National Docent Symposium 2017 – Highlights

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Basking in the AGO moment: Laurie, Debbie, Joan, Stephan, Mary and Margaret

A contingent of eight AGO volunteers headed to Montreal October 14-16 to take part in the National Docent Symposium, a biannual conference by and for docents across North America. Our attendees discuss their highlights:

Mary Rochon: My presentation came off so well I was extremely pleased and the group seemed to be equally so.

Laurie Herd:
The Montreal Docents did an excellent job of welcoming the delegates to their beautiful city and their excellent museums.  It was very interesting meeting Docents from a variety of institutions across North America and also a few from Europe.  I met several delegates who had been to the NDS that the AGO hosted in 2009 and they were very complementary about the AGO and Toronto.  Several delegates said they were impressed with Stephan’s keynote speech. The American delegates were quite interested in the French culture of Quebec and were curious about whether everyone in Canada could speak French!  We were asked questions about our institutions, our volunteer programs and Canada in general.  I enjoyed the conversations and the exchange of information.
Debbie Kennedy:
The highlight of the conference for me,was the walking tour of Montreal with a docent from the McCord museum. He pointed out all the street sculpture related To Montreal ‘s 375 celebration and the McGill campus. I also enjoyed conversations with fellow docents from across the U.S. and Canada. Also,the meals were delicious….soooo Montreal , and Stephan received lots of congratulations.
Joan Heeler:
Montreal did a very good job running the symposium. Their Art Gallery is beautiful with a wonderful collection of 20century Canadian art.
Mary’s presentation went very well with people from all over North America adding comments about how their museum handled Visually Impaired visitors. Stephan’s Keynote address made everyone from Toronto proud. There was lots informal, friendly chatting with docents from many other part of North America and many other types of museums. I highly recommend attending National Docent Symposiums.

Leonard Cohen, as photographed by Bev Biderman

Margaret Johnson highlights some of the talks & breakout sessions:

Stephan’s keynote address was followed by a 4 person panel – all from Montreal – talking about Connecting With Tomorrow’s Audience.  They were all good.  I especially enjoyed Gerald Kounadis, part of the young professional group we want to attract.  He talked about engaging millennial audiences using a PEAR approach.  Make it Personal, Engaging, Accessible and Relatable. Give people information they can apply to other artworks if they are looking on their own.

The first session I attended was  Hit the Docent Refresh Button for High-Energy Tours.  Very entertaining session like our AGO methodology training sessions and we had a chance to break into groups and practice some of the ideas. The one I liked the best was pages Pop Up Conversations where you attribute fun sayings to the subjects in an artwork.  Phrases like “What part of no don’t you understand?, Is it Friday yet?…It gets really fun and silly when you try and use all of the phrases in a particular artwork.

The next session I went to was Docents Without Walls: Using Online Tools to Share Notes, Resources, and Collection Training Information.  Guides from the MFA in Boston presented how they began using OneNote software for their collection training notes.  They stressed that they are in no way promoting Microsoft.  I liked the way they used artwork from their collection to illustrate their presentation points.

Montreal was a fabulous host and I can’t wait to visit again and see more of the city and the MMFA.  I had a great time and thought the NDS was well worth the conference fee.  All the meals were included – the dinners especially from the spectacular venues, delicious food and fabulous entertainment were wonderful.  The speakers and presentations were engaging and informative.  I left with lots of new ideas and reminders of things I’d forgotten. Everyone was so friendly and interesting to talk to. With our registration package we got a list of all attendees and their contact information so it will be easy to get in touch.  I also appreciated the opportunity to get to know some of the other Gallery Guides from the AGO who attended.  This was my first NDS experience but it won’t be my last.  See you in DC 2019!