By: Stephanie Weaver

There is truly a once-in-a-lifetime museum conference coming up September 23-26, 2011, and I hope you have already bought your ticket and made your hotel reservations. Yes, I'm on the program committee and therefore a bit biased about the great sessions, like one on "Creating the Best Experience: Museums & Guest Service" that I might be a part of. Or not. You'll have to come and find out. They've run the numbers and it's no more expensive overall than any other conference you might attend. How can you miss it?

Still on the fence? Did you know that the Pacific Islands Museums Association will also be there? And the Hawai'i Museums Association? And the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums? Think of all the super-cool people you will meet, have conversations with, and who might invite you to visit their museum in Fiji! Okay, so they might not invite you to Fiji. But think of the broadened perspective you will have on your work, getting to interact with museum professionals from other countries. What other conference will kick off with a welcome and blessing from all the native peoples attending? Where else in the U.S. can you visit a PALACE? And where else...

Does the view from every hotel room look like this? (And this is the "bad" side.)

Can you attend sessions in THE most beeootiful convention center I have ever seen?

THIS is a convention center? Be still my heart!

Can you attend an evening event in a stunning mid-century modern masterpiece like Liljestrand House?

Or have dinner in a traditional Japanese tea house?

What other conference can guarantee that you will get lei'd at least once?

Hope to see you in Honolulu on September 23rd!

Stephanie Weaver
Visitor experience consultant
http://www.experienceology.com