Last month, I attended the VAM Conference in Northern Virginia with museum professionals from across the Commonwealth. The event was a lot of fun and it was great to meet new people and see familiar faces. There were so many great presentations on a variety of topics. On Sunday during the event, I was part of a session with my friends, Dalton from the Fairfield Foundation and Juliana from the Menokin Foundation. We prepared a presentation on using fundraising to maximize your organization’s mission. I covered networking in your community, Dalton reviewed volunteer programs, and Juliana shared tips with social media. Our presentation went well and we enjoyed chatting with others on using these elements at your site to help drive your mission and development plan.

During the conference, I was able to mingle with conference attendees in the Exhibit Hall to share more about my fellowship. Fellows prepared posters to update everyone on our progress. It was great to chat with more people on fundraising and get feedback on my project.

I highly recommend the VAM conference. It’s a great event that highlights museums across the state, plus you get to meet so many people that are working to advance museums in Virginia. I encourage everyone to get involved, present, and attend a future VAM conference!