Animatronics, wax figures, 3-D movies, live bats, actors in costumes, no this isn’t Disneyland, it’s the AAM Expo Floor! And what AAM conference is complete without it? Where else can you talk to Indiana Jones and then haggle over the price of compact storage units? Or get shown the latest technology in audio handsets before being interviewed by an electronic cat? It’s madness. Carpeted, free cookies with syrupy lemonade and forced smiles madness. Everyone gets a badge with a barcode on it so when you want to get on a companies mailing list they just scan you and you are on your merry way. No need for business cards or writing! Wave of the future.
I talked to a few people and made the rounds to see what traveling exhibitions were on offer. I filled my totebag with all the swag I could get my hands on. Pens, highlighters, key chains, coasters, meauring tapes, even small flashlights! Gimme gimme gimme. I want it all.
It’s always interesting to see what’s just on the cusp museum technology. Apparently dinosaurs. People love dinosaurs. And animatronic ones or puppets. I guess it’s mostly for paleontology museums or science centers but I guess anthropology and archaeology museums could use them. I’m sure somebody here hooked up the creation museum at some point.
There was also a group called the “center for the future of museums” dedicated to thinking twenty years ahead of where the field is going. Worth checking out I think.
