NEW Cheapbook in the Works!

Exciting news!  I've been talking with the fine folks from The Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) and I can confirm that a new volume of the Exhibit Cheapbooks is in the works!  (It will be a "special"edition including new material, edited by me, but that's all I can say for right now, so stay tuned!)

The current ASTC Exhibit Cheapbooks are three separate collections of inexpensive exhibit ideas contributed from colleagues around the world.  They are a must for any exhibit developer's reference shelf, and have continued to be popular "best sellers" for ASTC Publications over the years.

If you don't already own one (or all!) of the Exhibit Cheapbooks, ASTC is now offering a special "bundle deal" for a limited time to get all three volumes for a special price.  So click on over to the ASTC Publications website for more details.

Last but not least, I'm on the lookout for folks who would like to contribute their own inexpensive exhibit ideas to the next Cheapbook edition.  If you're interested, or would like more details, just send me an email.



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Unpacking the Objects and their Stories. Takeaways from the 2013 AAM Conference.

I'm still buzzing a bit from the interplay of people and ideas (and crabcakes!) that I found in Baltimore during the 2013 American Alliance of Museums (AAM) Annual Meeting.

Normally I ignore the theme of most museum conferences, but this year's AAM theme, The Power of Story, resonated with me because of two particular sessions that bookended my experiences at the conference, and that have continued to make me think deeply about those two essential elements that great museum experiences provide: stories and stuff.

The first session, "Is it real? Who cares?" delved into the interplay between whether an object is perceived as "real" or "fake" and whether that notion has any impact whatsoever on whether a visitor's experience(s) with that object are successful or not.

During the session, different objects were described and projected onto a large screen at the front of the room.  Examples of objects included things like "Sue" the T Rex, the historic ship U.S.S. Constitution, or a recreation of a historic synagogue ceiling. 

At the same time, members of the audience were given smaller images of the same objects mounted on foamcore and were asked to weigh in on whether the object/story was more toward the "Fake" or "Real" end of the spectrum, and more toward the "Works" or "Doesn't Work" end of the spectrum, in terms of visitor engagement.  After each person holding an image weighed in on their impressions of the Fake/Real and Works/Doesn't Work continuum at the microphone, they went to stand at the front of the room and serve as a data point in a big 3D matrix.  (The front wall of the room was the Fake/Real axis, while the side walls were the Works/Doesn't Work axis.)

It was Uber Museum Geeky, but also lots of fun, especially once everyone was standing at the front holding their images and people from the audience could comment and move the human "data points" around to refine the big 3D matrix of stories and stuff.  (See image from the session at the top of this post --- that's me holding the U.S.S. Constitution firmly in the Real/Works quadrant.)

One thing that struck me was that at the beginning of filling in the matrix things were really clumped up toward the Fake/Doesn't Work part of the matrix, but after continued discussion, things spread more evenly between Fake and Real, and much more toward the Works for visitors end of the spectrum.

It really made me think how often in the museum world that we fetishize objects and their "authenticity" while sacrificing the primary visitor experience(s). 

The organizers of this session created a "Is it real? Who cares?" Tumblr site that they used while preparing their session, but which they have also opened up to continued conversation amongst colleagues on the topics that came out in the session discussion.

The other session that really stood out for me (and that connected in so many ways to the Is it real? session) was a dialogue between Elizabeth Merritt, founding director of the Center for the Future of Museums, and Rob Walker, one of the creators of the Significant Objects Project.  The session was entitled (unsurprisingly) "Significant Objects."

Walker started with a brief presentation about the idea behind Significant Objects, which I would summarize as a way to test the theory that an object (of fairly limited "value" like something you could buy at a garage sale) could be invested with significance by attaching a fictitious story to it.

Some of the stories for the first 100 Significant Objects were written by famous authors (like Jonathan Lethem and Bruce Sterling) while other "object stories" were written by less famous writers.  In the end, all of the objects + stories were put up for sale on EBay to determine whether people would pay more for these objects coupled to clearly fictional stories than they would for the objects by themselves.  It turns out that people did pay more for the objects with stories, but really you should check out the entire Significant Objects website to get a better sense of the entire scope of the project.

In the same way I usually don't pay attention to conference themes, I've rarely purchased recordings of conference sessions, but in this case I'm making an exception just because I found the conversations and references presented (especially by Merritt and Walker) so valuable and meaty.  Two in particular related to this thread of narrative and object include the book "Taking Things Seriously" written by Significant Objects co-creator Joshua Glenn, and the Museum of Broken Relationships.

You can go to this section of the AAM website to purchase recordings of conference sessions, including this "Significant Objects" session which happened at 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday, May 22nd.

As I departed Baltimore, I was left with the overwhelming feeling of the importance of objects in museums and visitor experiences, but only when coupled with strong narrative contexts, not as ends unto themselves. And that's really The Power of Story.



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Learning Journeys: Museum Exhibit Design Roadmaps

This is the start of a set of "Road Trip" posts, since there are lots of professional treks coming up for me.  I'll make a point of reporting back what I've observed and found out along the way for ExhibiTricks readers, but in the interim, here's just my May itinerary with some related resource links.  Think of these resources and links as Museum Exhibit Design "Roadmaps."

I'll actually start my trips tomorrow in Philadelphia with an exhibitSEED workshop, considering: What Makes a Sustainable Exhibit?   This is a great topic, and certainly one that museum folks should be thinking about, but it's a bit abstract isn't it? The nice thing about the exhibitSEED Website is that it provides resources for specific, actionable ways to become more green in your exhibit practice.

That's a nice segue to Baltimore, where I'll be next week for the annual AAM Conference. It will be a bit of a Manic Monday for me, as I'll be presenting in three sessions on May 20th (and going to the NAME party that night!)  I'll certainly be referencing one of exhibitSEED's aforementioned resources, The Green Exhibit Checklist in two of those sessions.

The first session, Small(er) and green(er): Sustainability on a Limited Budget, will provide practical information on expanding sustainability for all museums, but especially smaller institutions.
This session will take place in Room 314 starting at 8:45 a.m.

The second AAM session, The Green Exhibit Checklist: Incorporating Sustainability into Exhibit Development, will be a "deep dive" into the Checklist itself and how to apply it to your own particular situation(s).  This session will take place in Room 336 starting at 1:45 p.m.

And last, but not least,  I'll be teaming up with the incredible Rachel Hellenga to take control of one of the tables at the NAME-sponsored session, Trending Topics in Exhibit Development and Design: Speed Networking Style.  There will be a series of topical tables set up for groups to rotate through at ten-minute intervals.  Sounds like fun!   Rachel and I will cover the topic "Creating Exhibits on a Shoestring Budget."   The session is scheduled to start at 2:45 p.m. locale: TBD.

So come join any of these sessions if you'll be in Baltimore for AAM!

I'll close out my travels (and the green-related theme!) in May by attending the Leahy Center Environmental Summit at ECHO in Burlington, Vermont.   The Summit, entitled Blue Water in Green Mountains, will focus on issues related to water and how best to increase awareness, inspire new behaviors, and encourage collaboration to promote positive environmental practices related to this essential resource.  The Summit Website is a wealth of links and resources on broad environmental topics.

So off I go!  As I mentioned above, I'll be posting about cool stuff that pops up at each of these events here on ExhibiTricks, so stay tuned!


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Reimagining Children's Museums? Recapping InterActivity 2013

Last week, the international tribe of Children's Museums professionals converged on Pittsburgh to assemble under the banner of the InterActivity 2013 conference theme of Reimagining Children's Museums.

First off, kudos to the Association of Children's Museum (ACM) staff and the staff of the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh for pulling off such an audacious event in such a graceful way.  The Children's Museum looked great (all spiffed up for the out of town company!) and if there is ever a Nobel prize awarded for museum directors, I would definitely put Jane Werner on the short list.

The organizational format of this year's conference was a little different than normal --- folks from outside the traditional bounds of the Children's Museum field presented to us, and helped us to rethink, and yes reimagine a bit.

However, I only found part of this reimagining exercise successful.

The first part of the reimagining happened on the first day of the conference when ALL of us marched over to the Byham Theater to engage in something called "Small Talks."  I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive at first --- we're ALL going to be in this same theater, ALL DAY, watching/listening to the SAME presenters?!?!?   I felt a little trapped.  But I gave it a try.

IT WAS GREAT!

Having the speakers and performers present to us at the Byham was like what it must be like to attend a TED Conference.  The speakers were thoughtful, the performers engaging, and I really felt inspired and able to "reimagine" a bit.

Some particular speakers whose work and presentations resonated with me included:

Frans Johansson  spoke about the differences between "strategy" and "serendipity" and how we need to be open and prepared to exercise both of those skills in our professional and personal lives.

Luis von Ahn, the inventor of Captcha spoke about leveraging computers and humans to solve big problems.

Jesse Schell, who in his "day job" designs video games and is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, entertained us with his circus skills.

Vanessa German is a passionate artist committed to working with her community in many different ways. (Plus her spoken word piece to end the day kicked butt!)

So that was all good. Great first day, lots of good conversations with people about the presenters and the ideas in their presentations.

The next day was a traditional conference day, but the culminating session of the InterActivity Conference was the "Reimagining Design Seminar" on Thursday afternoon.  I'll just state upfront that this particular aspect of the reimagining theme left me cold, and completely befuddled.  The premise is/was that four international and interdisciplinary teams of designers would present their models for realizing the "21st Century Children's Museum."

I could barely sit still in my seat because of how agitated these presentations made me feel.  It was like bad performance art.  I kept thinking "how much money was spent on all of this?!?"  Perhaps the idea was to push people out of their comfort zone, but honestly my only takeaway was "what the heck was that all supposed to be about?"  A children's museum could be like a sponge? Puh-leeze!

I'm sorry to be so negative about something that sincere people obviously spent a great deal of time on, but that's my honest reaction.   (I'd gratefully provide space, and equal time, on this blog for someone more deeply involved in the process to present what it really was about.)

So, in sum, I learned from InterActivity 2013 that reimagining is NOT a straightforward business.  Perhaps we all just need to pick and choose from the things that do (and do not!) resonate with us, and use these ideas and people and experiences to sharpen our own professional practice.

Were you at InterActivity 2013?  If so, what were you takeaways?  Let us know in the "Comments" Section below this post.




Don't miss out on any ExhibiTricks posts! It's easy to get updates via email or your favorite news reader. Just click the "Sign up for Free ExhibiTricks Blog Updates" link on the upper right side of the blog.

P.S. If you receive ExhibiTricks via email (or Facebook or LinkedIn) you will need to click HERE to go to the main ExhibiTricks page to make comments or view multimedia features (like videos!)