Hi Jennifer,
We run into this issue a lot too. We get many large bus and school tours, and since I've started I've seen groups with over 100 people in it on several occasions. Forgive me if it's stating the obvious, but do you have the capability to break up a large group once they get to your site? My former place of employment was an historic house and several of the rooms were so small that more than 15 or 20 people wouldn't even fit inside. When we had groups exceeding that size, we simply found several docents (as curator, I filled in too when we couldn't get someone), worked out a route amongst ourselves, and divided up the group once they arrived. If there were ever any complaints from the groups about this practice, they didn't reach my ears. We were also fortunate enough to have an extremely dedicated, flexible corps of docents, most of whom were retired and lived within a 15-minute drive of the museum.
As far as your co-workers go, I'd approach the issue from a perspective of revenue since that seems to be where they're coming from. You can try the argument that providing a better quality experience will make your group stay longer and be more likely to purchase from the snack bar or museum store (if you have them), repeat their visits, bring family and friends, make donations, or take memberships.
It's a challenging issue, because you have to balance the museum's need for revenue and visitation numbers against wear and tear to your site and to your staff or volunteers. Plenty of museums seem to go too far in one direction or the other: some are willing to force staff to do a tour for 10 people on Christmas Eve, while others are so restrictive in the hours and the types of groups they allow that it's virtually impossible to even get in. But there's nothing wrong with some rules. It makes things so much smoother on your end, and that will ultimately translate into a better experience for everyone (would you rather have a fresh, enthusiastic guide, or a guide who looks as though someone's used her for target practice because you happen to be in her tenth large group of the day?) Whatever you decide to do, it's a good idea to make your policies very, very clear to your visiting public. You'll still get some people who manage to miss the information entirely, and some people who see it plain as day but try to beg exceptions anyway, but as long as you have something written to refer to, you should be in good shape. Best of luck to you.
Kate Mockler
Curator of Education and Exhibits
Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum
180 Thompson St.
North Tonawanda, NY 14120
(716) 693-1885
-----Original Message-----
From: Jennifer Rian <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Sat, 21 Jun 2008 12:54 pm
Subject: managing a tour program
Greetings all,
Is there anyone out there who could give me some advice
about museum tour booking procedures and limits?
The museum where I work has recently undergone a management
transition from a state government run facility to a private, non-profit with a
board of directors. Our site used to be seasonal (Memorial through Labor
Day), operating a quasi-living history program at various historic structures.
Since the management transition we are open year round with a renewed
emphasis on our museum building and galleries versus our outdoor “park”
structures. In the summer we get a decent amount of “senior tour
bus” traffic and student group tours have been increasing
year-round.
Basically it is my job to write tour scripts, train the
guides, and conduct on-going evaluation of the museum tour program.
Another staff person is in charge of actually booking the tours. It is
her belief that we want as many groups as possible, the larger the better; so
often times she books groups of such a large size that I believe the quality of
the experience is diluted. I have suggested that a tour guide can
effectively manage groups of 20 to 25 people at a time. Also for staff
scheduling purposes I believe we should ask that group tours be scheduled two
weeks in advance.
These ideas have met with resistance, as other staff believe
this would mean turning away group tours (revenue) on certain days. I
think it’s totally reasonable to say that we can accommodate a particular
number of people at a certain time, kind of like seating capacity. For
example, lets say a group calls and wants to book a tour for 50 people on a day
when we already have a group of 80. We could give them the option of
coming on another day or experiencing the museum that day on a
self-guided basis.
Is this a common issue in museums? I’m
relatively new to the field as I’ve been working as an education
coordinator at Ironworld for a little under two years. My previous career
was that of a high school English teacher. I compare tour group size to
class size and think “the smaller the better” for individualized
attention/quality experience.
Any advice anyone has for how I can approach this problem
with my co-workers would be much appreciated.
Thanks.
Jennifer Rian
Ironworld Education Coordinator
801 SW Hwy 169, Suite 1
Chisholm, MN 55719
218.254.7959 ext. 294
Featured in Ironworld’s Overlook Gallery May 22 through
August 3,
Tangled Up in Ore: Bob Dylan and the Iron Range,
a homegrown exhibit with events and programming that highlight
area artists.
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