Hello everyone! I was so excited to receive a Small Museums Committee scholarship to attend my first AASLH conference!
After I found out I had won, I printed out the preliminary conference schedule and picked out all of my sessions before I even filled out the scholarship paperwork! It was a jam-packed conference with wonderful speakers, topics, exhibitors and plenty of coffee.
There were tears and laughter with our keynote speakers; too much money spent on new and exciting books; new friends and mentors made; and business cards spread around. There were vampires and zombies, beer and butter-churns, pop-up sessions and a battle of the presenters.
There were a lot of late nights and blisters but it was totally worth it!
With this sort of general, broad-topic conference, it’s difficult to choose which session to attend because there are so many people there representing different professions within the history field. I was able to introduce myself to design firms that I had been researching on the internet, and I learned how to connect history and art for a better visitor experience. I also learned that, while funny, mistakes can lead to some unfortunate and embarrassing moments for your museum in “Museum Vampires”.
Thank you again for the opportunity! I will definitely share these experiences with my peers.
