008.
By Stacy Fuller, Head of Education, Amon Carter Museum
At the National Art Education Association’s annual conference in Minneapolis this April there was one word that kept running through my head as I attended sessions: reflect. Reflect as an action word, not showy or ineffectual, but quiet, considerate, and constant.
During Kelly McKinley’s keynote address at the museum division pre-conference, which discussed the Art Gallery of Ontario’s visitor-centered installation, she challenged each of us to consider our museum’s core values and how we could address them as an entire staff on a regular basis. In the session Art Museum Education: What Do We Value? led by Victoria Ramirez from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and William Crow from the Met, I was inspired to think about each audience that my museum’s education programs serve and contemplate what I value about what we’re doing now and what we could be doing in the future. David Ebitz’s session, Questioning the Litany: Ten False (?) Truths about Museum Education, pushed me to consider what I actually believe about my personal practice and professional place as a museum educator—both institutionally and in the field—and reminded me that the beliefs that I hold (whether founded or not) can remarkably impact my effectiveness. And after Dabney Hailey’s session, A Collaborative Approach to Installing a University Art Museum’s Permanent Collection: The Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College, I left with a renewed appreciation of semantics and how the language that I use within the education department and with curators, administrators, and our board of directors has the possibility of uniting visions that, because the terms we use are often so different, at first appear to be at odds.
Many conference sessions showcase best practices in programming that inspire attendees to develop new initiatives of their own. However, during this time when the economy has forced many museum educators to struggle to maintain established programs, let alone start new ones, the idea of reflection seemed especially pertinent. How much of my time as a museum educator is spent reflecting on my practice and encouraging my team to do the same compared to delivering programs? Do we take enough time to truly consider how we can best serve various audiences and how we can modify existing programs to better serve them as they evolve? Do we leave the “big picture” reflection of strategic planning and evaluation to other staff members, or are we making our voice heard as those who should always be the first champion of visitors?
As I further investigated the word reflect, another definition crossed my path: to bend or fold back. After considering our practice and values, it is often necessary to rethink or modify our beliefs…in other words, to bend or fold back. By doing so, we’ll create a cycle that will consistently improve us as museum educators and, in turn, help us better serve the collections and public that we love so much.
Stacy Fuller is the Head of Education at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, where she oversees all aspects of programs and services and specializes in educator and accessible programs. She holds a M.A. in art history and a B.A. in museum management. She joined the board of the Museum Education Roundtable in October 2008.
Museum Education: Lectures Out, Conversations In!
Network Summer 2009
By Wanessa Tillman, Museum Studies Student, Tufts University
Review of “Museum Education 101: Program Development and Presentation,” chaired by
Jim Hakala, Assistant Director, Museum of Natural History, University of Colorado, at the 2009 AAM conference.
Being new to the field of museum education, I was glad to find a session that offered a presentation on the basic approach museums take towards education. I was pleasantly surprised when this session exceeded my expectations by being so practical and engaging. The session revolved around the concept that the primary goal of museum education “is to facilitate the interaction between the visitor and the objects and ideas of the collection.” Not only did Jim and presenter Erik Holland of the Minnesota Historical Society talk about this on a conceptual level through the ideas of Freeman Tilden in Interpreting our Heritage, but they also provided useful tools that can help accomplish this goal.
Both presenters firmly believe that museum education is about much more than filling visitor’s heads with information. It is really about finding ways to help visitors connect with objects and having information flow from that interaction. Jim Hakala is an excellent and engaging speaker. He shared stories from his life to illustrate how important it is to use techniques that bring visitor and object together in order to create a more meaningful experience and how, just as importantly, opportunities to engage visitors can be lost when interactive techniques are not used. I really appreciated the part of the session when Jim presented the audience with an object and asked each of us for one word to describe our initial reaction to it. We all came up with different words, which helped to demonstrate that a single object can mean different things to different people. The presenters also demonstrated how meanings can evolve through interpretation. When we learned that what most of us thought to be just an ordinary rock was actually a chunk from the Berlin wall, our feelings about it changed completely.
Erik Holland also used examples from his extensive experience to show other methods of helping visitors use what they know to connect to objects, places and events of the past. He told us that he often has to interpret events in places that no longer have any physical structures. In one instance, he had to demonstrate the impact of the plague on a small community. Standing in a circle he gave each student an important role in the town such as general store keeper or farmer. He then asked a percentage of students that represented the impact of the plague on the town sit down. The remaining students had to figure out how the community would function without their neighbors in some of the vital roles that were lost. This creative method had more impact and was more meaningful than if this information had been presented as pure lecture.
The session definitely lived up to its description of providing practical “how-to” techniques for creating education programs. During the session we walked through a program development tool and a program planning tool that demonstrated two different approaches to program development. Both planning strategies achieve the same goal but are structured differently to accommodate types of programs and personal style. These helpful tools are still available as downloads on AAM’s website. (http://www.projectionnet.com/AAMHandouts2009/PDFbyday.aspx. Choose “Saturday” and the “Museum Education 101” and follow the prompts.)
Sadly, an additional presenter, Mary Kay Cunningham, could not attend the session. However, Erik and Jim noted that her book, The Interpreters Training Manual for Museums, is an excellent resource. They also recommended a free, on-line course called “Foundations of Interpretation” provided by the National Park Service that can be accessed at http://www.parktraining.org/.
This session filled my toolbox with tangible resources and served to reinforce the methods taught in my graduate school courses as well as at a major museum where I am a volunteer museum teacher. This was hands-down my favorite session at the conference.
Wanessa Tillman is moving into the museum education field after many years in corporate education in the financial services industry.
By Wanessa Tillman, Museum Studies Student, Tufts University
Review of “Museum Education 101: Program Development and Presentation,” chaired by
Jim Hakala, Assistant Director, Museum of Natural History, University of Colorado, at the 2009 AAM conference.
Being new to the field of museum education, I was glad to find a session that offered a presentation on the basic approach museums take towards education. I was pleasantly surprised when this session exceeded my expectations by being so practical and engaging. The session revolved around the concept that the primary goal of museum education “is to facilitate the interaction between the visitor and the objects and ideas of the collection.” Not only did Jim and presenter Erik Holland of the Minnesota Historical Society talk about this on a conceptual level through the ideas of Freeman Tilden in Interpreting our Heritage, but they also provided useful tools that can help accomplish this goal.
Both presenters firmly believe that museum education is about much more than filling visitor’s heads with information. It is really about finding ways to help visitors connect with objects and having information flow from that interaction. Jim Hakala is an excellent and engaging speaker. He shared stories from his life to illustrate how important it is to use techniques that bring visitor and object together in order to create a more meaningful experience and how, just as importantly, opportunities to engage visitors can be lost when interactive techniques are not used. I really appreciated the part of the session when Jim presented the audience with an object and asked each of us for one word to describe our initial reaction to it. We all came up with different words, which helped to demonstrate that a single object can mean different things to different people. The presenters also demonstrated how meanings can evolve through interpretation. When we learned that what most of us thought to be just an ordinary rock was actually a chunk from the Berlin wall, our feelings about it changed completely.
Erik Holland also used examples from his extensive experience to show other methods of helping visitors use what they know to connect to objects, places and events of the past. He told us that he often has to interpret events in places that no longer have any physical structures. In one instance, he had to demonstrate the impact of the plague on a small community. Standing in a circle he gave each student an important role in the town such as general store keeper or farmer. He then asked a percentage of students that represented the impact of the plague on the town sit down. The remaining students had to figure out how the community would function without their neighbors in some of the vital roles that were lost. This creative method had more impact and was more meaningful than if this information had been presented as pure lecture.
The session definitely lived up to its description of providing practical “how-to” techniques for creating education programs. During the session we walked through a program development tool and a program planning tool that demonstrated two different approaches to program development. Both planning strategies achieve the same goal but are structured differently to accommodate types of programs and personal style. These helpful tools are still available as downloads on AAM’s website. (http://www.projectionnet.com/AAMHandouts2009/PDFbyday.aspx. Choose “Saturday” and the “Museum Education 101” and follow the prompts.)
Sadly, an additional presenter, Mary Kay Cunningham, could not attend the session. However, Erik and Jim noted that her book, The Interpreters Training Manual for Museums, is an excellent resource. They also recommended a free, on-line course called “Foundations of Interpretation” provided by the National Park Service that can be accessed at http://www.parktraining.org/.
This session filled my toolbox with tangible resources and served to reinforce the methods taught in my graduate school courses as well as at a major museum where I am a volunteer museum teacher. This was hands-down my favorite session at the conference.
Wanessa Tillman is moving into the museum education field after many years in corporate education in the financial services industry.
Jeopardy: The Game and The Session
Network Summer 2009
By Julie Rose, West Baton Rouge Museum, Port Allen, LA
Review of “Museo-jeopardy: Are You Smarter than a Museum Technologist?” Chaired by Douglas Hegley, Deputy Chief Technology Officer, Metropolitan Museum of Art, at the 2009 AAM conference.
I have been thinking more critically about the conference sessions that promise to be different in format. As a long time museum educator I am especially keen on learning about new information delivery models. The 2009 AAM meeting in Philadelphia included an array of relevant and exciting sessions and one in particular piqued my interest because it promised a new session style. I highlighted the listing in my program and decided to attend, even though the subject matter, technology, was not my field of expertise. I was ready to stretch my comfort zone and was the first person seated for the session, “Museo-jeopardy: Are You Smarter than a Museum Technologist?” I knew the answer; I was not smarter than a museum technologist.
The session opened with the theme music from the television game show and the session chair, Douglas Hegley, welcomed the audience. He introduced the panelists who competed for points by selecting answers from the projected game board and offered the correct questions (like the game show). Encouraged by applause signs and sigh signs the audience quickly engaged, cheering on and later questioning the panelists. The technology language, words like crowd sourcing, social tagging, augmented reality, Audio Boo, and jpeg 2000, flowed easily among panelists and audience members, while I was jotting down key words to Google later that day. In addition to a small collection of mildly useful factoids about museum technology, I learned that museum technology was a far deeper field than I had imagined. Museum technology clearly rests within the world of large museums that can support highly skilled IT staff who are creative agents solving multiple problems and developing methods for museum workers throughout the institution. It was eye opening for me to see that while I have been working for three decades in small and mid size museums, a simultaneous universe of larger museums has been engaged in developing museum technology that is so much more than the data systems, exhibit genies, promotional tools, and word processing I was familiar with. It was the same kind of epiphany one might experience after graduating to realize that you still have so much to learn!
In regards to the session format, I think there are possibilities in game-show-learning-strategies for conference sessions and perhaps in museum settings. Learning with laughter is an emotionally charged kind of learning that relaxes audience members enough to stop thinking about what they know and to start thinking about what they don’t know and now want to learn about.
Julie Rose is the director of the West Baton Rouge Museum in Port Allen, Louisiana. www.westbatonrougemuseum.com. In addition to serving on the MER board, she is a member of the Southeastern Museum Conference 2010 Program Committee, chairs the AASLH 2011 Conference Program Committee, and sits on the board of the Lagniappe Dulcimer Society.
By Julie Rose, West Baton Rouge Museum, Port Allen, LA
Review of “Museo-jeopardy: Are You Smarter than a Museum Technologist?” Chaired by Douglas Hegley, Deputy Chief Technology Officer, Metropolitan Museum of Art, at the 2009 AAM conference.
I have been thinking more critically about the conference sessions that promise to be different in format. As a long time museum educator I am especially keen on learning about new information delivery models. The 2009 AAM meeting in Philadelphia included an array of relevant and exciting sessions and one in particular piqued my interest because it promised a new session style. I highlighted the listing in my program and decided to attend, even though the subject matter, technology, was not my field of expertise. I was ready to stretch my comfort zone and was the first person seated for the session, “Museo-jeopardy: Are You Smarter than a Museum Technologist?” I knew the answer; I was not smarter than a museum technologist.
The session opened with the theme music from the television game show and the session chair, Douglas Hegley, welcomed the audience. He introduced the panelists who competed for points by selecting answers from the projected game board and offered the correct questions (like the game show). Encouraged by applause signs and sigh signs the audience quickly engaged, cheering on and later questioning the panelists. The technology language, words like crowd sourcing, social tagging, augmented reality, Audio Boo, and jpeg 2000, flowed easily among panelists and audience members, while I was jotting down key words to Google later that day. In addition to a small collection of mildly useful factoids about museum technology, I learned that museum technology was a far deeper field than I had imagined. Museum technology clearly rests within the world of large museums that can support highly skilled IT staff who are creative agents solving multiple problems and developing methods for museum workers throughout the institution. It was eye opening for me to see that while I have been working for three decades in small and mid size museums, a simultaneous universe of larger museums has been engaged in developing museum technology that is so much more than the data systems, exhibit genies, promotional tools, and word processing I was familiar with. It was the same kind of epiphany one might experience after graduating to realize that you still have so much to learn!
In regards to the session format, I think there are possibilities in game-show-learning-strategies for conference sessions and perhaps in museum settings. Learning with laughter is an emotionally charged kind of learning that relaxes audience members enough to stop thinking about what they know and to start thinking about what they don’t know and now want to learn about.
Julie Rose is the director of the West Baton Rouge Museum in Port Allen, Louisiana. www.westbatonrougemuseum.com. In addition to serving on the MER board, she is a member of the Southeastern Museum Conference 2010 Program Committee, chairs the AASLH 2011 Conference Program Committee, and sits on the board of the Lagniappe Dulcimer Society.
Say it Loud, Say it Proud
Network Summer 2009
By Tania Said, Curator of Education, Ball State University Museum of Art
Tips gleaned from “Public Speaking Workshop,” co-presented by George Buss, Director of Experience and Education, Minnetrista and president of IMTAL, and Paul Taylor, Traveling Science Show/Community Outreach Manager, Franklin Institute, and past IMTAL president at the 2009 AAM conference.
As educators, we do a fair amount of teaching and public speaking in our jobs, so it came as a surprise when I learned more than the usual at an International Museum Theatre Alliance (IMTAL) session I attended at the American Association of Museums Annual Meeting in Philadelphia this spring.
Since I was doing “A Day in the Life” session about my work right afterwards, I thought I would gain some valuable tips by going to hear some public speaking reminders first.
First of all the presenters themselves were the models of good speaking and energetic to boot at 8 a.m.! Both confided that neither of them had had their coffee, but herbal tea (without caffeine) or water are good instead. They advised avoiding orange juice because of the mucus buildup, which impedes how your voice carries, which was more than I wanted to really know, but hey, I remember it now.
They gave many tips. Ground yourself mentally and physically first (if you know yoga, think mountain pose)—the solid footing of confidence is not to be underestimated. To rev up your vocal chords do mouth stretches, and open and close your mouth to help vowel annunciation. You also want to massage your neck where the base of the tongue is (it’s more tense than you think!) so that good clear consonant sounds emerge. These are especially handy to do when you are waiting to speak, though you may want to choose a moment when you cannot be seen.
Microphones are often tricky for speakers. The speakers reminded us to take the time to adjust it to the right height. Having a microphone directly in front of your mouth limits audience members from understanding all you have to say because seeing helps listeners to better understand what you are saying. Since you have that microphone, you always want to repeat the questions back. I was amazed how many people did not do that in other sessions.
Me, I can be a fast talker. So when the presenters took a drink break to relax and slow down I saw that it really is not that much time at all when you are sitting in the audience.
How will I use all this valuable information? In addition to helping my own presentations, I will do a public speaking review as one of my early docent trainings, and prepare a speaking tip sheet for all my presenters at public programs. It may seem like overkill since they usually know to speak with passion, keep their talks within the time limit, and master their material, but given my own experience a few tips never hurt.
So the irony of all of this is that I had to travel all the way to Philadelphia to hear and learn from a fellow museum colleague from Muncie, George Buss. I even know his work—he’s presented to my docents about incorporating theater techniques in their tours—and yet I still learned something new. I guess we all can stand to learn more about the knowledge and skills of our colleagues!
Having not attended the conference for four years, it was good to see so many good sessions in the areas of interpretation, technology, and creativity, but this public speaking session was so specific and immediately transferable that it will stay with me for a long time.
Of course this is only the tip of the iceberg of what was said about public speaking. Best of all for those who could not be there, IMTAL has a handout on their website that they offer to anyone free of charge, at http://www.imtal.org/ . Currently it’s on the homepage under “What’s New at IMTAL.”
Tania Said is a board member of the Museum Education Roundtable and is having fun this summer offering a new program called “Mirth in the Museum” with laughing yoga and a look at some of the humorous works of art in the collection. Bring on the hilarity and merriment!
By Tania Said, Curator of Education, Ball State University Museum of Art
Tips gleaned from “Public Speaking Workshop,” co-presented by George Buss, Director of Experience and Education, Minnetrista and president of IMTAL, and Paul Taylor, Traveling Science Show/Community Outreach Manager, Franklin Institute, and past IMTAL president at the 2009 AAM conference.
As educators, we do a fair amount of teaching and public speaking in our jobs, so it came as a surprise when I learned more than the usual at an International Museum Theatre Alliance (IMTAL) session I attended at the American Association of Museums Annual Meeting in Philadelphia this spring.
Since I was doing “A Day in the Life” session about my work right afterwards, I thought I would gain some valuable tips by going to hear some public speaking reminders first.
First of all the presenters themselves were the models of good speaking and energetic to boot at 8 a.m.! Both confided that neither of them had had their coffee, but herbal tea (without caffeine) or water are good instead. They advised avoiding orange juice because of the mucus buildup, which impedes how your voice carries, which was more than I wanted to really know, but hey, I remember it now.
They gave many tips. Ground yourself mentally and physically first (if you know yoga, think mountain pose)—the solid footing of confidence is not to be underestimated. To rev up your vocal chords do mouth stretches, and open and close your mouth to help vowel annunciation. You also want to massage your neck where the base of the tongue is (it’s more tense than you think!) so that good clear consonant sounds emerge. These are especially handy to do when you are waiting to speak, though you may want to choose a moment when you cannot be seen.
Microphones are often tricky for speakers. The speakers reminded us to take the time to adjust it to the right height. Having a microphone directly in front of your mouth limits audience members from understanding all you have to say because seeing helps listeners to better understand what you are saying. Since you have that microphone, you always want to repeat the questions back. I was amazed how many people did not do that in other sessions.
Me, I can be a fast talker. So when the presenters took a drink break to relax and slow down I saw that it really is not that much time at all when you are sitting in the audience.
How will I use all this valuable information? In addition to helping my own presentations, I will do a public speaking review as one of my early docent trainings, and prepare a speaking tip sheet for all my presenters at public programs. It may seem like overkill since they usually know to speak with passion, keep their talks within the time limit, and master their material, but given my own experience a few tips never hurt.
So the irony of all of this is that I had to travel all the way to Philadelphia to hear and learn from a fellow museum colleague from Muncie, George Buss. I even know his work—he’s presented to my docents about incorporating theater techniques in their tours—and yet I still learned something new. I guess we all can stand to learn more about the knowledge and skills of our colleagues!
Having not attended the conference for four years, it was good to see so many good sessions in the areas of interpretation, technology, and creativity, but this public speaking session was so specific and immediately transferable that it will stay with me for a long time.
Of course this is only the tip of the iceberg of what was said about public speaking. Best of all for those who could not be there, IMTAL has a handout on their website that they offer to anyone free of charge, at http://www.imtal.org/ . Currently it’s on the homepage under “What’s New at IMTAL.”
Tania Said is a board member of the Museum Education Roundtable and is having fun this summer offering a new program called “Mirth in the Museum” with laughing yoga and a look at some of the humorous works of art in the collection. Bring on the hilarity and merriment!
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