Strategic Planning - Whats Fun?

Today, we began the public meeting process for a new five-year Strategic Plan at the Imperial Valley Desert Museum.

We are looking at exterior exhibits, acquisition of new property, and development of new programs.

After five years of trying to get people to think outside of the box and advocating that museums should be fun, I was very pleased with the results of our meeting. The last question posed was - "What do you want to do that is fun?"

Typically, participants at a planning meeting like this will write lists of things they think museums are "supposed" to do. Or, even worse, things that they know we will do. I wanted to capture what people wanted to do, not what they thought we should do.

I know, the list is not ground breaking, but it is exciting to me. Oh, and I just had a conversation with someone outside, "Enjoy air, sun, view in the desert" - that's hiking naked.