[BCMA] Register now! Pre-conference Workshop: You Are The Magic Ingredient: Using Data Collection as a Tool to Connect with Visitors

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv]

You Are The Magic Ingredient: Using Data Collection as a Tool to Connect with Visitors

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2026
10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Mt. Benson Ballroom, Vancouver Island Conference Centre
101 Gordon St, Nanaimo, BC V9R 5J8

Do you feel like there’s a better way to get to know your visitors than through boring surveys that get almost no responses? You’re not alone!

Data collection is an opportunity to engage with your visitors while yielding useful information that supports your museum’s future planning for exhibits, programs, and funding. It’s a surprisingly creative area of work, with nearly endless methods.

This workshop is for those who are curious about methods of data collection that involve in person interaction or observation. In other words, methods where you are an active part of the data collection process.

We will cover the advantages and limitations of collecting data in person. Including how to mitigate limitations such as the cost of our time and the impact of our biases. We will also discuss the skills and qualities supervisors need to foster in staff and volunteers, if they are going to collect data in person.

The day will be full of hands-on activities including opportunities to practice collecting data at the Nanaimo Museum in person.

We will cover key concepts around the ethics of data collection such as:

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Culturally Responsive Evaluation<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S014971892300099X> (CRE)
  *
Personally Identifiable Information <https://universitycounsel.ubc.ca/what-personal-information> (PII)

The purpose of this workshop is to equip you with practical techniques that you feel empowered to use at your own site.
Target audience:

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Museum professionals who feel like they don’t connect with visitors are much as they would like and are looking for tools to (re)connect with them
  *
Early career professionals and volunteers who are interested in developing skills in data collection


Space is limited to just 16 participants.
Tickets are $125.00, Register here!<https://members.museum.bc.ca/public/event/details/bc83992dc0ae5bb7d0164b27ad4e67e8ce4a0a2d/1> <https://members.museum.bc.ca/public/event/details/bc83992dc0ae5bb7d0164b27ad4e67e8ce4a0a2d/1>
[cid:b80043d6-a4e8-4919-8afa-a1dce325f241]


Lorenda Calvert
Programs Manager

Pronouns: she/her. To learn why pronouns are important, click here<https://equity.ubc.ca/resources/gender-diversity/pronouns/>.

My emails are human written and not ai. To learn about the BCMA's ai resources, click here<https://museum.bc.ca/brain/artificial-intelligence-ai-and-glaam/>.

The BC Museums Association office is located on the traditional, unceded lands of the Lekwungen<https://vimeo.com/275788251> peoples (Songhees and Xwsepsum Nations). We respect past, present, and future Indigenous stewards and recognize that we are uninvited guests on this territory.

BC Museums Association || 675 Belleville Street || Victoria, BC || V8W 1A1

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