Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Session 1 - Fundraising - 0915-1215
1. “Convert Visitors into Donors”
Susan Tobes, Head of Sales, ACME Technologies
Members and donors are valuable assets. Offering a great experience on deck and building knowledge about members and donors drives fundraising success. ACME technologies will provide an overview of an integrated solution to solve this complex challenge for every historical naval ship.
2. "Building a Culture of Philanthropy" - What does that mean?
Capt. Chuck Merkel, USN (Ret.), Exec. Dir., USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park, Honolulu, HI
Marsha M. Ray, Executive Director, USS Yorktown Foundation
Chris Tobin, Executive Vice President, College of Charleston
Tucker Branham, Corporate Development
As museums, we interact everyday with people who have the potential to make an impact on our goals. This presentation will explain how creating a welcoming and engaging experience for donors and future donors helps to create a culture that invites philanthropy.
3. “Incorporating Planned Giving into your Long-Range Fundraising Strategy”
Peter Racen, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management
Planned Giving is vital to fulfilling the long-range mission of naval museums – providing inspiration to present and future generations. Over the next decades, significant wealth - mostly held in privately-owned business - will be transferred to future generations. But many individual donors do not know all of their planned giving options to support museum missions. This presentation will examine these donor options with an eye to showing how business owners can be informed of charitable planning tools which helps them achieve their objectives and simultaneously benefit their museum.
Session 2 – Preservation – 1330-1600
1. “Preservation Through Operation PT-305”
Thomas Czekanski, Senior Curator, Restoration Manager, The National World War II Museum, New Orleans, LA
The preservation of PT-305 presented The National WWII Museum with challenges and opportunities. This presentation will examine the challenges and decisions resulting in a preservation plan based on an earned income revenue stream produced through operation. From beginning operations on 22 of April to the present, there will be a good idea of how sales and operations have progressed.
2. “Warren Lasch Conservation Center: Conservation of the H.L. Hunley and Beyond”
Stephanie A. Crette, Ph.D., Dir., Warren Lasch Conservation Center
Michael Scafuri, Archaeologist
Johanna Rivera, Conservator and Collection Manager
Emily Schwalbe, Archaeologist
The presentation will introduce the Warren Lasch Conservation Center at Clemson University, discuss updates on the conservation and archaeological research on the famous Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley discovered in 1995, and show how 3D documentation technology has been applied to the submarine.
3. “Dry-Docking and Coffer-Damming: Do’s, Don’ts, and Alternatives” – Panel Discussion
Capt. Chuck Merkel, USN (Ret.), Exec. Dir., USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park, Honolulu, HI
Travis Davis, Superintendent of Boats and Docks, Independence Seaport Museum, Philadelphia, PA
John D. Hanson, President, Bremerton Historical ShipAssociation, Bremerton, WA
Joseph W. Lombardi, President, Ocean Technical Services, Inc., League City, TX, Call-in
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Session 3 – Sales & Marketing – 0900-1200
1. “Promoting your Ship through effective 'Branding Techniques'"
Charles A. Perkins, Ph.D., Professor, Point Park University
In marketing to the community and potential backers, Dr. Perkins will discuss the multitude of target audiences with tailored messages that will resonate.
2. “The American Bus Association Marketplace – A Potential Revenue Source for HNSA Ships”
Kevin Streit, Kevin Streit and Associates, LLC
Founded in 1926, ABA is the oldest, largest, and most respected voice in the motor-coach industry with a membership of about 1,000 motor-coach operators and tour companies throughout North America (a 65% of this sector) with another 2,800 member organizations from the tourism industry and suppliers of bus products and services. This presentation offers information on the potential for HNSA Fleet members to attract more visitors to their ships, given that the audience segment that uses coaches and organizes tour groups are also the demographic group that tend to visit historic sites.
3. “Home Runs & Foul Balls: 25 Marketing Lessons Learned”
Scott McGaugh, Marketing Director, USS Midway Museum
Scott McGaugh will share marketing lessons learned and how the marketing world has changed with technology driving a great deal of it in both marketing communication approaches and customer expectations. New marketing tactics reflecting those trends will be discussed as will opportunities for low-cost marketing that Midway takes advantage of; and thoughts on what lies over the horizon. The emphasis will be on marketing tactics that require modest to minimal staff and financial resources.
Session 4 – Ship Talk – 1300-1600
1. “Freedom Park: Recovering from the Missouri River Flood of 2011”
Dennis E. Bryers, Omaha Parks, Omaha, NE
Freedom Park is a City of Omaha park on the Missouri River that houses the USS Hazard – a World War II minesweeper, the ex-USS Marlin, a training submarine, and numerous other naval items on display. In summer 2011, exceptional rainfall resulted in unprecedented flooding of the Missouri River in Omaha. This presentation will discuss the efforts to prepare the park for the flooding, steps taken to protect the artifacts during the flood, clean-up, dealing with FEMA, and reopening the park and the ships to the public.
2. “Bringing The Ship To Life: Using Technology to Enhance the Visitor Experience”
Rob Clark, Director of Communications, Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum
Brian Parsons, Museum Services, Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum
Trey Smith, Executive Director, Smithworks Creative Arts, LLC, Charleston, SC
Two years ago, the Naval & Maritime Museum at Patriots Point embarked on a multi-year program to use existing and emerging technology to bring our their museum to life, providing our their staff new ways of telling old and important stories. This presentation will share examples of what we they have learned and how we they continue to use technology to enhance our their ships and their exhibits. This will include the positive and negatives and successes and failures. Included will be infrastructure issues, costs, and climate control issues as we they have worked to bring new and compelling products to our the 21st century audience.
3. “A Clash of Stoves: Restoring the Galley of USS Constellation (1855)”
Paul Cora, Curator, Historic Vessels and Collections at Historic Ships, Baltimore, MD
Little was known about what the Constellation’s Civil-War-era galley looked like. A stove mock-up, based on a 1926 photo, served as the basis for interpreting food preparation for the ship's crew, though what was visible in the photo was from much later than the ship's Civil War interpretive period. Ultimately, the creation of a more accurate representation of a Civil War era galley would involve balancing a wide variety of source materials. The restored galley was unveiled in June. This presentation will examine the complex process which determined the final form of the project.
Friday, September 29, 2017
Session 5 – Education & Programming – 0900-1200
1. “Virtual Reality for Historic Ships”
Alex Dryer, and David Canfield, USS Iowa
The exciting medium of virtual reality draws attention and provides unique experiences, but it also presents challenges. It can be expensive, ineffective, and cumbersome. But creating an entertaining and informative VR experience for guests can be done anywhere and on a lean budget. This presentation will examine the VR experiences being developed on the Iowa and demonstrate the ways to include VR/AR in any museum by simply knowing strengths and weaknesses of VR, and thus get the most “bang” for your buck by integrating existing software and hardware.
2. “Newest Trends in Education Programming” – Panel Discussion
a. “Historic Naval Ships Re-Enactment Programs”
David R. Suhs, USS Missouri Memorial Association
Historical Reenactment is an activity where people follow a plan or script to recreate aspects of a historic event. These programs can increase the general public’s historical awareness of the host entity and its value to the community.
b. “Ship as Battlefield: A Framework for Interpretation”
Michael Murtagh; Dylan Cupolo, Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum
Unlike battles on land, the interpretation of war at sea can be far more challenging. This presentation examines the “Ship as Battlefield” as applied through guided tours that takes guests through the ship in much the same way one would experience a battlefield on the ground.
c. “Overnight Success!”
Jenya Jawad, USS Hornet Sea, Air, Space Museum
This presentation will discuss the benefits and challenges of offering a ‘night at the museum’ style program at your institution; namely, provide a memorable educational experience to visitors; expand the reach to new audiences; generate revenue in various ways, and strengthen community relationships with partnership opportunities.
3. “Thoughts and Re-Thoughts on STEM” – Panel Discussion
John D. Hanson, Bremerton Historical Ship Association
Charlotte Rodeen-Dickert, USS Hornet Sea, Air, and Space Museum
Keith Grybowski, Patriots Point
STEM-based Educational Programs have been at the forefront of American primary and secondary education for a while now. These panelists will discuss the advantages and watch-outs through the experience each of them have had on their respective ships.
Session 6 – Professionalism – 1300-1600
1. “Got Collections? Get a Collections Management Policy!”
Stephanie Croatt, Curator, Battleship Texas State Historic Site
Does your institution manage or borrow historical collections? This session will cover the elements of a complete collections management policy, how to assess collections management needs, and what challenges the Battleship Texas staff encountered to align their collections management policies with best practices. Discussion topics include: abandoned property, accessioning, deaccessioning, copyright, fair use, and documentation.
2. “When Preservation is Not Enough: End of Life Issues for Historic Ships”
Fred Barbour, CEO, CRB Geological and Environmental Services
Joe Weatherby, Senior Project Manager, Artificial Reefs International
Despite the daunting task, desire and effort to preserve historic ships, no ship was built to last forever. When an historic ship faces end-of-life choices, typically scrapping has been the lone option. Artificial Reefing, while not preferred to museum status, can attract funding, is environmentally beneficial, and creates a new legacy for vessels which embark on this “Final Duty.” While seemingly counter-intuitive to those working to keep a beloved ship afloat, it is an honorable, dignified fate.
3. “CIC: Credible Internal Controls”
Rosehn Gipe, Business Manager, USS Slater
Smaller staffed organizations typically have difficulty practicing good financial internal controls possibly resulting in an environment ripe for fraud. But simple steps and good practices – outlined in this presentation - for segregating duties, limiting access to funds, and eliminating the “significant deficiencies” paragraph from the auditor’s management letter can significantly reduce the chances of fraud.
