Volunteers!

Hi all! Welcome to my first Museoblog post!

I just wanted to take the opportunity to talk about volunteers, because volunteers are awesome! Yes, there is the aspect of "free labor" which, as museums, we are always happy about. But volunteers bring so much more to the table than just working for free! They bring passion, loyalty, commitment, and enthusiasm. They are your institution's community connection, and they can act as ambassadors and marketers. There is no greater word on how your institution is meeting its goals than to hear from a volunteer how excited they are to be there for free!

One of the reasons I enjoy working with volunteers is that excitement and enthusiasm. They are genuinely interested in helping the museum and are always willing to provide feedback and help out when needed. I enjoy reading shift reports because almost everything is "Got to talk with a bunch of visitors today and it was awesome!" or "I love talking with visitors about [exhibit name] because the always teach me something new!". I read a shift the other day where one of our volunteer tour guides got tipped...and immediately donated it to the museum!

There are so many ways volunteers can be incorporated into museums. Special events, front desk, collections, marketing, development, exhibits--anywhere! They have so much passion to share, and guests really pick up on that, and it helps to strengthen community connections.   

Museocomics #2: Way overdue

Yes, Museum Advocacy Day was over a month ago, but any day is a great day for starting important conversations and getting through awkward ones full of Ben Stiller references.