9 December 2020, Virtual
Apologies for absence
Adriana Rouanet, Brian Moss, Michael Guthrie
Minutes of the last AGM
Minutes of the last AGM: the British Library, October 2019
Committee reports
Committee reports were presented to the attendees.
Chair’s report – Dafydd James
We have been meeting when possible, as an Exec, as team leads and as a full Committee. It’s not easy to find a time for Committee meetings that fit around everyone’s commitments. Lockdown has, in many cases, increased the workload for our Committee members, which means we must be flexible enough to acknowledge the busy periods so that we can benefit from their excellent work and experience in the run up to key events and activities.
Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, it’s not been possible to meet face-to-face, which is a part of the work that I really enjoy. That said, we are a committee with members across the UK, so we are used to conducting meetings over digital platforms and seeing each other in 2D!
The Committee’s workstreams are now established, covering the different areas of the MCG’s work. Whilst we will lose some of our team this year, I hope that this approach will help the new committee members pick up tasks and get involved in our work.
This year’s event is the first conducted solely online. I am grateful for the efforts of the team in building a new approach for us, one that I hope we can continue to benefit from over the coming years. I am also grateful to our international Programme Committee for their time reviewing a very successful call for papers, a reflection of how this year’s theme has struck a chord.
I’d like to thank those that are leaving the Committee this year. They have been committed to the UK Museums and have worked hard for us and our community of practice:
A big thank you to Rebecca, Claudia, Brian and Adriana, who have supported the delivery of our events and the running of the Museum’s Computer Group.
I am pleased to say that we continue to have a strong team and a number of excellent nominees for the next year. This ensures that the MCG is dedicated to ensuring that our museums and technology community is connected, supported and inspired.
All payment for MuseTech19 has now come in
Accounts – Georgina Brooke
Our current bank balance is £5,070.39. In PayPal we have £6,065.76
Our main expenditure that has come out of our account this year was ExOrdo: £1,845
We have also committed to subtitling from StageText at £1,680.00, they will send an invoice after the event.
That will bring our balance to £9,474 (plus whatever extra will still come in from ticket fees).
Will defer to Sarah Cold for final revenue from conference.
Membership – Sarah Middle
51 new individual members have registered since the 2019 AGM.
The total number of MCG members is 616.
We have extended last year’s corporate memberships for 2020 and have no new corporate members.
For 2020 MCG has 11 corporate members:
- University of Cambridge Museums
- Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales
- System Simulation
- Haley Sharpe Design
- Culture24
- Weissman
- Imperial War Museums
- Science Museum Group
- V&A
- Wellcome Collection
- Luton Cultural Services Trust
Operational reports
Events – Sarah Cole
The Museums+Tech 2019 conference was held at the British Library on Friday 18th October 2019 and the theme was Openness.
We sold 207/255 tickets on Eventbrite.
Information about that event may be found at:
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The Museums+Tech 2020 conference is in progress. It is being held virtually on Hopin 9–10 December 2020. The theme is Museums in a Crisis.
At the time of writing, there have been 450 ticket registrations on a pay-what-you-can model, with a 72.8% turnout.
Information about this event may be found at:
Communications – Alec Ward
Twitter remains our most popular social media platform, with 5,356 followers (increase of 386 followers on last year). The platform continues to grow steadily, with an average of 30 new followers each month.
We have also been using Facebook, this is predominantly to promote events. Our Facebook page currently sits at a healthy 1,107 followers – but this is an audience that we continue to build on each year.
We’ve been using LinkedIn a bit more in the past year, mostly to promote our events and share the list discussion topics. This is also an audience we hope to expand on in the coming year.
Finally, we continue to use the Discussion List to share events, news and opportunities. We also share these topics on Twitter to expand the discussions.
We continue to use Mailchimp to publicise our events and, occasionally, news.
Website – Liz McCarthy
The MCG website (www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk) continues to operate as a home for events, reports and membership for the group.
In the period 1 October 2019 – 30 September 2020, the website had:
- 10,250 sessions (-11% on previous year)
- 8,697 users (+ 4% on previous year)
- 16,978 views (-13% on previous year)
The slight drop in page views and sessions can be assumed to be because 2020 conference wasn’t promoted within this window.
Email list – Dafydd James
The discussion list has been as busy as ever throughout lockdown, with 1853 subscribers who work with and within the sector. There have been lively discussions on the delivery of content and technology in our spaces and online, opportunities for training and career progression, funding and development, and accessibility and inclusion.
In terms of moderation, there has not been a need for flagging up many things, only one or two emails that were marketing commercial services.
Questions from the floor
None
Committee elections
The following new committee members were confirmed:
- Graham Davies, National Museum Wales
- Nick Higgett, De Montfort University
- Mark Pajak, Bristol Culture
- Russell Stearman, Joi Polloi
- Foteini Valeonti, University College London
Close of meeting
MCG Committee 2019
| Chair Dafydd James (2017 – 2020) | Ordinary and Seconded Members Michael Guthrie: to 2021 Brian Moss: to 2021 Rebecca Atkinson: to 2020 Alec Ward: to 2022 Sarah Cole: to 2022 Claudia Strange: to 2020 Scott Billings: to 2020 Elizabeth McCarthy: to 2020 Adriana Rouanet: to 2020 |
| Treasurer Georgina Brooke (2019 – 2022) | |
| Secretary Sarah Middle (2018 – 2021) |