Climate change is testing the foundations of collections stewardship. This session connects preservation ethics, public trust, and environmental stability, offering scalable tools and real-world lessons to help museums act with foresight, even with limited resources.

Converse with some of Chicago’s diverse cultural centers about how they have facilitated opportunities for dialogue around current events and addressed concerns around public safety. In roundtable discussions, exchange about when it was best to answer the call with events, programs and exhibitions and when it was best to employ alternative methods.

Explore how the Wisconsin History Makers Tour redefines where exhibitions happen! In this panel discussion, hear from the team behind the Tour as they share adaptable traveling exhibit models and practical strategies for bringing history into communities statewide.

Don’t face disasters alone. Join museum peers in this collaborative two-part series to build a robust emergency plan. We’ll guide you through identifying hazards, defining team roles, and operationalizing your strategy via hands-on exercises. Turn your institutional knowledge into a ready-to-use plan that ensures long-term preservation and safety.

Interested in a creative aging program at your museum? SPARK! is creative engagement for people with early-to-mid-stage memory loss and their care partners. Participants stay actively engaged in their community through experiences that stimulate conversations, provide support and inspire creativity through engagement in comfortable environments led by trained staff.

Unlock the power of personalized fundraising in Small Shops, Big Connections! Learn to identify, evaluate, and engage donors using screening tools, templates, and tracking sheets, all through hands-on exercises and interactive participation. Perfect for small teams ready to build lasting, meaningful donor relationships.

What is an endowment? Why are they important? This session will help museum leaders gain a better understanding of why endowments are a good foundation upon which we can build a solid financial structure.

Museum leadership is at a crossroads. This session introduces the leader-as-coach model, a bold alternative to hierarchy. Drawing on research and museum leader interviews, explore how coaching-oriented leadership builds trust, innovation, and accountability, equipping staff to navigate complexity and create future-ready cultures. Leaders at all levels will gain practical strategies.

As museums create experiential exhibits blending art, media, and technology, accessibility becomes both more complex and more essential. Through real examples, we will share strategies for embedding accessibility from the start and ensuring it remains central as projects evolve. This discussion positions accessibility as a catalyst for creativity and inclusion—helping teams deliver richer, more meaningful experiences for all.

Your membership program likely has more revenue potential than you realize. Hear how a zoo, a planetarium, and an art museum each discovered this by making structural and operational changes to their programs. Join this panel to hear their stories and take home practical strategies for rethinking your own membership model.

Exchange one-on-one with peers about individual and foundation asks that inspired generosity and gather tips.

What stewardship truths do we uphold​? What can be challenged? Join our ‘Ask the Registrar’ roundtable! Share your challenges, learn from colleagues, and gain practical solutions for collection care. Panelists will guide open dialogue, fostering a supportive network and empowering you to navigate the future with confidence.

Go behind the scenes of in-house exhibit training at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. Explore real training examples, multiple delivery formats, and practical strategies you can adapt to museums of any size. Learn how aligned staff training strengthens exhibit storytelling and the visitor experience.

Vanessa Sanchez, Executive Director of Yollocalli Arts Reach (NMMA) and Monica Chadha, founder of of Civic Projects Architecture share the engagement process with Yollocalli youth, alum, artist, staff and community to turn a decommissioned Fire Station into an arm of the National Museum of Mexican Art’s youth arts outreach program.

Beyond the Boo: Placemaking, Policy & the Paranormal explores how ghost-themed programming can engage or challenge museums of all sizes. Through case studies, presenters examine how mission, place, and community expectations shape responsible decisions, revealing when paranormal programs are a treat and when they are best left in the shadows.

Have you been trying to create progressive exhibitions and programming but worry about pushback from visitors, leadership, or the risk of losing funding? Join the Lombard Historical Society and the Jane Addams Hull House to learn practical strategies for moving forward with intention and confidence, even in challenging times.

Explore how one museum has pivoted its educational programs to better provide desired facilitation options in a time when funding cuts are affecting school budgets. Discuss what strategies you can use to bring your museum’s value to your community and address the community’s budget constraints and boost your bottom line.

Project management isn’t just for tech teams! Learn how Collections departments can use platforms like Monday.com to streamline grants, inventories, donations, and environmental data, create clearer workflows, shared documentation, and sustainable systems that help museums do more with less.

Featuring four Chicago museums with a national designation and scope, this panel session focuses on the impact of that status on their institutional identities, how it has shaped their missions and values, and how it guides their approach to collecting and local community engagement. We’ll also learn more about how this designation has opened the door for national and global exchange and/or presented unexpected challenges to their mission.

Join three museum leaders to discuss leading history organizations in this challenging political climate. The presenters will use case studies and audience participation to examine the balance of the mission, funding, reputation, staff well-being, and values – in the context of polarized perspectives of donors, trustees, visitors, and staff.

Strong museum governance starts with intentional board development. This session explores practical strategies for recruiting, engaging, and sustaining effective boards amid shifting community expectations and institutional pressures. Through real-world case studies, participants will gain actionable insights to strengthen board leadership, align governance with mission, and build resilient, community-centered museums.

Join a captivating conversation with leading Latina/o/x history and museum professionals as they discuss their critical work of preserving, interpreting, and celebrating diverse Latina/o/x experiences in U.S. This dynamic panel will explore the innovative strategies and unique challenges involved in ensuring that Latina/o/x stories are central to the American narrative.

Holding Cultural Truths explores how two German American institutions balance heritage, relevance, and change. Through case studies, presenters share strategies for inclusive interpretation, audience engagement, and mission-driven adaptation while offering scalable tools for museums navigating shifting demographics, accessibility and funding challenges, and evolving community expectations.

Museums prize reason—but visitors aren’t reasonable. This playful, provocative session explores how real human brains shape trust, attention, and meaning in museums. Through psychology and hands-on activities, participants will challenge professional assumptions and discover creative ways to design experiences that feel more human, memorable, and true.

Join a panel to discuss the recently published results of the National Survey of History Practitioners, a research effort to understand who works in the history field, how they’re paid, and how they feel about their work. We’ll also discuss how we can make our field more resilient and sustainable.

How can museums honor the truths of the communities they serve? Through statewide teacher research, advisory committees, and collaborative design, presenters show how community voice reshaped school offerings for today’s classrooms. Discover how responsive listening can transform educational practice and strengthen institutional impact.

Join staff and leadership from the Chicago Cultural Alliance to learn more about how the collective works together on citywide events, such as Journey Chicago and the new Meeting the Moment series of support programs.

Brainstorm ways to motivate visitors, members, and “followers” to support your mission as everyday givers and volunteers.

How can museums inspire stewardship before asking for action? This session explores how deeply place-based experiences ground history and sustainability in emotional connection. Using Conner Prairie as a case study, presenters share how land, architecture, and experience design work together to foster responsibility through local stories.

Discover how authentic external partnerships can enhance your field trip program. Explore how the Chicago History Museum and Embarc Chicago have joined together to create an experiential learning museum visit, based on student choice and artmaking. Complete your own partnership planning guide to consider application in your unique museum context.

In this hands-on session, attendees will explore practical strategies for donor retention, analyze prospect research tools, and build customizable engagement plans. Through guided exercises and examples, participants will learn how to segment donors, streamline stewardship, and create scalable systems that strengthen relationships and boost fundraising results.

AI is already showing up in museum work—but often without shared standards or guardrails. This practical session helps museum professionals understand what AI can and can’t do, where it fits responsibly, and how to assess readiness before adoption. Grounded in museum values, not hype.

Collection professionals inherit collections in various states of management and are tasked to plan to achieve a manageable collection. In this session, the Registrar/Collections Manager of the Racine Art Museum discusses prioritizing collection maintenance and management after decades of collecting and learning the true state of the collection.

How can museums engage religion as history, culture, and lived experience? Four Chicago institutions share practical strategies for using religion as an interpretive lens across exhibitions, programs, and collections, grounded in scholarship, community engagement, and museum values.

Explore how mechanical and fire protection systems safeguard collections and uphold museum values. This panel of engineers and museum operations leaders will share challenges, solutions, and scalable strategies for institutions of all sizes—ensuring preservation, safety, and public trust remain at the heart of museum practice.

This session offers candid insight into how museum leaders actually make decisions when priorities compete and outcomes are uncertain. Attendees gain peer-level perspective, not prescriptions, and leave with a practical framework they can use immediately in real institutional conversations.

TikTok, Reels, Shorts—oh my. This session explores how museums can use short-form video to cut through the noise, build trust, and attract niche audiences, drawing on real research and a small-museum case study that proves it works.

Museums eager to meet the wants and needs of 21st century audiences often look to intersections of art and science, interdisciplinarity, and technological innovation in their exhibitions. How can a museum push itself to create interdisciplinary experiences that activate collections and rethink what exhibitions can be? Join us for a discussion about how museums can foster collaboration and reimagine practice to create experiences that bring collections to life in new and meaningful ways.

Self-advocacy is a skill, not a burden. This session offers practical tools for neurodivergent museum professionals navigating hiring, on-boarding, and long-term roles. Learn language, frameworks and strategies that support sustainability, retention, and thriving across museum workplaces.

How can we play well with other institutions, and why? Join the DuPage Children’s Museum, the Batavia Depot Museum, and fellow professionals to explore the power of collaboration. Review partnership examples, discuss challenges, and leave with a plan for building successful, cross-museum relationships that strengthen communities and the museum field.

This session will equip museums and historic sites to fill the gap in the current environment for age-appropriate civics programming. Participants will experience activities from Applewood’s Civics and History field trip for high school students and leave with ideas to build youth-focused civics programs at their museums.

Designing is only the first step – the best programs evolve and iterate! In this case study, learn how iterative and data-driven design has propelled internship curriculums forward. Take away key insights from teen feedback, critical elements of success, and reflections on opportunities for transformation in your own teen-facing programs.

Discover how small, unexpected stories can create powerful museum brands. Three Executive Directors share real-world examples of how quirky artifacts and local lore drive marketing, membership, and gift shop success. Walk away with practical ideas and inspiration to turn your museum’s uniqueness into meaningful audience engagement.

Buckle up for a jam-packed (but efficient) ride through the world of successful museum advancement practices. Enhance your understanding of key strategies and the things we hold true about our wonderful profession!

Drowning in commitments but starving for connection? Discover why you can’t “time manage” your way out of overload – and what actually works. Learn to reclaim authentic presence, set guilt-free boundaries and transform exhaustion into intentional impact. Stop performing in life and start living.

Learn how the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center upheld its educational mission while transitioning to a satellite location, Experience360. Explore how innovative designs and curated narrative selection was used to protect historical integrity, ensuring core values remain powerful and public trust stays unshaken even in limited spaces.

What truths live in your collections data? Using a technical case study in developing collections management solutions without access to commercial platforms, we will discuss the challenges and opportunities involved in navigating legacy data, inherited systems, resource constraints, and the documentation choices that shape access, accountability, and consultation work!

Let’s be honest – we all know this tension. This session is an honest examination to build understanding and share examples of successfully navigating this challenge. Bring an open mind and learn how to bridge what feels like mutually exclusive priorities in ways that benefit our visitors, communities, and collections!

Collections professionals often encounter illegible handwriting. While processing historic botany specimens, the Chicago Academy of Sciences staff and volunteers encountered herbarium labels written in German Kurrent script, which ceased to be taught in 1941. Learn how they handled these transcription challenges and put your own skills to the test.