Obviously, I did not blog every day I was on Jekyll Island. But I don't think I can be blamed. I was immersed for a week with 14 other fabulous museum professionals. Every day was filled with intense, but fun, brainstorming and learning.
There were 16 sessions total. Covering everything from working with boards, strategic planning, fundraising, working with volunteers, exhibits, interpretation, disaster planning, collections planning, collections management, ethics, leadership styles, time management, PR and more.
Frankly, after a day of classes I was too tired to blog about it once I got back to the hotel. So I'll just use this post to share the highlights.
My favorite class was Public Relations and Marketing because I've never had much experience with it. The instructor was Lisa Littlefield from Oglethorpe University. If you ever have the chance to see her present, do it. She is so funny and personable. She really impressed me because she shared her success stories and her failures.
I did have some personal time while I was on Jekyll Island. It was lovely taking walks on the beach. The historic houses were beautiful. The bookstore was charming. The geocaching was fun. And the Georgia Sea Turtle Center is awesome, a truly not to be missed venue. I can't wait to go back to Jekyll Island for vacation with my family.
This week I'm attending an 8 day museum management institute on Jekyll Island. Today was just the first day and although it was mainly welcome speeches and getting to know each other there was one session that was presented and I think it was a very interesting one. The session was on management and leadership. I think the thing the presenter hit on the most for me was the difference in what it means to be a manager and what it means to be a leader. It was very interesting to quickly learn the differences in the two types of work that both positions fill. He'll be continuing the discussion in a second session tomorrow, so I'll speak more on it later. Jekyll Island is beautiful and we were able to tour the historic district today. I highly encourage anyone to come out here if you ever get the chance. Georgia has laws that the island must remain 65% un-developed making it such a beautiful natural setting. Also every dollar spent on the island stays on the island and ...