This past weekend I had the opportunity to head south to A.C. Gilbert's Discovery Village for the Northwest Association of Youth Museums' Annual Conference. A.C. Gilbert's is a wonderful, fun-filled place to explore and we thank them for hosting this year's conference. NWAYM provides a great opportunity for museum professionals from more than 25 museums to learn from our peers, collaborate to make our museums better, and explore the museums we may not have visited before. We share stories, talk about our future goals and projects, and bring in professionals to suggest ways we can all improve.

This year's speakers focused on communication and offered distinct views on the art of personal interactions and the importance of getting on the social media band-wagon. I like to think that KidsQuest strives to strike a balance between the two. In the age of email and text I refuse to do away with face to face contact, someone's voice on the other end of the line or a hand written note to remind someone that they are important to our organization. And at that same time, being able to talk to you via KidsQuest's blog, post a video or link on Facebook, and Tweet our updates is a vital part of our communication with you, our members, visitors and friends. That being said, please know that my door is always open if you’d like to talk, the phone number is 425-637-8100, and you can click here to become our fan on Facebook.

The one aspect of NWAYM that I look forward to the most is the Executive Director's Meeting. We aren't competitors, we are collaborators and one of my most powerful tools is bouncing ideas off fellow directors. Did you know that we encourage each other to copy our successes? That we partner on group grants? That we provide support in difficult times? In this economy, we are all working to cut expenses, create partnerships, continue marketing and maintain the integrity of the educational experiences that we provide our visitors. So this year's theme, How to Manage in Difficult Times provided an important opportunity to share innovative ideas on staffing, programming and operating successfully. Our individual experiences come together and create a network of peer support and alternative solutions to help us all move forward.

Meanwhile, my staff was attending the afternoon break-out sessions which offer each NWAYM attendee the opportunity for peer to peer training in their areas of expertise. Stacy and Becca are looking forward to sharing their experiences with you, so look for their posts next week.

Well, thanks for letting me share my experience with you and feel free to get in touch-phone, letter, tweet, facebook or post-whatever works for you!