Ogilvy Consulting’s “The Annual” is the power of behavioural science applied, showcasing 10 projects worked on over the last year with a particular focus on interventions for brands, charities, non-profits and local governments supporting social outcomes to drive “good”.
Presented by the Behavioural Science Practice within Ogilvy Consulting London, you will discover the insight behind the interventions and how the power of behavioural science and creativity can be used to overcome the stickiest of challenges.
I was the chair of the MIT/Stanford Venture Labs' 20th Anniversary Party. It was a great experience helping celebrate this entrepreneurship non-profit's celebrations, and I learned a lot about getting a lot of smart people to work together!
Although none of my proposals succeeded, it was nice to shake things up. I took a stronger leadership role instead of being directed as the Chair, balancing a lack of experience with the wisdom to know that a lot of opinions can make some wacky soup. I attempted to create a more flavorful soup.
I introduced the committees to Make magazine, was rescued by the venue in the end, and had some great fun.
Presented at UXIstanbul 2016.
When designing new services / products / experience, designers often start with the user needs or technical feasibilities. When designers ask “why are we doing this”, we often shy away from the business reasons. If we try to design with a holistic view of everything, shouldn’t we understand the business needs as well?
Taking a step away from the traditional design thinking, this session will dive into business design and stretch our design thinking muscle to business thinking. Business design brings in the commercial prospect to form a more complete approach to solving complex problems.
In this session, we will look at examples of hands-on case study of how to integrate commercial thinking into design projects. How to balance the different requirements and needs from all angles? What are the different toolkits that can be used for designers to start thinking about business more? And maybe most importantly, how can designers stop being scared of numbers.
Ogilvy Consulting’s “The Annual” is the power of behavioural science applied, showcasing 10 projects worked on over the last year with a particular focus on interventions for brands, charities, non-profits and local governments supporting social outcomes to drive “good”.
Presented by the Behavioural Science Practice within Ogilvy Consulting London, you will discover the insight behind the interventions and how the power of behavioural science and creativity can be used to overcome the stickiest of challenges.
I was the chair of the MIT/Stanford Venture Labs' 20th Anniversary Party. It was a great experience helping celebrate this entrepreneurship non-profit's celebrations, and I learned a lot about getting a lot of smart people to work together!
Although none of my proposals succeeded, it was nice to shake things up. I took a stronger leadership role instead of being directed as the Chair, balancing a lack of experience with the wisdom to know that a lot of opinions can make some wacky soup. I attempted to create a more flavorful soup.
I introduced the committees to Make magazine, was rescued by the venue in the end, and had some great fun.
Presented at UXIstanbul 2016.
When designing new services / products / experience, designers often start with the user needs or technical feasibilities. When designers ask “why are we doing this”, we often shy away from the business reasons. If we try to design with a holistic view of everything, shouldn’t we understand the business needs as well?
Taking a step away from the traditional design thinking, this session will dive into business design and stretch our design thinking muscle to business thinking. Business design brings in the commercial prospect to form a more complete approach to solving complex problems.
In this session, we will look at examples of hands-on case study of how to integrate commercial thinking into design projects. How to balance the different requirements and needs from all angles? What are the different toolkits that can be used for designers to start thinking about business more? And maybe most importantly, how can designers stop being scared of numbers.
We're on a mission to give every donor a great online experience.
Parachute Digital supports non-profit organisations to acquire and retain supporters through digital channels.
Outside in: How companies can harness the power of online co-creation (case s...Felix Koch
An introduction into online or digital cocreation and how organisation can use these tools to collaborate with the public, consumers, staff and experts to achieve their business objectives. Contains a selection of 9 recent and successful examples of online co-creation, two of which Promise and I have been involved with.
Online Advertising: Using Data to Drive Conversions for National Art Marketin...Erik Gensler
Google, Facebook, and other companies have incredible amounts of consumer behavioral and purchase intent data that art organizations can leverage to create more conversions online. Through case studies and examples, this session will show you how nonprofit arts organizations are using this data to reach their best prospects online
Erik Gensler, President of Capacity Interactive
Ceci Dadisman Director of Marketing & PR Palm Beach Opera
The story of where the idea for Makerble came from and how Matt Kepple got there.
See you on Makerble!
http://makerble.launchrock.com
NEXT VIDEO:
Matt talks to ideas consultant Mathias Vestergaard about innovation culture:
http://youtu.be/YYNBztGuty4
- awards
- networking
- funding
- saving
- consulting
- rejection
- iterations
- advisors
- market research
how online collections could potentially impact the actual art systemMuseums Computer Group
Recruiting collective intelligence to level the contemporary art world’s stratified distribution of prestige and value: how online collections could potentially impact the actual art system.
Stephanie Bertrand (ICS-FORTH).
Museums+Tech 2022: Turning it off and on again
Friday November 11 2022
We're on a mission to give every donor a great online experience.
Parachute Digital supports non-profit organisations to acquire and retain supporters through digital channels.
Outside in: How companies can harness the power of online co-creation (case s...Felix Koch
An introduction into online or digital cocreation and how organisation can use these tools to collaborate with the public, consumers, staff and experts to achieve their business objectives. Contains a selection of 9 recent and successful examples of online co-creation, two of which Promise and I have been involved with.
Online Advertising: Using Data to Drive Conversions for National Art Marketin...Erik Gensler
Google, Facebook, and other companies have incredible amounts of consumer behavioral and purchase intent data that art organizations can leverage to create more conversions online. Through case studies and examples, this session will show you how nonprofit arts organizations are using this data to reach their best prospects online
Erik Gensler, President of Capacity Interactive
Ceci Dadisman Director of Marketing & PR Palm Beach Opera
The story of where the idea for Makerble came from and how Matt Kepple got there.
See you on Makerble!
http://makerble.launchrock.com
NEXT VIDEO:
Matt talks to ideas consultant Mathias Vestergaard about innovation culture:
http://youtu.be/YYNBztGuty4
- awards
- networking
- funding
- saving
- consulting
- rejection
- iterations
- advisors
- market research
how online collections could potentially impact the actual art systemMuseums Computer Group
Recruiting collective intelligence to level the contemporary art world’s stratified distribution of prestige and value: how online collections could potentially impact the actual art system.
Stephanie Bertrand (ICS-FORTH).
Museums+Tech 2022: Turning it off and on again
Friday November 11 2022
Artificial intelligence and machine learning for the analysis and enrichment ...Museums Computer Group
Artificial intelligence and machine learning for the analysis and enrichment of digital collections
Dr. Nicolai Bohn (Navigating.art)
Museums+Tech 2022: Turning it off and on again
Friday November 11 2022
Balancing enhancement, innovation and invention
Katherine Woollard (National Trust)
Museums+Tech 2022: Turning it off and on again
Friday November 11 2022
Towards inclusive digital museum innovation: theoretical and practical issues...Museums Computer Group
Towards inclusive digital museum innovation: theoretical and practical issues around the digital transformation of museums
Museums+Tech 2022: Turning it off and on again
Friday November 11 2022
A shot in the arm for QR Codes in museums
Adam Coulson (National Museums Scotland)
Museums+Tech 2022: Turning it off and on again
Friday November 11 2022
Closing panel: Funding digital – what two years worth of data tells us
Chris Unitt (One Further), Mike Keating (Art Fund), Sarah Briggs (Museums Association), Georgina Brooke (One Further)
Entertaining audiences in a time of crisis Alix Geddes, One FurtherMuseums Computer Group
Museums+Tech 2020: Museums in a crisis
Entertaining audiences in a time of crisis
Alix Geddes, One Further
This is an ongoing study looking at types of content posted by museums online during the various crises of 2020, specifically humour, and how audiences interacted with it. The study consists of surveying digital communications staff at large and small museums across the UK and takes data directly from their website analytics and social media platforms.
With the sudden pandemic and subsequent lockdown, museums were forced to close their doors to the public and focused on using their digital channels to share the objects, themes, and stories within their collections, albeit with different perspectives. Digital content was transformed, with accessing collections from home and children’s activities at the forefront. We also saw attempts to reach online audiences with content that would amuse, entertain, and engage. Early on during the crisis, people participated in the Getty Museum Challenge (recreating artwork with objects from home), and hashtags such as #MuseumFromHome and #CuratorBattles gained traction. What was the impact of this? What types of content did audiences flock to, and in what numbers? What trends and insights can be pulled from the data available?
COVID, content strategy & organisational change Georgina Brooke, National Mus...Museums Computer Group
Museums+Tech 2020: Museums in a crisis
COVID, content strategy & organisational change
Georgina Brooke, National Museums Scotland
In January 2020 I moved out of my home in Oxford, north of the border to Scotland, to start a new role as Digital Media Content Manager at National Museums Scotland. I’d done Hogmanay and Burns Night, I’d written a new content strategy, which was about to be rolled out across the organisation. I was beginning to feel like I’d got my foot under the door.
By 19 March my mood had changed. The museum was closed, all exhibitions indefinitely postponed, my team was going to reduce by 50%, and all my lovely online audiences were very online, very stressed and very vocal.
This paper will look at how the Digital Team at National Museums Scotland developed and adapted an effective content strategy through the lockdown period, including:
The content formats and storytelling themes that most successfully connected online audiences with our collections and staff
Black Lives Matter – convincing Senior Management to react quickly and commit to a step change in our policies on race and representation within the museums
What we learnt and how these lessons are now changing our approach to audience engagement as the museum reopen
Virtual tours and monetisation Paul Fabel, Guided & Nathan Wilson, YourTourMuseums Computer Group
Museums+Tech 2020: Museums in a crisis
Virtual tours and monetisation
Paul Fabel, Guided & Nathan Wilson, YourTour
This session will explore how virtual tours can be monetised for museums whilst expanding vital access to culture for everyone. Join Nathan from YourTour and Paul from Guided as they lead a discussion on how virtual tours can work, and why they are so important in a COVID-19 world.
Videogames and museums: fields in convergence Amy Hondsmerk, Nottingham Trent...Museums Computer Group
Museums+Tech 2020: Museums in a crisis
Videogames and museums: fields in convergence
Amy Hondsmerk, Nottingham Trent University
As museums and heritage sites consider the ways in which they can engage visitors in the digital age, a trend expedited by the COVID-19 pandemic, the sector has progressively looked to the videogame industry. Tapping into the ‘experience economy’ (Park and Gilmore 1999), this intersection has allowed museums to explore the role of play in understanding the past. This has taken various forms including collaborations with game companies, utilising existing games to reach gaming communities and broaden audiences, and developing new museum-based games. Yet, while many of these game-related initiatives have been successful, thus far the museum sector has mainly employed video games in a manner that has been limited, with museum games remaining primarily focused on educational or entertainment goals.
In the context of changing understanding about interpretation in museums and, specifically, of the recognition of the role of visitors as participants in the interpretative process (Hooper-Greenhill 2000, Staiff 2014), the convergence of museums and videogames is rich area to explore and consider how the sector could realise the full potential of museum video games.
Inclusive digital practice in post-lockdown society Becki Morris & Sarah Simc...Museums Computer Group
Museums+Tech 2020: Museums in a crisis
Inclusive digital practice in post-lockdown society
Becki Morris & Sarah Simcoe, Disability Collaborative Network and EMBED
As we navigate out of crisis during unprecedented times, the pandemic has highlighted that the time is right to reflect on the key role that digital is playing in reaching diverse communities as we create the ‘new normal’. While the heritage sector has traditionally taken a piecemeal approach to delivering digital services, these challenging times have necessitated the sector need for embracing digital inclusive practice. This ensures the continued delivery of services, attracts new audiences, including those who may have previously faced barriers to the physical environment and includes those who are vulnerable to COVID-19 complications.
The pandemic has provided the sector with a unique opportunity to build positive intersectional inclusion through digital practices. At the same time, the Black Lives Matter movement has highlighted the issue of colonisation and the importance of greater access to related collections. During this presentation, DCN and EMBED, a cross-sector partnership, will share experiences and key learnings from the lockdown period, what we have done to support the sector and how digital inclusion is core to the sector in creating better, more resilient service, support and participation for audiences and the workforce.
With a houseboat and an iPhone (how IWM supported home learning during lock d...Museums Computer Group
Museums+Tech 2020: Museums in a crisis
With a houseboat and an iPhone (how IWM supported home learning during lock down)
John Glancy, Imperial War Museum
When the UK’s schools closed in March 2020 the needs of the nation’s learners changed. Education was moved to a different type of classroom one that often involved a kitchen table for a desk and a digital device instead of an exercise book. Learning outputs in the heritage sector had to change too. School audiences couldn’t visit our galleries and objects, so the galleries and objects had to visit them… With a Houseboat and an iPhone will explore how Imperial War Museums conceived and developed its 16-part web series Adventures in History and brought a national collection into people’s homes. It will also explore how the work done on this project is inspiring Imperial War Museums to evolve its ongoing digital learning offer by tackling some of the most difficult stories in its collections such as Empire history. We will also explore the ways we are proposing to use eyewitness testimony to support a recovery curriculum by aiding health and well being outcomes.
Museums in an Earth crisis – and how digital can help Bridget McKenzie, Clima...Museums Computer Group
Museums+Tech 2020: Museums in a crisis Museums in an Earth crisis – and how digital can help
Bridget McKenzie, Climate Museum
The multiple crises facing museums and society are all part of the Earth crisis, caused by an extractive and exploitative system. COVID-19 is an outcome of the ecological emergency, and climate breakdown threatens further blows to the relative stability of past decades in which museums have flourished. The Activist Museum Award has allowed us in Climate Museum UK to enquire into the possibilities of non-extractive digital collecting. As part of this, we are exploring extractivism, taking an environmental approach to the challenge of decolonising museums. A new mobile museum, we are reimagining museums for an age of crisis.
This lightning talk will summarise our findings of how digital collections might power activism to tackle the big challenges of social and environmental justice. What are the possibilities for museums to collaborate to create an accessible UK-wide digital collection that gives a climate and ecology lens to cultural artefacts? What is the appetite for a commons-based resource that opens up to democratic interpretation, and that enables its users to learn about the Earth crisis, to express views, to design solutions and to take action?
SDDC virtual visits pre and post COVID-19: what’s changed? Emilie Carruthers,...Museums Computer Group
Museums+Tech 2020: Museums in a crisis
SDDC virtual visits pre and post COVID-19: what’s changed?
Emilie Carruthers, British Museum
The Samsung Digital Discovery Centre offers free live workshops to schools delivered through video conferencing technology, and has done for many years. This puts us in a unique position to compare how the programme and its audience has evolved since COVID-19: how have student and teacher’s expectations changed, are teachers now more comfortable booking virtual experiences for their classes and how has the programme evolved to align with audience expectations? We’ll use the most recent data from the schools Autumn term 2020 to explore these questions and think about how the demand for online live experiences in classrooms might evolve in future.
Museums+Tech 2020: Museums in a crisis
User research at a time of uncertainty
Jo Morrison, Calvium
Everything was settled:
The research design to inform the new exhibition content and usability of 28 digital interactives? Yes.
The team training to undertake and finesse the research and testing activities? Yup.
Identification and liaison with participant groups? You betcha.
In fact, user research and testing with key audience groups was underway and our excitement and motivation were sky high. Then, suddenly, we were in ‘Lockdown’. Everything was uncertain, except for the fact that Bristol’s We The Curious science centre was still launching its major new exhibition in November 2020 – Project What If. This lightening talk draws on our collective experience of conducting user research in a museum context before and during lockdown. By reflecting upon this extraordinary period of time, we have created a practical framework for planning, conducting and reflecting upon user research for new digital exhibits at times of uncertainty.
While this resource was developed as a response to a global crisis, our goal is for it to help the museum community undertake user research during any period of uncertainty.
June 3, 2024 Anti-Semitism Letter Sent to MIT President Kornbluth and MIT Cor...Levi Shapiro
Letter from the Congress of the United States regarding Anti-Semitism sent June 3rd to MIT President Sally Kornbluth, MIT Corp Chair, Mark Gorenberg
Dear Dr. Kornbluth and Mr. Gorenberg,
The US House of Representatives is deeply concerned by ongoing and pervasive acts of antisemitic
harassment and intimidation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Failing to act decisively to ensure a safe learning environment for all students would be a grave dereliction of your responsibilities as President of MIT and Chair of the MIT Corporation.
This Congress will not stand idly by and allow an environment hostile to Jewish students to persist. The House believes that your institution is in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and the inability or
unwillingness to rectify this violation through action requires accountability.
Postsecondary education is a unique opportunity for students to learn and have their ideas and beliefs challenged. However, universities receiving hundreds of millions of federal funds annually have denied
students that opportunity and have been hijacked to become venues for the promotion of terrorism, antisemitic harassment and intimidation, unlawful encampments, and in some cases, assaults and riots.
The House of Representatives will not countenance the use of federal funds to indoctrinate students into hateful, antisemitic, anti-American supporters of terrorism. Investigations into campus antisemitism by the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Ways and Means have been expanded into a Congress-wide probe across all relevant jurisdictions to address this national crisis. The undersigned Committees will conduct oversight into the use of federal funds at MIT and its learning environment under authorities granted to each Committee.
• The Committee on Education and the Workforce has been investigating your institution since December 7, 2023. The Committee has broad jurisdiction over postsecondary education, including its compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, campus safety concerns over disruptions to the learning environment, and the awarding of federal student aid under the Higher Education Act.
• The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating the sources of funding and other support flowing to groups espousing pro-Hamas propaganda and engaged in antisemitic harassment and intimidation of students. The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is the principal oversight committee of the US House of Representatives and has broad authority to investigate “any matter” at “any time” under House Rule X.
• The Committee on Ways and Means has been investigating several universities since November 15, 2023, when the Committee held a hearing entitled From Ivory Towers to Dark Corners: Investigating the Nexus Between Antisemitism, Tax-Exempt Universities, and Terror Financing. The Committee followed the hearing with letters to those institutions on January 10, 202
Acetabularia Information For Class 9 .docxvaibhavrinwa19
Acetabularia acetabulum is a single-celled green alga that in its vegetative state is morphologically differentiated into a basal rhizoid and an axially elongated stalk, which bears whorls of branching hairs. The single diploid nucleus resides in the rhizoid.
Unit 8 - Information and Communication Technology (Paper I).pdfThiyagu K
This slides describes the basic concepts of ICT, basics of Email, Emerging Technology and Digital Initiatives in Education. This presentations aligns with the UGC Paper I syllabus.
Palestine last event orientationfvgnh .pptxRaedMohamed3
An EFL lesson about the current events in Palestine. It is intended to be for intermediate students who wish to increase their listening skills through a short lesson in power point.
Read| The latest issue of The Challenger is here! We are thrilled to announce that our school paper has qualified for the NATIONAL SCHOOLS PRESS CONFERENCE (NSPC) 2024. Thank you for your unwavering support and trust. Dive into the stories that made us stand out!
A Strategic Approach: GenAI in EducationPeter Windle
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as Generative AI, Image Generators and Large Language Models have had a dramatic impact on teaching, learning and assessment over the past 18 months. The most immediate threat AI posed was to Academic Integrity with Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) focusing their efforts on combating the use of GenAI in assessment. Guidelines were developed for staff and students, policies put in place too. Innovative educators have forged paths in the use of Generative AI for teaching, learning and assessments leading to pockets of transformation springing up across HEIs, often with little or no top-down guidance, support or direction.
This Gasta posits a strategic approach to integrating AI into HEIs to prepare staff, students and the curriculum for an evolving world and workplace. We will highlight the advantages of working with these technologies beyond the realm of teaching, learning and assessment by considering prompt engineering skills, industry impact, curriculum changes, and the need for staff upskilling. In contrast, not engaging strategically with Generative AI poses risks, including falling behind peers, missed opportunities and failing to ensure our graduates remain employable. The rapid evolution of AI technologies necessitates a proactive and strategic approach if we are to remain relevant.
Honest Reviews of Tim Han LMA Course Program.pptxtimhan337
Personal development courses are widely available today, with each one promising life-changing outcomes. Tim Han’s Life Mastery Achievers (LMA) Course has drawn a lot of interest. In addition to offering my frank assessment of Success Insider’s LMA Course, this piece examines the course’s effects via a variety of Tim Han LMA course reviews and Success Insider comments.
Synthetic Fiber Construction in lab .pptxPavel ( NSTU)
Synthetic fiber production is a fascinating and complex field that blends chemistry, engineering, and environmental science. By understanding these aspects, students can gain a comprehensive view of synthetic fiber production, its impact on society and the environment, and the potential for future innovations. Synthetic fibers play a crucial role in modern society, impacting various aspects of daily life, industry, and the environment. ynthetic fibers are integral to modern life, offering a range of benefits from cost-effectiveness and versatility to innovative applications and performance characteristics. While they pose environmental challenges, ongoing research and development aim to create more sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives. Understanding the importance of synthetic fibers helps in appreciating their role in the economy, industry, and daily life, while also emphasizing the need for sustainable practices and innovation.
Instructions for Submissions thorugh G- Classroom.pptxJheel Barad
This presentation provides a briefing on how to upload submissions and documents in Google Classroom. It was prepared as part of an orientation for new Sainik School in-service teacher trainees. As a training officer, my goal is to ensure that you are comfortable and proficient with this essential tool for managing assignments and fostering student engagement.
1. What was that?
Reflections on two and a half years of change within the
cultural sector
Kati Price | Head of Experience and Digital
| V&A
2. Bobby Seagull’s quick-fire numeracy quiz
1. If a scarf costs £11.70 after a 10 per cent reduction, what was the original price?
2. Milly’s lunch contains 640 calories of energy. What percentage is this of her daily target
intake of 2000 calories?
3. Rail tickets increased 2 per cent in 2018 and 5 per cent in 2019. What was the overall
increase over the two years?
4. What is better value for the same ketchup: 275g for £1.05 or 650g for £2.20?
5. A laptop costs £899, including VAT at 20 per cent. How much of the purchase price is VAT?
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2022
3. Bobby Seagull’s quick-fire numeracy quiz
1. If a scarf costs £11.70 after a 10 per cent reduction, what was the original price?
2. Milly’s lunch contains 640 calories of energy. What percentage is this of her daily target
intake of 2000 calories?
3. Rail tickets increased 2 per cent in 2018 and 5 per cent in 2019. What was the overall
increase over the two years?
4. What is better value for the same ketchup: 275g for £1.05 or 650g for £2.20?
5. A laptop costs £899, including VAT at 20 per cent. How much of the purchase price is VAT?
Quiz answers: (Q1 £13; Q2 32 per cent; Q3 7.1 per cent; 650g for £2.20; £149.83)
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2022
26. So, what was that?
As series of massive shifts. With some consequences…
● Changes in how we work for the better – more collaboration and fewer silos
● Changes in what we made – maybe for the better
But…
● There’s been a detrimental impact on our people and further churn to come
● And there’s less money to fund all the things
27. So, what next?
➔ How do we continue to collaborate together – within and beyond the digital team? How can
we make the good ways of working stick?
➔ How can we continue to make the most of the content we already have? At the same time,
how do we develop new content formats that respond to difference audience needs and
interests?
➔ We’ve had funding cuts and there will be more to come so how will we plan and prioritise
what to do (and what not to do) – how much agency do we have in that decision?
➔ How do we deal with what feels like constant churn? How do we better support our people?
Should we structure our digital teams differently? What roles should remain in-house? What
can be outsourced? How do we upskill others internally to spread the digital load?
Editor's Notes
So I’ve been invited to do a bit of a reflection of the last few years and the impact that the Covid pandemic - and other things - have had on museums and the wider cultural sector. But let’s face it. That might be the last thing you feel like, right? I should just summarise that it’s been more than a bit shit. Or I could probably just stop now and instead we have a group hug or a mass primal scream therapy session? Which would you prefer?
Ok, assuming I do have the next 50 mins to fill, how about I do a bit of reflection and then pose a bunch of questions I don’t necessarily have the answers to, and then we can spend the last bit having a chat about it all? Mostly what I am going to tell you won’t be new to you, it’s more of a review of what we went through, it touches on what we’re still going through individually, collectively… what changed temporarily, what things changed permanently, and what things we might want to keep hold of.
So to get our brains in gear, shall we start with some maths? Here are 5 simple questions for you set by maths guru Bobby Seagull. Have a read.
Now I want you to answer the following questions honestly…
Hands up if you reckon you can answer all five correctly?
How about at least three correctly?
What about two or fewer?
Here are the answers for you.
Apparently 56 per cent of UK adults will only be able to answer two or fewer questions correctly.
This is the equivalent of what we would expect a primary school aged child to get right.
Yet in March 2022 the parents among us suddenly became homeschoolers and were expected to be able to get full marks on tests like this… Google search trends in Spring 2020 revealed a massive spike in desperate parents searching for things like Pythagoras’s Theorem and long division. I was one of them.
Suddenly we weren’t just folk working in museums and galleries and agencies. We were homeschoolers, we were carers, we were pub quiz hosts, we were online party entertainers, we were sourdough starter nurturers. Suddenly there were a lot of jobs. An awful lot of jobs to do alongside the day job.
It’s hard to summarise the massive socio-political shifts we’ve experienced since spring 2020… George Floyd was murdered, we saw the Black Lives Matter movement increasing in prominence, we saw statues falling, we saw Government’s response to statues falling, we saw the rise of social activism in our institutions.
We also saw cultural organisations struggle in their response to anti racism and broader debates around decolonisation.
So, as we all know too well, we experienced a massive shift in the context in which we work and live. And that shift had a lot of consequences - some good, some bad, some temporary and some more permanent…
I’m going to be taking about four sets of consequences, around
Collaboration
Content
Cash and
Churn
(Obviously there were many more consequences and I’ve just chosen these four… mainly because they’re alliterative or at least they all start with the letter ‘C’…)
There were consequences for how we collaborate with one another to do the work we do. There were consequences for the kinds of content and products we make, there were consequences for how much cash our organisations had - a lot less basically.
And we experienced a lot of churn - not just emotional churn, but staff churn (it’s a terrible term, but it starts with a C so forgive me).
And we’re still seeing the effect of the pandemic in us losing lots of brilliant and talented people from our institutions…
So to start. One big consequence of the pandemic, was around collaboration. Particularly because we’d all had to turn our bedrooms and kitchen tables into office spaces for remote working which made collaboration, well, different…
It’s a truism that all museums and cultural organisations operate in siloes. And I think that’s not always the case. But there are certainly physical impediments (things like a 15 minute walk across the building to meet with someone) and there are most definitely cultural impediments that can make it hard to collaborate.
We had to adapt really quickly to home working and remote collaboration.
Some of us already had the tools, some didn’t (I remember one curator friend of mine saying ‘What’s Microsoft Teams’ the week before lock down… how little did she know intimate she’d soon become with it…)
So we saw a more widespread adoption of tools we were already using to other teams (things like shared Trello content planners) as well as adopting newer tools like Miro.
Ultimately, it meant we had to find new ways of working - and quickly. Ultimately, I think we saw better, more effective communication within and between teams.
But that wasn’t always easy…
Because, as we all know, digital teams were faced with a hosepipe of demands and requests from right across the organisation. Often the ask was around making things that normally happen in lecture theatres and exhibitions happen online. All rise the ‘online exhibition’. Now, I’m not a fan of simply transposing physical paradigms - things like exhibitions and displays- to online. That’s not the way digital works. Instead we should be thinking about how best to tell those stories in compelling ways online, packaging them up as great content and experiences. That generally means not just whacking up an online gallery or exhibition.
Managing that surge in incoming risked digital teams saying ‘no’ an awful lot - and learning to say no in new (very polite) ways. We polished our skills at refining the ask of all these inbound requests.
One success for us was helping colleagues in the V&A Academy team, supporting them to take the paid-for learning offer online. This work involved a lot of collaboration and couldn’t have happened without these new ways of working. But it wasn’t always easy. Sometimes we just had to let things go, and help teams to pop stuff up online that we knew wouldn’t necessarily fly with our audiences.
When it worked best, it was because we had a shared and more singular purpose - and that was to drive online engagement.
When the doors of our institutions are open we have so many competing demands for digital teams - to create content, products and experience that drive visits, sell tickets, sell memberships, promote learning, promote events, provide information…
Instead we had one thing to focus on - audience engagement online. In many ways it became a lot simpler. And to do that we pulled together collectively to work towards that end. We became a lot more joined up across lots of teams - across digital, marketing, comms, membership, learning… We began an approach to planning and aligning our channels towards much clearer goals and targets. And that stuck. And that’s been one of the most positive things to come out of the last couple of years.
Onto our next consequence - that of content and making content that people want.
And just to make it clear, I’m sure lots of us - if not all - were already making content that people want.
That was the thing - we already had bags of great content.
But we saw a lot of demand to make more content, to make new content. That demand wasn’t just from above - it was from across the organisation. The call for new stuff!
So a lot of time was spent reminding people just how much great content we already had. And focussing our effort instead on shining a light on that content - making it more visible to our audiences.
This meant putting more focus on channel activity and alignment to drive people to existing content, and not just making more.
Early in March 2020 it dawned on us that it was likely the Museum was going to close soon, just as our exhibition Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk opened. So the content team worked rapidly with curator Anna Jackson to storyboard and capture a series of 5 films that told some of the stories behind this incredible show.
It was quite a feat to pull off creating such quality content just as the doors were about to close.
We then released these films first to our members and then to the general public and they’ve now garnered over 545k views. It was an added bonus to receive the Time Out Time in award for best digital art experience for these films. They’re not an online exhibition, they’re not a 3D rendered walk through, they’re not using new technology. They’re just really well crafted films that do a brilliant job of storytelling and continue to drive lots of online engagement today…
I should add here that this example and the others to follow are all down to the V&A’s amazing content team, headed up by Tom Windross.
So our understanding of audience behaviours deepened as we took an even more data informed approach to content development.
We developed new formats - like our successful ASMR series. ASMR for those who don’t know it is autosensory meridian response… (explain).
This series delves into the V&A’s collections exploring the sounds involved in the care and conservation of objects like Charlie Chaplin’s hat, a dress worn by PJ Harvey and this sequined clown costume. It’s a format that’s loved not just by the ASMR community online who are lapping up the content we release regularly, but also millions of others on YouTube and across social. We’ve continued to invest a lot of time in developing and refining this format - led by the brilliant Hannah Kingwell working with sound artist Julie Rose Bower.
It’s really shown us the benefit of format thinking as a way to give audiences reasons to subscribe and keep coming back.
And if you’re interested in hearing more about the importance of formats do check out Matt Locke from Storythings talking to Ash Mann on the Digital Works podcast.
What we found by delving into audience behaviour online during the pandemic was that people were moving to the ends of a number of spectrums.
We hear a lot about the dwindling attention spans of online audiences. That they’re only interested in the 10 second TikTok. It’s true, they love a good TikTok (and this is a particularly good one made by our talented social team) but online audiences are also very happy to watch a 40 min video about how to paint a pomegranate in watercolour.
This video, launched in December 2020 has been watched over 260k times. But, what’s more interesting is that it ranks as one of our highest performing videos in terms of proportion of people watching till the end - 20% (incredible stat for a 40 min video).
And what’s also interesting is that most people watching this video are under 34. It says a lot about there still being an appetite for well executed long form content. If you’re interested in learning more about this, do check out my colleague Jo Jones’s piece on the Cultural Content Substack https://culturalcontent.substack.com/p/cultural-content-with-guest-jo-jones
During the pandemic we also saw our audience’s tastes moving towards either end of another spectrum. They were loving the online interactives our team created to support the refurbishment of the Raphael Courts. These were based on some incredible new imaging and photography (done by Factum Arte) of the Raphael Cartoons - the preparatory sketches for the tapestries that hang in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel. Again, we saw a huge uptick in engagement and in dwell times for this in depth, informative content.
At the same time people were craving a bit of fun and time-killing entertainment. Cue Design a Wig, an online interactive that gives people the chance to make their own late 18th century Marie-Antoinette style crazy wig complete with feathers, galleons and flags. Silly fun. But just what people wanted as a relief from all the home schooling and banana bread making.
So was this just a lock down audience behaviour? No, we’ve found these are behaviours that look like they’re here to stay, and have informed the way we make and commission content. It’s good to think of pushing content commissioning decisions around the ends of these various spectrums.
But how do we keep making good content, good products and good experiences when there is less cash around to do that with. What do we do faced with a sudden drop in income and funding that happened during the pandemic? So, what happened?
As visitor attractions we are utterly reliant on visitors. And then suddenly, there were none. No tourists, no domestic visitors.
And - even when things opened up - numbers were down and continue to be down… Tourists haven’t returned in their former numbers. But we’ve also seen that UK visitors have changed their visiting behaviours.
The challenge is that museum business models are still utterly reliant on people coming to our buildings and spending money when they’re there.
Across the board, we’ve failed to develop business models that move us away from this reliance on visitation.
So organisations have had to think differently around funding opportunities. Some organisations were able to benefit from emergency funding from government via the Culture Recovery Fund. A much needed bandaid, but that only got us so far.
We’ve had to think about new business models and to think about how to build up - for example - membership propositions that are less reliant on nice spaces and free access to exhibitions.
And this has put a big pressure on digital teams - among others - to think about new ways for digital things - digital products, channels and content to make money.
Over the pandemic there were some interesting experiments around how to monetise content but I’m not sure any of us landed solid new digital revenue streams.
At the end of today’s conference Chris Unitt and friends will be exploring in more detail what the data tells us about how organisations are funding digital activity.
No doubt the future funding landscape will be even more reliant on partnerships. At the V&A we were lucky to be approached by HTC VIVE ARTS to partner on our Alice in Wonderland exhibition. Together with Preloaded we developed a VR experience for the exhibition that invited visitors to step into Alice’s shoes and go down the rabbit hole to play an impossible game of hedgehog croquet in Wonderland.
We began development the month before lockdown. It soon dawned us it would be a long time to before any exhibition visitors would ever encounter the VR experience. Who knew when we’d finally be able to open the exhibition?
So we created an extended - and paid for - version of the VR experience called Curious Alice for the ‘at home’ audience. It was a brilliant opportunity and one we simply wouldn’t have been able to do without HTC’s generous investment.
Increasingly it’s likely that commercial partnerships will be the preferred model to support any innovative digital developments within the sector…
And onto the last section - churn. A terrible term as I said before, but one that speaks to the fact we’ve lost some good people from our sector, from our institutions and from our teams.
So in a recent podcast episode I recorded with Ash Mann’s for his Digital Works podcast (second plug Ash) - I might have inadvertently suggested that a bunch of folk (looking at you Daf James and Rob Cawston) might have been prompted to leave their roles in the cultural sector…
… because of the power of Beyonce’s summer ‘22 hit ‘Break My Soul’.
Bey captured a moment, a moment where we were feeling overworked, underappreciated, and not in control of our destinies. She encouraged us to divest from all that was no longer serving us and instead invest our energies into something more nourishing.
That moment has been dubbed the Great Resignation, a moment that saw people across the globe quitting their jobs as they reevaluate what they want from work in the wake of the pandemic.
The Great Resignation started in 2020 and it continues into 2022. And it’s affecting our sector. It’s affecting my team.
One of the most worrying consequences of these recent shifts is the brain drain on the cultural sector. And, I fear, the brain drain is set to continue. Particularly as it’s hard to attract new talent into the sector, given the struggles we have in remunerating people at a level that is in any way competitive to other sectors.
Alongside people choosing to leave the sector and pursue new roles elsewhere, many organisations have had to make big staff cuts. The financially precarious situation our institutions found themselves in led to restructures large-scale and small.
This has had a massive impact on the work that we do.
Digital teams usually have a core storytelling function, and that storytelling is a collective exercise, one that involves experts and ideas from across the organisation. Suddenly we found many of our internal experts no longer there.
And digital teams themselves were hit too, with, if we were lucky, vacancy freezes, and worse still, some of us were faced with making roles redundant - at a time when digital roles felt more relevant and necessary than ever.
This raises a bunch of difficult questions which we’ll come onto shortly… like who’s left to do all this work? What are we NOT going to do if there are fewer people to do the work? Who decides? Do we end up outsourcing if there aren’t internal digital specialists? And do we even have budget to do that?
And now the UK is facing its longest recession since records began, and is expected to be in recession until at least 2024. We can but assume there are more cuts to come. How can we anticipate what the size and shape of the new digital team should look like in this new era?
It’s really important to acknowledge that it’s been hard. Really hard. For all of us.
And it’s hard when you lose good colleagues and team members through restructures as well as people who choose to move on. It’s hard for those who lose their roles. And it’s hard for those left to continue bearing the emotional and mental labour involved in digital work in this sector… Emotional labour as a term gained more traction over the course of the pandemic. It’s a term that covers range of issues around employment rights and employee experience - from balancing career and caring responsibilities, through to stress and burnout. And digital work inevitably involves emotional labour, particularly when there was such a focus and reliance on the work of the digital team.
I’d encourage you to listen to Dr Sophie Frost’s People Change Museums podcast - one of the outputs of the One by One research programme which I’ve been involved in - which has an episode on the topic of emotional labour.
Ultimately, we’re all a bit burnt out, our emotional reserves are at an all time low. And those who’ve continued to work throughout the pandemic making brilliant content and digital products are running on empty. It’s so important those of us in leadership positions find whatever support we can to make sure people can replenish those reserves.
So the massive shifts we’ve endured over the last two and a half years have had a lot of consequences. They changed how we worked for the better. It feels like we’ve definitely done some more silo breaking over the last few years. They changed what we made (across digital content, digital products and digital experiences), and, maybe we made better stuff as a result.
But these shifts have had a detrimental impact on our people - we’re all running on empty and there are fewer of us to do all this work. And there’s less money to fund all the things we’re supposed to be doing.
So, to end, here are a few questions I’m still mulling and would love to discuss with you now and over the course of the day…
Go through questions…
And to end… let’s all try keep hold of the good stuff, let’s try not to drift back into any bad habits, and let’s collectively brace ourselves for the inevitable change that’s still to come.
Thanks all for listening.