Titanic Museum Co-owner inspires Gatlinburg Community

Violin Gifts would be appropriate at the Titanic Museum

On Feb. 19, 2014, Violettes ventured to the Gatlinburg Hospitality Association. I knew that there would be a presentation about the Titanic Museum, but I was mostly interested in making contacts in the artsy tourist town. They certainly could use some Violin Gifts to pedal!The meeting was a delightful surprise, with the speaker being the Co-owner of the Titanic Museum, Mary Kellogg-Joslyn. She spoke of highlights of her executive employment history that brought her to this point in her career, and how she runs a tight ship of a successful business. She spoke of persistence, of educating all employees for all jobs to make fulfilled and competent employees. She discussed the value of letting the managers make decisions, and having one go-to head honcho for the business (not 2, even though she is co-owner). She emphasized the importance of branding for a business, and that stories are the Titanic Museum branding. And lastly, that community is of utmost importance. She listed the highlights of the Gatlinburg area from the pancake houses to the honeymoon opportunities. She reminded us that we must all help each other with success so that happy tourists not only return, but spread the word of the fun they had vacationing here.In Ms. Kellogg-Joslyn’s discussion of the Titanic Museum, she mentioned that the Titanic Museum gift shop is not just an add-on to the museum, as it produces about 30% of the profits. And the biggest seller is “Titanic jewelry”. She met with Jewelry television execs to produce a Titanic Day where her employees can tell Titanic stories and sell jewelry on the program. She ended her talk with the story about 2 water jugs, one perfect and the other cracked. Turned out the cracked one was ever so useful watering the beautiful flowers every time it was leaking. In other words, everyone (employees) can be put to good purpose.After the talk I asked Ms. Kellogg-Joslyn if she has Titanic stories of musicians that I can post on the Violettes blog. She said to look on the Branson Titanic Museum web site. And indeed, this is the headline that I found:

2014 New Gallery! Branson Titanic Museum Attraction pays tribute to the Musicians.Now Open! - This year’s major themed exhibit at the Branson location will, for the first time anywhere, introduce visitors to the 8 heroic musicians whose comforting strains helped drown-out the sadness and sorrow of that dark night. The stories of their gallantry captured the spirit of courage, duty and self-sacrifice we honor everyday at Titanic. When the music stopped....the legend began.

   See the January and February posts for stories about 2 of the musician’s lives: http://www.titanicattraction.com/titanic-biographies-january.phpI was curious about the Titanic paraphernalia offered other than jewelry, so I poked around to find everything else from T-shirts to China to DVD’s and children’s educational materials.The Bronson Titanic Museum is working with the the Titanic Historical Society. As Ms. Kellogg-Joslyn noted, there were over 700 living ship members to trace, each with a stories.The Store for this Society: http://titanichistoricalsociety.net/store/ has something that I could have fun with! Titanic Dinner parties list complete with menus and party favors – don’t forget to hire the mood musicians! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------