If you have a membership base, I would suggest you consider announcing the
offering of tours to members as a part of their benefits package - perhaps
offering members only time slots. That way you are getting the word out to
important constituents without actually advertising publicly. I can say from
personal experience that I always considered behind-the-scenes tours to be a
special perk that I enjoyed very much as a member of other museums. Good
luck with this adventure!

Anne M. Lehmer
Director of Annual Fund and Membership
The Children's Museum, Seattle
305 Harrison Street
Seattle, WA  98109-4695
p: 206.441.1768 x230
f: 206.448.0910
www.thechildrensmuseum.org 

The Children's Museum, Seattle brings to life the joy of discovery for
children and their families through fun, creative, hands-on explorations of
the world around them.

Adventures with Clifford the Big Red Dog opens September 15, 2006!


-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Aikens [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2006 9:56 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Tours in History Museums

I'm working on developing a "behind the scenes tour" provided by some of 
our summer staff.  The tour would be on a first come first serve basis, 
would be free and would be unadvertised.  The idea is to offer the tours 3-
4 times a day and the tour would be 30-45 minutes long.  Each group would 
be about 10-15 visitors.  The tour would show the visitors some of 
the "nooks and crannies" of the museum such as our library and archives 
and would be an added bonus for our visitors.

Traditionally we have been a self-guided museum.  Some of our staff is 
concerned that if we don't offer these tours to everyone that some will 
object if they learn about it after the fact.  They also feel 
uncomfortable with the un-advertised notion of the tour.  It is 
impractical to offer the tour to everyone since there will only be two 
summer staffers available daily for this project and our attendance can 
reach a 1000 people a day on the weekends.

Does anyone have any experience in starting guided tours?  Any pitfalls I 
should watch out for?  Do people get mad if they are not able to 
participate on a free guided tour?

Jason Aikens
Collections Curator
Pro Football Hall of Fame

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