Presenting AAM 2018

(As is usual for me, it takes me a few days to decompress from going full blast at a conference and then I can start organizing my thoughts into blogs and ideas.  Not sure why, but it's how my brain seems to work- which is why this blog and the next few are coming to you a week after the conference!) 

Heritage Square, Phoenix AZ

May 6-9 was the annual American Alliance of Museums conference, held this year in Phoenix, Arizona.  I've been to many other conferences and presented at conferences over the years (I actually connected with the IVDM at my first Society of American Archivists conference just after grad school) but this was my first AAM convention.  I met some great people, attended some good sessions, got blown away every time I walked onto the Expo floor, and am now trying to piece it all together in 'real' life.





I was honored to be included on  a panel where I got to share my experience developing field trips from scratch alongside other small museums.

"Small Museums/Large Classrooms: Three Solutions for expanding field trips at your institution"

This session was moderated by Jennifer Hance, the Director of Education at Heritage Square in Phoenix.  She put out an email last year about the topic because she was looking for ideas on how to expand her field trip programs and wanted to see what other places had done.  Megan Murphy, Visitor Services and Interpretation Coordinator at Golden History Museum & Park, and Tiffani Egnor, Curator of Education at Chandler Museum, presented as well.  Unlike other conference presentations I've done, this one was more of a 'talk show' format instead of each person getting up and talking about their institution by themselves.  We didn't stand in front of a podium but took the mike and stood at the front of the stage to talk-granted, a little awkward when you're looking at notes to remind you of something you wanted to mention, but much more conducive to spontaneous thoughts and (I think) it encouraged the sense of connectedness we were trying to make with the audience. We probably had about 60 people attend out session and it was really encouraging the number of questions and feedback we got towards the end, and the number of people who stayed after the session to talk with us.  I loved getting to meet these incredible women, share ideas with them, and present with them!

Tiffani Egnor, Me, Jennifer Hance, & Megan Murphy- AAM Presenters!

I'm not going to repeat the entire session here, I don't think that's what people want from me at this blog. Though if you want the slides or more details, feel free to email me (ivdmuseum@gmail.com). Each of us presented on what I think were good ideas at our institutions, but the main messages we wanted to send were:

Hands-on, interactive- and in nature! 

• Don't be afraid to try new things.  Experiment.  If one idea doesn't work, get feedback from co-workers and teachers about how to turn it into something that does work. 
•  Don't talk at kids, talk to them.  Be interactive.  
• If you think it's boring, guaranteed the kids do to.  Don't be boring.  Learning is fun, and the more fun it is the more you learn and remember. 
• Start out with your grade learning objectives, but as you go along listen to what the kids are asking.  Be flexible.  As long as they are asking questions and being engaged, they are learning and you are succeeding in your field trip.

  

  Interactive is the key to a successful field trip!

  
  
  
  

Iteration, Iteration

Angelina Coble with new desert tortoise test panels

If there is one thing I've learned working with Neal Hitch these past few years it is "iteration, iteration, iteration".  Did something work? How can it work better?  What can you tweak to get more interaction?  Did something not work? Why not? What can you change?

This week I designed the second generation of our test sign panels to see what people wanted in outdoor signage. I took all of the comments and feedback we received from visitors on the original roadrunner panels and made a set of panels that took these comments into account, while still asking visitors to think of what it was they liked in different signs.  

Some comments were the same across the test signs: everyone liked the habitat range maps, the footprint examples (despite my bad artist's rendition!), and some of the fun facts.  While most people were leaning towards the flip signs by the end of the first test, it was still mixed enough that I decided to test both single panel and flip signs again to get a larger audience feedback.  

Angelina Coble writing sign prompt

The biggest thing that I changed was to include audience prompts.  Apparently it wasn't obvious enough in the first round of test panels that we wanted visitors to give their opinions of the signs, or certain features they liked best about the different signs, even though we seeded comments on each of the boards to act as prompts.  So, this time I wrote out specific questions on the top of each sheet.  The hope is that this will further prompt visitors to give the opinions I'm interested in, that will play into future sign design.  Hopefully it will also help people to understand that they are being given options to choose which they like best, something that seems to not have always been clear in the first round.  Even when docents explained the roadrunner signs and encouraged people to write down specifically what they liked, often they would simply put "I like this one best", leaving it up to us to guess what it was they liked about a particular test sign.  Visitors who toured the exhibits on their own seemed less likely to write on the panels, suggesting further prompting was needed to encourage people.

Prompt for visitor engagement

 These early test signs are certainly basic in many ways.  I'm no graphic designer, and personally I think it shows.  I've mounted the panels on cardboard and people will use basic sharpies to write their thoughts on paper.  But I don't think that early iterations are necessarily about sharp designer looks.  They are about engaging visitors in any way possible, and encouraging both staff, volunteers, and visitors to think about the content they want in a finished product.  And then taking those comments, sharpening the test product, and trying it again until you've got exactly what people want.