NCDF2004
Northern California Docent Forum 2004
November 5 & 6, 2004
Oakland Museum of California
10th and Oak Sts.
Oakland, California

Download brochure and registration form (PDF)

PDFs require Adobe Acrobat Reader

The Docent Council of the Oakland Museum of California will host the Northern California Docent Forum on November 5 and 6, 2004.

Program
Forum attendees will be welcomed to the Oakland Museum at a reception Friday evening, November 5, hosted by the Oakland Museum Docent Council. This will be an opportunity to meet other docents, as well as to tour the Oakland Museum of California.

The program gets underway on Saturday with sessions sure to interest all docents. The day will begin with a Keynote address by Patrick Gallagher of Gallagher and Associates, a leading and innovative museum exhibit designer and principal of Gallagher and Associates (gallagherdesign.com)

Friday, November 5
6 P.M. Welcome Reception, OMCA

Saturday, November 6
8 A.M. Registration opens—coffee

9–10 A.M. Keynote Speaker: Patrick Gallagher, Gallagher & Associates

Patrick Gallagher is an innovative museum exhibit designer. His presentation will deal with the evolving role of the docent in the light of new audience expectations and changes in museum exhibits and architecture.

10:15–11:15 A.M. Sessions 1, 2, 3

11:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Sessions 4, 5, 6

12:30–2 P.M. Lunch and Group Discussion: A session topic will be introduced at each table. Register for a table that interests you.

2–2:45 P.M. Open Forum: Elaine Molinari

Elaine Molinari is the former director of City Guides, San Francisco. She currently serves as a consultant to nonprofit organizations. This discussion period will be an opportunity for attendees to exchange ideas.

3 P.M. Tours of the Galleries: Oakland Museum Docents

Sessions will consist of 30 minute panel presentations by docents and staff, followed by 30 minutes of open discussion.

Session Descriptions

Session 1: Challenges of Change
Museums constantly change—from the rearrangment of artifacts to installation of an exhibition, or even a move into a new building. Panelists will discuss how to prepare docents for change—large or small.

Session 2: The Four R’s: Recruitment, Retention, Recognition
and Retirement
Panelists will examine methods of recruitment that attract volunteers who reflect the diversity of their institution’s community, discuss building support systems that retain docents and share ideas for easing docents into reassignment or retirement when that time comes.

Session 3: Basic and Continuing Education
Basic training for new docents and continuing studies for experienced docents are integral to any docent program. Panelists will look at how educational goals are determined and evaluated, how compliance with mandated training is met and how the Internet can be used in training.

Session 4: Interactive Models
Modern docent programs invite visitors to actively respond to both ideas and objects in a variety of ways. This panel will examine several interactive models and compare them to traditional styles.

Session 5: Docent Organization and Leadership
Even the smallest of museums have some form of volunteer group organized to ensure that its commitment to visitors and the local community is met. Panelists will describe several organizational structures and their strengths, and address other issues including how to retain and renew program leaders and how to facilitate positive working relationships between the docent organization and the staff.

Session 6: Assessment
Most docents recognize the need to establish standards for their programs and ways to review them. However, in reality, few museums have ongoing assessment programs for either new or experienced docents. This panel will provide models for evaluating docents and volunteers in ways that will help the volunteer, the docent organization and the museum staff meet their goals. Topics include why evaluation is feared, how to gently introduce the concept of ongoing evaluation to trainees and experienced docents and how to introduce retraining as a tool for improvement.

Lunch will be provided. During the meal, various topics of interest will be introduced at each table for discussion. Following lunch, there will be an opportunity to address questions to the morning panel participants and the attendees.

The formal program will end at 3:00 pm. Participants will be encouraged to visit the permanent galleries where docent tours will be available, and/or to use the time to visit the special exhibit, What’s Going on?—California and the Vietnam Era.

History of the Northern California Docent Forum
For many years the Northern California Docent Forum (NCDF) provided an opportunity for docents from a wide variety of museums, historical sites, nature preserves, and similar institutions in Northern California an opportunity to meet, discuss matters of mutual concern, and learn what other institutions were doing in their docent and visitor programs.

Although historical records may not be complete, it appears that the last NCDF was in 1988. In previous years NCDF meetings were hosted by the Oakland Museum of California (1976, 1980), California Historical Society (1981), the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (1982), San Jose Historical Museum (together with the San Jose Museum of Art and the Youth Science Institute (1979), the Crocker Art Museum (1984)and the San Joaquin County Historical Museum and The Haggin Museum (1988).

These meetings were attended by hundreds of representatives from dozens of northern California institutions.

Cost
NCDF registration fee is $50.00. The fee includes all program fees, Saturday lunch, and a discounted admission to the special exhibit, What’s Going On?—California and the Vietnam Era. The museum’s permanent galleries will be open free to all Forum registrants on Friday and Saturday.

Registration

Download brochure and registration form (PDF)

PDFs require Adobe Acrobat Reader

Map, directions & parking

Contact the organizers
Planning Committee: Peter Barnett, Chair (mailto: pbarnett@fsalab.com)
Oakland Museum Docent Office (mailto: docentcenter@museumca.org)