| Time | Event | Location |
| 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. | Conference Check-In | Best Western Lobby |
| 12:45 p.m. | Board Bus for Pre-Conference Trip | Best Western Lobby |
| 1:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. | Pre-Conference Trip | Doubleday Field, Rustic Ridge Winery, Fly Creek Cider Mill, Hyde Hall & Brewery Ommegang |
Conference Schedule
| Time | Event | Session Description | Speakers | Location | Sponsor |
| 7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. | Exhibitor Setup | Fenimore Farm | |||
| Breakfast | For those staying at the Best Western, breakfast is provided by the hotel. A McDonald’s, Dunkin Donuts, local café and grocery store are all within walking distance. | Best Western | |||
| 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. | Conference Check-In | Transportation to Fenimore Farm is on your own. | Fenimore Farm | ||
| 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. | Welcome Orientation | Welcome to the 2024 International Sports Heritage Association conference. | Fenimore Farm | CambridgeSeven & Cortina Productions | |
| 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. | Session 1 – Traveling Exhibits: To Travel or Not to Travel | Traveling exhibits offer a museum a multitude of opportunities for Halls of Fame to expand their outreach, take their collections on the road, engage new audiences, and increase revenue and sponsorship. Within the past decade, the Basketball Hall of Fame, Baseball Hall of Fame, Football Hall of Fame, and Tennis Hall of Fame have developed large-scale traveling exhibits that were designed for multi-city tours. The experiences of these four halls of fame shed light on some of the successes and challenges of developing and executing a national traveling exhibition program. Topics to be discussed include conceptualization, planning, logistics around booking venues and designing dissemination strategy, meeting revenue and audience projections, rotating objects on a regular basis, and meeting local programmatic needs. The panel will also address whether these national, large-scale, multi-venue tours ultimately meet stated objectives and if there are other ways that these goals can be achieved. | Nicole Markham: Curator of Collections – International Tennis Hall of Fame Tom Shieber: Senior Curator – National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Michael Trostel: Director, Wold Golf Hall of Fame Matt Zeysing: Vice President, Curatorial – Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame | Fenimore Farm | Tour-Mate Systems Ltd. |
| 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. | Lunch | Guest Speaker: Claire Smith | Fenimore Farm | BRC Imagination Arts | |
| 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. | Session 2 – Our Museum in Action: Engaging Hard to Reach Donors in Specific Projects | This session will cover the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s “Our Museum in Action” fundraising campaign from the launch in 2016 through the continued success in 2025.
The program promotes projects of all sizes to potential donors who are sometimes motivated by seeing their dollars at work directly. We will cover how the program is promoted, how we go about selecting projects and how we continue to build on past success all while making our donors feel like they are part of the team. The program has raised more than $500,000 since its inception for projects big and small, ranging from conservation to digitization to education outreach. Learn how you can apply the principles the Hall uses to raise more money to support your mission. |
Ken Meifert: Vice President, Sponsorship and Development – National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum | Fenimore Farm | HealyKohler Design |
| 2:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. | Break | Meet the exhibitors, bid on the silent auction, take a walk, grab a snack – the time is yours… | Fenimore Farm | ||
| 2:15 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. | Session 3 – Game Changing Legacy: Texas Rangers’ Enterprise Approach to Heritage in the 21st Century | In an era where brand, legacy, and content intersect like never before, organizations are rethinking how they preserve and leverage their history. This dynamic session brings together John Blake, Senior Advisor & Historian (and former SVP and Chief Communications Officer) at the Texas Rangers, and Heather Martin, Managing Director of Client Services & Sports Practice Lead at Heritage Werks, to explore a 21st-century, enterprise-wide approach to heritage. Learn how today’s sports organizations are breaking down silos to provide access to content across the entire organization and are transforming archives into strategic assets—fueling storytelling, innovation, and engagement enterprise-wide. From preserving iconic moments to powering fan experiences, this session reveals how legacy is being reimagined for impact now and into the future. |
John Blake: Senior Advisor & Historian – Texas Rangers Heather Martin: Managing Director, Client Services – Heritage Werks | Fenimore Farm | Blue Telescope |
| 3:15 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. | Free Time | Return to the hotel or take a spin around Cooperstown, just don’t miss our evening at the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum | |||
| 4:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. | Transportation from Best Western to NBHFM | Transportation is provided to and from the Best Western, as well as to and from the Hospitality location | Best Western Lobby | ||
| 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. | Session 4 – Tour the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum | Explore one of the premier sports heritage institutions and first National Hall of Fames – the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. This treasure trove of items brings to life the history of the U.S.’s National Pastime and the inspiring stories of the Hall of Famers and ballplayers for a global audience. The evening will begin with an opportunity to learn about the background of several artifacts within their collection before being able to wander the galleries, with three new exhibits opened in the last year and a half: Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball; Getting the Nod; and Yakyu | Baseball: The Transpacific Exchange of the Game. The evening will be concluded with dinner amongst baseball’s immortals in the Hall of Fame Plaque Gallery. | NBHFM | ||
| 6:00 p.m. – 6:45 p.m. | Cocktail “Hour” | NBHFM | |||
| 6:45 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. | An Evening of Champions | NBHFM | CambridgeSeven & Cortina Productions | ||
| 8:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. | Transportation to Hospitality | NBHFM | |||
| 9:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m. | Hospitality | Just because the session are over for the day, doesn’t mean the festivities are. Come to the hospitality event for a beverage, snacks, and good company. | Upstate Bar & Grill | EOS Lightmedia | |
| 10:30 p.m. – 11:00 p.m. | Transportation to Best Western | Upstate Bar & Grill |
| Time | Event | Session Description | Speakers | Location | Sponsor |
| Breakfast | For those staying at the Best Western, breakfast is provided by the hotel. A McDonald’s, Dunkin Donuts, local café and grocery store are all within walking distance. | Best Western | |||
| 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. | Session 5 – Transforming Spaces for Contemporary Sports Heritage Museums | In 2024 the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame embarked on both an ambitious renovation of their facility and exhibits that included updates to existing facilities, an expansion, renovated exhibits and new exhibits. With the ultimate goal of best serving their audience, celebrating Indiana basketball and honoring their inductees the project included many strategic and logistical goals that had to also be met. In this session Matt Martin, Executive Director, Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame will be joined by the Exhibit Production team in a Roundtable Discussion that will include the topics of the architectural transformation, the collaborative integrations of the independent partners, the division of responsibilities and creative process to build trust, budget optimization and management and forward-thinking exhibit design, fabrication and interactives. The session will invite questions and participation to help provide a starting roadmap to those in the audience to take on their own challenges. The strategies to be discussed will showcase how to meet not just the current institutional challenged as and goals but also to build in future options for exhibits, programing and content so crucial to sports heritage institutions. |
Matt Martin: Executive Director, Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame Peter Hyde Design Pinpoint Silver Oaks | Fenimore Farm | Silver Oaks |
| 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. | Session 6 – Collections Workshop: Upgrading Sports Textile Mounts | In sports heritage collections, what an athlete has worn is often considered the highest valued piece of memorabilia. These artifacts are often showcased to celebrate the achievements of athletes and show the evolution of textiles in various sports. Made from a variety of materials, they all have one need in common: a well-made mount that is designed to support and preserve the integrity and ensure the longevity of the fabric. Learn how to upgrade your existing sports textile mounts in this workshop, or come away with some new ideas for future use! | Amy Berra: Curator – St. Louis Cardinals | Fenimore Farm | St. Louis Cardinals |
| 11:00 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. | Break | Meet the exhibitors, bid on the silent auction, take a walk, grab a snack – the time is yours… | Fenimore Farm | ||
| 11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. | Session 7 – Retail Operations and Image Licensing | Join us for an in-depth panel focused on the essential practices, challenges, and innovations in retail operations and image licensing within two of America’s most iconic sports institutions. Representatives from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and the NASCAR Hall of Fame will share insights into how each organization manages its retail strategy—from in-store merchandising to licensing likeness and intellectual property. | Kristi Joyal: Senior Retail Merchandise Manager Sean Gahagan: VP of Retail Merchandising & Licensing, NBHFM | Fenimore Farm | |
| 12:15 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. | Lunch | Guest Speaker | Fenimore Farm | BRC Imagination Arts | |
| 1:45 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. | Session 8 – The Steele Internship Program | Launched in 2000, the Frank and Peggy Steele Internship program has offered close to 400 students in 25 years the opportunity to spend a summer-long experience working alongside National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum staff to gain hands-on experience. Panelists will include Steele Internship alumni providing an overview of the program, insight on their experience, and opportunities for your institution to assist in the growth of emerging professionals. | Gabrielle Augustine: Curator, National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum Sarah Coffin: Alumni Relations Manager & Team Curator, Boston Red Sox Emma Haring: Class of 2026, The Cooperstown Graduate Program Stephanie Hazzard: Director of Education; National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum | Fenimore Farm | Iron Mountain Media & Archival Services |
| 2:45 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. | Break | Meet the exhibitors, bid on the silent auction, take a walk, grab a snack – the time is yours… | Fenimore Farm | ||
| 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. | Session 9 – Open Forum & Shoutouts | This is your chance to talk about anything you want. Nothing is off the table! Bring your questions and ideas to this open forum. | Fenimore Farm | ||
| 4:00 p.m. | Close Silent Auction | ||||
| 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. | Free Time | ||||
| 5:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. | Transportation from Best Western to Cocktails & Convos Reception | Transportation is provided to and from the Best Western | Best Western Lobby | ||
| 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. | Cocktails & Convos Reception | Templeton Hall | |||
| 8:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. | Transportation from Cocktails & Convos Reception to Best Western | Templeton Hall | |||
| 9:00 p.m. | Final Call | One last hurrah at the hotel | Best Western | EOS Lightmedia |