State and regional museum associations are a great resource for people interested in entering the museum field.  Almost every state has its own association and then there are the geographically larger regional associations.  Most have annual conferences, which are a lot more personal than a national conference like AAM.  I know both we and MAAM will offer students reduced registration in exchange for volunteering. You may also find people from smaller museums who often don't advertise job openings in Aviso..  I volunteered for MAAM while in grad school, found my current job through MAAM's job bank at an annual meeting, and had a nice network already in place when I started this job 6 years ago.

Both types of associations may have special interest committees.  We have affinity roundtables for curators, directors, educators, etc. as does the Upstate (NY) History Alliance.  These are wonderful places to get to know people - our curators roundtable meets 3-4 times a year; often the only cost is lunch.

We'll often run workshops which can both increase your skills and build a network.

If you are already in a geographic area you like, see if there is a local museum council.

Rhonda Newton
PA Federation of Museums & Historical Organizations
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