This summer, I had the opportunity to attend the 2019 American Alliance of Museums Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo in New Orleans, “Sustaining Vibrant Museums,” as a Social Media Journalist alongside some really incredible people.
It’s a strange time to be attending a huge museum conference. I’ve recently reduced my hours at the small museum (10 employees) where I’ve been employed in order to take on a new role at an even smaller museum (4 employees). My experience so far with relatively small institutions makes me hyper-aware of recommendations that don’t take into account the reality that many museums just don’t have the time, staffing, or material resources to do certain things. On the other hand, large institutions face many challenges that small organizations don’t: small museums can be more nimble and directly engaged with our communities, especially when we leverage the power of partnerships. With museums large and small increasingly struggling to reach new audiences and achieve their missions in a changing world, I firmly believe that flexibility and ability to connect will only become more important, especially for those of us without significant financial and labor resources to fall back on.
Anyway, here are my reflections on the AAM blog: The Advantages of Being a Small Museum. You can also find the posts that I and other Social Media Journalists shared during the conference using the #AAM2019 and #AAMSMJ on Twitter and Instagram, or compiled here.
And of course—many thanks to the American Alliance of Museums for funding my registration to AAM 2019 as part of the Social Media Journalist program! I would not have been able to attend otherwise, and I hope my posts helped bring the conference to others with limited conference travel opportunities.
Carissa Pfeiffer 