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Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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In hopes of passing on some of the useful info that I picked up in
Louisville, here are a few low-key reflections on the recently completed
conference. Add, your own thoughts, fellow conference attendees!

In a nod to a certain Lincolnish late night pundit, I swear to tell the
truthiness as I present:

TIP OF THE HAT/WAG OF THE FINGER: 2006 ASTC CONFERENCE EDITION

First and foremost, a TIP OF THE HAT to the Louisville Science Center
for hosting with great amounts of class (and bourbon), including their
legion of helpful volunteers.

A WAG OF THE FINGER to the traveling exhibit currently at LSC, all
about... Candy. Sounds lame in theory, but in practice is even lamer.
Let's hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

A TIP OF THE HAT also goes to LSC's dedication to inquiry. They are
fired up for this paradigm (now there's words you won't often hear).
Their presentations about this were thoroughly thought-provoking. Which
unfortunately leads to...

A WAG OF THE FINGER to the clothes worn by the presenters at "The
Inquiry Fashion Show", threads which will haunt my dreams for months.

A big TIP OF THE HAT to LSC's coolest exhibit component. I loved the
building/invention-themed exhibit "The World We Create". As a nice
touch, most of the components call for multiple people to work together,
a coaltion of the willing, if you will. But the single best component
was in the environmental exhibit, "The World Around Us". It's a stream
table - with no water. Instead, small wooden balls serve as a stand-in
for H20, and it still is mucho interactive for a lot of people at once.
Which brings us to today's word: "superstantial".

WAG OF THE FINGER to the architects of Louisville. The Science Center,
the 4th Street Live food court, and especially the convention center had
downright baffling layouts. Who designed these places, bears?

Techno TIP OF THE HAT to making presentation material available online,
including the excellent session on training rubrics, "Communicating
Expectations" by the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and the Shedd
Aquarium. Thank goodness I didn't have to take notes on the entire
rubric, or carpal tunnel would have made this week's ThreatDown.

TIP OF THE HAT to keynote speaker E.O. Wilson. As you all know, I try to
be fair and balanced by pointing out the benefits of destroying the
environment (global warming? Now I can boil a lobster in my toilet!) but
Wilson was just awesome. Loved his take on why overpopulation is not a
given, and what can be done to stop it.

A disappointed WAG OF THE FINGER for canceling the tours to other area
museums, including both of the Monday night excusions. Those were always
incredibly good.

A large-scale TIP OF THE HAT to the mobile lab sessions. I was quite
impressed that the educators of the American Museum of Natural History
managed to get their institution to accept hands-on programming (a very
different m.o. than the rest of the museum, to put it mildly), and that
they manage to park a 35 foot Winebago in that bastion of liberalism and
insane drivers - New York City. Even more impressive were the folks from
Science South, who delivered a wrenching talk on the poverty of their
home county in South Carolina, then how they acquired a mobile
laboratory to bring to schools. They even drove this thing to the
conference, and not only is it pretty darn cool, not only did they get
their first vehicle for a mere $15,000, it also gained the Ultimate
Style Points because it's a decommissioned tank calibration truck. And
it's still bulletproof.

As a blowhard myself, a TIP OF THE HAT to the coolest toy in the
exhibitors' hall: a phone booth-like device where you get in and get
buffeted by 80mph winds.

WAG OF THE FINGER to people whose cell phones rang in the middle of
sessions. You folks may consider yourselves On Notice.

TIP OF THE HAT to seeing how the other half lives. I go to sessions for
various departments because I'm the only one from my place at the
conference, but really, it's worthwhile to see how others approach
things if you can. Take the session "What Keeps CEO's Awake at Night?"
(I'd assumed that it was because they only slept in their coffins in the
daytime.) But it turns out that CEO's are people, too, and a dozen of
them gave an interesting (and surprisingly frank) talk at this session.
Special props to Tuan Chiong Chew, Director of the Singapore Science
Centre, who talked about how the things that cause the most stress and
the ones that are facing you right at this very moment, yet those are
seldom the truly important ones. He deemed these immediate yet minor
crises "petty, but deadly".

A frozen TIP OF THE HAT to of Susanna Mishler of The Imaginarium. Not
only did she wow the outreach crowd with a downright gross activity on
digestion, but during a later session, she managed to declare both "We
do camps for nerds" and "We always like to end a presentation by setting
something on fire". Words to live by.

WAG OF THE FINGER for charging extra money for the Sunday night
conference banquet.

And finally, TIP OF THE HAT to one person using the graffiti wall. When
someone asked for alternative names for senior citizens, this wit
suggested "Silverbacks".

LA, you are on the clock.

Jonah Cohen
Outreach & Public Programs Manager
The Children's Museum

"Fire up the klezmer and prepare to become a man, you're in for a
truth-mitzvah!"
        -Stephen Colbert

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