It's almost the end of the summer, and that's exactly the time of year I usually start planning my events for the half term holidays (well, after a week off to recover first, of course).
So, I thought as Halloween events were in my head at the moment I'd share some of the things I've learnt over the years that I think about in my planning, so that they can hopefully be of use to other people too.
Some of this advice is specific to trail-type events, such as a ghost walk, but various bits of it can apply no matter what type of Halloween event you're running.
Sell the scare
If you make something sound spooky people will be much more likely turn up for it at Halloween than if you make it sound educational; the challenge from a museum point of view is to then wrap up some real meaning into the event when they’re there. Ghost stories and costumed people are always a win, so that’s a great starting point.
Repetition is key
Halloween events usually take a lot of planning. If you can run the same with many groups during the day or night with timed tickets, you'll get the best out of your planning efforts.
Insist people pre-book
It's always helpful to know how many people you’ve got coming. Also, get people to pay their admission/fee when they book, as they’re much more likely to remember to turn up if they’ve already paid for it.
Timing is Everything
If you're running an event with multiple start times, staggered entry or even just 'turn up whenever' then you'll need to think about timing. Especially at Halloween, when guests are often being told a spooky story, overlapping can really ruin the atmosphere. Timed tickets are by far the easiest to managed. Guess how long your visitors will be at each ‘stop’ on the tour, then add five minutes (or maybe ten if you expect your guides to talk more than they’re told to); that’s your minimum interval between tours. And remember, you’re better off leaving too much time than too little. Also be aware of bottleneck points; where people might unexpectedly stop or take longer than you’d expected (toilet stops, an interesting artefact they’ll stop and look at, a volunteer who likes to engage visitors in conversation, etc.) and try and plan to avoid them or to find a way of moving people on quickly.
Fun for all the family
Halloween events are usually by their nature scary, so expect parents to ask if the event is suitable for their children. You'll need to decide what the minimum appropriate age is for children, based on the event content... then expect people to bring younger children anyway and prepare your performers to warn parents with young children if something is likely to be unsuitable for them. Maybe even plan an alternate route to avoid the scariest parts.
Use your captive audience
Expect people to turn up early for their tour and have something to do with them whilst they’re waiting; children are happy with colouring sheets, parents might be happy with the tearoom and shop to occupy them! A storyteller could set a good appropriate atmosphere. Don't let people get bored before they even start! Use waiting guests as a captive audience and use the opportunity to make their experience even better.
Like giving candy to a baby
If you’re planning an event at which children are welcome then sweets are a great investment; people associate Halloween with trick or treat and it’s amazing what scares or problems children will overlook if you give them a lollipop.
Too popular for your own good
Have a plan to deal with oversubscription; it's a good idea to prepare your performers to expect a late finish. If you don't need the extra time then everyone will be pleased with the early night, and no-one gets grumpy because they're out later than they expected to be. This also gives you some leeway for running over because guests enjoyed themselves so much they lingered to make their night last longer.
Scope out your spaces
Practice in the spaces to see how many people comfortably fit in the areas you’re using and use this to set your group limits. If possible, do this at night because spaces feel different sizes in the dark.
Atmosphere is everything
Try and maintain a sense of atmosphere; you need enough light to appease your risk assessment but if you can keep lights off in adjoining corridors and rooms or paths it’ll make the place feel spooky without you having to spend a fortune on set dressing or expensive effects. Use waiting to your best effect too; during the tour, if you can keep people waiting for a few seconds before your actors appear you’ll build a sense of apprehension and tension. It’s a fine balance though – don’t keep people waiting so long they get bored! There are other ways to creep out your audience also; you’ll know your spaces better than anyone else, but if you can lock doors behind people or create footsteps, bangs and odd noises in the next room, they’ll all help with your atmosphere.
Give the crowd what they want
Parents are looking for Halloween experiences which they can take their kids to which are safe and don’t encourage them to be knocking on stranger’s doors asking for sweets, so if you can schedule something on the 31st which appeals to that then do, it’s likely to be a winner.
Quality is better than quantity
Adults expect a great deal more in terms of quality of special effects than children do, so if you’re running events for adults (or even older children) then try and keep your effects more to the psychological than the physical if you don’t have a large budget. Flickering candles and the shadows cast from pumpkins are some of the best set dressing you can get, and they’re really cheap. If you’re worried about fire, I can recommend the battery powered tealights and candles; they look just as good as the real thing but they last much longer, have no fire risk and no risk of injury to the public either. Equally, the quickest way to make an event look amateurish is with cheap 'gory' effects; if you can't do it well, don't do it all.
Hopefully that's been a useful set of thoughts on Halloween events! If you've got questions, please ask, and feel free to suggest other hints and tips if you have them. :)
Showing posts with label Family friendly museums. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family friendly museums. Show all posts
Tuesday, 21 August 2012
Saturday, 25 February 2012
Mother's Day Ideas
You've all probably planned your Mother's Day events by now (if not, why not?) but just in case you haven't, or if you've still got room to add and change your programme then I figured I'd throw out a few ideas.
As an event which celebrates part of the family unit, Mother's Day is a fantastic opportunity for encouraging families to work for each other and with each other.
Some fun ideas that I've had over the years;
- an event that encourages kids to bring their Dad to make something for Mum as a present. This works particularly well when they're doing an activity that Dad will probably feel plays to his strength, such as making a picture frame (Dad's are responsible for supervising the gluing of the wood together for the frame, the kids can take the lead on the painting-and-sticking decoration).
- making bath salts in glass jars as a gift for Mum. This is so easy even very small children can do it, as essentially they're just mixing in colours and scents in a giant mixing bowl and then decanting it into glass jars. Make sure you buy cosmetic grade epsom salts, colours and scents so that they're bath safe. Personalise the activity more by having the children decorate the jar with labels, ribbons and so on.
- making Mother's Day cards. A tip; don't run this activity on Mother's Day itself, as most people have already given their cards by then! If you're going to make cards, do it in the week or weekend before. This sort of activity would work very well with groups of children. There are lots of types of cards you can make, but I find the pop-up flower cards are excellent for Mother's Day, as are the paper tissue flowers with pipe cleaner stems.
- encourage Mum and children to share memories and play together with a special trail. Ask children and their mum to tell each other what their favourite object in a room is, or get them to pick an object and explain it to one another. Play i-spy, twenty questions or other games, using the museum as the starting point. Some of these work well even with older children.
- make Mum medals. Rosettes, made with paper or ribbon, are a lot of fun and fairly easy to make though they can be time consuming. Rosettes can be made to say 'Happy Mother's Day', 'Best Mum', 'I Love You' or anything else at all.
There's just a few suggestions there but hopefully its given you some ideas.
If you'd like step by step instructions for any of the crafts I've mentioned please just ask, and I've sometimes got trail or worksheet templates as well so shout if you'd like them.
If you've got a topic you'd like me to cover in a how-to post, just drop me a line on twitter @Sarah_Fellows or here on the blog and I'll see what I can do!
As an event which celebrates part of the family unit, Mother's Day is a fantastic opportunity for encouraging families to work for each other and with each other.
Some fun ideas that I've had over the years;
- an event that encourages kids to bring their Dad to make something for Mum as a present. This works particularly well when they're doing an activity that Dad will probably feel plays to his strength, such as making a picture frame (Dad's are responsible for supervising the gluing of the wood together for the frame, the kids can take the lead on the painting-and-sticking decoration).
- making bath salts in glass jars as a gift for Mum. This is so easy even very small children can do it, as essentially they're just mixing in colours and scents in a giant mixing bowl and then decanting it into glass jars. Make sure you buy cosmetic grade epsom salts, colours and scents so that they're bath safe. Personalise the activity more by having the children decorate the jar with labels, ribbons and so on.
- making Mother's Day cards. A tip; don't run this activity on Mother's Day itself, as most people have already given their cards by then! If you're going to make cards, do it in the week or weekend before. This sort of activity would work very well with groups of children. There are lots of types of cards you can make, but I find the pop-up flower cards are excellent for Mother's Day, as are the paper tissue flowers with pipe cleaner stems.
- encourage Mum and children to share memories and play together with a special trail. Ask children and their mum to tell each other what their favourite object in a room is, or get them to pick an object and explain it to one another. Play i-spy, twenty questions or other games, using the museum as the starting point. Some of these work well even with older children.
- make Mum medals. Rosettes, made with paper or ribbon, are a lot of fun and fairly easy to make though they can be time consuming. Rosettes can be made to say 'Happy Mother's Day', 'Best Mum', 'I Love You' or anything else at all.
There's just a few suggestions there but hopefully its given you some ideas.
If you'd like step by step instructions for any of the crafts I've mentioned please just ask, and I've sometimes got trail or worksheet templates as well so shout if you'd like them.
If you've got a topic you'd like me to cover in a how-to post, just drop me a line on twitter @Sarah_Fellows or here on the blog and I'll see what I can do!
Saturday, 19 November 2011
Should museums be family-friendly?
I imagine that if you've ever read my blog or follow me on twitter then you've probably already decided the sort of article that this is going to be. I make it very clear, I think, that some of my chief concerns in museums are families; family education, especially.
So I think all museums should be family friendly, right?
Well, not exactly. Yes, and no. I'll explain a little better.
Firstly, there are some museums that by their content alone should never be encouraging children into them. I'm not going to go into details, but let's just say that if a museum's collection is primarily of material you'd expect to only see on television after the watershed then I don't think it's really ever going to be a good candidate for a family fun day out.
Having said that, I do think there is a case for museums to try and be accessible for families. But definitely with certain provisos.
My second biggest irritation (I'll get to the first in a minute) with people who immediately start shaking their heads when you mention family friendly museums is that so often they're equating "family friendly museum" with "museum for children" in their head. And that's annoying, because they're really not the same thing at all. Eureka, in Halifax, is a children's museum. It's designed for kids, with them in mind as the exclusive audience. And it's fantastic, in my opinion, anyway. I'm pretty sure someone who likes visiting the Courtauld Gallery to look at paintings once a week probably wouldn't think it was for them, but that's not the point. It's a children's museum. Somewhere like the Herbert, in Coventry, however, is not a children's museum. Its exhibits can appeal to anyone, and it is the interpretation created by the museum staff that make an object more appealing to a particular type of visitor, whether that's an adult or a child.
Just because a museum is 'family friendly' doesn't mean that it suddenly doesn't want visitors that don't come bringing childen with them. I'd hate to see that, just as much as I hate to see a museum excluding people who do bringing children with them. I firmly believe that museums are an excellent place to encourage inquiry in young minds and I hope they will always continue to be. I also hope they'll continue to welcome inquiring minds no matter what age they are.
My biggest gripe (told you I'd get to it in a minute) is that whenever you bring up the issue of family friendly-ness in museums, you inevitably get someone who'll say something along the lines of "don't let museums be over-run with noisy children", "museums are the last quiet space I have to think, it's terrible that you're trying to destroy them" and so on.
This bugs me a lot, and for quite a few reasons, not least the somewhat hypocritical attitude of "museums can't be the way someone else wants them, because they must be the way I want them". It also bothers me that there are people who seem to want to ban all children from museums because they perceive them to be a personal nemesis of some kind, a sort of anti-peace-and-quiet. I've known some wonderfully calm and polite children; should they suffer a museum exile because not all of their peers can behave in such a socially acceptable manner in a museum? And lastly, it bothers me because if someone were advocating against people of a race, or religion, or gender being allowed into a museum we'd be up in arms about it - so why is it less of a problem when people are discriminating against potential visitors because of their age?
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and maybe somewhere in there they have a point. Perhaps we should be trying to hold events that are aimed specifically at the people who want to come and sit in the peace and quiet, to use our spaces to think or get away from the hustle and bustle. Their wish for that use of a museum is just as important as any other user-group, and we should think about providing for it if we don't already. Just not to the point of exclusion of others.
So that's where I stand on the issue, really. But before I sign off, I'd like to leave you with some really good reasons to consider as to why I think all museums should think about being family friendly, even if you're not actually wanting to attract hoardes of children to annoy the naysayers out there.
Think about the height of your displays
Because children aren't the only people who are short. What about people in wheelchairs?
Think about the language you use in interpretation
Because not everyone is an expert in your subject, or has the benefit of an excellent education.
Think about making things engaging and fun
Because everyone likes to enjoy themselves. People engage more with content if they're emotionally invested in it, no matter how old they are.
Explain things in simple ways
Because not everyone shares the same life experiences. The more simple your references, the more of your audience that will be able to identify with them.
Don't make your interpretation panels too long
Because most people don't have the patience to read lots of text at once. Give people information in bite-sized bits so that they can decide whether to just read the highlights or to go in depth.
Provide pictures and hands-on activities
Because not all visitors learn by reading. Lots of people are kinesthetic learners who will understand and remember something much better by trying it out than by just reading it.
And if you start to think about all of these things, I daresay you'll find your museum is well on the way to being family friendly... and a better, more inclusive experience for everyone else, too.
So I think all museums should be family friendly, right?
Well, not exactly. Yes, and no. I'll explain a little better.
Firstly, there are some museums that by their content alone should never be encouraging children into them. I'm not going to go into details, but let's just say that if a museum's collection is primarily of material you'd expect to only see on television after the watershed then I don't think it's really ever going to be a good candidate for a family fun day out.
Having said that, I do think there is a case for museums to try and be accessible for families. But definitely with certain provisos.
My second biggest irritation (I'll get to the first in a minute) with people who immediately start shaking their heads when you mention family friendly museums is that so often they're equating "family friendly museum" with "museum for children" in their head. And that's annoying, because they're really not the same thing at all. Eureka, in Halifax, is a children's museum. It's designed for kids, with them in mind as the exclusive audience. And it's fantastic, in my opinion, anyway. I'm pretty sure someone who likes visiting the Courtauld Gallery to look at paintings once a week probably wouldn't think it was for them, but that's not the point. It's a children's museum. Somewhere like the Herbert, in Coventry, however, is not a children's museum. Its exhibits can appeal to anyone, and it is the interpretation created by the museum staff that make an object more appealing to a particular type of visitor, whether that's an adult or a child.
Just because a museum is 'family friendly' doesn't mean that it suddenly doesn't want visitors that don't come bringing childen with them. I'd hate to see that, just as much as I hate to see a museum excluding people who do bringing children with them. I firmly believe that museums are an excellent place to encourage inquiry in young minds and I hope they will always continue to be. I also hope they'll continue to welcome inquiring minds no matter what age they are.
My biggest gripe (told you I'd get to it in a minute) is that whenever you bring up the issue of family friendly-ness in museums, you inevitably get someone who'll say something along the lines of "don't let museums be over-run with noisy children", "museums are the last quiet space I have to think, it's terrible that you're trying to destroy them" and so on.
This bugs me a lot, and for quite a few reasons, not least the somewhat hypocritical attitude of "museums can't be the way someone else wants them, because they must be the way I want them". It also bothers me that there are people who seem to want to ban all children from museums because they perceive them to be a personal nemesis of some kind, a sort of anti-peace-and-quiet. I've known some wonderfully calm and polite children; should they suffer a museum exile because not all of their peers can behave in such a socially acceptable manner in a museum? And lastly, it bothers me because if someone were advocating against people of a race, or religion, or gender being allowed into a museum we'd be up in arms about it - so why is it less of a problem when people are discriminating against potential visitors because of their age?
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and maybe somewhere in there they have a point. Perhaps we should be trying to hold events that are aimed specifically at the people who want to come and sit in the peace and quiet, to use our spaces to think or get away from the hustle and bustle. Their wish for that use of a museum is just as important as any other user-group, and we should think about providing for it if we don't already. Just not to the point of exclusion of others.
So that's where I stand on the issue, really. But before I sign off, I'd like to leave you with some really good reasons to consider as to why I think all museums should think about being family friendly, even if you're not actually wanting to attract hoardes of children to annoy the naysayers out there.
Think about the height of your displays
Because children aren't the only people who are short. What about people in wheelchairs?
Think about the language you use in interpretation
Because not everyone is an expert in your subject, or has the benefit of an excellent education.
Think about making things engaging and fun
Because everyone likes to enjoy themselves. People engage more with content if they're emotionally invested in it, no matter how old they are.
Explain things in simple ways
Because not everyone shares the same life experiences. The more simple your references, the more of your audience that will be able to identify with them.
Don't make your interpretation panels too long
Because most people don't have the patience to read lots of text at once. Give people information in bite-sized bits so that they can decide whether to just read the highlights or to go in depth.
Provide pictures and hands-on activities
Because not all visitors learn by reading. Lots of people are kinesthetic learners who will understand and remember something much better by trying it out than by just reading it.
And if you start to think about all of these things, I daresay you'll find your museum is well on the way to being family friendly... and a better, more inclusive experience for everyone else, too.
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