This study evaluated how visitor movement patterns and event layout influence customer participation at language stalls at a language show. Systematic observation was used to count the number of visitors who stopped or walked past at various stalls. Most visitors turned right upon entering and exited from the left, supporting theories of anti-clockwise circulation. Stalls on the right saw more participation, especially a language-focused stall. Narrow pathways may have reduced participation. Recommendations included rearranging stalls to control traffic flow and focus on language themes.

1. Introduction
An evaluation of customer participation of the stalls at the
Language show live based on Bitgood ‘s (2006) theory of
visitor movement and customer circulation patterns. It will
also look at general event design and layout and see how it
effects participation.
Research objectives
• To determine visitor movement patterns when entering
and exiting the event in relation to Bitgood’s theory
• To assess the traffic flow and width of pathways
between stalls
• To observe participation at stalls in different areas in
support of circulation patterns, including language stalls
and non-language stalls.
• To identify any recommendations to engage more
customer participation based on my findings.
Method
The research method used is systematic observation which
is the process of conducting the observation with clear rules
in mind and the ‘results of the observation being recorded
on a form and analysed quantitatively’ (Veal, 2006). Spot
counting was used for the observations of visitor movement
and visitor participation at the stalls. The following stalls
was observed over an equal time period monitoring how
many people stopped at the stall and how many walked
past.
- PGL Travel (Right)
- Multilingualvacancies.com(Right)
- Linguascope (Left)
- Brilliant Publications (Left)
Conclusion
Overall the findings show that visitor movement and
event deign does have some influence on the
participation levels of the visitors at the Language Show
Live.
The majority of visitors turned right when they entered
which is where the highest levels of participation was
observed.
When comparing the language stall
(multilingualvacanciescom) and non language stall (PGL
Travel) in the same area it showed the language stall had
double the amount of visitor participation.
Although the research suggests visitor movement and
event design does influence visitor participation it could
also be effected by the quality of the stall and interaction
from staff.
Recommendations
• To include only language themed stalls
• To increase pathway width to control traffic flow
• To move the technology zone to the right hand side to
increase participation levels.
References
Bitgood, S. (2006) ‘An Analysis of Visitor Circulation:
Movement Patterns and the General Value
Principle’, Curator: The Museum Journal, 49(4), pp. 463–
475.
Veal, A.J. 2006., Research Methods for Leisure and
Tourism : A Practical Guide. [online]. Financial Times/
Prentice Hall. Chapter 7
To evaluate if visitor movement and event design influences customer participation
Sophie Tweddle sot0166@my.londonmet.ac.uk
Results
The results from the two lifts showed that 65% and 71% turned
right when they entered the Language Show Live. When exiting
the building 59% and 55% came from the left which supports
Bitgood's theory that people turn right and continue in an anti
clockwise direction.
The pathways between some stalls were quite narrow which
created traffic when the areas were most busy which may effect
participation at the stalls.
As shown in figure 1 multilingualvancanies.com, a stall on the
right hand side had the most visitors that participated. This was
followed by PGL Travel which was also on the right hand side.
Mulltilingualvancines.com had double the participants PGL
Travel had, this could be because the stall is a language stall so is
more relevant to the visitors whereas PGL Travel is not.
The two stalls observed on the left had side had the least
participation from visitors. This suggests participation levels are
higher when they first enter the show. However Linguascope, a
stall in the technology zone had the highest visitor count.
Walked Past Participated
36 35
50
28
7 14
7
3
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
PGL Travel
Multilingual
vacancies.c
om
Linguascope
Brilliant
Publications
VISITOR COUNT
STALL NAME
Figure 1