MCN 2020 VIRTUAL

The 2020 pandemic upended most museums' business and engagement strategy for the year. It exposed the foundations underlying our efforts across digital, good and bad, and in many cases, it caught us flat-footed. Digital groups acted quickly to change their mandate entirely. The goal of digital engagement and marketing shifted from driving visitation to a physical place, to creating an equally compelling online museum. Digital teams had to figure out quickly how to engage audiences stuck at home with no chance to visit their institutions. The call for change was quick, often panicked, and came from all leadership levels. This was often referred to as a pivot. Is this an accurate description of how digital teams responded or was the quick response a reflection of the way digital professionals work on a regular basis? Our discussion will explore this topic, among others.

In this informal discussion, three digital leaders will talk about the ways that what has been described as a rapid, freewheeling “pivot” was actually doable because of well-laid foundational plans, skills, and teamwork. We will discuss the reasons why our digital teams were positioned to succeed in the quickly changing environment of the COVID-19 closure, how we adapted, and what this reinforces for how we can work in the future. We will also explore lessons learned, and demonstrate the distinction between pivoting versus building on top of groundwork that had been in the planning for years, utilizing existing collaborative structures and systems upon which we had long relied.

In this session, we hope a discussion of the lessons learned from this pandemic, and from the ‘pivot’ will help museums plan for a better future, and not get caught flat-footed in the next global crisis.