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Malia,

I strongly second Maria's suggestion and suggest you immediately buy that book.

Managing a traveling exhibit is a big job. Any museum with more than one on the road generally has someone devoted to it at least half time. Directing and managing exhibits for children's museum's I was asked to do that in addition to all my other responsibilities and it was always a challenge. 

There are pros and cons to all of your questions. For example crates can protect exhibits but are also heavy, cumbersome (think forklift) and they have to be stored somewhere. In other words real pains in the butt. I found having a designated mover a great advantage. let the professionals handle that. Once they have the master schedule you just have to keep the delivery and pick up dates current and pass along contact info.

The biggest thing you can do to make it all go smoothly is to take the time to think through EVERY aspect of the process (the book will make this possible) and then plan for all contingencies. Also unless you are sending along set up and strike crews the installation and operations manual has to be very well done. Photos, drawings, accurate parts lists, everything labeled consistently, etc. And you have to make a major effort to ask all the important questions before they book. Things like: "How big are your doors?" might seem obvious but...well there are many a horror story to tell. You also must make a great effort to inform them of what to expect. Smaller museums especially can be really caught off guard by their first traveling exhibit. It is your job to make sure that doesn't happen.

The folks I have dealt with who do it well have been Sciencenter, OMSI and the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Call 'em.

And last, but not least, have a well drafted contract that makes all responsibilities of both you and the renter perfectly clear.

Good luck.

--
Erich Rose
Exhibit, Environmental and Industrial Design
807 The Living End
Austin, TX 78746
512-626-9930; [log in to unmask]

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