10 Networking Tips for Young Professionals

I've been collecting some networking tips over the last few weeks, and thinking about what advice I would give to a young museum professional who's still in grad school or in a first entry level job or internship, and here's my list of ten. They're not all obvious or earth shattering, but I think they all go a long way toward addressing the nuts and bolts of how to make and keep professional contacts.

1. Keep your business cards in opposite pockets. That is to say, keep your business cards in your dominant hand pocket so that you can reach in quickly, and keep the business cards you receive in the opposite pocket. That way you'll be able to pull your own out quickly and you won't get it mixed up with the ones people have given you. Keep a pen handy, too, in case you need to write down more details for the person you're giving the card to. I spent about 2 years writing the Tufts Museum Studies blog url on the back of my own business cards when I was editor of that site, so people would visit it and connect it with me.

2. For that matter, have a business card. If you're currently employed at a museum, you're all set. However, if you are networking and in search of a job, it would be quite awkward to hand over your employer's card while you drop the hint that you'd like to talk about job opportunities. So either way, I recommend having a personal card. It doesn't have to be anything fancy - name, phone, email. Some people put a line like "museum professional" or "museum student" in the title line. Some people put a Twitter handle or a blog URL. If you blog or tweet regularly, and plan on keeping it up, go ahead. Just make sure the whole card isn't cluttered overall and that the essential information is there - name and email at the very least.

3. Pregame before business meals. Not the kind of pregaming you do before you go to a bar, but you get the idea. It's not uncommon to network or talk business over a meal. Maybe you're at a conference, maybe you're at a lunchtime informational interview, maybe you're sitting down at a coffee shop. Humans socialize around food. Here's the thing, though: if you're starving and all you can think of is eating, you're not going to be an effective communicator. Eat something beforehand so that you don't have to eat the meal, especially if you're susceptible to blood sugar issues. I'm not saying don't eat your meal - that would also be weird - but instead of staring longingly at your pasta while you try to answer questions about how awesome you are, take a bite here and there and keep up a lively conversation.

3b. Don't drink to excess. Ideally, don't drink at all. This may seem like a no-brainer, but it's astonishing how many professional situations involve easy access to alcohol. If you're already nervous, a drink is not going to help - it's not a freshman mixer, it's a career opportunity. If you want to sip something or hold something in your hand, bars almost always carry ginger ale or juice. (True story: I once ordered a selzer and cranberry mix at a bar at a conference, and the next day the person who had been in line behind me sought me out to thank me for doing that - she was always nervous about the peer pressure of alcohol in social situations and she literally hadn't realized until that moment that she could just order something else to drink.)

4. Hold EITHER a drink OR an hors d'oeuvre in your non-dominant hand. This was given to me as a tip at a long ago etiquette dinner sponsored by my undergraduate college and it has stuck with me ever since. Imagine an evening cocktail party. You're mingling, you're chatting, and all of a sudden there's that curator you've been dying to meet since forever. If you have food in one hand and a glass in the other, how do you shake her hand? How do you reach for a business card? You don't. So when mingling, hold one or the other, and do it in your non-handshake hand. No one wants to shake a hand that's clammy from holding a soda.

5. After an event, write down where and when you met a person on the back of their card, along with any pertinent conversation details. I didn't do this after my last AAM conference. Wow, big mistake. I have a pile of business cards and a dozen memories of great conversations, and while I'm pretty sure I can connect the dots, how embarrassing would it be to be wrong? So if you're in a large networking situation like a conference or a workshop, take a few minutes within 24 hours to write a few notes on the back of each card you receive - whatever will help you remember context. I usually do conference, date, panel (if applicable) and a few words about the conversation we had, especially if I want to follow up.

6. Use those contacts after the fact. People don't usually hand out their business cards just to be polite. They're a tool for communication. Use them. Pick a few people with whom you connected, or who you think would be especially helpful to know, and reach out to them in the week or two after you've met them. If they offered to meet for a drink, follow up on that. If you mentioned an article you read recently and they seemed interested, send it to them. Then keep up with it. Don't be obnoxious - if they don't reply, let it go - but don't be afraid to take the first step, either.

7. Plan your clothes like a military campaign, taking into account all the activities of the day. This is really a conference tip. Really think about what you'll be doing in a day: are you sitting in panels? taking tours? getting on and off buses? walking the exhibit hall? are you planning on approaching any of your museum idols? Right up there with picking your panels for the day is making sure you have appropriate shoes and clothes. You really do not want to have a wardrobe malfunction in the middle of a panel you've been dying to attend. That may mean leaving the more stylish clothes at home, but that's ok.

8. Have a story about yourself. Think about what you most want to convey about where you are in your career, what you are seeking at the moment, and where you'd like to go next (do you need a job? an introduction to an organization? more experience in a certain area? advice about your career path?). Put that together into a narrative. Trim it down. Rehearse it a bit, in front of a mirror if you want. As a young professional, you're going to be asked a lot about yourself, and you'll want to have an answer in your toolkit that both conveys who you are and what you're looking for.

9. Informational interviews. These are pretty much the greatest thing since sliced bread. Museum professionals are the best people in the world. They want to help you. They are also human beings who are happy to talk about where they've had successes and failures in life. Make connections, follow up on those connections, and suggest a meeting to talk. Think through what you want to ask and what you want to know. DO NOT go into the interview thinking that if you just show how great you are, they'll hire you. Go in with a pure quest for knowledge and professional friendship. I once met someone who offered to talk to me more about grantwriting at a conference; I followed up; she invited me down for lunch; we had a terrific lunch, I toured her organization's historic houses; I kept in contact and used the resources she'd suggested to learn even more; thus, when it came time for my graduate internship, I chose to spend half my time in development, knew what I was getting into, and had a basic understanding of the job, which was a huge leg up. All because of one great lunchtime conversation.

10. Self-edit. This seems stupid and self-evident, I know. But we all have that one thing we talk too much about, and sometimes a networking situation is warm and friendly, and we're tempted to tell the person we've just met that hilarious story about that one time... Just say no. Be careful and precise about what you say. As the saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Do you have any other networking tips you'd give to young museum professionals? Anything you wish you'd known when starting out?

Lunch with NEMA: Social Media Metrics

I've now attended - or tried to attend - each of the New England Museum Association's Lunch with NEMA series. On the last Wednesday of each month at noon, NEMA presents a webinar on a relevant professional topic. Some of them have been good; some of them have been boring; all of them have been a welcome addition to the online professional development world.

The overall concept is good, if a bit tricky to manage sometimes - I rarely have an uninterrupted hour in the middle of the day, and even if I take lunch for 30 minutes or so and listen in, I'm guaranteed to have to mute and step away for a few minutes.

That being said, I will continue to try! Last month's webinar on Social Media Metrics with Caitlin Thayer of Barefoot Media was the best yet. Here are a few notes from Caitlin's presentation.

Collecting Social Media Metrics

Caitlin's overall thesis was well-illustrated by her opening quote: "Don't be driven by data, be informed by data." (Beth Kanter)

Facebook
- pull data from Facebook once a month, on the fourth or fifth of the month: it takes some time for the website to catch up all its statistics
- look for overall trends, not individual posts
- Caitlin has found that three posts per day on Facebook is the sweet spot for many institutions she works with, but emphasized testing out your own institution's frequency and monitoring your audience's response
- people can tell if you're auto-posting - don't do that! Take a few minutes and post directly to Facebook rather than scheduling and exporting your status updates from another service

Twitter
- Hootsuite is an excellent tool to monitor Twitter activity
- Caitlin's rule of thumb for Twitter is to post anywhere from 3-25 times per day
- use a maximum of two hashtags per tweet, and keep enough space so that people can retweet (ie, don't use up all 160 characters)
- go ahead and auto-schedule Tweets through Hootsuite
- keep track of your clicks and your "Klout" score via Hootsuite's profile page
- as you tweet, keep track of people who regularly engage with you and reach out to them individually to ask them to promote your events, attend special events, etc.

YouTube
- YouTube is now the second largest search platform on the internet after Google
- One video per month is a good rule of thumb

Blogs
- websites are static - regularly updated blogs can help people find reasons to keep visiting your site
- once a week is a good blogging rule of thumb

E-News
- keep in mind that the majority - as much as 60% - of people are reading e-newsletters on their phones or mobile devices, so design your text and visuals with that in mind
- photos and videos in newsletters are crucial and encourage clickthrough
- don't be shy about your newsletters subject lines - personal and casual can sometimes be better; the Obama campaign had the most success with subject lines such as "Hi!" and "What's up?"

General Advice
- use social media to monitor your relationships and inform your content - what are people saying about you? what are they looking for?
- give a well-rounded view of yourself (your museum) and your community - people like seeing institutions go outside themselves
- shooting out information without engagement is an easy trap to fall into - ie, don't just post random clever facts endlessly, seek opinions and input and thoughtful discourse
- with a strategic plan and clearly identified goals, social media can be done well in one hour a day

Museological Review from the University of Leicester

I realize I'm coming to this party very late, but this is terrific, and if you don't know about it, you should.

The University of Leicester has had a top-ranked museum studies program for quite some time, and they're the only degree program to my knowledge that offers a PhD in museum studies. I've been casually intrigued by the online PhD option they offer, but I'm not ready to commit to more graduate school yet, having been a free and independent soul for a whole nine months.

Since 1994, the program has published occasional issues of a peer-reviewed journal called Museological Review, and all past issues are up online. They've just published their first of 2013, full of some fascinating-looking articles from a recent conference on utopias.

I'll be reading through these issues over the next few weeks, and probably occasionally responding to them in this space. If you didn't know about this resource, enjoy!

(Because I'll use this place as an anchor point for any future reviews or talkbacks to articles, I'll continually update it with links to those articles.)

10 Free or Low Cost Ways to Encourage Professional Development

Kristie Sheppard recently brought up the question of professional development for museums at AASLH's Small Museums Community blog: To Do or Not To Do: Professional Development.

I argued in the comments there that museums should always encourage professional development, that it should at least be partially paid for by the institution, and that it should be freely available to all staff, not dependent on seniority. I realize, however, that that's the ideal. What should museums who have few or no resources do to encourage learning among their staff? Here are ten ideas that are free or very low-cost.

1. Organize staff trips to other museums. Most museums have at least one day during which staff is scheduled but the doors are not open to the public. Why not take a few hours and have the whole staff meet at a nearby institution for some peer review? This can be done formally - including a meet'n'greet with the other staff members - or informally - everyone just shows up at the new exhibition and then talks about what they saw and what they thought over lunch.

2. Host a workshop, seminar, or exhibit critique. Many professional committees for regional and national museum associations are always looking for space to hold their events. Volunteer your space, and in return, bargain for a few seats in the seminar for your own staff. You can also invite the exhibits or programs committee of an association to one of your exhibits or programs and ask for a critique, which is a great learning experience all around.

3. Cross train. Sometimes professional development is as simple as adding new skills. Sit down with someone else who does a different job and ask them about it - maybe over lunch, maybe by shadowing them for a bit. Have a development person train to give school group tours. Have the director learn the cash register in the shop. Have the education person sit down with the registrar for a morning. Adding skills strengthens individual employees, deepens your own talent pool, gets people thinking out of the box, and increases camaraderie and understanding among staff.

4. Book clubs. There are so many brilliant books out there that offer great advice for museum professionals. Many of us read them in our spare time - I keep my own ongoing bibliography on this blog - but the benefits of having an institutionally-sponsored book club can be huge. Pick something that's general, or has good ideas, or even has nothing specifically to do with museums but espouses a particular ethos you want people to talk about. Encourage everyone to read that book over the course of a month, and meet together to discuss over lunch. This would work even better if staff could read a few pages at a time to clear their heads during work time.

5. MOOCs. This stands for "Massive Open Online Course," and it's a trend that's gaining speed right now. Websites like Coursera and MIT's OpenCourseWare offer college classes for free - all it takes is some time and commitment. It might take a little bit of searching to find something applicable to museums, but the payoff can be huge.

6. Free online certifications and webinars. There are a nearly infinite number of online certifications and webinars that are entirely free. FEMA has an entire online certification, complete with supporting classes, that is great for museum professionals. The Wild Apricot blog does a monthly roundup of free nonprofit webinars; here's their January 2013 listing. There are great resources at AASLH's Connecting to Collections website, including free courses. This is just the tip of the iceberg: spend a few minutes Googling and there's almost certain to be an online class that you'll be interested in. Are they always high quality? No. But they're free, and even in the worst of them you'll be presented with new ideas. For sensitive information - such as collections care - stick with reputable distributors.

7. In-house papers & presentations. Have your own mini-conference or lecture series! Set aside time every few months for staff members to present on a topic they're familiar with. If you want to have fun with it, try out some Pecha Kucha. Have the curator take an intriguing object out of the collections. Have a staff member who just got back from vacation talk about the heritage programs in another part of the country. Invite someone from a neighboring institution who just presented at a conference to repeat their presentation for your staff and thank them with dessert. Keep this fun, informal, and open so that no one feels intimidated.

8. Product demonstrations. Curious about that new exhibit case/archival box/software program? Want more training? Most companies will make a representative available for you to talk to. I've had great success at conferences walking up to product booths and being honest: "Your product is not in my area, and I don't have power over purchasing decisions, but I'm curious and I want to learn. Talk to me." Try the same thing over the phone; find out if someone will be in your area and try to connect. Great conversations and great learning happen.

9. Online conferences. These aren't usually free, but compared to the time and the cost of flying across the country and staying in a city for a week, they're a bargain. Here's the upcoming AASLH Annual Meeting's online registration; here's their page of previous sessions available for purchase. Here's AAM's roster of past annual meetings.

10.  Socialize. Wait, what does this have to do with professional development? Trust me: on a basic level, many of the big professional development opportunities, like the AAM and AASLH national conferences, are about meeting people. You can encourage this even among your own staff. The better your staff knows and likes each other, the better they'll work together. We don't always have time to socialize with each other, and I might not know that you have the carpentry skills I desperately need to build the exhibit case I've always dreamed off. You can also enlarge this beyond just your organization: many professional organizations offer happy hours or cocktail meet'n'greets at local watering holes (#drinkingaboutmuseums comes immediately to mind, with branches in more and more cities); encourage everyone from your museum to attend.

Polymaths, experts, and the new information hunter-gatherers

I chewed through more than a few metaphors to try to encapsulate a concept that's been occupying my thoughts a great deal lately. In the end, describing it simply was best.

Before the connectivity of the modern world, the learned elite gained information in isolation, with exacting slowness. What one person learned was very often confined to that one person. Reading something and committing it to memory, or writing it out in a personal reference/index system were ways to gain and retain knowledge. One person could be a deep, thorough expert in their field, calling to mind a host of examples and connections based on personal study and personal experience. Their knowledge was internalized and kept secure with themselves, and they could speak eloquently on their subject by drawing on their own store of expertise.

Now, a new expert is emerging, more along the model of a card catalog. Think of a person who may not be able to speak eloquently on, for example, the various dictates of the Second Lateran Council of 1139, but who has a broad grasp of the movement of history during the 12th century and can easily and quickly locate information about the canon law adopted during the council, articles that interpret particular aspects of that law, and is savvy enough to sort through junk information to find relevant details quickly.

Think of the first as a person who stores information, and the second as a person who stores pathways to information. The second person will be able to move more quickly, access a broader range of subjects, and use the tools of the modern world more effectively.

But the first person is our deep thinker, who can connect all the dots of a problem and can speak with authority. The first person knows the location, hours, and menu of a local Mexican restaurant because they have been there; the second person knows that the restaurant is down the street a ways, and can quickly narrow down to the correct restaurant on his iPhone.

Are we moving toward a culture where we value the latter over the former? Is the latter more uniquely suited to the world today, and the former is a dying breed? Does everyone need a bit of both? Which is the more useful in a museum environment - or do we need both? Are the experts our curators, and the indexes our visitor services managers?

Museum Offices

I love this old photo gallery from The Washington Post with a peek into the office of a senior curator at the National Gallery of Art. Look familiar to anyone?

YEPs Track at NEMA 2012

I mentioned that I'm excited for NEMA, right?

I've combed over the program to create a track that I think would provide a good first time experience for a Young or Emerging Professional. This track will take an attendee from Tuesday night right through to Friday, but shouldn't be one-size-fits-all; you definitely will want to take a good look at the full program to make sure that your dream panel isn't happening on the other side of the hotel at any given time.

With that in mind, here's my suggested schedule for a new museum professional at NEMA, keeping in mind that I'm speaking for myself, personally, and not for NEMA or the YEPs PAG. (Warning: really long.)

Tuesday

7:00 - 9:00 p.m. PechaKucha Night
I didn't make this last year, but I'm hoping to this year. It sounds like a great icebreaker and a good way for a first timer to meet people even before the conference starts.

Wednesday

8:00 - 9:00 a.m.: Welcome Coffee & Baked Goods in the Exhibit Hall
Absolutely essential. Eat early and often, especially if you're a broke young nonprofit professional. Bring your own reuseable coffee mug to keep liquids warmer longer and to have a way to seal them and prevent awkward spillage during a session.

9:00 - 10:30 a.m.: Coming Back Stronger: How Museums Can Prepare, Survive, and Thrive After a Major Disaster
There are some good sessions in this time slot, but for my money this is the best for a new professional. It promises to be a good combination of theory and case study with lessons learned in recent memory. Disaster preparedness sometimes takes the back seat in planning, but it can be vitally important.


10:45 - 12:15 a.m.: Keynote Speaker Michael Jager
Keynote speakers have been hit or miss for me, but you should still be there, if only to have talking points for the rest of the week. Check out Jager's invitation video to learn more of what he'll be talking about.


12:45 - 1:15 p.m.: Opening Lunch
Definitely go to this. Stretch yourself a bit and sit at a table with people you've never met, and strike up a conversation. Opening lunch food is usually pretty good, too. Don't be like me and sit underneath the puppet performance, though. That was awkward.

1:15 - 1:45 p.m.: Dessert and Coffee in the Exhibit Hall
My first rule of NEMA: always go to the dessert breaks.

1:45 - 3:15 p.m.: Strategize Me: Making a Career Plan
If you're not going to come see me at the ECHO Lake Aquarium, then this session is a no-brainer. Linda Norris is behind the terrific blog The Uncatalogued Museum, she's smart and savvy, and she's a good person to know. This session looks like an ideal one for young professionals who are still figuring out the field.


3:15 - 3:45 p.m: Snack Break in Exhibit Hall
Are you sensing a theme? Seriously though even if you feel like you couldn't eat another bite, take this time to explore the exhibit hall. Get your exhibit hall card signed off by various vendors - it may seem a little silly, but two years ago I won a free registration and last year I had friends who won other great stuff. Plus, the vendors are nice people who will give you free samples and will teach you about cool things.


3:45 - 5:15 p.m.: Conversations About Advocacy
Making a case for your museum in your community is a really big deal, and with the trend toward decreased funding for museums, community support is crucial. This isn't going away anytime soon, and hearing about it from people on the front lines is a great opportunity.

5:15 - 6:15 p.m.: Exhibit Hall Reception
Same as above. Eat and chat. This will be quite crowded though, so if you're feeling burnt out from the day and need to get out of the hotel or just be alone in your hotel room for a while, skip it.


6:15 - 9:00 p.m.: Welcome to Burlington! An Evening at ECHO
The NEMA evening events are always a good time, and if you can spring for the $50 price tag, this is well worth it. Though the description says there will only be hors d'oeuvres, I've never left a NEMA event hungry.

Thursday

8:00 - 9:00 a.m.: Welcome Coffee in the Exhibit Hall
More free food. Take this opportunity too to get your exhibit hall card signed.

9:00 - 10:30 a.m.: Sexual History: Exploring Interpretive Opportunities at Historic Sites
This looks like a great, balanced, researched approach to a tricky topic. As more and more research is done into the "alternative" histories of traditionally interpreted sites, sexuality and gender will become interesting and valuable topics to explore.


10:30 - 11:00 a.m.: Coffee Break in the Exhibit Hall
Go grab a quick drink, take this time to connect with someone, or check email quietly. Mid-morning recharges are key.


11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.: Your Best Foot Forward: Personal Skills for Professional Success
No-brainer for emerging professionals. Dan Yaeger, Executive Director of NEMA, is presenting this session, which will be hugely valuable for YEPs especially.


12:45 - 2:20 p.m.: PAG Lunches
I can't make a recommendation about these, as they're all very different. I've gone to several over the years, and always enjoyed myself. Choose the one most relevant to your interests.

2:30 - 3:00 p.m.: Exhibit Hall Closing Reception and Raffle Prize Drawing
Definitely attend this. Make sure you turn in your filled out exhibit hall card to win a cool prize.


3:00 - 4:00 p.m.: Career Conversation with Michael R. Taylor
These are a fairly new addition to the NEMA schedule. I attended one last year out of curiosity and really, really enjoyed it. This is a great opportunity to have a more personal conversation with a smaller group of professionals, all of whom are seeking some kind of career advice.


4:45 - 5:30 p.m.: Newcomers Reception
This cocktail event is sponsored by the Tufts University Museum Studies program, and therefore I have absolutely no bias in encouraging you to attend. Seriously, though, this is exactly the kind of event that young professionals can benefit from. It's free, and it's a room full of people in the same place you are.

6:00 - ? p.m.: Dinner Discussion: Set Yourself Apart for Success
This is an evening conversation at the Bluebird Tavern organized by the Young & Emerging Professionals PAG and co-hosted by yours truly. It's really planned with emerging professionals in mind and should also be a fun, informal meet & greet.

Friday

8:30 -  9:00 a.m.: Coffee & Baked Goods in the Exhibit Hall
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Again, bring a reusable mug and fill up for the rest of the morning.

9:00 - 10:30 a.m.: Is the Customer Always Right? Sharing Curatorial Authority with the Public
I was really torn on this session, I have to admit. But when I asked myself which session would be best for a new professional, this one stood out. Sharing authority is a big hot issue in museums right now and we're poised at the edge of a new way of doing things that could be really exciting. I attended a session based on the same source book - Letting Go? Sharing Historical Authority in a User-Generated World - at AAM this past spring and it was really terrific.

11:00 - 11:45 a.m.: NEMA's 15 Minutes of Fame!
I didn't attend this last year, as I wasn't sold on the concept, but crowdsourcing the speaker this year seems to have worked well and there are some really interesting candidates. Based on the way they've chosen the speaker, it promises to be a clever, high energy session.

12:45 - 2:00 p.m.: Annual Luncheon Meeting
Good way to wrap up a busy week. The food is usually pretty good, and it's always interesting to see how NEMA conducts business. Connect with everyone you've met one last time before heading home.

If you are able, try to stay in Vermont through the weekend. It's one of the greatest places on earth - no exaggeration - and it has some terrific museums. Drive down Route 7 to see the stunning scenery of the Champlain Valley, or down 89 on the other side of the mountains for some great museums in Waterbury, Barre, Montpelier, and Norwich.

New England Museum Association 2012 Annual Conference

We're now just less than a month out from the New England Museum Association's Annual Conference, this year held in Burlington, Vermont. I'm finally starting to get giddy, for three reasons.

First, Burlington (and the whole state of Vermont) is just about my favorite place in the universe. I went to college just south of Burlington, and lived & worked there for two more years. I could spend the rest of this post talking about what an incredible place Vermont is, but you'll have to trust me: best location ever for a conference.

Second, NEMA conferences are amazing. NEMA 2010 was my first-ever conference as a museum professional, and I was on a geek high the entire time. I loved it all. That was also the conference where I stuck my hand up during a panel and asked how an emerging professional might get experience in grantwriting, because it kind of sounded like fun, and I was mobbed by people offering advice afterwards offering advice and opportunities. Following up on those led directly to coursework in grantwriting and to my internship at Old Sturbridge Village in their development office. That's just one example of the terrific people you'll meet at NEMA.

Third, I'm going to be on two panels at NEMA! I'm pretty excited.

On Wednesday afternoon, I'll be on the panel Exhibition Critique: Online and Onsite Exhibits, featuring Voices for the Lake. Here's the full description:

The Exhibitions PAG is back with the popular Exhibition Critique. This year’s topic focuses on exhibits that are both onsite and online. We will be examining ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center’s Voices for the Lake. This IMLS-funded project aims to engage the community in stewardship of Lake Champlain through an integrated platform of online and onsite exhibits and outreach programming. What are the benefits and challenges of creating an exhibit that exists online and on- site simultaneously? After a tour of the exhibit by ECHO staff, our review panel of museum professionals from many disciplines will examine these and other questions. Paul Orselli from Paul Orselli Workshop will be joining us again this year. We need your voice there too, so please join us!

Then on Thursday night, I'm co-hosting an informal dinner discussion in my role as co-chair of the NEMA Young & Emerging Professionals PAG, called Push the Envelope, Break the Mold, Climb Out of the Box: Set Yourself Apart for Success at the Bluebird Tavern. Here's the description of that one:

Open to all museum professionals at all levels;
recommended especially for Young and Emerging Museum Professionals

Especially designed for those who are seeking creative ways to approach job searching and networking, this open forum dialogue will provide opportunities for participants to brainstorm and discuss ways to set themselves apart in an increasingly challenging field. Talk to professionals with all levels of experience—be it fellow job seekers, those with more experience in the field, students, consultants, and more—and learn ways to highlight your skills, create a career plan and goals, and emphasize your unique qualities when applying for positions, interviewing, climbing up the ladder, and, ultimately, setting yourself apart.

It's going to be a busy week, but I'm incredibly excited!

AASLH Annual Meeting Online

As I mentioned, even though I'm not able to make it to Salt Lake City for the conference this fall, I signed up for the online conference, and I'm excited to follow along via LearningTimes. The sessions are starting tomorrow, and I'll be viewing and taking notes on them each evening. I hope to present short notes here in the next week or two.

I'm glad to see that at least two of the sessions that I personally helped select made it into the online conference selection. Here's the complete list:

Thursday, October 4	10:30-11:45 am EDT (7:30-8:45 am PDT) Too Important to Fail! Historic House Museums Meet Communities’ Needs
	12:00-1:15 pm EDT (9:00-10:15 am PDT) Bad Boards, Bad Boards, What’cha Gonna Do: Strategies for Fixing Poorly Functioning Museum Boards 3:15-4:40 p, EDT (12:15-1:30 pm PDT) Localizing Difficult Histories
Friday October 5	10:30-11:45 am EDT (7:30-8:45 am PDT) The Changing Web: The Future of the (History) Website
	12:00-1:15 pm EDT (9:00-10:15 am PDT) Yield to On-Coming Traffic: No Stopping Strollers and Small Feet 3:15-4:40 pm EDT (12:15-1:30 pm PDT) What Do History Museums Really Need to Know About Their Visitors’ Experience?

Workshop Notes: "I love my job, but..."

I Love My Job, But...Raises, Transitioning, and Advocating for More Responsibility

presented by the New England Museum Association's Young & Emerging Professionals PAG

April 26, 2012 at the Tufts University Art Gallery

The NEMA YEPs host a series of mini-workshops each spring, evening presentations with a focus on career advancement in museums. I've attended all but one for the last few years. I'm happy to say that as of June I have been serving as co-chair of the YEPs, and am helping to plan the upcoming workshop series. This particular session was one of my favorites, for its frank discussions of important issues and for the clear engagement shown by the audience.

The speakers were Dan Yaeger, President of NEMA; Douglas Stark, Museum Director at the International Tennis Hall of Fame; and Laura Roberts, museum consultant and professor of museum studies at Harvard University. I believe the workshop is best summarized in a series of questions with their answers following.

How do you talk about salary in an interview?

Never talk about salary until they fall in love with you! Even if a job asks, really try to avoid giving salary requirements in a cover letter. Keep in mind, too, that salaries aren't really negotiable like they are in the for-profit world; museums are highly budget-oriented.

When is the best time to ask for a raise, and how do you do that?

Annual performance reviews are key. You should go into your annual review with ammunition, a list of things you've done well over the past year. If you don't get reviewed by your supervisor, then create your own annual review. Really sit down and assess your own performance over the past year.

You should also make sure to broach the subject of a raise while the budget is still being discussed - don't wait until it's anywhere close to finalized!

Keep in mind that a job description should be like any other document in a museum's strategic plan. It should be revisited and revised according to reality. If you've taken on additional duties, you should advocate to tweak your job description, and with that can come a natural conversation about more pay.

You should also get to know everyone in your institution so that you can build good relationships. That way everyone will be able to vouch for your value.

How do you seek out and ask for professional development?

Keep in mind that your boss - unless you have a really rare, really wonderful boss - does not care about your career as much as you do. His priority is the institution and himself, so you need to make the case for professional development in those terms. Offer to come back and share what you've learned from a particular workshop or conference. Even if you haven't made the offer, do so anyway! Write up summaries for everyone of anything you think was particularly useful. Remember, as you progress through your career and your job you are building political capital that you can use for things just such as this.

What do you do when people feel threatened?

This is a topic particular to young and emerging professionals, who are often energetic and eager to be on the cutting edge and can make more established staff members feel nervous. To help combat this, you should be self-aware but also be authentic. Share your enthusiasm for your work and make very sure to credit those around you for their help and advice. Sometimes, though, the institution just isn't a good fit for you - too moribund or resistant - and you will need a transition.

What do you do when you realize it's time to move on?

First, beware of inertia and fear! Job hunting is a pain, but change is necessary. On that note, be aware that the museum field is a small one; don't gratuitously alienate anyone, because they will come back to haunt you in unexpected ways. Once you've made the decision to move on, put your network into action - but make sure that you've built up your social capital with your network. (Keep in mind the "what have you done for me lately?" corollary.)

Apply to jobs even when you're happy in your job - people always interview better when they're happy. If you have a good enough relationship with your boss you can bring up the subject of looking elsewhere, but be careful with this!

Be brave enough to get out there and meet people. Don't just sit behind a computer. Build a network you can trust, and when it comes time to job hunt, assume everything will be broadcast, so be polite and discreet.

Any final messages?

Think about the messages you convey with your behavior and work and adjust accordingly - make sure the message is always under your control.

Keep in mind that career paths are not always what you think, so stay open to change and opportunity.