Speaking of conferences in 1996, I just attended the AAM training
conference on visitor services this past weekend in San Diego.  Wow, what a
dynamic group!  More than 120 people attended from all parts of the
country, all interested in learning how to improve the visitor experience
when they visit our museums--sessions were held on museum store
development, exhibition planning, human relations and staff training,
security, marketing, and cultural tourism.  The format of the training
conference encouraged close interactions with others since everyone was
following along in the same program schedule (rather than running around
between concurrent sessions).  Annie Storr at AAM is to be commended for
putting together such a great program.

Also, you should all be aware that strong interest was expressed in
organizing a new AAM standing professional committee for visitor services.
A group of attendees will be continuing a dialogue on this subject, and
those who attended will be sent an interest survey later this spring.  Some
of us will also meet again at the annual meeting to assess our progress and
map out a strategy for presenting this formally to AAM.

If you are interested in visitor services, but were not able to attend the
conference, I would be happy to hear from you and see that your name &
address gets added to the list.  Just send them to me at "[log in to unmask]"


Richard Chute ([log in to unmask])          Dir. of Corp. & Fndtn. Rel.

Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden         1500 North College Ave.
Claremont, CA 91711
Phone:  (909) 625-8767, ext. 222        FAX:  (909) 626-7670