In September I saw an opportunity on the MDNW weekly email informing me I could attend the Museums Association Conference held at Birmingham’s ICC. I applied as the conference looked to be a great networking opportunity and my recent attendance on the Emerging Leaders programme had developed and furthered my interest in every aspect of museum management.
In October, I received a email stating I had been successful in obtaining the place at the conference. I was very thrilled but also nervous as I hadn’t attended such a large conference before. The conference guide, along with my name badge arrived in the post and I decided which sessions I planned on attending. I attended many sessions and below have provided a discussion of the most relevant ones I attended at the conference.
I arrived in Birmingham the day before the main conference began, and began my time there by registering for the event and picking up my red first time delegate badge. On the first full day I made my way to the first time delegates breakfast meeting at 7.45am. I was surprised at how many people attended that early in the morning! This was a great opportunity to network, meet other first timers and discuss what we wanted to get out of the conference. I definitely recommend this for any first timers as it really helped settle my nerves.
I then made my way to the conference introduction and keynote speech. Hillary Carter was doing the introduction she was an inspiration and very encouraging. We then heard from David Fleming, president of the Museums Association, I got a lot out of this discussion as he addressed several of provocative issues including: arts spending, how popular museums are, and whether some museums are out if date. This was very interesting to hear and really got me wondering how this can be combated. The keynote was fantastic for me as the Museums Association had achieved 8,000 members and I learnt a lot about the Association that I never knew before. We also heard what the association had achieved and what they were working towards in relation to their code of ethics.
Following this, I attended the Rethinking Volunteers session which was fantastic for me as this is an avenue I am actively seeking to develop at my museum and I wanted to learn more about volunteers. I gained a lot from this session including discussions of ways we can work with organisations to encourage more volunteers to join volunteering schemes, how the Give and Gain day works for volunteers, and how we can encourage corporate organisations to volunteer. We saw a flow chart of how we can plan for volunteers and how best to value your volunteers and a tool kit that is going to be online from Ironbridge Museum.
The work the Imperial War Museum north are doing is inspirational and a great tool guide for volunteer organisations. They encourage, engage and promote volunteering within the sector, this is a tool guide I definitely plan to use in the future. We watched volunteers talking about their experiences, how volunteering has changed their lives and how they never thought they would ever work in a museum let alone an art gallery. These stories were very heart warming and brought a tear to my eyes. It was very eye opening to hear about the benefit volunteering has on the individual in addition to the museum.
Next I attended the annual general meeting, as a first time delegate I think this is key to the conference as you learn more about the organisation and the hot topic “code of ethics”. I also got to vote on decisions with a voting card, this was new to me but a great way to engage the conference hall in the voting that matters. The code of ethics was voted through and this should be launched very soon.
I also attended the Northern Powerhouse discussion, this was vital for me as I live and work within Manchester and the powerhouse will affect the city. This was very interesting and a lot of debates were had, both for and against the powerhouse. We heard from key speakers and what they said about the Northern Powerhouse was very interesting and engaging and really made me rethink the importance and impact the scheme may have.
There were so many interesting sessions and I would have liked to attend, but clashes on concurrent sessions meant I had to make tough choices as to which the most useful sessions would be. I have requested the notes from those I couldn’t make, so here’s hoping I get them. I think it’s a reflection of the interesting range and usefulness of the conference rather than a criticism.
The conference is great to attend and gave me a fantastic insight into the museum sector as a whole. It gave me an overview of the topical debates museums are having currently. This was a great way to network and also make contacts and gain ideas that can be used within the museum in which I work.
If you have never attended before I’d certainly recommend it, and do take advantage of the welcoming session for first timers. Hopefully I’ll see you at a future conference!
Darren Collingwood
The National Football Museum
Museum Development North West 