Career Café™

Get a Brain Charge at the AAM Career Café™

No matter where you are along the career pipeline, the AAM Career Cafe™ focuses on you!  Grow through a range of activities that can help you build personal and professional effectiveness and strengthen organizational performance.

Questions about the AAM Career Café™? Contact Greg Stevens at gstevens@aam-us.org or(202)-218-7675.

TRANSFORM YOUR PROFESSIONAL NETWORK
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Career Café Central

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 1–3, 8 A.M.–5 P.M.
Want to know more about the Career Cafe™? Need a place for a one-on-one conversation?  Schedule an impromptu interview? Career Café Central is the place for you! Catch up on the latest literature in management, leadership or life/work balance, or just drop in to take a break.

New this year!
Rising to the Financial Challenge
Roundtables
Sunday, May 3, 12:15-1:45 p.m.
Financial challenges are confronting all of us, individuals, institutions and the field itself. Budgets are being cut, programs scaled back, staff levels reduced. What is the impact on our work and our lives and how do we respond? Jointhese roundtables on issues crucial to museums in these challenging times, and benefit from new ideas and strategies, reliable information and resource-sharing. Let’s rise to the challenge together!

Idea Lounge
Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 1–3, 8–9 A.M., 12:30–1:30 P.M. and 3:30–4:30 P.M.

For emerging, mid-career and seasoned professionals

Join colleagues for lively, informal discussions on field-wide issues and hot topics that are shaping the profession. Previous topics have included making exhibits matter, building a better brand, project management, four generations in the workforce, and leadership for the next generation.

 

Marketplace of Ideas
Friday, May 1, 3:30–5:30 P.M.

At this open-air forum, AAM Standing Professional Committees (SPCs) exchange and present information and new ideas. Join SPC representatives in presentations for all types of museums and museum-related organizations.

 

Mentoring Roundtables

Sunday, May 3, 12:15–1:45 P.M.

Especially for emerging and mid-career professionals

Moderator: Greg Stevens, Assistant Director for Professional Education, AAM, Washington, DC

Join colleagues and mentors in timely discussions about strategizing your career, overcoming workplace challenges, being a leader at any level and communicating persuasively. Share experiences and solutions through meaningful dialogue, relationship-building and peer-to-peer exchange of ideas.

Dine and Dialogue
Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, May 1-3
Join colleagues with similar interests for spirited dinner conversation around a focused topic, either personal or professional, to take place at restaurants in downtown Philadelphia (TBD).  Interested in facilitating a focused conversation with a small group of museum colleagues over dinner or happy hour (dutch treat)? Propose a topic by February 13 with a brief description to dine@aam-us.org. Dinner conversation topics will be selected and conversation hosts notified by February 27. 

 

 

FORMULATE YOUR CAREER STRATEGY
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Back by popular demand!

Resume Writing Workshops
Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 1–3, 10:30–11:45 A.M.
With special sessions for emerging and mid-career professionals and career-changers

Your resume is one of the most important professional communication tools you own. Gain valuable learning tips and strategies from experienced colleagues in the field. Bring your resume for peer review during each workshop.

 

“A Day in the Life” Reality Series
Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 1–3, 9–10:15 A.M. and 2–3:15 P.M.
Especially for emerging or mid-career professionals or career-changers

Get an intimate glimpse of various aspects of museum work and day-to-day challenges and triumphs through this series of face-to-face discussions with practitioners in the field. Last year’s sessions included educators, directors, curators, small-museum administrators, registrars, exhibition designers, consultants and more.

 

New this year!

Getting Started in Your Museum Career
Saturday, May 2, 8–9 A.M.
Especially for emerging professionals or career-changers

Chair: Greg Stevens, Assistant Director, Professional Education, AAM, Washington, DC

So you’re just (or almost) out of school, in your first museum job, or you’ve come to museums from another field. How do you get started? How do you take advantage of your “transferable skills”?  Join an informal conversation that explores the power of professional engagement as a critical tool for museum career success.

 

 

BREAK THROUGH COMMUNICATION BARRIERS
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Back by popular demand!

 “Personal Branding” Workshops
Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 1–3, 12:15–1:45 P.M.

For emerging, mid-career or seasoned professionals, or career-changers

What are you really good at? What are you passionate about? How do you communicate your career passions and skills? Improve your professional marketability in one or more of these workshops designed to provide you with practical tips on how to persuasively and powerfully convey your personal “brand” through written, oral and visual communication.

 

Public Speaking Workshops
Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 1–3, 8–9 A.M.

For anyone who speaks in front of people

This workshop, led by members of the International Museum Theater Alliance (IMTAL), is for those who would like to be more effective communicators.  Learn techniques and tips to help overcome some common pitfalls of public speaking and get answers to specific questions.

 

How to Craft an Effective Session Proposal

Sunday, May 3, 8–9 A.M.
For anyone who wants to develop a winning session proposal

Greg Stevens, Assistant Director, Professional Education, AAM, Washington, DC

What makes a great session proposal?  How does that translate into a dynamic session? Learn some basic tips and tricks using AAM Annual Meeting session proposal guidelines as a departure point for activity and discussion.

 

New this year! A three-day “skills lab”!

DISCOVER INDIVIDUAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRENGTH
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HR Basics for New Managers
Friday, May 1, 2–5 P.M.
Especially for new managers or directors of small institutions
The field of human resources has become a vast and complex. New laws are enacted frequently and violations can have a huge financial impact.  This workshop is designed for anyone who needs a basic review of HR practices and laws. Learn the basics of employee handbooks, dealing with discrimination, recruiting, interviewing, hiring, orientation, termination and more.

Strategic Planning and Thinking
Saturday, May 2, 3:30–5:30 P.M.
Especially for new managers or directors of small institutions
In an environment of increased competition, funding cuts and other pressures, strategic planning is a sound management tool for museums, requiring discipline, focus, coordination, frequent communication, tracking results and adjustments as needed. This exploratory workshop will help you identify the challenges to and benefits of closing the gap between strategic planning and execution.
 

Making Effective Decisions
Saturday, May 2, 9–10:15 A.M.
Especially for new museum directors and managers, or those undergoing organizational transformation

Gary Ford, Principal, GLFord Consulting, Seattle, WA

Understanding the nature of decision making and putting it into practice is essential for organizational effectiveness. Learn how to identify stakeholders for a given decision and ensure consistent communication of decisions across the organization.

 

Understanding Team Dynamics
Saturday, May 2, 10:30 A.M.–noon

For anyone who leads or serves on a cross-functional, cross-departmental team or workgroup

Gary Ford, Principal, GLFord Consulting, Seattle, WA

Are poor team dynamics affecting the operation of your institution, your bottom line and your audiences? Learn how you can build better teams by identifying dynamics that short-circuit team effectiveness, building trust, engaging in productive debate and prioritizing team goals over individual interests.

 

Mediating Conflict
Saturday, May 2, 2–3:15 P.M.

Especially for managers and supervisors or anyone who has to deal with difficult people

Gary Ford, Principal, GLFord Consulting, Seattle, WA

Do your employees have a hard time getting along? Do your departments engage in honest communication, or is what you experience “artificial harmony”?  Learn to more effectively help your employees tackle conflicts, and how to use a simple form of managerial mediation in extreme instances.

 

Project Management Basics
Sunday, May 3, 3:30–5:30 P.M.

Especially for new managers or directors of small institutions

Where are we? Where do we want to get to?  How will we get there?  What does “success” look like? These are among the many questions museum professionals ask when managing projects and the people that make them happen.  Learn the basics of project management in this lively and practical workshop.

 

ALIGN YOUR MIND AND BODY
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Life Balance “Spa”

Thursday, April 30, 2–6 P.M.; Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 1–3, 7 A.M.–7 P.M.

Take a break from the hustle and bustle of the annual meeting and regain some balance!  Get your day started or finish it off with chair massage, low-sweat yoga or T’ai Chi.