1,000 Posts! (How Small Steps Add Up to Something Big)
Back in 2007, the iPhone was brand new, “Web 2.0” was the hot buzzword at every museum conference, and I sat down to write the first ExhibiTricks post.
I didn’t have a grand plan. I just wanted a place to share ideas, tricks, and the occasional rant with fellow museum folks — the kind of things we usually only talk about in the hallway between conference sessions.
Fast forward to today, and this post you’re reading is number 1,000. (Cue the confetti cannon!)
No Giant Leaps Required
Here’s the thing: nobody sits down and writes 1,000 blog posts. You write one. Then, a few days later, you write another one. Over time, those small, regular steps stack up into something much bigger than you ever imagined at the start.
It’s the same idea that runs through the Exhibits Cheapbook philosophy: you don’t need a huge budget or a perfect master plan to make something worthwhile. You need to start, and then keep going.
And I think that lesson applies to a lot of what we do in museums:
Prototyping. One quick cardboard mockup on the floor teaches you more than a month of meetings. Do it again next week, and the week after that.
Visitor observation. Fifteen minutes of watching people at an exhibit, done regularly, adds up to a deep understanding of how your galleries actually work.
Professional growth. Read one article, attend one conference session, have one conversation with a colleague at another institution. Repeat for a career.
Building collections and community. One donated object, one new volunteer, one returning family at a time.
Small steps aren’t the “lesser” path. Very often, they’re the only path to big payoffs.
A Few “Greatest Hits” Along the Way
One of the fun parts of hitting a milestone like this is looking back at the trail of small steps. Here are a few ExhibiTricks favorites from over the years, and each one, in its own way, is about doing something small that pays off big:
ELVIS The Exhibit Prototyper? The King had a few things to teach us about prototyping: less talk, more trying things out with visitors.
Many Ways To Say Thanks. Gratitude is one of the smallest (and cheapest!) steps you can take, and it pays dividends with staff, volunteers, donors, and visitors.
What’s The Big Idea? Before you build anything, can you say what your exhibit is about in a single sentence? That one small step shapes everything that follows.
Hayao Miyazaki’s Museum Manifesto. The great animator’s vision for the Ghibli Museum is still one of the best museum “mission statements” I’ve ever read.
Are Exhibit Timelines So Boring Because of the Lines? Sometimes one small shift in how you look at a familiar exhibit element opens up a whole world of better possibilities.
2 Little Words Jugaad and Можело: two small words about focusing on what can be done. (Which is basically how a blog gets to 1,000 posts!)
Thank YOU!
A blog is really a conversation, and the best part of these nearly two decades has been hearing from all of you. Through comments, emails, and those “Hey, I read your post about…” moments at conferences around the world.
Thanks for reading, sharing, arguing, and (most importantly) trying things out in your own museums. ExhibiTricks wouldn’t have reached 1,000 posts without YOU.
So, onward to post #1,001!
Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!
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