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Joined: Feb 2005
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Here's the final article in the Historical Anniversaries series.

Historical Anniversaries -- 100 Hours Event
Learn more about planning a 100 Hours Celebration to commemorate a major historical milestone using the McKinley National Memorial�s 100th anniversary as a case study.

If we did it with our small staff and dedicated volunteers, YOU CAN TOO!


Kim Kenney
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"Seek those who find your road agreeable, your personality and mind stimulating, your philosophy acceptable, and your experiences helpful. Let those who do not, seek their own kind." -Jean-Henri Fabre
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Kim, that's pretty incredible - you are organized and passionate about your work.

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Thanks Angie! It was a highlight of my career for sure. We had an awesome time and it really raised our profile in the community!


Kim Kenney
BellaOnline Museums Editor
My Museum Ebooks

"Seek those who find your road agreeable, your personality and mind stimulating, your philosophy acceptable, and your experiences helpful. Let those who do not, seek their own kind." -Jean-Henri Fabre
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You had enough events to satisfy everyone. I passed it along to the new president of the historical society. She said WOW. We have a lot going on but not in 100 concentrated hours.


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A lot of it we already did during the year anyway, we just did it all at once! About half of it was new. We had a great time. I wish we could do it again! Maybe for the 110th! :-)


Kim Kenney
BellaOnline Museums Editor
My Museum Ebooks

"Seek those who find your road agreeable, your personality and mind stimulating, your philosophy acceptable, and your experiences helpful. Let those who do not, seek their own kind." -Jean-Henri Fabre
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Keep me posted as you develop the 110th.

We had a revisit history program Saturday. Last year was very successful and pretty well attended. I had hoped it would be the same this year. Although advertised the turnout was less than desired. The speakers and topics were excellent though. I do not know how to entice members and the public to attend programs.

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That's a tough one Angie. It is so deflating when you plan something and work so hard on it and you don't get the response you hoped for!

I'd suggest taking a look at the timing of your event first. Was it the same as last year? Was something else going on this year that wasn't there last year? Around here it's football.

Next, did your advertising reach the desired group(s)? History tends to attract an older audience. Did you put flyers in senior centers and let local AARP chapters and church groups know about it? It is hard to get the word out to the right people sometimes, especially with a small staff.

Weather also plays a role, and it can work both ways. Nice weather means people might want to do something else with the last nice fall weather OR it might mean they want to get out and come to the museum. Rainy weather often works in our favor, but not if it's TOO rainy and people want to stay home.

We've found that Saturday "drop in" programs are not good for us. We do better with programs where you have to make reservations and we also do better in the evening during the week. Saturday visitors tend to be families, and they don't want to attend history lectures. We just ran into this at our grand opening a few Saturdays ago. We didn't have a good turnout at the talks we scheduled, but the crafts and science shows were busy. So we have decided to stop planning drop-in history programs as part of larger events because it just isn't worth it.

We always pair our history programs with a meal -- either a "Tea with the Curator" where we provide breakfast sweets in the morning or a "Soup at Six" program where we provide a homeade soup, bread and dessert. Another local museum has a successful brown bag lunch program where the participants actually bring their own food and eat before/during the speaker's presentation.

I know it isn't great for morale when a program isn't as successful. And if you have speakers from outside the museum, it can also be quite embarassing!

You have to walk a fine line between taking a risk and trying new things, and falling back on your old stand by events that are always successful.

I hope if you plan to do this again next year, you have a better turnout!


Kim Kenney
BellaOnline Museums Editor
My Museum Ebooks

"Seek those who find your road agreeable, your personality and mind stimulating, your philosophy acceptable, and your experiences helpful. Let those who do not, seek their own kind." -Jean-Henri Fabre

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