Wow, I don't know where to begin! Public programs/events are great! And burn out happens...and since you've mentioned that, please don't disregard this possibility because there's much that can be done about it. With that said, even if some degree of burn out is a factor here, doing fewer programs may not resolve anything. It's important to address the underlying issue...of course, that is what you are trying to do by posting this information and request for data. Now don't shoot me for saying this, but adding more programs and different ones, may be of some help. Your existing programs sound of the sort that are popular and are expected every year...so even if it means you drop one or more, you'll get some (or a bunch!) backlash, but that's not the end of the world either. Perhaps there are one or more of these existing programs -could be offered every other year, rather than every year. Also, you could mix things up a bit and try some of the existing events at other times during the year, and/or scale them back somewhat. I've volunteered for a local historical society museum (all-volunteer staff) for 11 years, and have worked on the same 2 annual fundraising events every year. For one of the fundraiser's, every year for the past 4-5 years...I've told myself that, "this is my last year". And I'm not the only one! I've become somewhat desensitized and I'm keeping this in check so far. And how I've done that is to find things to get excited about, retain a positive attitude, 'lighten' things up and share this with other's who having been similarly burned out. This year was tough and we all really pulled together to motivate one another! There are numerous things that can be done to ease the burden for your staff. First and foremost is to work on tasks as far in advance as possible. Also, that the staff pull together as a team so that the burden of these programs do not fall on just 1 or 2 individuals. Especially with doing these same programs time and time again...can sure take some of the fun out of it. The same old, same old programs need to be reinvigorated. Adding something new to an existing event (even if it means dropping something that's become a custom) is a good way to reinvigorate a program/event. I don't see how you can get around having these events not impact the staff, but there's much that can be done to assure that the impact is positive, rather than a negative thing. I can't imagine having a degree of responsibility for a program and not overdoing it in the process and feeling some (or alot) of stress. Comes with the territory I suppose. And even then, it just might not be enough. That's when I tell myself that I've done all I can and it just has to be good enough. There was so much more that I could have done for our recent open house and I was thinking about some of these things during the event. But then, I looked around and I saw people were having a great time! Then it no longer felt like work, that I was overwhelmed or anything of the sort...it wasn't about me. But I do take pride in facilitating this gathering. And people were oblivious to or otherwise coped just fine with what was offered and what wasn't. Well, I did advertise and emphasize that people should bring a lunch and enjoy our picnic area. But then, I decided a couple days before, that I should buy beverages. And the night before....I just had this 'feeling'. So I headed to the grocery store! Was up at 7am and made a variety of about 35 sandwiches, made a macaroni salad, prepared some fruit (grapes and I don't recall what else) and had bought a couple varieties of store-baked cookies. Good thing because not one person had brought a lunch! All the sandwiches and most of the other stuff went fast! And we still had people coming to the museum, and quite a few had left before we went outside for lunch. But I was ready to make a run down the street to Subway if I had to! But figures! I had decided to not have coffee...and earlier in the day, everybody wanted coffee! No problem! Someone offered to buy a box of Joe and another offered to make the run! I didn't have to do anything. Cost to run this program (excluding staff salaries), $67 for food and $22 for postage. 100+ people having a good time...priceless!!! Good luck with everything Stacey! Pam In a message dated 7/6/2007 6:20:26 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: Hi, all We are a small museum (budget size around $600,000) with about 9 staff (combo F-T and P-T). We have a very active events calendar, so much so we added an event/marketing coordinator position 2.5 years ago. My 2nd event coordinator has just resigned and I've been feeling for awhile that we are trying to do too many for our size. I will be talking to my board about this in a couple weeks. It would be very helpful for me to have data from other similar or slightly larger sized museums. Could you please share how many events you do on average/year and who on your staff takes the lead on organizing them? Right now we're doing 5 a year. I'm not including things like lectures, booksignings, etc. Our list includes a historic home holiday open house, a silent film benefit, a locally televised telethon, a holiday movie and a silent auction (someone else puts on the actual event...we just do the auction). Even with an event coordinator, I find that the events impact everyone on staff and most of us are reallly feeling the burn-out factor this year. Maybe we're wimpy! :) Or maybe we're overdoing it. But having a better understanding of what other museums do will help me figure out how to replace or modify that position. Thanks in advance for sharing! Stacey Otte Executive Director Catalina Island Museum History's never been this much fun! Pamela Silvestri, Seasonal State Parks Interpretive Guide Northeast States Civilian Conservation Corps Museum Shenipsit State Forest Headquarters 166 Chestnut Hill Road Stafford Springs, Connecticut 06076 Telephone: (860) 684-3430 e-mail: [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask] ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.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). 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