InterActivity 2010 Theme Statement & Program Committee

Theme: Invest Early, Inspire Growth

InterActivity 2010 will explore how investing early — whether in the delivery of play-based education, the ability to meet community needs or in the quest of institutional greatness — is children’s museums’ best formula for inspiring long-term growth.

Neuroscience confirms that play significantly effects the development of a young child’s brain. Social science studies indicate that play helps a child build interpersonal and self-regulation abilities. Futurists point to the global economy and the need for a workforce that can imagine, innovate and empathize. As leaders in early childhood education, children’s museums engage infants, toddlers and children through play to think critically and creatively. Exhibits and programs provide children with tangible interactions that challenge them to accomplish small and large feats. Museum outreach and community partnerships ensure that children of all backgrounds and abilities find ways to play and learn about the world in which we live. The results of these efforts yield dramatic rewards — children with critical cognitive, motor, social and emotional competencies that enable them to reach their full potential and to be ready to participate as 21st century learners and contributors.

To be essential community assets for children, children’s museums must be proactive. This means finding a seat at the table when leaders make plans regarding early childhood education, creating partnerships that expand community resources, embracing diversity in meaningful ways, supporting the professional development of museum staff, clarifying the museum’s brand, developing revenue streams and ensuring the business plan charts a course for sustainability and progress. Seeding children’s museums’ institutional capacity and influence will ensure the field’s growing impact on children, families and communities.

View Minnesota Children's Museum's invitation to InterActivity 2010

InterActivity 2010 Program Committee

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Onsite Information

Attendees take note, Saint Paul is a highly walkable city and we'll be walking everywhere. Museum study tours are just a couple blocks from the hotel. Check out the Walking Map to see just how close the conference hotel headquarters is to offsite conference events.

Social Buzz and InterActivity

Blogs

There are several ACM members who will be blogging during the conference, good news for you and for colleagues not able to attend. The InterActivity Homepage has links to blogs maintained by:

• Jen Alexander, Kidcity Children's Museum

• Paul Orselli from POW!
  

• Megan Fischer from Providence Children's Museum
  

• Brad Larson from Brad Larson Media
  

• Kylie Breems & Samantha Moy from Minnesota Children's Museum

Twitter
Tweet your InterActivity 2010 reactions and thoughts as they happen! ACM's twitter handle is twitter.com/ChildMuseums. Tweeters should use the hashtag #IA2010 to contribute and follow.

Flicker
Add images to ACM's Flickr photo pool for InterActivity 2010.

Budget Values & Savings at InterActivity 2010

Registration, transportation, accommodations and food all add up. ACM has budget-relieving resources to help offset your expenses at InterActivity 2010.

• Meals are on ACM! The InterActivity conference registration fee includes breakfast and snack breaks for all three days and lunch on Friday, May 7.
• Group Discount at the Conference Hotel. ACM negotiated a $129 room rate -- what a bargain!
• Hotel Roommate Assistance. Cut your accommodations budget in half by sharing a room. Contact ACM if you are interested in a match.
• InterActivity Small Museum Financial Aid Program, Sponsored by Jack Rouse Associates
• InterActivity Diversity in Action Scholarship
• Take 5! Rebate offers almost a $100 savings when a single member institution registers at least five people.
• Conference Justification Toolkit can help you secure underwriters for your conference participation.

Take 5! Rebate
Member institutions sending five or more individuals (full-time and part-time staff members, interns, volunteers, board and trustee members) to InterActivity will receive a rebate totaling five percent of the institution’s total InterActivity registration fees. Surcharges, membership dues, pre- and postconference registration fees, tours and ticketed events are not included in calculating the total InterActivity registration fees. The rebate will be issued to the member institution as a check and mailed by June 30. Only full InterActivity registration fees paid by the institution count toward the Take 5! Rebate offer. An institution is not required to register its entire group at one time. An institution may register additional museum-sponsored individuals online through April 4 and on-site to qualify for the Take 5! Rebate. ACM’s InterActivity cancellation policy will apply to all Take 5! Registrations. A canceled registration that reduces the number of
individuals an institution sends to the full InterActivity conference to less than five will void the Take 5! Rebate.

Justification Toolkit

General Tips
Many travel budgets and training budgets have been slashed, and some museums and organizations are experiencing severe financial problems. Here are some ideas on how to frame the conference discussion to your director, board or potential supporter.

• Focus on what you will specifically bring back to the organization as return for the investment. Use the Preliminary Program as a guide to find a list of concurrent sessions, salons, museum study tours and plenary sessions that will impact your professional development.
  

• Offer to prepare and deliver a short presentation and Q&A to your colleagues to share what you learned. Offer to share speaker handouts with your colleagues. That way others in your museum/organization will get the benefits of your attendance, too.
  

• Be ready with a plan that shows who will cover for you while you are attending the conference.

• Offer to share a room to reduce hotel expenses by finding a roommate. Contact ACM if you need assistance finding a roommate.

• Be sure to check out ACM Online Award, Recognition and Scholarship Applications to see if you qualify for any financial aid or scholarships.

Calculate the Return on Investment (ROI) on your attendance.

• Visit Writing Assistance, Inc.'s Web site for expense worksheets and other tools.

Sample template Letter Requesting Support

< Date >

Dear < supervisor/board member/underwriter name >,

I would like to attend the Association of Children's Museums' annual meeting InterActivity 2010: invest Early, Inspire Growth, May 6-8, the largest professional development conference for children's museum professionals. The conference will enable me to attend a number of education sessions that are directly applicable to my work and will allow me to network with a variety of museum experts and colleagues from around the world. Many of the presentations are tailored to the < your profession > professional and give information on how to < list benefits to your responsibilities >. I am seeking sponsorship for the registration fee, travel expenses to the conference, and living expenses during the conference. A detailed cost breakdown is included below.

After reviewing the conference preliminary program, I have identified a number of professional development sessions that will allow me to gain knowledge and understanding about how we can improve our processes. The presentations are facilitated by both children's museum colleagues and experts in the early childhood development field who have faced similar challenges. I chose each of these sessions because they directly relate to an issue we are dealing with in our organization. Getting the information in a hands-on, education format will greatly reduce the research time and costs the < your organization's name > would normally incur in researching the topics. Incidentally, I have only listed some of the seminars that I will attend. Including them all would make this memo much too long.
< You will need to insert the session descriptions which most apply to your responsibilities. >
< The numbers in brackets below will need to be adjusted to reflect the current pricing. All registration fees are listed here. The travel costs vary as well and should be changed to reflect your costs. >

Conference Fee: <$xxxx>
The total costs associated with attending this conference are: <$xxxx>.
The opportunity for me to develop better contacts and gain knowledge in specific areas of < your profession > makes my attendance at InterActivity 2010 a wise investment, which will benefit not only me and < name of your organization > but the thousands of families that visit the museum.

Sincerely,
< your name here >

Additional Justification Support

• Email ACM if you need a letter from the Association to endorse your request to attend InterActivity 2010.
  
  

Registration & Hotel Rates and Travel Information

Advance registration via online or mail is closed. However, you are welcome to register for the conference on-site. Good news: ACM is extending advance registration pricing for on-site registrants.

Hotel Information

All InterActivity 2010 sessions, unless otherwise noted in the Final Conference Program, will be held at the Crowne Plaza St. Paul – Riverfront Hotel

HOTEL OPTIONS

Travel Information

Plane
Minneapolis/Saint Paul International Arpt (MSP)
Distance: 7.7 MI / 12.39 KM North East to Hotel
Shuttle Charge (one way): $13.00 (USD)
Taxi Charge (one way): $25.00 (USD)
Time by taxi: 20 minutes

Saint Paul Downtown Holman Field (STP)
Distance: 1.8 MI / 2.9 KM North West to Hotel
Taxi Charge (one way): $5.00 (USD)
Time by taxi: 5 Minutes

Rochester International Airport (RST)
Distance: 85 MI / 136.79 KM North West to Hotel
Merge onto US-63 going North. Merge onto US-52 going North for 78 Miles. Exit and turn Left onto Plato Boulevard East. Turn Right onto South Robert Street. Turn Left onto Kellogg Boulevard. Hotel and parking ramp on Right.

Shuttle Service
SuperShuttle • 1-800-Blue Van (258-3826)
InterActivity attendees can take advantage of discounted rates ($13 one-way / $24 round-trip) by using the discount
code LTV5U when making reservations or by downloading the SuperShuttle Coupon.
TAXI SERVICE
The average taxi fare from MSP to the hotel is approximately $25.

Train
Amtrak Station Name: Midway Station
Distance: 6 MI / 9.66 KM East to Hotel
Taxi Fee From Train Station: $10.00 (USD)

Car
InterActivity attendees can receive up to a 10 percent discount from Alamo Rent A Car and up to a 15 percent discount at National Car Rental.

Alamo Rent a Car

National Car Rental

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