As I slowly defrost in the temperate climes south of Yorkshire it's time to reflect on my two days in Edinburgh. A frantic round of coffee drinking, luncheoning, avoiding people you owe money to and having an occasional sit down while somebody on a stage said something they assumed I might be interested in.
As the comfiest seats were in the main hall I was occasionally woken by hordes of museum types wanted to listen to keyhole speeches. It made a change as last year I was perpetually late for the speeches, this year I was perpetually woken up by them.
First up was Fiona Hyslop who seemed to be Minister for Scottishness. I have never heard such sentimental twaddle in all my life as she pulled out cliche after cliche about Scottish identity. You'd never find us bulldog Englishmen getting so worked up about our green and pleasant land of cricket on the village green.....hmm perhaps we are alike after all.
Next up.. a lawyer (better be a bit careful here) Aamer Anwar. This is going to be controversial. Phew! He gives a nice little talk on 'museums I have visited with my kids that I like 'cos I'm a social justice lawyer'. I look forward to a miner's reflection on pit museums he's visited at next year's conference in Wales.
Woken from my slumber (is it Friday already?) by.. Basil Fawlty? I thought it was meant to be Martin Roth. Is this a new strategy for national museums? Will the V&A be renamed the Sybil & Manuel Museum and become the S&M? Hmm...perhaps not. My reverie led me to hoping that Captain Mainwaring will be taking over the Imperial War Museum and Alf Garnet would be an ideal candidate for the British Museum.... then the talk was over, I assume he didn't mention the war, or that he did once but got away with it.
One more to go - Mark O'Neill (Director of Policy and Research at Glasgow Life) argued that we are too professional. I've suspected that all along. That's why my amateurish museum is ahead of its time. He stridently argued that everyone needs access to the core collections. Having left Big Baz (see previous blog) in charge of the museum whilst in Edinburgh - he seems to have fully accessed the coin collection.
Time to go home, but wait who is this? Donald Smith - a storyteller? It can't be a keyhole speech because its a brilliantly informative and entertaining summary of the conference. What a waste of 2 days! All I needed to do was pop in for an hour at the end (make mental note to self for next year).
This year was certainly the digital year - so next week I'll reflect on 2012 - the Twitter Conference
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