Nashville Museums - A Review

When I asked my beau to plan a romantic weekend for a visit to see him (we're long-distance), he was a bit at a loss. We were going into Nashville for a day to see some sights, but not being big country music fans, we had trouble finding some low-key, but fun spots to check out. Knowing my passion for museums, he decided we should visit a couple of the bigger sites in Nashville.

First, we checked out the Tennessee State Museum, which for the most part was underwhelming. Being a state museum, it's likely underfunded and many of the exhibits were out of date. However, I was incredibly impressed with the Civil War exhibit. Being the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, many museums are focusing on some aspect of the war. In fact, the Missouri History Museum has a large Civil War exhibit. I was a bit unimpressed with that exhibit mainly because there wasn't much of a coherent voice and the interactives were not useful. You also walk out of that exhibit a bit somber. It's war, of course, but it hesitates at the end heavily on grief. The exhibit at the Tennessee State Museum, on the other hand, does a great job of leading you through an adventure - an archives adventure that is! You "work" with archivists at the interactive touch screens to find materials that led them to conclusions about the war and thus the exhibits. Definitely a good use of touch screens. The museum was also buzzing with life due to a book signing and live musical performance. Definitely nice to see the museum attracting a large crowd for that event.

Photo Credit: Me!

Second, we walked to the Frist Center for the Arts. Definitely was not sure what to expect in the way of art in country music's hometown, but I was blown away. The Frist Center is a first class institution in a gorgeous building that Art Deco nerds would love. Three amazing exhibitions were on display - one on Exploring Art of the Ancient Americas, another on Rembrandt and the Golden Age, and a contemporary interactive art installation piece. The combination of each of those very different exhibitions showed the breadth of content the Frist can display in its halls.

However, what impressed me most about the Frist was its children's area - Martin ArtQuest. Of the art museums I've visited in my life, about half of them have a children's area - all with varying levels of interactivity and engagement. Martin ArtQuest is by far the best children's area I've seen in an art museum. There is a variety of displays representing multiple art styles and mediums. While I was there, I created a print at a printmaking station, while my boyfriend was very impressed with the stop motion animation station. Kids of all ages could enjoy something with their families. The staff was very friendly and talented - one staff member was drawing on the sketch wall. I could have spent all afternoon exploring the Frist, but I think my non-museum professional boyfriend would have been bored. He was already playing on his phone by the time I finished my print.

Photo Credit: Clarksville Online

Overall, we spent about 4 hours touring the museums - 2 hours at each. While the State Museum was much larger than the Frist, the Frist has far more to engage us. In fact, we were hoping to stick around for an impressive party that was being arranged as we toured the Frist. Mostly, we were impressed by the level of activity in each of the museums. Sometimes state-funded institutions can be stuck in the past, and while many of the exhibits needed updating at the State Museum, it was refreshing to see new exhibitions and an event going on. Next time we're in Nashville, I'm definitely going to want to see what's new at the Frist.

Museum Event Planning: Top 5 Mistakes

For the past few years, I have been involved in the full process of planning educational events - everything from the inception of an idea to RSVPs to implementation. I've also attended quite a few museum events - always on the lookout to see something new and interesting. Along the way, I have made these mistakes and I've also seen others make these mistakes. Hopefully, you can learn from our mistakes to ensure that your programs run smoothly and effectively.

Mistake #1
Not providing contact information on marketing materials.

It may be an event free and open to the public, but there are many reasons to provide contact information. The local newspaper may see your flyer and want to write a story on your cool event. Someone might want to bring a large group to the event and want more information on if large groups are even allowed. I would urge you to not just include a website either, unless your website clearly shows a direct email or phone number. It's best to include a direct line to someone who can answer questions about the program.

Mistake #2
Not informing key stakeholders of the event.

Working the reception desk of a museum provides great perspective on visitor interaction. I can't tell you how many times a visitor would ask me about an event I didn't know about. I wish I could tell you it was because I was oblivious. More often than not it was because the event had been marketed to the public, but no one had thought to let the front desk know the event was going on. That can make you wonder who else might have been forgotten - custodial, security, your key market?

Mistake #3
Not providing information for medium to large groups.

As someone who runs a fairly successful Meetup group (over 500 members), I have a tough time determining which events we can attend with a larger group and which ones we need to limit. If your event is space limited and you don't provide that information, you could easily wind up with far more people than your event can accomodate.

Mistake #4
Not having a policy for special circumstances.

As non-profits, many of our programs are cost-effective for participants. However, not everyone can even afford a $5 charge. If a person calls asking for special circumstances, it's important to have a policy in place. Perhaps that particular event doesn't have much wiggle room in terms of cost, but your department might be willing to absorb part of the cost. Or perhaps you have a scholarship fund. Whatever the case may be, let staff know the policy in advance so you can avoid the hassle of calling someone back.

Mistake #5
Not providing confirmation as soon as possible.

At my current position, we're in the process of converting to a new software that allows us to send confirmation emails as soon as someone registers for an event. In the meantime, we deal with a number of emails on a weekly, if not daily basis, of people asking if they've been confirmed for an event or not. This is especially difficult when we have such events that have different prices based on first come first serve policy. It's important that people know they're confirmed for an event so they're not left in confusion.

This is obviously not a comprehensive list of the mistakes in planning an event, but they seem to be fairly common in the non-profit community. Can you think of any other mistakes often made by non-profits in planning events?

How to Run a Trivia Night Fundraiser: Raise Over $2500 in One Night

This week is the busiest week of the whole year at my job. Luckily, I'm not in charge and all I need to do is take orders. However, tonight, during the busiest week on one of the longest days, someone told me I need to blog. When I said I had a blog, but didn't have much time, she was incredibly disappointed. I got home tonight, wound up on dance music from trying to keep myself awake on the 30 minute drive home from our event's location, and decided, I have time to blog. 

As promised, I'm going to give some tips and tricks on running a successful trivia night fundraiser.

Why do a trivia night?

Trivia nights are super popular in the Midwest during the coldest months of the year - for good reason. You get to stay inside, hang out with your friends, play a game, and possibly win prizes! Bars have been taking advantage of this simple game for years as bar trivia is increasingly popular throughout the US. For the nonprofit, you can raise a good amount of money (especially if you use your own space) with a limited amount of resources.

Elements of a Successful Trivia Fundraiser

• Time - January and February are generally good months (as long as the weather cooperates) since people are looking for a warm place to hang out. 
• Location - Use your own space if possible or see if a local event rental space is willing to donate space for the night. Check with your donors, volunteers, board members, and staff. They might know of a location  you haven't thought of yet. Churches are often willing to rent out space for a reasonable amount.
• Questions - All good trivia nights have good trivia questions. They need to be challenging but not so difficult that participants will not attend the next year. You should also consider giving each round a theme relevant to your organization.
• You don't want your questions to come into question so be sure to fact-check!
• Find a few folks to help you write questions and have the answers prepared as well. 
• A popular format is 10 rounds/10 questions, however a faster trivia night could use the 8 rounds/12 questions format.
• Price - Most trivia nights run between $15-$25 per person and $200-300 per table (for a table of 8-10). You should base your price on space available, table size and how much you think your donors could afford. 
• Mulligans - Freebies, sell as many as you want and folks use them to answer questions. You will likely want to set a limit on how many folks can use per round or for the entire game. Usually cost around $20.
• Share the results throughout the night - use an excel spreadsheet shown on a wall or a white board, etc.

Trivia Night Extras

Trivia nights in the St. Louis area often involve silent auctions and games throughout the night to keep people interested. Below are some of those popular games:

• 50/50 - Sell raffle tickets ($1/ticket, $5/6 tickets) and split the pot of money between a randomly drawn raffle ticket and your nonprofit.
• Heads or Tails - Flip a coin - folks put their hands on their head or on their "tails" to guess the coin's side. Do this until one person is standing. Everyone gives $1 to participate.
• Dead or Alive - Read off the name of famous celebrity - participants put their thumbs up if they think the person is alive, down if they think the person is dead - $1 to participate.

Raise Over $2500 in One Night

Set the price right and you can earn quite a bit in one night. The historical society I volunteer with raises over $2500 each year. Though it seems small, that's a big impact on our small budget. Rely on a good committee to help you put everything together and run the evening.

Good luck in your trivia night fundraisers. Feel free to comment below if you have questions about how I've run trivia nights in the past.