Digital training

Covid-19 Update: Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, we will be making changes to our planned training programmes for 2020 - 2021. Where possible our training will be delivered online and, where appropriate, we will edit and refocus the content of our sessions to be relevant for the current situation. You will be able to find our upcoming training sessions below and advertised in our weekly E-Update, which you can find at the bottom of our News page. If we need to make any last minute announcements for London Museum Development events, about event changes or cancellations, we will try to do so via email, but you will also be able to find last minute announcements pinned to the top of our Twitter timeline.

Our current programme of Digital Training will focus on helping museums with their digital activities during the Covid-19 outbreak. You can find recordings of our training sessions and helpful tutorials on our YouTube channel. We have so far delivered a session on 'Social Media: What can it do for your organisation in lockdown', with further sessions on Social Media Strategy and Analytics to be delivered in the coming weeks. You can find an up-to-date list of our upcoming sessions below.

As part of our response to the Covid-19 outbreak, we have also started weekly 'Digital Chats' where you can join in on an online conversation and discuss different digital topics with colleagues from the sector. Topics so far have covered 'Creating Digital Content' and 'Online Collaboration'. You can find more information about those Chats below.

All paid and unpaid staff working for non-National (and non-NPO), Accredited museums in the London region are eligible to apply for our training courses. This includes furloughed staff. For further governmental guidance on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and training implications, please click here.

In 2018 - 2022, the Digital Futures Programme will excite the London museum sector with the possibilities of digital technologies and digital engagement. Through the training programme, London Museum Development will deliver at least 12 courses each year aimed at developing the digital skills of London's museums. These courses have been designed and tailored for London's museums, based on the feedback from our 2018 Training Needs Analysis of the London non-national museum sector (PDF 690kb, opens in new tab). The programme has also been influenced by the findings of the Mendoza Review, Culture is Digital and Digital Culture 2017 reports. You can find our latest training sessions towards the bottom of this page and you can find recordings of some of our previous training sessions on our YouTube channel.

Digital Chats

With museums currently in lockdown, we want to create an opportunity for museum professionals to get together, once a week, for an informal chat to discuss all things digital. These chats are being organised to support the sector with digital on different topics each week. They will act as a chance for museum professionals to discuss their work / interests, ask for help and seek opportunities for collaboration. You can find this week's chat topic below.

Online Fundraising
Thursday 09 July, 11am – 12pm

The next topic will be ‘Online Fundraising’. This will be an opportunity for museum professionals to join in, meet colleagues from the sector and discuss the opportunities and challenges of using online platforms for raising funds. We'll be focusing on how museums are currently using online platforms, how they are engaging their audiences with fundraising and some of the campaigns museums have run. We will hopefully be joined by a couple of musuems who have run / are running online fundraising campaigns at this time. To join, email: [email protected] with your name and organisation. You’ll be able to find more information about our weekly chats on our website in due course.

Digital Futures Training Programme, 2020 - 2021

Assess and improve your digital activities (fully booked)
Wednesday 08 July, 10:30am - 1pm
Online, via Zoom

This session is now fully booked, but you can still book a place to recieve a link to the recording of the session, when it is live. Where are your museum's digital strengths and weaknesses? The Digital Culture Compass, commissioned by Arts Council England in partnership with the National Lottery Heritage Fund, has been designed to support arts, culture and heritage organisations to assess their approach to digital technology. London Museum Development (LMD) wants to support a small number of museums to use the Digital Culture Compass, in a session designed to guide participants through using the toolkit. This session will enable participating museums to measure their digital work and plan for future activities. LMD will look at your museum's strategy behind its use of digital and use the toolkit to measure where digital can help your museum to achieve its mission, goals and aims.

Through participating in this session you will gain a better understanding of digital within your museum through a number of different activity areas, such as Marketing and Communications or Strategy and Governance. Using the Tracker, you will be able to generate 12 month targets for improving your digital activities. Using the report generated through the Tracker, LMD will create recommendations for further training, suggest areas for potential projects or interventions, and possible funding streams that may help you to improve your digital work. You will also be offered support from Alec Ward, MDO: Digital and Communications, to help you with the work during and after the session.

Ideally, LMD would like two members of staff to attend the day from each museum. One senior manager / leader and a member of the team who has some form of responsibility for digital within their museum. It would be helpful to bring your organisation's mission / aims / goals with you on the day. If you would like to discuss your participation in this session, please contact Alec Ward: [email protected] / 020 7001 9861. Download a full course outline (PDF 183kb, opens in new tab). Please use our online form to book your place.

Video Editing
Friday 24 July, 11am – 2pm
Online, Via Zoom

This session will provide you with some more advanced video editing techniques, using the free programme ‘HitFilm Express’. This session is for those who already have a very basic understanding of video editing, either using programmes like iMovie or Windows Movie Maker, or through apps on phones / tablet devices. You will learn techniques such as:

• Trimming, cutting and overlaying audio / video
• Inserting transitions, images and text into videos
• Adding captions into videos
• and much more

PLEASE NOTE: You will need to download and be able to run a free copy of HitFilm Express – by scrolling to the bottom of the webpage and following the steps. Please ensure that HitFilm works on your device before joining the course. Download a full course outline (PDF kb, opens in new tab). Book your place through our online booking form.