Don't Let Them Off The Hook!

Here's a networking tip for you -- when you contact someone to ask about a job or to introduce yourself, don't just leave it at that.

Provide some additional value in the form of an article you've written, some information about a particularly interesting or innovative aspect of a recent project, or even a link to a Web article about the museum world that you found interesting.

Similarly, even if your primary purpose is inquiring about a potential job -- don't let them off the hook!  If you only ask about a job, and there's no job available, then that's the end of the conversation.  However, if you ask for some additional advice or ideas about your next steps, you might get some useful information that you otherwise might never have received.

For example, you might say or write, "Even if you don't have any current job openings, do you have any suggestions for colleagues I might speak with or recent books or articles I could read to expand my knowledge of the museum field?"  Most museum folks are generous and willing to provide a little advice -- and it sure takes the sting out of a rejection notice!  

In that vein, I'm always happy to hear from ExhibiTricks readers! Feel free to contact me directly to introduce yourself.  Who knows?  We might be able to cook up a project to work on together!

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Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

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Touching, not Touchable, Experiences

I was speaking with someone recently about my work and said I develop "interactive experiences and environments." To which they immediately responded, "Oh, so you make hands-on exhibits."

Well, yes and no.  Certainly many, if not most, of the things I help create involve tactile elements.

But there are some very compelling museum experiences that are never meant to be touched by visitors.

Optical illusions (like those shown throughout this post) are examples of "touching, not touchable" (TNT) experiences, that I would still characterize as "interactive."

"Touching" in the emotional reaction sense, and "Interactive" in the sense of "things influencing or having an effect on other things."

Other museum experiences I would place in the "touching, not touchable" category include dioramas, dollhouses, and similar miniature models and environments.  All these TNTs also tend to slow people down and reward them for careful observation. In the case of dioramas and dollhouses, visitors often mentally "step inside" those exhibits as they experience them.

I'd say any exhibit-driven museum experience (whether it's called "interactive" or not) that can get visitors to slow down, be rewarded for careful observation, and respond emotionally is just the type of thing I like to make for museums and like to experience inside museums myself.

What got me thinking about Optical Illusions, TNT, and Interactives in the first place is this super interesting (and interactive!) website called, "151 Visual Phenomena & Optical Illusions

with explanations"   Definitely worth checking out!

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Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

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My Dad and My Museum Work

This upcoming Sunday, Father's Day is celebrated in a number of countries around the world. Father's Day is a meaningful day for me, not only because I have four great kids, but because it gives me time to think about my father, Orlando Orselli, who died in 2001.  My dad certainly helped set many of my ideas about work and parenthood, and I'm thankful for that.

My dad worked most of his adult life for The Ford Motor Company, first at the Rouge Plant, and then at the World Headquarters building (The "Glass House") in Dearborn, Michigan.  He was a Stationary Steam Engineer, which basically means he worked with BIG boiler systems.

Even though he didn't go to college, my dad instilled a love for books and learning, and the importance of education, upon myself and my two younger brothers while we were growing up in Detroit.

Because he worked the midnight shift, he made time to go on school (or scout or Boys Club) field trips during the day and then take a nap before he would drive to work later that night. He thought it was important that my brothers and I helped him fix things around the house and knew the names and uses of the tools in his basement "workshop".

When people ask me how I got into the museum business, I am sure memories of the day when my father took me when I was little (by myself, without my mom and brothers, for some reason) to Detroit's "Cultural Center" to visit the Historical Museum (the streets of "Old Detroit"!) and the Children's Museum (things I could touch!) and the Detroit Institute of Arts (Mummies!) all in one long afternoon may have something to do with it.  Many, many family trips involved museums, zoos, or nature centers.

Even though my career choice in museums might have puzzled my father a little bit, he always told me, and other people, how proud he was of the work I was doing.

Please never underestimate how important museums can be to people, especially kids and the adults they will become.

Thanks, Dad!

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Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

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"Mind" Your Business

There are creative partners who are willing to change their minds, and there are creative partners who can seemingly never make up their minds.

Folks who are willing to change their minds are often willing to try something new or untested. These projects usually end up in interesting and unexpected places.

People who can never make up their minds are willing to spend hours discussing laminate colors or which fonts to use, but will likely want to change their minds again after the "final" deadline has passed. These projects often end in tears.

What was the "mindset" of your last project?

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Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

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The Museum Consultant's Calendar Trick

Sometimes when I'm speaking with a new consulting client, our perceptions of the time needed to complete project tasks on-site at their museum are very different.

Usually, my contact will express that there is "no way" we will complete all the activities I've proposed to happen at their museum in the time allotted.  It doesn't matter whether the time involved is two days or two weeks.

However, I know a little museum consultant trick that "expands" time.  Well, it's not really a trick, but rather a way of playing with an all too common reality for museum folks -- they don't get regular large blocks of "uninterrupted" time to do their work!

No matter if someone works in Exhibits, Education, Development, or Administration, they seem to be constantly pulled away or distracted by meetings, building concerns, visitor complaints, board issues, malfunctioning exhibits, etc., etc.

However, when everyone knows a consultant is coming (especially from out of town!) staff working at the museum make a commitment to create blocks of "untouchable" time to meet, prototype, brainstorm, or whatever with the consultant (like me!) 

And, unsurprisingly, when talented and creative museum folks dig into challenges together for those uninterrupted blocks of time -- LOTS of cool stuff happens.

There are also ways to "hack" your work calendar to create these "time-bending" calendar blocks.  Some folks put their "high concentration" tasks at the very beginning of their work day (ideally before the museum opens) to maximize their workflow.  If possible, some folks shift their starting times an hour earlier to maximize concentrated quiet time or even book standing meetings with themselves to build in those blocks of focused time.

All of this begs the question of whether all those workplace "interruptions" are really necessary.  Of course, if a real emergency like a water pipe bursting happens, it requires immediate attention. But could other work events, or meetings, be put into a temporal "parking lot" to be dealt with at specific times -- after lunch or two hours before closing, for example -- leaving the rest of the day for concentrated bursts of thinking, creating, problem-solving?

It's worth spending a little time thinking about how your workdays normally flow -- or don't.

Or you could just contact me to work with your museum so we can bend time together!

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Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

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Check Out The Cheapbooks!

I've recently had several online and conference-hallway conversations with museum colleagues struggling to create interesting interactive exhibits at reasonable prices.   Plese allow me to re-introduce The Exhibit Cheapbooks -- a great resource filled with inexpensive exhibit ideas.

That's right -- nearly 100 free exhibit "recipes" contributed by museum colleagues from all over the world are available to download as FREE PDFs from the POW! website.  

A little history --the idea for the Exhibit Cheapbooks started during sessions at the annual Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) Conference with the purpose of sharing "cheap" exhibit ideas and creating a written record of how to replicate these simple and successful exhibit components.

The very first "Cheapbook" was compiled and published by ASTC in 1995. Subsequent volumes appeared in 1999, 2004, and 2014.

The Exhibit Cheapbooks have always celebrated the "sharing" nature of museums. You will find varied exhibit ideas from museum colleagues from around the world inside each volume. 

Sincere thanks to everyone who has shared their ideas and expertise by contributing ideas over the years! And special thanks to ASTC for allowing all the Exhibit Cheapbooks material to now be shared freely online.

Think of all these Exhibit Cheapbooks entries not as detailed shop drawings but rather as creative jumping-off points for your own exhibit building.

So what are you waiting for?  Click on over to the Exhibits Cheapbooks Download Page and start making cheap exhibits!

Have fun!

Don't miss out on any ExhibiTricks posts! It's easy to get updates via email or your favorite news reader. Just click the "Sign up for Free ExhibiTricks Blog Updates" link on the upper right side of the blog.

Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

If you enjoy the blog, you can help keep it free to read and free from ads by supporting ExhibiTricks through our PayPal "Tip Jar"