I have never heard of Annual (business) Meetings for members. My gut reaction is that few regular members would attend. Members want to help the museum, but they do not want to spend their time in meetings where they would have little (if anything) to contribute.

As with most museums, Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science (1939 to 1991) had several members' events each year. However, the one annual members' event that always received a huge turnout was at the beginning of November for the annual opening of Buhl's hugely popular Miniature Railroad and Village exhibit:

< http://buhlplanetarium3.tripod.com/MiniRR.htm >

Most members' events included food and drink.

If you feel there is value to members attending an annual business meeting, then I would suggest that you couple that meeting with an annual members' event at the museum.

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < [log in to unmask] >
SPACE & SCIENCE NEWS, ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR:
  < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#news >
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh: 
  < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries: 
  < http://andrewcarnegie.tripod.com > 
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh: 
  < http://incline.pghfree.net >
* Public Transit:
  < http://andrewcarnegie2.tripod.com/transit >


--- On Tue, 3/17/09, Jennifer Thrailkill <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> From: Jennifer Thrailkill <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Annual Meetings for Members
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Tuesday, March 17, 2009, 12:14 PM
> Hi,
> 
>  
> 
> A few years ago my museum quit holding Annual Meetings for
> members.  This was before I began my position so I am not
> sure why they stopped having the meetings.  I wanted to do a
> little benchmarking so I have a few questions for
> institutions that still hold these meetings:
> 
>  
> 
> 1)  What is attendance like at your institution's
> Annual Meetings?  Is it mainly board members and high level
> donors attending or do a significant number of general
> members also attend?
> 
>  
> 
> 2)  Do you normally provide food and drink for these
> meetings or hold receptions after the meeting?
> 
>  
> 
> 3)  Do you feel holding Annual Meetings benefits your
> institution with increased donations and/or raises awareness
> of your institution in the community?
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks for any help you can give!
> 
>  
> 
> Jennifer Thrailkill
> 
> Membership Manager
> 
> SC State Museum


      

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