Open Forum

Does any one have any suggestions, for successful ways, of getting teachers to attend an open house?   

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Lorraine Snow
School/Summer Programs Coordinator 
Fort Collins Museum of Discovery
Fort Collins CO

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John,

You are exactly correct.  Our biggest hurdle for evening meetings is parking and food/refreshments.  We are located downtown and we don't have a parking lot just metered street parking. We try to take both matters into consideration when planning our teacher meetings. 

Also, I review the needs of the teachers.  I match gallery presentations and exhibition content to their curriculum, lesson plans and common core requirements per grade level.  I also offer a pre-visit and post-visit worksheet to ensure the students have a successful learning experience.

Good luck Lorraine. 

Best,

Stacey

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Stacey Queen
Education Associate
The Amistad Center for Art and Culture at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Hartford CT 06103

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Lorraine,

It can also be helpful to offer special incentives to teachers for attending- we have offered free access to a new exhibit, poster sets of works of art from our collection, pens, and a prize giveaway. You may also want to consider offering CEU's for their participation in workshops during the open house.

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Gennifer Stanley

Program Coordinator

Big Picture Educator Enrichment Program

North Carolina Museum of Art
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We hosted a teacher appreciation event at the IL State Museum, purposely called "teacher appreciation" and not an open house. We did this at the beginning of the school year, so it was a back to school event, partnered with the local public schools foundation, engaged the local teachers union in helping to spread the word, and secured sponsors to pay for nice refreshments who were businesses that did business with teachers (insurance company, credit union, etc.). Engaging the teachers union was helpful as they have great access to teachers to spread the word.  The teachers enjoyed this networking opportunity with their colleagues, and it became the back to school event of the year. Elected school board members also attended, and local legislators were also invited. We also used sponsorship money to provide door prizes for free field trips to the museum (to underwrite the cost of the bus) as well as  gift certificates to the Museum Store which featured many educational related items.  The event allowed us to collect email addresses, which then could be used by the education staff to follow up throughout the year with information about museum events, educational resources curricula, etc. Because this was a social gathering in the museum, teachers were engaged with their peers, but it provided a great networking opportunity, a chance to bring new people in the door, a reason for the superintendent of schools and school board members to visit the museum, and a long list of names to follow up with after.  We purposely targeted both public and private schools of all grade levels including surrounding communities.

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Karen Witter
Independent Museum Consultant
Illinois State Museum
Springfield IL
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What day of the week did you host, Karen? And time?
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Rebecca Sailor
Curator of Education
Gibbes Museum of Art
Charleston SC
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Great ideas! Thank you. 

What day of the week and time period did you hold the Teacher Appreciation event? Thanks!

If you build it, they may not come. I've had good ones and total duds. Among the tips I can suggest (and some have already been mentioned):

Communicate with the school system administrators using their "pony," e-newsletters, and any teacher contacts you already have. Don't forget private and parochial schools. Home schools???

Schedule it after school ends, but not too late. Make it run long enough to include those that may have after school duties / staff meetings (i.e. 3 hours). Don't do it on a weekend.

Provide food & drink (snacks, appetizers, light dinner/finger food - maybe include wine). Can you get a well-known restaurant to be an event sponsor?

Encourage teachers to bring family. Some have to pick up kids at day care and/or will only come with their spouse.

Have prizes. (We provide 50, 75 and 100 piece geology collections by drawing names and/or have freebies.) Discount for return admission? Waive a fee for one class when they bring two? 25% off in the gift shop during the event? You know what teachers want!

Provide a service - i.e., participation in selected school programs to get a taste of the student experience.

Offer a behind the scenes, something that isn't available to "the masses." Make them feel special! Can you bring in a well-known guest speaker?

Don't do it too often. Is your facility is undergoing a dramatic change (new exhibits, big temporary exhibit, etc.)? We should be re-opening in January, 2016 after being closed for renovation and new exhibit installation since November, 2014. Although a date has not been selected, we will have an evening teacher's night.

Encourage RSVP, but it may reduce numbers if it is mandatory. Some will learn about it through the grapevine or decide at the last minute to attend.

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Alan Goldstein
Interpretive Naturalist
Falls of The Ohio State Park Interpretive Center
Clarksville IN
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The more free stuff you give away, the better!  We host a teacher appreciation event every year which includes hors d'oeuvres, a buffet dinner, a drink ticket, 20% off coupons for the gift shop, and tons of give-away items.  We set up stations for teachers to visit to learn about the various different Education programs we offer and at each station, teachers can pick up a give-away item.  Normally these are leftover items from past programs or events, or items that are inexpensive for us to produce/provide.  Teachers love to pick up small items they can give away to students in their classrooms (i.e. bookmarks, pins, pencils, stickers, magnets, etc.).  We also give away opportunities for teachers to attend our programs free-of-charge and we raffle off outreach opportunities where we send our staff to do an assembly or classroom program at the school.  We provide several different activities for the teachers to do while they are here, including educational opportunities using our collection.  We also have a large give-away table at the exit, where teachers can pick up additional items for their classrooms on the way out the door - these giveaway items range from old program materials (posters, signs, curriculum documents) to photo books to used office supplies.  We clean out the Education office and storage area every year for this event and the teachers take everything!