Thematic Exhibiting: Steps to Success
Cost is $35 for members, $50 for non-members.
This five-part course is designed to give you lots of practical information to use in planning and developing your thematic exhibit. You will be sent class materials in advance and recaps of each class will be provided.
Session One: Getting Started - May 15, 4:00 pm Eastern
Dawn Hamman, president, American Topical Association
An overview of the decisions you need to make in planning; writing your thematic story; and acquiring and describing your material. A discussion of resources to use along the way.
Session Two: Designing Exhibit Pages - May 18, 6:00 pm Eastern
Martin Kent Miller, owner, The Philatelic Press, a marketing and design firm geared to the needs of philatelists.
Topics to be covered include choosing paper, page design basics, matting, typefaces and size.
Session Three: The Wonderful World of Bamboo – A Case Study - May 20, 6:00 pm Eastern
Phil Stager, grand award winning exhibitor, including 2017 National Topical Stamp Show for The Wonderful World of Bamboo.
Phil will lead us through the process of planning and executing his thematic display exhibit. This is an opportunity to learn from a master of thematic exhibiting.
Session Four: How to Choose a Wide Variety of Philatelic Items for Your Exhibit - May 22, 4:00 pm Eastern
Jean Wang, grand award winning exhibitor for Blood: A Modern Medicine, CANPEX, 2019.
Join one of the foremost thematic exhibitors working today as she describes how she selected a wide range of philatelic items to tell the thematic story.
Session Five: Preparing the Synopsis - May 25, 6:00 pm Eastern
Join Pat Walker, a past president of the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors; exhibitor and judge.
Pat will show the steps in developing a synopsis that will highlight what the exhibitor has accomplished in the exhibit.
Session Six: Bonus Feedback - May 29, 4:00 pm Eastern
Bring your questions and share your experiences as you develop your exhibit.
The Course Presenters
Dawn Hamman became an exhibitor in 2008, and has developed 12 exhibits, all treated thematically. How to Grow Tomatoes won the Mary Ann Owens one frame grand award at the National Topical Stamp Show in 2014; Backyard Chickens won the show’s reserve grand in 2019.
She joined the ATA board in 2014 and became president in 2019. She was a writer and editor for the 2020 book, Topical Adventures – A Guide to Topical and Thematic Stamp Collecting.
Martin Kent Miller is the owner of The Philatelic Press, a marketing and design firm geared to the needs of philatelists. He edits numerous publications, including First Days and The United States Specialist. He designs many publications for ATA, and edited the 2020 book, Topical Adventures – A Guide to Topical and Thematic Stamp Collecting.
Phillip R. Stager has been exhibitjng since high school and has won many top awards for his thematic exhibits. He is a retired philatelic judge who served as chief judge for the National Topical Stamp Show several times. He wrote the chapter on thematic exhibiting for Topical Adventures – A Guide to Topical and Thematic Stamp Collecting.
Jean Wang is a hematologist and leukemia researcher in Canada and began exhibiting in 2014. She developed her thematic exhibit about the history of blood and transfusion medicine from a 2-frame National Silver in 2015 to a 5-frame Grand winner at CANPEX in 2019. She has written a number of articles on different aspects of medical philately for The Canadian Philatelist. Her current active collecting interest is COVID-19-related philately.
Pat Walker is a past president of the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors. She is also an exhibitor and judge.
