ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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Kim,

Generally, when you hire 'manpower' you must consider it 'muscle' not 
brain. It's not that these folks aren't sometimes pretty bright. It's 
just that you can't rely on them being so. The person in charge of the 
installation will have to watch them like a hawk and orchestrate their 
movements.

Often, though not always, a traveling exhibit comes with an installer. 
These people usually know how to handle labor. Chris Diegl, who was out 
of Orlando, who I worked with on several installations, is a prime 
example of this kind of guy. They may not be that familiar with your 
facility, but they know the exhibition. The more you can communicate 
with them before the exhibit arrives and the installation begins, the 
better they will be able to form a plan for using the help you hire. 
Naturally, this requires that your museum, maybe you, know before hand 
where you want things to go.

I can't stress this enough. You have to do your homework, do a floor 
plan, study the installation manual, so when that day comes, and the 
truck starts unloading, you know exactly where each crate should be staged.

Having too many hands around can be worse than having too few. People 
who don't know what they are doing can get themselves into trouble 
pretty fast, so careful supervision of labor is important. This is not 
rocket science. Putting an exhibition together is mostly common sense, 
though some exhibit designers (maybe all) take pride in their ability to 
come up with quirky solutions to the unique challenges of designing an 
exhibit that has to fold up and go away every three months. So, if you 
find a crew of hands that you like to work with, try to hire them again. 
They will quickly learn some of the basic tricks, and in a few 
exhibition changeover cycles they'll be much more self sufficient.

Of course, if you're hiring a company that does this kind of work, make 
sure they are insured.

Joe R
www.TheExhibitGuys.com




On 3/7/2011 7:27 AM, Kim Hunter wrote:
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
>
> We are considering using a temp agency to supply us the manpower we need
> to set up and strike traveling exhibits.  Has anyone had experience
> using temp labor for this function and if so, what has your experience
> been - good, bad?  I have a small exhibits staff so the temp labor would
> do the majority of the work
>
>
>
> --Kim
>
>
>
> Kim Hunter
>
> Senior Director, Exhibit Development
>
> Orlando Science Center
>
> 407/514-2061
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> Inspire Science Learning for Life
>
>
>
>
> ***********************************************************************
> For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.
>
> Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.
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-- 
Joe R
www.TheExhibitGuys.com

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For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.

Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.

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