Gail Lord, Co-President, Lord Cultural Resources, took the podium at the 2015 Hands On! Conference in Amsterdam, Oct. 13-16. Before an audience of innovators and royalty — Her Majesty Queen Maxima of the Netherlands — she ignited the conversation about how museums can use their soft power to inspire the next generation.

"We live in a knowledge economy," said Lord, "a time when innovation and creativity rank alongside efficiency as desirable qualities."

How can museums help prepare children for this evolving workforce? The answer is clear: provide environments where children can touch, play, and learn — all at the same time. A museum should be a place where communities can come together to engage with programming that allows the mind to come alive, and to wander toward new ideas. Lord cited many examples of institutions like Micropia in Amsterdam that are giving children a place to learn how to build and — equally important — why. Embracing spaces like this and transforming the museum into a creative space were topics echoed during a panel she moderated.

Akanksha Jain, Design Consultant at Lord Cultural Resources, gave an excellent presentation on how the Children's Gallery at the Bihar Museum in Patna, India, is embracing the more open and interactive model. Touch-tables, zero barriers, and interactive exhibits all allow children visiting the Museum to engage with content in a more meaningful way. By giving these children somewhere to learn, the Museum is preparing Bihar's next generation.

Throughout her speech, Gail Lord cited youth-led movements like Free the Children and Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate. Lord made it clear that children are capable of achieving great things, and that, as museums, we should be in the business of helping them do so. You can view both presentations online:

· presentation by Gail Lord

· presentation by Akanksha Jain