Charlie Engelman

Charlie Engelman is an Emmy-winning television producer and researcher at the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, where he investigates how museum objects can be used most effectively in educational videos online. His work combines research, science communication, and media production. Odd Animal Specimens, Charlie’s online video project, has generated over 3 billion views to-date and can be considered the largest and most extensive outreach initiative ever completed at a museum.

Charlie Engelman will be speaking at the Museums & Social Media Summit 2025:

Generating Billions of Views Using Museum Objects

Museums contain the most extraordinary objects on Earth – yet their social media accounts are terrible. I believe museums should dominate the internet. To prove it, I independently partnered with institutions across the U.S. and created Odd Animal Specimens – a video series that’s accumulated billions of views exclusively by showcasing natural history specimens. And it wasn’t a fluke – I’ve repeated this success with historical objects from all kinds of collections. In this talk, I’ll reveal the formula behind viral museum storytelling – and show how short-form video isn’t just a tool, but the greatest outreach revolution in the history of museums.