Museum Strategy

Do we need conferences anymore? Unsurprisingly, we say YES!

I’ve just seen an interesting discussion spring up on Museum 3.0 entitled “Do we need conferences anymore?” Here at AGENDA we’re in full preparation for the Communicating the Museum conference – testing equipment, fielding last minute queries from participants, booking flights, putting final touches to the programme – and this topic has provoked quite a bit of discussion in the office. 

The basic premise of the chat on Museum 3.0 is that with tools like Twitter, Facebook and blogs, people can follow conferences without leaving their office or sitting room. Live streams, podcasts, videos, slide-sharing and online forums mean that conferences can even take place in cyberspace rather than a physical conference hall.

Everyone here is agreed that social media is a great way of enhancing the conference. We have set up a Facebook group so that people can start networking before they get to Malaga, a Twitter feed to give followers info and news about preparations and this blog to get readers thinking about social media and its possibilities before they arrive to discuss this year’s theme “Digital and Personal Networking: Making the most of the connected world.” We have also been on a few trips to podcast speakers and give our readers an idea of what they can expect during keynote speeches and possibly a chance to prepare their own questions beforehand so that they can get the most out of the conference.

We’re hoping that people will use tools like Twitter during the conference to take the discussion out of the the conference hall and online where their colleagues who couldn’t make the conference will be able to get an idea of the main ideas during discussions. By having one representative Twittering during a conference, an organisation can really increase its return on the initial investment of that one registration fee as colleagues can get a tailored summary of all the ideas which are particularly relevant or useful for their institution. And the great thing about Twittering is that it is isn’t limited to the hour or so duration of a speech; participants can Twitter about interesting chats they’ve had during coffee breaks or contacts they’ve made during dinner.

The thing is that all these things enhance a conference but are they enough to do away with the physical conference itself? Here we are fairly unanimous in our belief that nothing can beat face to face contact and networking during an event like Communicating the Museum. It’s not for nothing that the conference’s theme is digital and personal networking. The two things go hand in hand. When discussing this, Claire made the interesting point that online forums and twitterfeeds etc are great for exchanging ideas, but when it comes to concrete business and action, participating in a conference and making new contacts is where it’s at.

There’s one really good comment on the Museum 3.0 discussion which I thinks sums up our view on this debate best:

“You can't replace face-to-face contact, just as you can't replace museum objects with digital surrogates! The physical act of going to a conference means you're making time to engage with the topic - sure, in theory you can read the papers, blogs and tweets later, but how often do you have a spare moment to actually do that? I think twitter and blogs make conferences better value for organisations - if they send one person who commits to blogging or tweeting, everyone else in the organisation has a chance to pick up the main messages from the conference. IMHO, taking notes and writing them up later takes longer and is therefore much less likely to happen, which is perhaps why so few people do conference reports.” (Reply by Mia on May 19 2009, 9:32pm)

For some other views on this topic out there in blogosphere, check out some of these links:

• Museum 3.0 – Do we need conferences anymore?
• Dan Cull Weblog – An analysis of the first ever conservation conference conducted via Twitter
• Two Ls and a Y Blog – American Association of Museums and Twitter follow-up
• West Muse Blog – Why go to the conference?
• ABC Radio – A podcast and transcript of a radio discussion between 3 experts in conference organisation about the future of the industry 

Image: Participants of last year's Communicating the Museum conference in Venice working hard 

Podcast with Jérômbe Lascombe, CEO of French internet communication agency Hopscotch

Download Museum Strategy Podcasts - Jerome Lascombe, Founder and CEO, Hopscotch

For the latest installment in our ongoing series of Museum Strategy podcasts, we visited Monsieur Jerome Lascombe at his Paris headquarters. Jerome is the CEO of Hopscotch, a leading agency of over 100 consultants specialising in PR and internet communication. He is also the founder of blogSpirit, a leading French provider of services and programmes, which he created in 2004. We chatted about the development of new media and how it can be applied to cultural institutions. Jerome's thoughts on how European countries are using social media differently were particularly interesting. Here at AGENDA we're really excited that Jerome is going to be speaking at Communicating the Museum this year. If you like what you hear, click here for more info on the conference...

Culture, the underappreciated business asset

You can read this article in French by clicking here.

In the current climate where cultural sponsorship is suffering due to lack of funds among businesses which were once keen to support the arts, I found an article recently published in French economics paper Les Echos really pertinent. The article, entitled “Cultured Employees, Blooming Business”, is about the important link between culture and business and definitely supports the argument for investing in the arts today.

Sometimes, we tend to forget that the growth of a business is deeply rooted in a history, a corporate philosophy and sense of continuity. One further element is the notion of culture, which is key to the way businesses function and not, as a cynical view would have us believe, just a pleasant element of social life.

The article’s author believes that curiosity, open-mindedness, general knowledge are all essential qualities for employees who can look outside the box and find original strategies. Basically, culture represents that extra little bit of soul (“supplément d’âme”) which helps professionals both internally and externally.

What is currently emerging in studies is that general “culturedness” and, as a result, open-mindedness, are starting to disappear among professionals, especially young ones. One study carried out by Institute Entreprises/Les Echos found that considerable gaps in knowledge as far as religion, politics and art are concerned cannot be compensated for by high technical skills. What’s more, the study shows that lack of general knowledge can lead to a lesser understanding of other cultures which becomes a problem for managers in this globalised society.

The survey also found that lack of general knowledge tends to become a serious handicap later in professional life. For those aged 30-35 years, “those who can prove that they are able to think out of the box are more valued (…) culture gives people this ability to ‘dissent’. A cultured collaborator will have a sharper understanding of complex phenomena than others.”

On a subject which is more particularly dear to this blog, general knowledge and culture are a way of sharing life experiences within a business structure. As far as sponsorship goes, this idea of cultivating an appreciation for culture in the work place can certainly be achieved through sponsorship projects, where a business supports a cultural institution and in return gets to use this partnership internally for cohesion purposes. One more bonus point for cultural sponsorship!!

Picture: Vicki's Pics (some rights reserved)

Picture: Vicki's Pics (some rights reserved)

Podcast with Molly Flatt, Word of Mouth Evangelist with 1000heads

Download Museum Strategy Podcasts - Molly Flatt, Word of Mouth Evangelist with 1000heads

Click above to listen to the second installment in our new series of Museum Strategy Podcasts. A couple of weeks ago we met up with Molly Flatt, a Word of Mouth Evangelist with 1000heads. Our questions came pretty easily. What is word of mouth marketing? What exactly is a "word of mouth evangelist"? Why and how should museums be using word of mouth marketing? In a fascinating interview, Molly answered all these questions and discussed an amazing word of mouth campaign 1000heads recently conducted for the Cold War Modern exhibition at the V&A. Molly is going to be one of the keynote speakers at Communicating the Museum, so if you like what you hear and want more, head over to the site and book your place for Malaga 2009. 

Some of our favourite museum blogs

Just for some ideas, we have picked out three of our favourite museum blogs which are doing cool things in the blogosphere:

>> Photo of the Day, Powerhouse Museum

Powerhouse Museum, based in Sydney Australia, has a daily blog entitled Photo of the Day. Everyday the museum’s team of bloggers upload a photo from the site’s Powerhouse Photo Library along with a post about it. Images come from events, exhibitions and behind the scenes at the museum and are incredibly varied, ranging from photos of the museum’s photography studio, images of the museum’s new acquisitions or of interesting buildings nearby. It’s a great way to be able to talk about all the diverse and fascinating aspects of running a museum which might seem a bit random in a normal blog format. With this focus on behind the scenes activities, it also really opens up the museum to readers, which is exactly what a museum blog should do.

(Image by Geoff Friend) 

>> bloggers@brooklynmuseum, Brooklyn Museum

The minute you enter cyberspace and scratch the surface of the Museum Web 2.0 phenomenon, it is clear that one institution is just streets ahead of the rest. Shelley Bernstein, Head of Technology at Brooklyn Museum, has created a warm and inviting log cabin of a community for all the museum’s visitors, admirers and employees. The Brooklyn Museum blog, bloggers@brooklynmuseum, has around fifty authors, all of whom work behind the scenes at the museum and post about exhibitions or events they’re working on. The number of authors is definitely something to consider before starting a blog; too many can sometimes make a blog inconsistent and impersonal but Brooklyn Museum makes it work. All the writers have a profile detailing their speciality and so you can follow one writer, specialising in for example the Museum’s Asian Art collections if that floats your boat, or all the writers to get a great overview of all the museum’s goings-on. Posts are well illustrated and often contain video too. We’re thrilled that Shelley is going to be speaking at Communicating the Museum this summer and imparting some of her knowledge of all things social media and her experience working to build the excellent Brooklyn Museum community.

>> Art Matters, The Art Gallery of Ontario

Art Matters, by the Art Gallery of Ontario, is a blog which makes excellent use of multimedia opportunities presented by platforms such as youtube, flickr and iTunes with regular videos and podcasts of talks with artists or discussions with curators and project managers from the museum. Our favourite thing on Art Matters is their gallery of pictures they have asked visitors to draw in response to art works around the museum (as part of a project called In Your Face Projects). It’s a very effective way to make visitors and readers feel like part of the community and get discussion going about exhibitions and artworks in the gallery.

One thing to add when talking about museum blogs is that they rarely have extensive comments from readers. Looking at a thread on Museum 3.0 about the best museum blogs, there seemed to be a general consensus that museum blogs are often quite specific and so, while they get a lot of page hits and RSS subscriptions, people feel less able to comment on posts. For discussions, most agreed that social networks like Facebook actually work better to create an informal atmosphere where people feel more able to comment.

In spite of this, here at Museum Strategy, we’d like to know, do you have a favourite museum blog? Why does it work? Why doesn’t it work? Feel free to leave us comments/links below.

Image: Behind-the-scenes - Photography Studio by Geoff Friend

The Facebook Fad as seen by Jim Richardson

Just wanted to quickly flag up an interesting article written by Jim Richardson for the Art Newspaper this week. Jim is the Managing Director of SUMO, a specialist design consultancy working in the arts and cultural sectors. In his article he argues that museums are increasingly aware of social media but shouldn’t just be paying lip-service to them. He analyses the difference between using social media as a simple marketing tool and using them for something much greater; changing the interaction between insitution and visitor. Having been asked to talk to marketing magazine OMMA recently about his views on the new MoMA website, he also talks about their online strategy and what other museums have to learn from it. Jim is going to be speaking at the Communicating the Museum conference in June so if you want to hear more of his wise words head on over to the website to find out more...