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webinars and workshops

Effective April 1, 2024: Changes to OMA Member and Non-Member Webinar Rates

Member rates: To increase equity and access to our webinars, the OMA board has voted to add a reduced registration rate option for OMA members. The new fee scale also includes a pay-it-forward rate for folks to help cover the costs of those who may benefit from the reduced rate.

 Reduced rate
 10.00
 Standard rate
 15.00
 Pay-it-forward rate
 20.00

Non-member rate: When a non-member purchases registration for a live webinar, they will now receive an Individual OMA membership for the remainder of the calendar year - this includes access to all Individual-Level member benefits. In line with this perk, the non-member rate for webinar registration has increased from 25.00 to 30.00, which is the current cost of an Individual-Level OMA membership.




upcoming events

No webinars or workshops currently scheduled. In the meantime, learn about our annual conference to be held in Coos Bay September 8-10!

Scheduling for Success workshop has been cancelled, but will be rescheduled at a later date as a webinar.

Past EVENts

OMA webinars and workshops are now available for viewing through our online store. These are available for free to OMA members, $5 each for non-members.

Visit the program archive

HR for Small Museums, May 31, 2024

Dive into the nuances of HR compliance tailored for small museums! Join our upcoming webinar where two industry experts will guide you through the maze of regulations and best practices, ensuring your museum remains legally sound and employee-friendly. The presenters will help you navigate how to craft effective policies for your unique environment and discuss labor laws including unionized workplaces. 

Presenters: Janice Crane, Executive Director at the Friends of the Cascade Locks Historical Museum and OMA Board Member

Ramona Reule, Human Resources Manager at the Oregon Historical Society

Watch the webinar

Volunteer Appreciation Webinar, April 22, 2024

Join us to celebrate Volunteer Appreciation Week and Month! This webinar will feature co-panelists representing the volunteer coordinator and volunteer perspectives. The moderated discussion will include topics such as:

  • What does volunteer appreciation look like, and what can it look like?
  • What types of perks and benefits are common? Which types are most valued by volunteers?
  • Which types of efforts are the most impactful for volunteer recruitment and retention?

Whether you yourself are a volunteer or you work with or help manage volunteers, this webinar is for you!

Panelists: Val Van Alstyne and Tim Lewis


Watch the webinar

Exploring Exhibit Design and Creation from a DIY Perspective, April 17, 2024

Whether our organization is large or small, most of us know what it means to create programing and exhibits on a shoestring budget. Ever wonder how you can update or create new exhibits for hundreds, not thousands of dollars?

Attend this workshop and learn how to create modern, exciting exhibits with a tight budget in mind. Presenters will share tips and tricks on creating free-standing walls, utilizing touchscreens, and finding resources in unexpected places. You’ll also hear stories and examples of how a little creative thinking can expand your programming.

You will walk away from this workshop knowing how to build a few items (even if you don’t consider yourself to be “handy”), where to go for affordable display cases and tools, and with a newfound confidence that you can update your space, one exhibit at a time. None of the items discussed will require you to have a grant to implement some, if not all, of these ideas.

Presenters: Natascha Adams, Director of the Independence Heritage Museum, OMA Board Member, and Co-Founder of the Willamette Valley Museum Alliance

Jessica Hougen, Executive Director of the Benton County Historical Society, OMA Board Member, and Co-Founder of the Willamette Valley Museum Alliance

This workshop is presented on behalf of Oregon Museums Association as part of the 2024 Oregon Heritage Conference.

Recalculating, Recalculating…Using the Museum Assessment Program (MAP) as Your Museum’s GPS on the Road to Excellence, January 12, 2024

Join us to find out how participating in the Museum Assessment Program (MAP)’s year-long process of self-assessment activities, a peer reviewer site visit and a final assessment report with prioritized recommendations can help your institution to get to the next level. Attendees will hear about MAP museums who’ve experienced improvements in areas such as better engagement with communities and audiences, examining operations and allocation of resources, addressing collections challenges, and more! 

Presenters: Brianne Roth, MAP Program Officer at the American Alliance of Museums and Michael Panhorst, MAP Peer Reviewer

Watch the webinar

Interpretive training: Basics and beyond, July 12, 2023

This webinar will address interpretive training – what it is, why it is effective, and how using it imparts a message on your guests that they can then relay to others. This will be an overall discussion on what interpretive options are available and what it means to have an interpretive plan. This will give museums insight as to why an interpretive plan is beneficial and plant the seeds on the need for their institution to develop one. 

Presenter: Stacy Nalley, Public Outreach Coordinator, Oregon State Capitol and OMA board member.

Sponsored by Historical Research Associates

Watch the webinar

You are not alone! Working with consultants to support your museum, April 25, 2023

Join our panel of experts in the Oregon museum community to hear about how to work with consultants: how to find them, fund them, work with them and get the expert support you want. We'll also hear from a small, all-volunteer museum on their experience with consultants.

Sponsored by Indow

Watch the webinar

Overcoming barriers to museum fundraising success, January 19, 2023

Join fundraising master trainer, Chad Barger, CFRE, for a presentation focused on actionable solutions to common fundraising problems.  Chad will reveal the most common barriers to effective fundraising at the museums that he has worked with and provide tips for overcoming them.  Attendees will also be given free access to document samples and templates which will help to fast track the implementation of these solutions.  Ample time will be reserved for questions so that attendees can also pick Chad’s brain for solutions to their “not so common” fundraising challenges.

Beyond sticky traps: Practical tips for effective museum pest management August 18, 2022, 12 - 1:30 pm

Presenter: Heather Christenbury, Curator, Coos History Museum

When it comes to museum pest management strategies, preventative care is the safest and most cost-effective option. Whether writing your first pest management policy or simply looking for methods to protect your collections from pests, this webinar will cover how to write a basic integrated pest policy, address pest concerns, and how to keep museum staff and volunteers invested in the process.

In-person workshop: Designing outdoor programs for youth Saturday, July 16, 2022, 11 am - 1 pm PDT

Presenter: Zachary Stocks, National Park Service Park Ranger; Executive Director, Oregon Black Pioneers; OMA board member and co-chair, Programs Committee.

Interested in creating outdoor interpretive experiences for kids and teens? Join Zachary Stocks for a workshop on best practices for creating engaging outdoor programming.

This program will be offered while hiking a portion of the Fort to Sea Trail at Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, Astoria, OR.

Creating a virtual tour for your museum Monday, May 23, 2022, 12 pm-1:30 pm

Join Visiting Media (True Tour) for a webinar on creating a virtual tour for your museum. We'll review pros and cons of virtual tours, how to plan for it, what to include, and how to integrate it into your museum's online presence.

Hosted by OMA board member Zachary Stocks.

Exactly how to fund and select your next collections management system (CMS). January 27, 2022, 12-1:30 pm

Presenter: Rachael Cristine Woody, Rachael Christine Consulting, LLC

In this online webinar, museum expert and consultant Rachael Cristine Woody will offer strategies and solutions for common challenges, including how to identify your unique CMS needs, how to create CMS specifications that lead you to the right fit, and importantly, how to fund it.

Sponsored by Lucidea

Workshop: How to plan a digitization project. November 9, 2021, 10 am-12 pm

Are you struggling with where to start when it comes to digitizing your collections? Then join Northwest Digital Heritage in this online workshop on how to plan a digitization project. Ross Fuqua  will discuss how to identify priority collections, setting realistic goals for your project with the capacity your organization has, what it means to establish a work flow, the importance of meta data, and more. We will also give an overview of Northwest Digital Heritage and how it can factor in to your digitization efforts. A representative from University of Oregon will give a brief overview of the Historic Oregon Newspapers program.

This workshop is hosted by Oregon Heritage and Oregon Museums Association.

Watch the workshop and see resources

Sins of omission: Addressing the legacy of the Oregon Historical Society as a pioneer memorial association. June 23, 2021 11 am - 12:30 pm

The Oregon Historical Society’s roots stretch deeper than most cultural heritage institutions in the Pacific Northwest. With a history of over 122 years of active collecting, it holds one of the largest archival and museum collections in the region. OHS’ legacy of acquisition and description is skewed and narrowed by its origins as a pioneer memorial association. It is incumbent on OHS leadership and staff to confront and address the various expressions of this legacy. Staff members from several departments will discuss ways they incorporate radical empathy in the work they do to address the issue. The panel was recently presented as part of the Northwest Archivists 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting.

Presenters:

  • Laura Cray, Digital Services Librarian at OHS
  • Eliza E. Canty-Jones, Editor of the Oregon Historical Quarterly and Director of Community Engagement at OHS
  • Nicole Yasuhara, Deputy Museum Director at OHS
  • Erin Brasell, Managing Editor of the Oregon Historical Quarterly and Managing Editor and Co-founder of Dear Oregon, OHS’s blog
  • Dana Miller is Collection Management Librarian at OHS

Watch the archived webinar

Will the last person leaving please turn off the lights? How to properly disband a museum and liquidate its assets. Wednesday, April 28, 2021, 12-1:30 pm

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced some museums to permanently close, presenting their staffs and boards with unexpected legal and ethical questions about what would become of their assets. This program will use examples from shuttered museums to address how to go about dissolving a collection and liquidating its assets. Resources from museum workers and state agencies will help institutions take steps now to prepare for an unexpected closure in the future.

Presenters:

  • Joseph Govednik, Museum Director, Cowlitz County Historical Museum
  • R. Lewis Ferguson, former Director, World of Speed Museum (now closed)
  • Jenn Clemo, Director of Nonprofit Leadership & Resources, Nonprofit Association of Oregon
Watch the archived webinar

Listening to help integrate values-based equity: Guest curator Stephanie Littlebird in conversation with Five Oaks Museum - February 23, 2021

Presenters
  • Stephanie Littlebird Fogel (Grand Ronde, Kalapuya) is a visual artist, professional writer and curator of “This IS Kalapuyan Land” at Five Oaks Museum.
  • Molly Alloy and Nathanael Andreini are Co-directors at the Five Oaks Museum.

Five Oaks Museum uses a values-centered and heart-centered approach to their work. They have switched to a guest curator model, allowing curators to decide the exhibition, which, in turn, has implications for how that exhibition affects the structure of the museum.

You don’t do equity in bits and pieces. By collaborating with others to explore how art, culture and history shape the past and influence the future, Five Oaks helps visitors connect to a collective local history made up of community voices and the important stories they tell.

Join Stephanie, Molly and Nathanael as they talk about the process of curating and exhibiting “This IS Kalapuyan Land.” Bring your own personal value(s) you hold close and discuss how to institutionalize them in your museum and work.

Watch the archived webinar

Disaster Preparedness and Resilience for Collecting Organizations - December 2, 2020, 9 am - 12:30 pm

Presenters:
  • Matt Brown, Oregon State Archives
  • Robert Parker, University of Oregon Institute for Policy Research & Engagement (IPRE)

Join Oregon Heritage and Oregon Museums Association for a free workshop to explore action you can take to plan for a disaster in order to limit damage and recover quickly.

The first half, presented by Oregon State Archives, will focus on disaster preparedness for essential records and archival collections.

The second half, presented by IPRE, will share a new model of community-wide disaster resilience planning for heritage resources. Learn how to team up with other heritage organizations in your community to develop a plan and move forward mitigation efforts. This session will explain what a community plan includes, explore the guidebook to developing the plan, and the value to collecting organizations to participate in a community plan.

Moving Forward with NAGPRA Virtual workshop - November 10, 2020, 9 am - 12:30 pm

Presenters

  • Deana Dartt, Principal, Live Oak Consulting
  • Pamela Endzweig, Anthropological Collections Director, Museum of Natural and Cultural History, University of Oregon
  • Robert Kentta, Cultural Resources Director, Siletz Tribe
  • Dana Whitelaw, Executive Director, High Desert Museum

Date: Tuesday, November 10, 2020, 9:00 am - 12:30 pm

This workshop focuses on the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) enacted in 1990. The law’s precise impact on museums will be examined.

Panel members with specialized NAGPRA knowledge will share specific information—compliance requirements, collection evaluation, outreach to Native tribes—and share their tribe's and museum's experience with the repatriation process. Participants will come away with a better understanding of NAGPRA and how you can put these tools to use in your organization.

Watch the archived workshop

Talking with your museum community: COVID-19-friendly adaptations and considerations - Tuesday, September 15, 2020, 11 am–12:30 pm

Presenter: Taline A. Kuyumjian, Founder and Principal Evaluator, Kuyumjian Consulting, LLC

Date: Tuesday, September 15, 2020 11 am–12:30 pm

Six months into our new “COVID-19 normal,” many museums have dipped their toes into reopening and welcoming visitors back to their physical locations. Needs and expectations of cultural organizations have changed, as such methods for gathering feedback must change too. This webinar will discuss a range of ways you can safely engage with your community to hear what they’re thinking, feeling, and needing from your organization. Conversation will also include an overview of what kind of information might be most meaningful to your organization as you navigate COVID-19, and how to prioritize lines of inquiry so as not to burden or overwhelm. A discussion on the range of ethics and considerations to take when implementing COVID-19-friendly methodology will help ensure each organization is fully equipped to start talking with their community. 

This 90-minute, interactive webinar will offer an overview of traditional data collection; show how to adapt methods to be COVID-19-friendly; and identify new ways of talking to our communities across a range of platforms. We will discuss how to prioritize and be mindful in the questions we ask; and look at accessibility and ethical considerations of gathering feedback in the new “COVID-19 normal.”

Watch the archived webinar

Interpretive planning for a pandemic - Tuesday, August 25, 2020, 12-1:30 pm

Presenter: Kyrie Thompson Kellett, Principal and Certified Interpretive Planner, Mason Bee Interpretive Planning

Date: Tuesday, August 25, 2020, 12-1:30 pm

COVID-19 has changed so many things, especially for museums. How do we reach our audiences when our doors are closed? How do we tell our stories if our events are cancelled? Finding answers requires creativity and a critical, but often underutilized, museum toolinterpretive* planning. 

The interpretive planning process helps us outline the central story our museum wants to tell and the best ways to share that story with our key audiences. In this interactive workshop, we will go through the basic steps of the interpretive planning process and discuss how they can be adapted for the current coronavirus situation. The discussion will include thinking deeply about who our key audiences should be right now and sharing a variety of creative interpretive tools that we can use to reach them. In particular, we will explore how we can serve teachers and families yearning for engaging, safe learning experiences during the unprecedented school year ahead.

*Interpretation here means the mission-based communication that museums use to create emotional and intellectual connections between audiences and the museum’s focus.

Reopening webinar June 8, 2020, 12-1 pm

The Oregon Museums Association, Cultural Advocacy Coalition, and Oregon Heritage Commission hosted a webinar on Monday, June 8 to discuss the official statewide reopening guidance for zoos, museums, and outdoor gardens. The webinar provided a general overview of those guidelines and opportunity for questions and discussion.

2019 Spring Workshop - Danger! Handling Hazardous Materials

Monday, May 13, 2019, 9:30 am - 2:30 pm
Benton County Museum
1101 Main Street, Philomath, OR

Presenters: Joseph Govednik, Director, Cowlitz County Historical Museum, and Sarah Samson, Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, Renton History Museum

Read Helen Fedchak's article about the 2019 Spring Workshop in Registrar's Quarterly from the Registrar's Committee Western Region.

Spring Workshops 2015-2018

2018 Spring Workshop - Albums of Ephemera with Elizabeth Chambers

May 21, 9:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m., Willamette Heritage Center, Salem, OR

2017 Spring Workshop - Basketry with Margaret Mathewson

May 22, 2017, Philomath, OR

2016 Spring Workshop - Basics of Archives

April 18, 2016, Prineville, OR

2015 Spring Workshop - Interpretation and Collections Care at Chachalu Tribal Museum and Cultural Center: A Tribal Perspective on Collaborating with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde

March 9, 2015, Grand Ronde, OR


Mailing Address: PO Box 8604, Portland, OR 97207
Contact: connect@oregonmuseums.org 
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