Unlocking the Museum Conference: A First-Time Attendee's Journey, Insights, and Expert Advice
MSA Forward 2023 was held in Denver, Colorado from May 17-21st
What is MSA Forward?
The Museum Store Association website shares that MSA Forward, their annual conference in conjunction American Alliance of Museums annual meeting and MuseumExpo, is a place to "Make connections, learn and build relationships. Educational Conference and Tradeshow. Grow Your Professional Network Through Face-to-Face Interactions with Industry Peers and Prospective Customers.”
MSA Forward is an opportunity for museum buyers to learn relevant best practices, understand industry trends and challenges, find camaraderie within the industry, and be introduced to new vendors that may align with the mission of their institution.
MSA Forward is an opportunity for vendors to learn more about the industry, connect with fellow vendors, and build relationships with museum buyers. With the two-day trade show within MSA Forward, vendors have an opportunity to showcase their products and capabilities to museum buyers. MSA vendors often say that MSA Forward is not “an order-writing show” but one that allows for some of the best and most genuine relationship-building.
What is the Museum Store Association?
The Museum Store Association (MSA) is dedicated to advancing the nonprofit retail industry and the professionals engaged in it. Through advocacy, education, and collaboration, MSA provides the tools and community to help cultural institutions, vendor members, and their commercial partners to expand the visitor’s experience, enabling them to take a piece of that experience home.
Among vendors and institution members, MSA is known for its collaborative and non-competitive environment. Museum buyers are known to share their knowledge of various vendors with their peers and vendors are known to support each other in growth and sharing knowledge. Museum people are some of the best people and this is an organization where you will find a lot of them.
Peoria Postcards by Lettering Works
100 Days of Peoria Book by Chelsie Tamms
Peoria Riverfront Museum illustration from 100 Days of Peoria
Lettering Works Museum Store Story
I founded Lettering Works in 2016, after winning $10,000 in startup funding and graduating from Bradley University in Peoria, IL. My early days in business were dedicated to figuring out what exactly I wanted my business to be. I held an artist residency at the Prairie Center of the Arts in the warehouse district in Peoria and began to develop work for and about the Peoria community.
One of my earliest projects was creating a series of four Peoria postcards that soon made their way into the Peoria Riverfront Museum (PRM) Gift Shop, as well as the Peoria International Airport Gift Shop.
I worked closely with the PRM and collaborated on a very successful Museum Store Sunday event featuring 25 local makers popping up in the foyer and even self-published a book called 100 Days of Peoria that was sold in the gift shop. The PRM purchased the 100 Days of Peoria illustration of the museum that I created and still use it on t-shirts and other products available in their gift shop.
Fast forward to June 2019, after three successful years building my business in Central Illinois, I decided to make the leap and move to Chicago. I took the phrase “if it plays in Peoria” to hear and focused on what went well in Peoria to scale to the Chicago market. For me, that meant focusing on getting my products into museum and airport gift shops.
With a crystal clear focus on these types of shops: I approached the Field Museum and began selling my postcards (and later stickers and enamel pins) in fall 2019. One thing lead to another and I’ve since had the opportunity to work with the Chicago History Museum and Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago as well. Cracking the code on getting into airport gift shops has been much tougher, although I’ve made great strides - that is a story for another time.
In late 2021, I learned about the Museum Store Association and joined as a vendor member. Since then, I’ve attended as much as possible virtually, participated near-weekly in the Product Pitch Fridays, and recently attended my first MSA Forward in Denver, Colorado in 2023.
A First-Timer’s Experience at MSA Forward
Making the leap to attending my first in-person Museum Store Association event (and first-ever trade show) was truly made possible by fellow vendor member, Katy Murphy of Narrative Material. At MSA Forward Denver, we debuted our collaboration of my original artwork with Katy’s quality printing on both pillows and totes.
Katy and I met right when I joined MSA as she was the Midwest Chapter’s Vendor Member Advisor and hit it off right away as I was eager to learn about museums and happy to connect with a fellow woman-owned business in Chicago. Katy was eager to help me succeed and get me plugged into MSA’s resources and encouraged me to become active in ShopTalk and the Buyer Vendor Forum.
Since 2021, Katy and I have made a point of connecting on a regular basis and even grabbing coffee or lunch a handful of times. When it came time to consider attending MSA Denver, Katy invited me to be her featured artist and launch a collaborative line together.
Katy and Chelsie - Trade Show Day 1
Katy and Chelsie - Trade Show Day 2
I think it is important to share this context because I am not a trade show person and would not have been able to participate if I had registered on my own. This is in great part due to having severe scoliosis and a spinal fusion surgery that left me with two rods and about seventeen screws running down my spine from T2-T12. I am personally unable to do the physical labor required of trade shows, which made me so excited to have Katy as a partner and mentor.
Those who I met at MSA Forward in Denver may have heard me share my mantra for my first conference: “Go with the flow and follow Katy.” As much as it was a bit of a lighthearted joke, I was committed to following her lead and getting as much as I could out of the experience.
This mantra served me well and centered my purpose as it was overwhelming at times to experience all of the educational resources, potential excursions, and sheer amount of connections to be made.
In going with the flow and being present, I attended every session, excursion, and party I could. I made a point to introduce myself to new people and never sit alone (even at breakfast and happy hours at the hotel). I even took some time to walk around the trade show floor and introduce Lettering Works and Narrative Material to fellow vendors while handing out extra Denver, Colorado stickers I made for the swag bags. It helped that Katy is now our national Vendor Member Advisor and that I could be helpful in making sure other vendors know how to connect with her.
I made a point of putting myself out there and working hard to get the most out of my first MSA Forward experience. And I got results that I am proud of! Did I get lots of sales? No. My results consisted of two new wholesale accounts, lots of great connections, insights to the museum industry that I never knew, and countless leaders for custom work.
I am optimistic about my future work with museums because I know that putting in the time and putting yourself out there in a variety of ways is what it takes to be successful in this space. I am confident that my investments will pay off with time because this industry is based on quality relationships, ones that take time to develop and foster.
“Love for All Flavors” Sticker by Lettering Works
“Spread Love Not Hate” Sticker by Lettering Works
Results from MSA Forward Denver 2023
The Milwaukee Art Museum is now carrying a variety of my Milwaukee, artist-centric, and pride stickers (which was especially exciting for me since my family is from Milwaukee).
The Atlanta Botanical Garden placed an initial order for a variety of plant and pride stickers (which I am sure will do well since I had a great conversation with Jason about how well stickers do in his gift shop during an educational session).
I finally got to meet the buyers of two museums I’ve worked on custom designs with in person: Kara from the DAR Museum: Daughters of the American Revolution and Laureen from the Mulva Cultural Center. The Mulva Cultural Center also added new items to their open wholesale order (as their gift shop is opening later in 2023).
I collected over 60 business cards from new connections, vendors, and buyers with an interest in my work.
I had countless great conversations about custom designed collections for museums and have already been continuing these conversations post-conference via email.
I attended my first Colorado Rockies Game and enjoyed four unique museums: the Molly Brown House, Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver Art Museum, and Clyfford Still Museum.
I launched a custom collection of products in collaboration with Narrative Material.
Advice I Got Going Into My First MSA Forward
These pieces of advice seemed to be recurring themes that I would pass along to anyone interested in attending MSA Forward and getting the most out of their experience:
Go to the excursions! This is where the magic of building relationships happens.
Go to the educational sessions. There’s a lot to learn about the industry so you can optimize how you fit in.
Exhibit at the trade show and offer a show special. The buyers at this conference make a point to visit most, if not all, booths. This is a great opportunity to get decision-makers’ eyes on what you have to offer and start building your relationships.
Look to build relationships over selling. Museums have to align their products assortment with their institution’s mission and often with their exhibits - this means that the timing might not be right now, but there is a good change that there will come a time that your products fit.
Custom products are very desirable. If you can offer custom, you should. Recognize that many museums are looking for smaller minimums and really unique products for their store that (once again) align with their mission and exhibits. Exhibitions aren’t always made public far in advance, but planning behind the scenes is still happening.
Recolored “Work with People You Like” Design - used for promotional cards
Recolored “Be Gentle with Yourself” Design - used for promotional cards
Additional Advice from Chelsie
With one MSA Forward under my belt, here are some things I would add to the advice above:
Plan intentional rest/downtime before and after the conference. In order to show up and do all of the things, you have to be ready and fully energized.
Understand your costs and expectations. Ask yourself “how much is a relationship with a museum buyer worth to me?” and consider how working with museums fits into your overall business plan. This isn’t the conference to come to if you want instant results as this industry is very relationship-based. Know that you’ll have to play the long game here and that may be sustainable for you or it might not be.
Put your photo in Product Pitch Friday emails leading up to the conference. I had a decent amount of people recognize me (at my first conference?!) or think they met me last year because I have been active virtually and helping them connect my business and name to my face. Katy and I also put our photos on our informational cards that we put in the swag bags to make it very clear who buyers should be looking for if they’d like to talk to us.
Don’t be afraid to approach anyone with a conference badge to simply start a conversation. Museum people are truly some of the kindest and most friendly people. Despite being an introvert, I made a point to be outgoing and it lead to some truly wonderful conversations and friendships.
About the Author
Chelsie Tamms is an artist, educator, and entrepreneur. She founded Lettering Works in 2016, combining her love of hand-lettering with her expertise in marketing. Since then, she’s grown her business to offer custom branding packages, courses for artists, and wholesale products and merchandise—all with the mission to bring more creativity into her community and beyond. She is especially drawn to cause-driven projects surrounding mental health, chronic illness, and underrepresented communities.
