Community Matters: Linking Past and Present in Meaningful Ways
Monday, June 5, 2023 | Central Connecticut State University
Thank you for attending the League's 2023 Annual Conference! We hope you enjoyed your time at our home base at Central Connecticut State University and the amenities of their new building, Willard-DiLoreto Hall. This year, we received more session proposals than years past and more than doubled the amount of exhibitors in our Museum Marketplace.
We encourage you to take the conference survey to tell us how your experience went. Tell us why you attended, the highlights, and what could be improved. Surveys help us know how to make your experience better next year, so please provide feedback in order for the League to continue to have successful conferences full of resources, networking, and enriching professional experiences.
Our conference theme is "Community Matters: Linking Past and Present in Meaningful Ways." We invited proposals for sessions engaging with the myriad issues we tackle as organizations and individuals seeking to connect with and support the communities we represent, and addressing some of the key challenges of our moment.
Conference Highlights
This year's conference includes some exciting new aspects. Responding to your feedback, we have done away with our keynote in order to make more room for socialization and networking during the busy day. We'll also be offering a couple of field trip options to local museums, and staffing a resource room where you can drop in with your museum, collections, and career questions to get help and guidance from professionals.
Field Trip Options
We are pleased to be offering two field trip options as a part of this year's Annual Conference. For a small additional fee, conference attendees may elect to attend a guided tour at one of two local museums: the New Britain Museum of American Art, or the New Britain Industrial Museum. Both are just a short drive from the CCSU campus.
Registration for the field trips is on a first come, first served basis. Tours are limited and once they are sold out we cannot accommodate more individuals.
Transportation to and from the field trip sites is not included, but we will do our best to assist attendees in getting to the sites. Attendees should plan to gather and depart around 1:40 p.m., and to drive themselves or carpool with other conference attendees attending the field trips. A list of potential car poolers will be provided.
Resource Room
This year we plan to offer a drop-in resource room where you can come with your questions and challenges, and get assistance from an assortment of professionals with different subject area expertise.
More information about the resource room is available in the conference program. Any updates will be posted the day of the event.
Museum Marketplace
We are thrilled to have 25 exhibitors in our light-filled atrium this year! In your registration packet, you will receive a special Marketplace Passport. Get your passport initialed by at least 15 exhibitors before 4:30, and you will be entered in a drawing for a number of prizes provided by our exhibitors, sponsors, and board members and their institutions.
Book Sale and Signing
Visit the CLHO and CCSU Public History tables for a special book sale and signing! CLHO will be selling copies of Interpreting Energy at Museums and Historic Sites by CCSU's own Dr. Leah S. Glaser, and she will be available to sign your copy. The list price for the book is $47; we'll be selling it at the exclusive discounted price of $35.
Willard-DiLoreto Hall is located in the southwest corner of campus (#11 on the PDF map linked above). Because the Willard-DiLoreto parking garage is currently under construction, we recommend parking in the Welte Garage (#40 on the map). From there it is a short, five-minute walk southward to Willard-DiLoreto Hall.
There are two entrances to the building: one on the east side that brings you in on the first floor, and one on the west side that brings you in on the second floor. The registration desk will be located at the first-floor entrance, so we recommend entering from that side of the building. Both entrances will bring you into the atrium, though, and it is straightforward to get down to the first floor from the second-floor entrance.
Internet Access
You may connect to CCSU's public wireless network, ccsu-public, throughout the day. You will need to create a guest account when you arrive, and a password will be emailed to you.
All breakout sessions will take place in classrooms on the second floor of Willard-DiLoreto. Every classroom is equipped with a computer, podium, projector, and screen. You are welcome to bring your own laptop and hook it up to the projection system, but we recommend using the computer in the classroom, as this avoids any potential problems around connectors/dongles/cables. Login information for the podium computers will be posted in every classroom.
If you are planning to use the computer in the classroom, you may bring your presentation on a USB drive or upload it to the cloud (your email, Google Drive, etc.) and download it to the classroom computer once you arrive. If you are planning to show a video, we recommend that you make that video accessible through a web link (e.g. a private YouTube link).
Staff and volunteers will be on hand to assist you with any technical challenges.
For Exhibitors
Exhibitor setup begins at 7:30 a.m. You may park temporarily in the circle in front of Willard-DiLoreto Hall, just off Manafort Drive (location G on this map), for convenient unloading and loading at the beginning and end of the day. Please plan on parking your vehicle in the Welte Garage (#40) for the remainder of the day.
Your table will be located in the Atrium and will be indicated with your name. A preliminary map of table locations is available here.
Connecticut League of Museums Central Connecticut State University, Department of History 1615 Stanley Street New Britain, CT 06050 (860) 832-2674 info@clho.org
