--- Full Name <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Reaching out to the schools and making our institutions accessible
> should be our main concern. It distresses me that a museum professional
> would advocate being "bitchy" to a school or other potential audience.
Canceled tours aren't about reaching out, it's about professional curtesy.
Doctors and people who provide other services charge a cancellation fee not to
be obnoxious but because missed appointments cost them money. Even if you don't
charge for tours, it is still costing you because your time has been wasted
when you and your volunteers could have been doing something else. And above
all else, it is rude and deprives another group of a tour.
> If we
> are constantly bemoaning the fact that museums have notoriously low
> visitorship, it is in our best interests to pursue positive partnerships with
> schools and other entities that could benefit all involved. Yes it is rude
> for a school to arrive late or to not show up without cancelling; but if we
> alienated every school that did this with a nasty letter or phone call, we
> would be left with no schools coming to visit at all.
I doubt that. Having been on the school side, teachers always complain about
parents who are late for conferences, kids who are late for school and other
factors that cut into their teaching time. They of all people should understand
the time that goes into preparing a lesson regardless of what the medium is.
Teachers and schools who do not take museum field trips seriously really don't
need to be coming to museums. Yes this sounds obnoxious but would you rather
deal with 10 tours that you don't know are going to show up or 3 tours that are
reliable? Again, missed tours costs YOU money.
And again, having been on the school side, scheduling a field trip is a BIG
DEAL! You don't just say "oh, let's go out on day X". Most trip plans are made
at the beginning of the year. You have to coordinate with all the other
teachers, schedule buses (a nightmare sometimes) get permission slips back from
the kids and rearrange your whole teaching schedule. Granted there are factors
that are beyond a teacher's control when getting kids to the museum and I'm not
advocating being "bitchy" to them, but to people who don't take a minute in
this day and age of cell phones to give the museum a call and alert them of the
situation. Again, if you are late to a doctor's anointment, you can't demand to
be seen immediately, you get the time that is available.
On the flip side, if you have teachers who are scheduling tours just to hold
the date and not doing any follow-through, that is also a problem. Teachers
need to know that a date scheduled is a commitment. You understand that
sometimes you need to hold the date first and then check to see if buses are
available or what not, but that should be far enough in advance that you can
change or cancel without depriving anyone else of that tour slot.
From personal experience, activities that are "free" usually have the worst
cases of no-shows. People don't understand that even though things are free to
them, they aren't to us. It takes our time and money to plan for them. Charge
even a $1/kid deposit or add on a cancellation fee and see if that changes
things. All of a sudden, people start taking the tour seriously because money
is at stake. This happened with our planetarium shows at my museum. The live
lectures were free and audiences would be rude, walk in and out during them or
not even go because they thought it wouldn't be any good because it was free.
Tack on a ticket price and then people take it seriously. Same lecture -
different mind set.
> The impressions that we give the public affect not only our own
> institution on that particular day, but they will affect someone's perception
> of museums for the rest of their life. I, for one, advocate making that
> impression a positive one.
I am too. But look at it on the flip side, what about the teachers who want to
come but can't because people book tours and then don't show up? What kind of
impression are they getting? That word gets out as well.
All I'm asking is for people to treat museums like any other professional
organization. If people miss appointments with other professionals, they get
charged or at least get a blunt letter telling them that they missed the
appointment and that if it happens again, they can't schedule appointments any
more. Why should we as PROFESSIONAL museums be doing any different?
Deb
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Sports - Coverage of the 2002 Olympic Games
http://sports.yahoo.com
=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
|
