Thread by @MichelleNMoon

Once again, @robertjweisberg surfaces a critical question for #museums: have we reached (or passed) Peak Conference? museumhuman.com/are-we-enterin…

I've been thinking about starting a Twitter thread with "Conferences, we need to talk." The conferencing model is broken - and chairing two (good!) conferences in 2021 made that super clear to me.

And it's a question of association models as well - and how associations are funded. @robertjweisberg correctly notes " the membership model is never going to capture more than a tiny minority of the field as well as privileging those farther along in their careers...

...with more money, institutional influence (more easily able to take time off), and the existing cred and contacts to make attendance enjoyable and energizing."

The recommendations for distributed online learning throughout the year make sense to me. There's something to be said for bringing intensive programming effort to short-form opportunities, and paying presenters for their labor.

And I'll also speak up for in-person learning. As a museum person I believe in field experience and in-person, in-space learning. There's nothing like being there. We shouldn't lose those opportunities to be embodied humans in space and thrive on that effervescence.

But we have to take down the many many barriers to participation and use that time as wisely as possibile, maximizing the value of being there.

Can we optimize different learning models for different outcomes, instead of using conferences as a one-size-fits-all Lollapalooza of sharing practice, PD, exhibiting products, presenting scholarship, conducting specific meetings, networking, site visits, and fun?

To me, these times call on all conference-presenting organizations to review not just conferencing, but their whole strategy for providing professional learning across various venues and to multiple audiences.

And because conference revenues form a major chunk of association budgets, changing up the way associations do conferencing means organizational redesign. I hope the coming years bring a lot of experimentation to help craft what's next.