Call for Session Proposals
Iowa Museum Association 2024 Conference Museums: Driving Connection   
September 22-24, 2024 in Council Bluffs, Iowa

This year’s annual conference brings us to Council Bluffs, Iowa, one of the historic points of connection in the building of the first transcontinental railroad. Declared ‘Mile Zero’ by President Lincoln as the beginning for Union Pacific Railroad’s track, Council Bluffs is forever tied to a story of connection. Keeping this in mind, the upcoming conference theme looks at this word and the ways museums, and other public sites like them, embody it.

Consider it a metaphor of connection, museums are both the engines that plow along the track carrying people to new destinations - as they are the builders of the rail that provides direction to that future point. Long considered repositories of culture with an emphasis on collections, museums fill the missing link between people and places through time. Rather than coal or electricity fueling their momentum it is through artifacts turned into stories that pull the cars (or people) forward. In the 21st century though, in a post-Covid world undergoing revolutions of social change, sites are reinventing the way they connect and what that connection means. This call for proposals asks how does your organization provide connection? What ways has that connection changed over time? What does connection look like to you?
Some questions to consider include:
In what ways has your organization’s interpretation changed over time?
How has your organization met challenges in connecting with your audience?
What ways has the digital landscape altered how connections are made?
How does your organization connect with its peers?
How is your organization responding to external changes to keep connections strong?

From the designing of accessible programs that welcome new audiences to marketing campaigns that reach beyond the local, connections are built in many ways - so the topics are endless. Proposals are now being accepted for session during the 2024 Iowa Museum Association Conference.

Deadline for submissions is March 10.  
•    Session proposals may focus on some aspect of the conference theme, Museums: Driving Connection, or on skills building.
•    Sessions are typically one hour in length, but we reserve the right to modify the schedule as needed.  The planning committee is open to a variety of session types, formats, and speakers either alone, in pairs, or on panels.
•    Sessions may be recorded and shared with registrants on IMAonlinelearning.com 
 
 
Proposal should include:
1.    Title and session description, including how the session will address the conference theme or skills building.
2.    Presenter name, title, organization
3.    Attach to email: head shot (jpg) and short biography (4-8 sentences).
4.    Session format may be lecture, power point, panel, conversation, or thought leader, among other acceptable formats.  
a.    If your proposal is for a panel, please include the names and titles of all participants. 
 
Proposals may be submitted via e-mail to Cyndi Sweet, Executive Director, Iowa Museum Association at [email protected]
 
 
Proposals accepted for breakout sessions will be notified in April 2024.
 
Speakers and panel participants are expected to register for the conference which will be held September 22-24, 2024.
 
Questions may be directed to [email protected]