Many of our custom company tours are focused on creating a memorable experience for that company’s employees with a healthy mix of team building, amazing stories, and fun. Just before the end of 2015, we were approached by UNICEF, who wanted to know if we could do something a little different.
UNICEF’s idea was to create an experience for their own guests, potential donors, and individuals from different foundations, including the Bill Gates Foundation. They wanted to bring these folks together to do something new, cool, and a little atypical as they got to know one another and the work that UNICEF does.
Customization Level: Maximum
We loved the idea of putting a new twist on our custom company tours at the Met. Our guides spent 12 weeks researching for UNICEF’s custom storytelling and networking tour. We designed a 90-minute museum experience that focused on what UNICEF stands for – philanthropy, world health, and “big data and technology,” which happened to be the theme for the company’s conference. We also created a brand-new game that would appeal to attendees while still staying true to the message of the tour.
The tour was built entirely from scratch and 100% customized to UNICEF’s goals. All of the stories we told and artifacts we highlighted were specifically selected to incorporate the organization’s values and mission. For example, the tour began at a painting called Charity, and our guide weaved the story behind the art into the story of the oldest, continually running children’s hospital that UNICEF now owns.
As we worked, we discovered that many of the stories behind the art and artifacts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art inspired us, and we found unique and exciting ways to share that information with UNICEF’s guests with the hope of inspiring them as well.
Beta Makes It Better
As we’ve developed more and more custom and themed tours, we’ve also discovered the value in running beta tours. These tours feature never-seen-in-a-Museum-Hack-before stories about the pieces in the museum. Our guides use the tours to test new themes, ideas, and routes to see what our guests will find the most entertaining, informative, and important. As guides learn what sticks and what doesn’t, they groom the tour for the maximum amount of education and entertainment.
Since we were crafting this tour not only for UNICEF but for UNICEF’s own audience, we wanted to make sure we perfected the VIP experience and brought several UNICEF staff members on a beta version of the tour. Soon after, we led our first full-fledged tour for the company’s guests.
UNICEF’s custom tour of the Met was a great success! The guests were impressed with the tour we coordinated and ended the night talking, laughing, and getting to know more about one another and more about UNICEF, which is exactly what UNICEF had hoped for. They really appreciated the time and care we had put into finding inspirational stories relevant to the interests of their audience.
“My Museum Hack guides were wonderful at taking our ideas and messages and crafting specific stories that really resonated with our group. I was very impressed – what they were able to find left us laughing, engaging and inspired.” – UNICEF staff member
Do you have a company event you’d like to hack? We’d love to talk to you about our methods of supercharging events and customizing our tours for your team’s goals! Give us a call at 1-800-210-9676 or send us an email at info@museumhack.com.
