NEW EVENT: 2014 American Alliance of Museums Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo on The Innovation Edge

18–21 May, Seattle, USA

Innovation is a defining quality of our time. Creating the new, reimagining the old, adapting the present to changing needs have become the goals of the best and the brightest among us. To go from the seed of an idea to universally adopted reality seems to take mere weeks—reading books on our phones, wearing a computer, printing three-dimensional objects in our own homes.

So how can museums engage, support and sustain innovation in their communities? Can they serve as engines of innovation?

Hosted by the American Alliance of Museums, the 2014 Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo in Seattle aims to explore how museums can gain that Innovation Edge by showcasing the best and most innovative models in education, conservation, exhibitions, audience engagement and development.

MuseumExpo highlights

• The show floor will be an interactive extension of more than 150 educational sessions and events. More than 300 exhibitors will display and demonstrate cost- and time-saving solutions and cutting-edge technologies for the museum community and exhibit the latest in technology, exhibit design, lighting, security and countless other innovations critical to the museum field.
• Big idea sessions: Leading and up-and-coming voices from outside the museum field will share innovations, experiences and insights with museum professionals. Speakers this year include: Erik Larson, the award winning and New York Times bestselling author of Thunderstruck, Isaac’s Storm, Lethal Passage and The Naked Consumer; David Fleming, the Director of National Museums Liverpool (NML) and former President and current Vice President of the UK Museums Association; and Denis Hayes, Time magazines “Hero of the Planet,” former Director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Professor of engineering and human ecology at Stanford University.
• Marketplace of ideas: An open-air forum in which museum professionals have the opportunity to participate in informal discussions and exchange ideas on timely issues brought to you by the Professional Networks.
• "The Un-Conference Room": This on-site "pop-up" room facilitates ten, 75-minute meetings on any subject of the speakers choosing and is promoted it to attendees via social media. 

For further information, please visit the Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo website