LeaderMOOC: Week 4 Communicating

A week has passed since the Influencing module of LeaderMOOC. Though I'm not sure I've tried using any of the influencing techniques, I have started to expand my network. I started by joining the League of Women Voters, a women's nonprofit with a local chapter. According to a few folks who know the group, the group skews older, but is always looking for new members. Within a few days of registering, I received a welcome packet and found out I can join the educational committee, which sounds like a good fit for me. Unfortunately, their next meeting is while I'm out of town, but hopefully I can catch them when I get back.

The theme for Week 4 is Communicating. We talked a lot about communicating criticisms and also about the coaching method. I've actually been very intrigued about coaching. Many training programs seem like ways to get money from people, so I was interested to see the method in practice.

This week's assignment is: Think beyond the questions you replied to in the discussion forums. Consider what aspect of communication you learned about this week can help you, and what personal goal you would like to achieve as a result of what you learned about communication and leadership.

My response is: 

1. The leadership communication technique or approach I found most valuable was the Situation, Behavior, Impact (SBI) technique. Not a week after I watched the video, I started implementing this technique. It's been very useful in communicating an issue that I'm unsure how to resolve. I don't supervise anyone, but I have still found it useful in working with others because it sets up a way to solve the issue. Additionally, I've thought quite a bit about how I've handled issues in the past and how I could have handled them better by using this technique.

2. My one simple goal is to begin/continue to practice this technique or approach by thinking out the SBI technique before handling a situation. By consciously deciding how to deal with the situation, I can better guarantee that I will make a positive change. I think it can be hard to step back and give yourself enough time to plan a response, but in the long run, it will be worth it. The challenge will be in giving myself enough time to develop an SBI response to a situation/behavior, but still responding in a timely manner. Hopefully, after implementing this technique several times, the process will become more streamlined in my head.

This upcoming week's module is Learning Agility, which sounds fairly exciting. Looking forward to my next assignment!

LeaderMOOC: Week 3 Influencing

As I'm going through this MOOC, I'll be using my blog as a place to turn in my assignments. Week 3 is all about influencing. The most fun for me was a cool workbook they gave out to us to find out more about our networks - I shared it with a coworker who thought it was super fun. I also enjoyed looking at my LinkedIn Map, which showed how my connections are connected. The assignment for Week 3 is: Think beyond the questions you replied to in the discussion forums. Consider why influencing matters to you personally, and what personal goal you would like to achieve as a result of this week’s discovery.

Here is my response:

1. My take-away from learning about my own personal network is it is currently very diverse, but I need to improve my network in some key areas. Much of my network has come from geographic locations or jobs. If I'm no longer in that geographic location, it's unlikely I'll need to reach out them for work in the near future. I'll stay in touch with those folks, but I need to expand my network into areas where I see my future headed. For example, I should join some women's groups which will have folks of similar interests. I am also interested in online learning, so I'll need to reach out to folks who might be involved in that field or have skills I want to develop.

2. My one simple goal for using influence more effectively is to broaden my leadership styles. Currently I use rationalizing and negotiating on a frequent basis. I probably use rationalizing because I enjoy working with data and understanding why things are based on actual evidence. Negotiating comes naturally to me as I'm a bit of a peacemaker - wanting everyone to be happy, which, depending on the situation can be good or bad. I'd like to experiment with inspiring as I'm in the nonprofit field and many folks use inspiring influence to make a point. I have a friend and colleague who is incredibly talented at bridging and I'd like to learn from her. Asserting will definitely be the most difficult for me, being that I like everyone to be happy. However, I think some of my ideas are worth asserting!

LeaderMOOC: Leader Mindset

It's week three of the LeaderMOOC, but we've only received grades for up to week 1 (includes week 0). Many folks are still trying to figure out the peer review function and those who are just dipping in and out are holding up the process a bit. So far my Week 0 & 1 submissions have only been graded twice (each submission is graded three times). The organizers of the MOOC will be grading any that have not yet been graded yet.

Week 1 Leader Mindset Submission:
For this week's assignment we were asked:  

Consider why leadership matters to you, personally, why you want to become known for your leadership skills, and what you hope to accomplish. Also what leadership model or role model most inspires you? You can link to an image as part of your answer if you like. What's one simple goal that can help you get there?

In response, I wrote:

1) Leadership matters to me because I want to accomplish a Ph.D. and create a non-profit for young women interested in leadership. I want to become a leader for these young women to see an example of a successful woman in leadership. I also want to use my leadership skills to develop a curriculum of afterschool programs for middle & high school students to know that women can be leaders and learn how to become leaders themselves.

 2) The leadership model or role model that inspires me is the flock of geese and I chose this model or person because I think that leadership can be shared effectively by multiple people. In fact, a group of students I work with select a different leader for their committee each month based on their availability to meet and interest in leading. One simple goal that will bring me closer to this model is to provide opportunities for women in the meetup group that I run to take turns leading projects that best fit their abilities and goals. I want to reach out to these women to find out if what they're currently doing fits with their goals and abilities and reassign projects based on that. 

The first response includes a somewhat far off goal... trying to convince myself that I can even do another graduate program has been tough, but I know I'm smart enough and capable.

Here were the comments from the folks that graded my assignment:
I can feel your desire and passion around empowering women. I also like the goal of letting others lead. All the best to you :-)

Your vision is large in scope yet focused on individuals and small groups. This has remarkable potential.

If I was flattered by the comments of my last submission, I am blown away by these responses. The fact that someone said "This has remarkable potential," I'm overwhelmed. A complete stranger thinks my ideas are worthwhile and can make an impact. Really excited for my next steps in life!

How to Learn All the Things

A couple things of significance happened this week, already, and it's only Wednesday. First, I taught a class on Online Learning. Second, I realized I will never learn all the things. I'm pretty sure the first event is connected to the second.

Creating an Online Learning Curriculum
This event was a follow-up to my much praised Online Learning 101 class, which introduced about 12 women to the options in online learning. The Online Learning Curriculum class had about 6 people total, and eventually devolved into the Online Learning 101 class, as most of the folks who requested the follow-up class did not attend. 

The event was fine in that I introduced another group of women to the possibilities of online learning. However, I've led the horse to water, but it sounds like no one has had a drop to drink. I'm considering a few options for encouraging online learning participation, including a MOOC study group or even weekly meetings for those taking online courses. I do hope the women who joined my class will take up at least one online class!

As it turns out, I can be an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

I'll Never Learn All the Things
In essence, this class was about how to learn all the things. The internet is vast and full of a multitude of information and now we have many options for learning that were not available even 10 years ago. However, I'm seeing that time is infinite, but I am not. As much as I'd like to learn all the things, it's just never going to happen.

So what happens now? Do I cry about how I'll never be a NASA astronaut or learn to play guitar? Probably not, but there are certainly some goals that seem impossible - learning another language fluently, learning to dance, picking up some coding skills, writing a novel. 

At this point, it's time to prioritize. Obviously, I want to focus on some skills that will help at work and some skills that will help with future plans. On the other hand, I'd certainly like to do some fun classes. I've found that classes I'm really enjoying and are of personal interest to me, I'm more likely to "find the time" to participate (sorry Statistics One). 

What's Next?
Next steps are to list out those things I want to learn, triage those things, and make a plan (online learning curriculum perhaps?). Sometimes it feels like post-grad school is just a bit too unorganized for my tastes. Perhaps it's time to think hard about that 5, 10, 20 year plan.

LeaderMOOC: So Why Would Anyone Want to Be Led By You?

One of the MOOCs (massive open online courses) I'm enrolled in right now is LeaderMOOC on canvas.net. Canvas offers some pretty excellent courses, anything from Sustainable Energy Innovation to Society, Science, Survival: Lesson's from AMC's The Walking Dead. I highly recommend checking them out in addition to sites like coursera.org or edx.org.

In LeaderMOOC, we're learning about ourselves as leaders. Rather than giving us a mold that you're supposed to somehow fit into, LeaderMOOC has us examine ourselves. Each lesson focuses on becoming self-aware, which in turn, will make us understand how we can lead. 

So Why Would Anyone Want to Be Led By You?
The first assignment was to answer the question: So why would anyone want to be led by you? A bit of a heavy question to start with, but after a few videos on collaborative leadership, I felt comfortable answering. My answer below:

I thought a lot about my own leadership style within an organization where I am the president and final decision-maker.

You would want to be led by me because:

1. I think about the whole process/system rather than just the end result, considering your time, my time and the impact it will make on our organization.
2. I delegate with meaningful tasks. Having been an intern doing mostly data entry, I think about the types of assignments I would want or would be useful to your progress and what needs to be done.
3. I make informed decisions based on research and discussions with people involved in the process. I make it a point to hear many voices, including dissenting ideas. 

I felt really comfortable with this answer and thought it conveyed my ideas well. The first peer-reviewer said: "Carolyn, It is apparent that you have the ability to hold both a micro and macro view which is very unique and a great quality to have in a leader."

I have to say I was flattered by this comment, mostly because that's what I hope to achieve through my leadership style. Having been the lowest in an organization and now the highest in albeit a small organization, I hope that I've learned to see big picture and details.

Unfortunately, the second reviewer was not as kind: Based on your response to #2-are your decisions about what to delegate based on what you think others need, or are you actively engaging them in the process and finding what they really/want need?

I agree this was a valid question as I did not make that clear in my response. I think I was thinking a lot more of myself in that "follower" position rather than as the "leader." The change of perspectives is confusing. However, I'm not sure that validated a 0 on whether the reviewer would want to be led by me. Particularly since there's not much constructive criticism on why this person wouldn't want to be led by me. Perhaps I just don't take criticism well. Something to work on during this process.

September Happiness Project: Let Me Tell You About My Lamp

This week has been ridiculously busy. I feel like I can't keep my head on straight, but luckily tonight is the last of the crazy. Or so I hope. Of course, part of my Happiness Project is to keep myself from feeling overwhelmed and busy.

August Happiness Project

For August, my plan was to floss more, workout more and spend less (time and money). Thus far, I floss about 2-3 times a week at best, which is better than none at all. I keep spending money on a gym I don't go to, but hopefully this weekend I'll make it at least once. The money situation isn't helped by a $177 electric bill this month (my landlord and I will be having a chat about how to seal up my house a bit better). And my time keeps flying out the window.

One success includes bowing out of a very interesting lecture to go see my favorite author, Jasper Fforde (see photo to the left). He signed four of my books!! And it was an absolute delight as he's a funny guy. While I felt guilty about missing the lecture, I knew that if I didn't go see Jasper, I would be pretty disappointed for a long while. All worked out as the folks going to the lecture found each other and I got to see Jasper.

September Happiness Project

This September involves adding to my ongoing goals. I'm going to keep trying to floss. I'm thinking of investing in a physical calendar in hopes that perhaps writing things down will help me to remember they're going on. And I'm going to start making meals for the week on Sundays to save money and time. 

In addition to these small changes to my ongoing goals, I'm making September all about making my days better. The first thing I did was buy a new alarm clock. That sounds a bit silly, but the BEST way for me to wake up is through sunlight. After visiting the BF who of course doesn't have curtains, and waking up feeling blessedly refreshed even while sleeping on a firm mattress, I realized something had to change. 

Now, I can't fall asleep if there is light in the room, so I can't just leave the curtains up as I live in the city and lights are everywhere. But I need natural light to wake up feeling good in the morning. Turns out, they make a lamp for that - meet the Verilux Rise & Shine. I beat out a few other bidders on this lovely used version (retail at over double what I paid). I can't wait to tell you how it turns out. I'm hopeful and excited!

Define a Current Ecosystem: Informal Science Non-Profits

Challenge 1 of the Badges: New Currency for Professional Credentials MOOC

Our first assignment is to consider an industry or community of practice where badges could have a positive impact. As I'm currently working for an informal science non-profit and we are interested in developing a digital badge eco-system, I have chosen to analyze this community of practice.

Describe the Ecosystem

Informal science non-profits include museums, university extension programs and independent non-profits. Not much currently connects these organizations aside from science museums which have their own conference and professional organizations. No organization provides the exact same programming as another and if they do provide similar programming, they are often in different regions. Some address a variety of age groups, other address only students, some only work with teachers and so on. For this particular exercise I'll think of one particular organization in describing stakeholders.

Roles of the Stakeholders

• Learning Providers - Often working on a small budget to provide much needed out-of-school STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) programs to students, teachers and adults. These programs can vary from after-school programs to lectures to hands-on interactive science days. Most programs are inquiry-based rather than lecture style.
• Job Seekers/Learners - Age range can be anywhere from toddlers to retirees, with many focusing on middle/high school learners. These learners often opt-in to the programs on their own so they are not "forced" to learn material as in more formalized programs.
• Employers - This can be a college (for our younger learners) or a science lab position or technology start-up. The possibilities for a STEM education are really endless. Most students in these programs are looking to enter college. Colleges would be looking for leadership skills and content knowledge of science, perhaps even lab experience at more competitive institutions. 

Personas of Learners

• Middle School Student - This learner often participates in informal science programming for the pursuit of their own interests in science. These students often look for hands-on activities and unique experiences outside of school programming.
• High School Student - This learner is starting to prepare for college and is looking for programs of interest to themselves, but also that can help on a college application. Students can also process higher level of information than the middle school student. These students are also exploring the fields of science that might be of interest to them for a career.
• Professional Scientist - Pursues information relevant to their field and often attends lectures. Possibly has more interest in applying science rather than learning additional information as they are already studying in their field. Younger scientists might be interested in learning new information or keeping abreast of ongoing research.
• Hobbyist - These are adults with no plans on using the information for work, but have a significant interest in science. Possibly have collections or dabble in some scientific work.

Before Badges

Take for example the high school student persona. This student is still in school, but perhaps has limited access to STEM education beyond the required coursework and no access to AP, IB, or other advanced coursework. The student pursues their high interest in STEM through an after-school program, but has no record or validation of the accomplishments made through this program, perhaps aside from a letter of recommendation from the group leader. 

Conclusion

There are certainly opportunities for a badge ecosystem within the Informal Science Non-profit community. The special experiences offered through these non-profits are often completely unique from anything these students experience in school. The ability to demonstrate content knowledge or experience from these programs would be of value, especially to the young learner.

Online Learning in Pursuit of Happiness

May marked two years since graduating with my Masters in Museum Studies. I'm finding it much harder to "deaccession the student" as I am continuously seeking out new learning opportunities. Or perhaps I've just deaccessioned to another institution - the internet. At present, I'm enrolled in two massive open online classes (or MOOCs for short) - one for work and one for personal interest. For work, I'm completing a course on Digital Badges through Course Sites. For my personal interest, I'm taking a class in Leadership through Canvas.net.

Over the course of the last few months, I've discovered that I have a passion for women's leadership and online learning. Thus my interest in these two online courses. I think there's an opportunity to combine these two interests as I pursue future educational and career opportunities. For example, at work, we'd like to branch out into providing digital badges and also work on developing a STEM program for girls. Increased educational opportunities have been linked to increased success for women.

At the same time, I'm leading two special groups through the meetup group I manage: STL Nerdy Girls. One group is working on The Happiness Project - a book written on maximizing happiness in your daily life. The other group is a Lean In group for the leaders of STL Nerdy Girls. Part of my Happiness Project is to explore my interests through online learning. My interest in the Lean In group is to explore women's leadership in a practical and supportive manner. I hope to compare my experiences in the Lean In group to my experiences in the LeaderMOOC, as well as share those resources from my LeaderMOOC with the STL Nerdy Girls.

For the next few months, I'll be blogging my responses to assignments in my MOOCs and talking about the future of online learning in the context of museums, feminism and informal education. In addition, I'll focus on how my Happiness Project and Lean In Groups are going.

Nashville Museums - A Review

When I asked my beau to plan a romantic weekend for a visit to see him (we're long-distance), he was a bit at a loss. We were going into Nashville for a day to see some sights, but not being big country music fans, we had trouble finding some low-key, but fun spots to check out. Knowing my passion for museums, he decided we should visit a couple of the bigger sites in Nashville.

First, we checked out the Tennessee State Museum, which for the most part was underwhelming. Being a state museum, it's likely underfunded and many of the exhibits were out of date. However, I was incredibly impressed with the Civil War exhibit. Being the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, many museums are focusing on some aspect of the war. In fact, the Missouri History Museum has a large Civil War exhibit. I was a bit unimpressed with that exhibit mainly because there wasn't much of a coherent voice and the interactives were not useful. You also walk out of that exhibit a bit somber. It's war, of course, but it hesitates at the end heavily on grief. The exhibit at the Tennessee State Museum, on the other hand, does a great job of leading you through an adventure - an archives adventure that is! You "work" with archivists at the interactive touch screens to find materials that led them to conclusions about the war and thus the exhibits. Definitely a good use of touch screens. The museum was also buzzing with life due to a book signing and live musical performance. Definitely nice to see the museum attracting a large crowd for that event.

Photo Credit: Me!

Second, we walked to the Frist Center for the Arts. Definitely was not sure what to expect in the way of art in country music's hometown, but I was blown away. The Frist Center is a first class institution in a gorgeous building that Art Deco nerds would love. Three amazing exhibitions were on display - one on Exploring Art of the Ancient Americas, another on Rembrandt and the Golden Age, and a contemporary interactive art installation piece. The combination of each of those very different exhibitions showed the breadth of content the Frist can display in its halls.

However, what impressed me most about the Frist was its children's area - Martin ArtQuest. Of the art museums I've visited in my life, about half of them have a children's area - all with varying levels of interactivity and engagement. Martin ArtQuest is by far the best children's area I've seen in an art museum. There is a variety of displays representing multiple art styles and mediums. While I was there, I created a print at a printmaking station, while my boyfriend was very impressed with the stop motion animation station. Kids of all ages could enjoy something with their families. The staff was very friendly and talented - one staff member was drawing on the sketch wall. I could have spent all afternoon exploring the Frist, but I think my non-museum professional boyfriend would have been bored. He was already playing on his phone by the time I finished my print.

Photo Credit: Clarksville Online

Overall, we spent about 4 hours touring the museums - 2 hours at each. While the State Museum was much larger than the Frist, the Frist has far more to engage us. In fact, we were hoping to stick around for an impressive party that was being arranged as we toured the Frist. Mostly, we were impressed by the level of activity in each of the museums. Sometimes state-funded institutions can be stuck in the past, and while many of the exhibits needed updating at the State Museum, it was refreshing to see new exhibitions and an event going on. Next time we're in Nashville, I'm definitely going to want to see what's new at the Frist.

Museum Event Planning: Top 5 Mistakes

For the past few years, I have been involved in the full process of planning educational events - everything from the inception of an idea to RSVPs to implementation. I've also attended quite a few museum events - always on the lookout to see something new and interesting. Along the way, I have made these mistakes and I've also seen others make these mistakes. Hopefully, you can learn from our mistakes to ensure that your programs run smoothly and effectively.

Mistake #1
Not providing contact information on marketing materials.

It may be an event free and open to the public, but there are many reasons to provide contact information. The local newspaper may see your flyer and want to write a story on your cool event. Someone might want to bring a large group to the event and want more information on if large groups are even allowed. I would urge you to not just include a website either, unless your website clearly shows a direct email or phone number. It's best to include a direct line to someone who can answer questions about the program.

Mistake #2
Not informing key stakeholders of the event.

Working the reception desk of a museum provides great perspective on visitor interaction. I can't tell you how many times a visitor would ask me about an event I didn't know about. I wish I could tell you it was because I was oblivious. More often than not it was because the event had been marketed to the public, but no one had thought to let the front desk know the event was going on. That can make you wonder who else might have been forgotten - custodial, security, your key market?

Mistake #3
Not providing information for medium to large groups.

As someone who runs a fairly successful Meetup group (over 500 members), I have a tough time determining which events we can attend with a larger group and which ones we need to limit. If your event is space limited and you don't provide that information, you could easily wind up with far more people than your event can accomodate.

Mistake #4
Not having a policy for special circumstances.

As non-profits, many of our programs are cost-effective for participants. However, not everyone can even afford a $5 charge. If a person calls asking for special circumstances, it's important to have a policy in place. Perhaps that particular event doesn't have much wiggle room in terms of cost, but your department might be willing to absorb part of the cost. Or perhaps you have a scholarship fund. Whatever the case may be, let staff know the policy in advance so you can avoid the hassle of calling someone back.

Mistake #5
Not providing confirmation as soon as possible.

At my current position, we're in the process of converting to a new software that allows us to send confirmation emails as soon as someone registers for an event. In the meantime, we deal with a number of emails on a weekly, if not daily basis, of people asking if they've been confirmed for an event or not. This is especially difficult when we have such events that have different prices based on first come first serve policy. It's important that people know they're confirmed for an event so they're not left in confusion.

This is obviously not a comprehensive list of the mistakes in planning an event, but they seem to be fairly common in the non-profit community. Can you think of any other mistakes often made by non-profits in planning events?

How to Run a Trivia Night Fundraiser: Raise Over $2500 in One Night

This week is the busiest week of the whole year at my job. Luckily, I'm not in charge and all I need to do is take orders. However, tonight, during the busiest week on one of the longest days, someone told me I need to blog. When I said I had a blog, but didn't have much time, she was incredibly disappointed. I got home tonight, wound up on dance music from trying to keep myself awake on the 30 minute drive home from our event's location, and decided, I have time to blog. 

As promised, I'm going to give some tips and tricks on running a successful trivia night fundraiser.

Why do a trivia night?

Trivia nights are super popular in the Midwest during the coldest months of the year - for good reason. You get to stay inside, hang out with your friends, play a game, and possibly win prizes! Bars have been taking advantage of this simple game for years as bar trivia is increasingly popular throughout the US. For the nonprofit, you can raise a good amount of money (especially if you use your own space) with a limited amount of resources.

Elements of a Successful Trivia Fundraiser

• Time - January and February are generally good months (as long as the weather cooperates) since people are looking for a warm place to hang out. 
• Location - Use your own space if possible or see if a local event rental space is willing to donate space for the night. Check with your donors, volunteers, board members, and staff. They might know of a location  you haven't thought of yet. Churches are often willing to rent out space for a reasonable amount.
• Questions - All good trivia nights have good trivia questions. They need to be challenging but not so difficult that participants will not attend the next year. You should also consider giving each round a theme relevant to your organization.
• You don't want your questions to come into question so be sure to fact-check!
• Find a few folks to help you write questions and have the answers prepared as well. 
• A popular format is 10 rounds/10 questions, however a faster trivia night could use the 8 rounds/12 questions format.
• Price - Most trivia nights run between $15-$25 per person and $200-300 per table (for a table of 8-10). You should base your price on space available, table size and how much you think your donors could afford. 
• Mulligans - Freebies, sell as many as you want and folks use them to answer questions. You will likely want to set a limit on how many folks can use per round or for the entire game. Usually cost around $20.
• Share the results throughout the night - use an excel spreadsheet shown on a wall or a white board, etc.

Trivia Night Extras

Trivia nights in the St. Louis area often involve silent auctions and games throughout the night to keep people interested. Below are some of those popular games:

• 50/50 - Sell raffle tickets ($1/ticket, $5/6 tickets) and split the pot of money between a randomly drawn raffle ticket and your nonprofit.
• Heads or Tails - Flip a coin - folks put their hands on their head or on their "tails" to guess the coin's side. Do this until one person is standing. Everyone gives $1 to participate.
• Dead or Alive - Read off the name of famous celebrity - participants put their thumbs up if they think the person is alive, down if they think the person is dead - $1 to participate.

Raise Over $2500 in One Night

Set the price right and you can earn quite a bit in one night. The historical society I volunteer with raises over $2500 each year. Though it seems small, that's a big impact on our small budget. Rely on a good committee to help you put everything together and run the evening.

Good luck in your trivia night fundraisers. Feel free to comment below if you have questions about how I've run trivia nights in the past.

Working on a Museum Board

For most museum professionals, we are the staff, on the ground, day-to-day, doing the everyday work. I'm currently serving as a volunteer on a local Historical Society's Board of Directors, while also serving as the part-time volunteer Archivist. In some ways, I feel as if I'm working backwards. I'm a program planner, an educator. At the historical society, I spend most of my time on fundraisers and in the archives. It's fun and rewarding - especially the new perspective on nonprofits.

The Board is a working Board, which means, we plan the programs, repair the artifacts, etc. We have two part-time, paid staff who book events for our rental space and keep the building open to visitors. The Board meets four times a year to discuss major issues, the budget, etc. Working committees meet on a more regular basis to get the work done.

Our most active committee is our trivia night fundraiser committee. We started this fundraiser as an attempt to jump start our fundraising activities. It was highly successful last year as trivia nights are incredibly popular in our area. This year we were moderately successful though due to changing to a later date, we had fewer tables overall. In my next post, I'll share a detailed plan on running a successful trivia night.

You Can Go Back Home

Contrary to popular belief, cliche or sentiment, I've found that you can go back home. Here I am, back in St. Louis, the most home-like place I've ever lived. It's been a while since I've updated this blog and that's more to do with being overwhelmingly busy than anything else. I have been keeping up with many other museum blogs, continuing to tweet and settling into my new, wonderful job. Before I get started on substantial posts, I want to bring folks up-to-date on my current situation. This will hopefully, give you some perspective on how I will be posting in the future.

• I am no longer working for a museum, instead I'm working for an informal science education outreach non-profit.
• I am serving on the Board of a local Historical Society.
• My new position focuses more on educational program development and evaluation than my last position. 
• Did I mention how much I love my new job?

Some ongoing projects:

• Working with the aforementioned Historical Society to establish educational programming, more fundraising and redesigning the archives. Among other things.
• Established a meetup group called "Nerdy Girls." We're focused on exploring typically "nerdy" things like chess, crafts, historic house tours, etc. 
• Trying to balance all of these things while still managing to wrap presents and have "me" time. 

I'm hoping to talk a little bit in my posts about the challenges of serving on a board, the ups and downs of making significant changes to "how we've always done it," and bridging some of my many activities. Should be a wild ride!

Should I be doing monthly museum links?

It's definitely been more than a week since I posted my "weekly" links. A combo of being busy at work then taking a week-long vacation prevented me from keeping up with my schedule. This week's "weekly" links will cover everything from July 30 to present.

• Here's a great post on finding the "perfect job." Does it really exist?
• If you've ever been to a conference, check out this post on re-thinking conference sessions.
• I have always loved going to the movies and I think this site would be great for a movie exhibit.
• Do you live in a city with an EMP group? I definitely wish I did. EMP did a great post on starting a group from scratch.
• Did you contribute to Museum Minute's twitter conversation yesterday? So why do you work in museums?
• In case you missed it: You can live in a museum! Sort of.
• And here's a shameless plug for my Volunteer Management paper.

Weekly Links: July 23-29

Here's a list of links worth checking out from the week of July 23-29:

• A display of life expectancy and child poverty that shows the discrepencies based on a tube map. Definitely hits home the idea of where you grow up/live determines a lot of things.
• Great online learning resource, Peer2Peer University. I'm taking up a course with the Saylor Foundation on Art History, but Peer2Peer offers much more. Or if you're looking for job skills ALISON is the place to start.
• Commentary tying museum curation to student learning.
• Girl Power! Women changing the face of philanthropy.
• Google just keeps impressing me. Wish I could be in London to see their Web Lab.

That's it for this week. Look for a review of Crystal Bridges soon!

Weekly Links - July 16-22

Yes, I have been terrible at putting these weekly links up. But I'm going to give it another whirl! Here goes:

• Love the creativity of this map. I could see a museum doing something like this with a map of the facility.
• I can't leave Nina Simon's post on increasing attendance off this week's list.

That's it for this week's list. Not much going on. Maybe everyone is on vacation?

Iceberg Ahead!

Titanic Museum Exterior

Over the July 4th holiday, I had the chance to visit two museums in the Ozarks. The first was the Titanic Museum in Branson, Missouri. When planning my visit to Branson with my family, I mentioned the possibility of visiting the Titanic Museum to my grandfather. He was incredibly excited at the prospect and I was somewhat intrigued. However, after checking their website, I was slightly concerned about the focus of the museum.  Overall, the museum was reminiscent of a historic site or village. On the other hand, the subject matter was quite morbid to be presented in such a "Disney"-esque manner. I cannot fathom another site that deals with a similar tragedy to present the material in such a way. If the Oklahoma Memorial Museum had used such tactics, I and I'm sure many others would be completely turned off.  


Painting a Picture


Similar to a historic site or village, the Titanic Museum relies heavily on costumed interpreters. Interestingly enough, these interpreters also speak with a British accent, in the middle of the Ozarks. My father also commented that there were a ton of women dressed as First Class maids, but there were only a dozen or so on the voyage itself (this is what my dad read - anyone super interested in the Titanic can definitely do the research if they so desire).


The museum takes great pains to make you feel as if you are on the Titanic. Some areas are more traditional and use gallery spaces to display objects, while other areas focus on recreating the ship. The exterior is just the start. The grand staircase is recreated as well as a First Class Cabin. The communication equipment is displayed as it would have looked on the ship and leads into a recreated command deck. You have the opportunity to sit in a lifeboat as well.


The Good


Despite some of the strange aspects of the museum, it was great at presenting a number of things:

• The "real" experience: When you first enter the museum, you are given a card with a name and story. At the end of the visit, you learn whether the person on your card survived the sinking. I believe this is also used on the touring exhibit. You are able to touch an iceberg - this is actually one of the first activities in the museum and really gives you a sense of horror at the unbearable cold. Later in the exhibit, you can put your hand in 28 degree water and see how long you last. Yes, morbid, but it gets the point across. You're also able to try to climb the deck as it sinks.
• The "real" artifacts: Nearly everything on display is a real object, not a reproduction. For those who are intrigued by the Titanic or like to see the "real" thing, this is a great museum.
• Everything you ever wanted to know: The museum presents everything there is to possibly know about the museum. For me, it was information overload, but I was with a group that read everything and moved slowly. 

The Strange


In a museum about the Titanic, you almost have to expect that it will be morbidly fascinating. The recent 100th anniversary of the event created some strange activities across the US and UK, including memorial cruises and last meals on the Titanic fundraisers. 

• Prices: Like any other museum, the Titanic Museum displayed the prices of things at the time of the sinking. On the other hand, most museums do not display the current price of artifacts were they to go to auction. I found this slightly disconcerting. Why would I, as the visitor, want to know how much an artifact costs today? I'm sure it was expensive to build this museum as many of the artifacts were priced in the six-figures.
• Dogs: In one of the first rooms, live dogs are on display. They are only in the window during certain times, but I found it to be an odd experience. There were dogs on the Titanic, but why would I want to see them in an exhibit? Live dogs!?

Overall, the museum was interesting. I could describe more of the strange things I encountered, but overall, it was a feeling I got when entering the place. After I forked over my $25, I couldn't help but feel I was in an amusement park, waiting for the roller coaster ride to begin. I did not have the same feeling of appreciation for the people on the ship as I had for the people in Murrow bombing. I could not sympathize with the people on the Titanic as much as I wanted to. On leaving the exhibit, we mentioned to a worker that it was somewhat of a sad place. She said something along the lines of we try not to make it sad. Perhaps they missed the lesson of the tragedy entirely.

The Essence of a Gallery Cart

This past week I had the opportunity to work with some of our young volunteers to design a gallery cart for our temporary exhibition. The kids were at first apprehensive about everything, which was strange because they had all been enthusiastic during their interviews. After a couple days, they were all deeply engaged in the process of developing the cart.

As I mentioned in previous posts, I have been inspired by new ideas emerging from activity carts. Currently, I'm working with a student to update all the carts in our galleries. Since we were working with teens, I thought they would come up with some extremely different ideas than what was already available. However, I noticed that at it's essence, gallery carts are really an opportunity to show and tell. The kids were mostly excited to have the opportunity to share their knowledge and they did a great job coming up with talking points.

In some ways, I think we limited them. We had limited time and basic supplies, but also, we provided them with very traditional examples and set parameters based on established ideas. As this was a first try, we have areas to improve upon. We now know the pace of how the teens work. They needed time to get to know one another. We could also have more supplies available or at least have an idea of where to get certain supplies. It would also be nice to work with graphics to make some of our activities look sleek and I think this would help the kids to think of their project as something that "belongs" in the museum.

The most important change will be to change the parameters. Instead of giving them a set of objects and a list of things that must be done, we will provide examples of more innovative carts and lists of ideas for types of activities. The kids were very stuck on certain topics. We will provide more variety in their training.

Next year we have an art exhibit. My idea is to give them an object from one of the animals in the exhibit and ask them to develop an activity or craft and talking points about the animal. This will help to expand the knowledge of the teens and visitors about the animals in the paintings.

Soon I'll be compiling data with my intern and hopefully we'll have more information to help us revise the program! 

Museum Gallery Carts Article

Gallery Cart at the Chicago History Museum

Today, I came across an article in Legacy Magazine talking about the Chicago History Museum's gallery carts. It goes into far more description about their process and results. Check it out if you are interested in creating your own gallery carts.

Museum Gallery Carts: Ubiquitous Yet Overlooked

Last year at the Association of Midwest Museums conference, I attended a fantastic session on Gallery Carts. It started off with exploring what we as a group thought of museum gallery carts. Everyone had a response because, well, many museums have gallery carts. 

Photo: Maryland Pink and Green
Art Cart at the Walters Art Museum

At the session, which included a presentation by the Chicago History Museum and a zoo (I unfortunately do not recall the name of this zoo), I was really inspired by the different directions each institution had taken. The Chicago History Museum had redesigned their gallery carts to interact with students, while the zoo had maintained their carts for all visitors. Yet both had transformed their carts from plain, grey boring to exciting, colorful and inviting, reflecting the theme of their institution or specific activity at the cart.

After the session, I attempted to do some investigation into gallery carts. I saw gallery carts everywhere. There were many at the museum I was currently working for and there were others scattered across the many museums I visited. Yet, there was almost no literature on these carts. These carts are known by many names and I tried many variations with little success. The one article (Here Come the Touch Carts) I was able to locate was written in 1976 and can be found by a quick search of Curator. Though it is informative, many things have changed since 1976.

There's plenty of new (as in since 1976) literature out on how visitors learn in museums, what they learn, if they learn at all. Also, the recent trends in museums are toward participation of visitors, creativity and technology. As for gallery carts, the one trend some carts already use is creativity. As you can see in the Art Cart at the Walters Art Museum, visitors are encouraged to create art while at the museum. While it might not be the most creative enterprise on the museum's part, you can't deny that the visitors are at least exploring their creativity.

Since that session in July of last year, I've been thinking a lot about gallery carts and their purpose in museums. What audience should we be designing carts for? Does it depend on the museum? Should carts only talk about one subject or idea or theme? Or should they be multi-purpose and allow facilitators to change out the activities as needed? There are many questions currently unanswered by the museum field.

This summer, I'm going to be thinking quite a bit about gallery carts. Some volunteers and interns will be working on redesigning the gallery carts at my current institution. I'll try to provide some updates throughout the process, thinking about how our museum needs gallery carts to function while bringing in some museum educational theory. 

In the meantime, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Maybe you have an answer to my questions above. Or maybe you have questions of your own. 

I'd possibly like to write a paper on gallery carts based on my experiences this summer. If you're working on a gallery cart project in the near future, it would be great if we could collaborate. Comments are appreciated!