Mini Conference Evaluation RESULTS

Following is a collation of the Mini Conference evaluations. Here at HME we use your input to guide our future meeting and Mini Conference topics, and improve all our offerings!

Location: Royal Botanical Gardens

Topic: Technology in Museums       

Date:  Monday November 20, 10:00am-3:00pm

680 Plains Road West, Burlington, ON Canada

20 total evaluations filled out

What were your expectations for the Mini Conference and were they met?

• Looking for new ideas and sharing. Great day! Thanks
• And interesting and engaging day
• Better understanding of sm + tech
• Just to meet new people and get inspiration… AND YES!
• A series of presentations and some networking. Yes… a wealth of resources as well
• To get some ideas and to see what was being done by other institutions. Yes, expectations were met
• To learn how museums are using technology in their institutions. As a staff member of a very small community museum, it is valuable to learn from others who are of similar size.
• Yes. This was actually my first museum network conference, so I very much enjoyed myself and learned a lot.
• Expected good information, inspiring speakers, good ideas to implement at own museum. Yes, they were met.
• Networking and learning new tools in tech/digital
• No expectations! Another amazing conference, lots of great speakers and ideas, even the distance education speakers and format
• Yes, great speakers! Loved all of the knowledge and sharing. : )
• Exceeded expectations. I was delighted at the content and overlap with communications. Learned a ton!
• Yes!
• Definitely!
• To learn about new platforms, networking
• Learning about the possibilities and potential of technology and social media for museums and hearing firsthand accounts
• Yes they were
• To make new connections and learn more about free social networking tools
• To be resourceful, and it was

Would you recommend this conference to your colleagues?

• Yes, it was very well done.
• To museum educators… and beyond!
• Yes
• Yes
• Yes
• Yes
• Absolutely!
• Yes!
• Yes! Absolutely
• Yes
• Yes! It’s always good
• Yes, I liked the size and the unconference session
• Yes
• Yes
• Yes, definitely
• Yes, it was informative.  Good range of presentations.
• Yes
• Absolutely!
• Absolutely
• Yes! I like that the talks were a half an hour, the unconference was also very resourceful

What is the biggest take away you will return to your institutions with from this conference?

• There are lots of tools available for no or low cost. Time is the biggest issue.
• So many tech tools!
• Using tech to translate mandate
• Just hearing about what other museums/orgs are up to
• The resources to learn about the use of social  media – tools for engaging the public at a distance + immediately digitally
• Reaching beyond museum walls…
• There are opportunities to engage the community with social media. There are many free apps that we could use to improve our practice and increase our productivity!
• Really enjoyed Ryan Dodge’s digital visitors are visitors too. Going to bring the social media strategy back to my team
• Networking – we all have the same problems so it’s great to share solutions
• The supportive network of educators in the area + the knowledge they’re willing to  share
• Social media and education strategy. Use distance education to solve problem of declining school tours due to lack of bussing and reaching seniors.
• New resources to access and try out connections
• Many new technologies to explore and many that will easily integrate into existing online pages. New opportunities for the future – especially off site “field trips”
• New ways to think about digital visitors and new digital tools.
• We are not alone – unbelievable number of digital online and social media resources
• I enjoyed learning about the different platforms that I could use both professionally and personally
• Open source platforms for education/connecting/planning. Ways of being active on social media without permission.
• There are a lot of amazing things that museums can do. Just needs some out of the box thinking
• The content checklist and effective ways to communicate collections to online visitors
• A lot of free technical tools

Do you have any suggestions to help improve the Mini Conference?

• Nope, it was great
• Nope, was great!
• No
• No, I would say the short presentation q + a approach is good – perhaps a chance to do both workshops instead of just one
• No, it was well done
• Not really! It was so well done! Kudos to the organizers! Fantastic job!
• Would enjoy more digital content – social media specific topics
• Nope – loved it!
• Ask a question/questions ahead of time to help inspire attendees even before they conference
• None. It’s awesome
• More discussion time, and perhaps prepared discussion questions
• MORE!
• Leave 10 minutes for set up for video conferences

Are there any themes you’d like to see explored at future Mini Conferences?

• Exhibit development, Volunteer training
• Exhibit development, planning, and execution
• New approaches for accessibility in museums
• In-house gamification
• Dealing with management, networking with the community, outreach + walking tour
• Would enjoy more digital content – social media specific topics
• Diversity + accessibility
• Using small or inappropriate spaces for programming and vice versa, programming for small spaces
• Education/interpretation/programming
• Partnership projects
• Collaborations between libraries, archives and museums
• Failures – what didn’t work
• Collections management strategies
• Virtual reality tech

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

• Thanks!!
• Thanks! J
• How I heard: I do follow the HME FB page, but this fell off the radar. A coworker told me about it, that’s how I heard that it was happening
• Thanks for a well-run day
• Great job, thanks!
• I attended the HME conference at Ruthven a few years ago. HME executive are really doing a great job fulfilling affordable professional development opportunities in the area. Please continue to offer the conferences. They are well done! Thank you so much!
• If there could be more time for sharing upcoming events in the museum community, it would help open up networking beyond the event
• Heard about this through GOEMP
• Bravo!!
• Thanks for coordination of event – thanks RBG!
• I really enjoyed the level of interaction
• No, this was awesome!