This document provides guidance on improving the visitor experience at museums and heritage sites. It discusses the importance of understanding visitor needs and expectations. Some key points made include:
1) Conduct research to understand who your visitors are, what they think of your site, and how to address any issues raised in reviews. Monitor social media and reviews to improve based on feedback.
2) Make sure your name, branding, and first impressions clearly communicate what visitors will experience so they know what to expect. Ensure visitors can easily find exhibits and information.
3) Train and empower front-line staff and volunteers to provide a warm welcome and excellent customer service, as they greatly influence the visitor experience.
Kathryn Samson CV+skills+portfolio PDF <10MBKathryn Samson
The document provides a CV and client list for Kathryn Samson, an independent graphic designer based in London. It summarizes her 25 years of experience, including 18 years of freelance design work. It lists many arts, charity, education, and commercial organizations as past and present clients.
How to Build a Global Brand for your Membership with Chris DuckerThe Membership Guys
Running an online membership removes the barriers for doing business around the world. Regardless of where you're based, your members will come from far and wide.
This represents a huge opportunity for membership website owners to build a global brand.
In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I'm joined by Chris Ducker - founder of Youpreneur - to talk about his experiences in launching a membership site that is truly global.
This document provides a summary of the fourth issue of the magazine "Gypsy Chic". It includes interviews with three greeting card publishers: Andrew Chambers of Two Scoops, Marion Hancock of Art Cards Ireland, and Beth Nadler of Beth Nadler Art. The issue also contains articles on public relations, sales techniques, pen suppliers, and religious greeting cards. It recommends a book involving art licensing and promotes free resources for readers. The editor discusses preparations for the next issue and her plans to attend a business bootcamp.
Ten very special things, The worlds' most interesting storeUllash Tiwari
Ten Very Special Things is an online store that sells collectibles and objects of obsession, with profits donated to charity. It allows people to convert possessions into donations for their favorite cause. Items for sale include limited editions, cult brands, and objects with notable histories or owners. Donors choose the charity that receives a portion of the sale price and get promotional benefits. The store aims to connect individuals, businesses and charities through ecommerce in a novel way.
How to Produce Creative Campaigns Worthy of BBC Coverage Marcelle Antunes
This document discusses strategies for producing creative campaigns that garner significant media coverage. It emphasizes the importance of thorough research, including collaborating with subject matter experts when a topic is outside one's expertise. Several case studies are presented where partnerships with experts led to data and insights that strengthened campaign ideas and helped secure coverage in prestigious outlets. The document also stresses that the research process involves overcoming challenges and that perseverance is key to success.
All You Really Need to Know About Users You Learned in High SchoolEva Willis
User research? A fad!
Personas? Like I don't know enough real people and have to make some up.
Usability? Hey, if that shopping cart was good enough for Amazon, I'm sure it'll work just fine for us.
Not everything requires user testing, okay? We learned plenty long before we read any of those fancy books or paid for conferences just to have late-night drunken conversations about taxonomies.In this presentation, we will revisit key lessons we learned back in the halcyon days of our early lives and trace the shocking relevance of what we already know to the 21st century's biggest user experience challenges.
The document provides insights from surveying six different stores. The major insights are that businesses don't recognize the need for insights, and that immediate low-cost improvements could benefit customers and profits. Additionally, creativity and innovation are seen as mystical rather than mainstream.
Individual store insights found opportunities like improving branding, staff engagement, signage, layout and customer experience. The largest store was critiqued for prioritizing profits over community impact. The airport was called out for its poor design, service and experience. Overall, the document identifies hidden opportunities for all businesses to better serve customers through insights, innovation and putting people first.
Kathryn Samson CV+skills+portfolio PDF <10MBKathryn Samson
The document provides a CV and client list for Kathryn Samson, an independent graphic designer based in London. It summarizes her 25 years of experience, including 18 years of freelance design work. It lists many arts, charity, education, and commercial organizations as past and present clients.
How to Build a Global Brand for your Membership with Chris DuckerThe Membership Guys
Running an online membership removes the barriers for doing business around the world. Regardless of where you're based, your members will come from far and wide.
This represents a huge opportunity for membership website owners to build a global brand.
In this episode of The Membership Guys Podcast, I'm joined by Chris Ducker - founder of Youpreneur - to talk about his experiences in launching a membership site that is truly global.
This document provides a summary of the fourth issue of the magazine "Gypsy Chic". It includes interviews with three greeting card publishers: Andrew Chambers of Two Scoops, Marion Hancock of Art Cards Ireland, and Beth Nadler of Beth Nadler Art. The issue also contains articles on public relations, sales techniques, pen suppliers, and religious greeting cards. It recommends a book involving art licensing and promotes free resources for readers. The editor discusses preparations for the next issue and her plans to attend a business bootcamp.
Ten very special things, The worlds' most interesting storeUllash Tiwari
Ten Very Special Things is an online store that sells collectibles and objects of obsession, with profits donated to charity. It allows people to convert possessions into donations for their favorite cause. Items for sale include limited editions, cult brands, and objects with notable histories or owners. Donors choose the charity that receives a portion of the sale price and get promotional benefits. The store aims to connect individuals, businesses and charities through ecommerce in a novel way.
How to Produce Creative Campaigns Worthy of BBC Coverage Marcelle Antunes
This document discusses strategies for producing creative campaigns that garner significant media coverage. It emphasizes the importance of thorough research, including collaborating with subject matter experts when a topic is outside one's expertise. Several case studies are presented where partnerships with experts led to data and insights that strengthened campaign ideas and helped secure coverage in prestigious outlets. The document also stresses that the research process involves overcoming challenges and that perseverance is key to success.
All You Really Need to Know About Users You Learned in High SchoolEva Willis
User research? A fad!
Personas? Like I don't know enough real people and have to make some up.
Usability? Hey, if that shopping cart was good enough for Amazon, I'm sure it'll work just fine for us.
Not everything requires user testing, okay? We learned plenty long before we read any of those fancy books or paid for conferences just to have late-night drunken conversations about taxonomies.In this presentation, we will revisit key lessons we learned back in the halcyon days of our early lives and trace the shocking relevance of what we already know to the 21st century's biggest user experience challenges.
The document provides insights from surveying six different stores. The major insights are that businesses don't recognize the need for insights, and that immediate low-cost improvements could benefit customers and profits. Additionally, creativity and innovation are seen as mystical rather than mainstream.
Individual store insights found opportunities like improving branding, staff engagement, signage, layout and customer experience. The largest store was critiqued for prioritizing profits over community impact. The airport was called out for its poor design, service and experience. Overall, the document identifies hidden opportunities for all businesses to better serve customers through insights, innovation and putting people first.
The document provides insights from surveying six different stores. The major insights are that businesses don't recognize the need for insights, and that immediate low-cost improvements could benefit customers and profits. Additionally, creativity and innovation are seen as mystical rather than mainstream.
Individual store insights found opportunities like improving branding, staff engagement, and connecting to local producers. A large retailer was critiqued for prioritizing profits over community impact. The airport was called out for its poor customer experience, high prices, and clinical environment. Overall, the document identifies hidden opportunities for innovation and putting people first across many businesses.
The document summarizes insights from surveying six different businesses. The major insight was that businesses don't recognize the need for insights and are missing opportunities for inexpensive improvements. Creativity and innovation are seen as mystical rather than mainstream. Each business summary identifies disconnects and hidden opportunities for the businesses to improve their customer experience and sales.
The document is a web quest that provides tasks and resources for students to plan a hypothetical one-month trip to London to study English. The tasks include finding accommodation, choosing an English language school, deciding on attractions to visit, and writing a postcard home halfway through the trip. Students are instructed to work in pairs, research using the resources provided, and present their plans to the class.
Following the success of our report looking at the digital presence of over 200 visitor attractions in the UK and Australia and subsequent seminar in London, we will again be discussing the world of visitor attractions (museums, zoos, parks, gardens, galleries and historical buildings) and the challenges faced by digital, marketing, communications and visitor experience teams and how they go about getting visitors through their doors.
Your visitors’ first impression of your attraction will be as a result of a digital experience not a physical one - they will plan their trip, purchase their tickets, share and reminisce through the digital channels of their choosing. So are you creating the right awareness? Is your digital presence exceeding expectations online? Is it providing a brilliant customer experience? How can you maintain digital engagement?
The document discusses the changing role of museums in a Web 2.0 world where lifelong learning is emphasized. It notes the history of audience research in museums and focuses on making museums more visitor-centered and accessible for diverse audiences. The document advocates for constructivist exhibitions that allow free choice, multiple entry points, and user-controlled learning. It also stresses the need for museums to recognize how social media and Web 2.0 can impact the physical museum experience and engage visitors wherever they are.
The "Dig Deeper" campaign aims to increase awareness of the Pennsylvania Anthracite Heritage Museum and show that it offers more than just coal history. The campaign's objectives over 12 months are to increase awareness by 25%, increase associates group members by 60 people, and increase ticket and gift shop sales by 10% each. The big idea "Dig Deeper...For Knowledge. For Appreciation. For Community" captures that the museum has more to offer beneath the surface in terms of learning, community, and appreciation of history. The media plan utilizes radio sponsorships, billboards, and magazine articles to promote events and boost awareness of the museum.
MA conf cardiff 9 Oct 2014 museum websites online experience martin bazley ...Martin Bazley
Martin Bazley's slides used in session on museum websites at Museums Association conference in Cardiff on 9 October 2014, along with Zak Mensah and the session chair Mike Ellis
Why Content Marketing Sucks - The Basic Mistake that Spoils Everythingwww.brandalizm.co.uk
The document discusses why content marketing often fails to generate sales leads, despite producing high-quality engaging content. The key mistake is focusing solely on creating and distributing content without providing a clear next step or call to action for readers. Simply sending people to a company's main website is not enough, as websites are often better at presenting information than generating inquiries. To successfully convert interest into sales leads, the document recommends: 1) giving people a single clear option to provide contact details, 2) directly asking for those contact details, and 3) offering an incentive for them to take that action.
Sticking the Feather - Connecting Customers in a Connected World - Scot McKeeBirddogB2B
Presentation given by Scot McKee, Managing Director, Birddog, at the DSM Dyneema Connect the Dots Conference, Netherlands, 2012.
McKee explains how B2B organizations require a deep understanding of digital audience behaviour to improve online relationships and engage within customer communities. A video of the full presentation is available at: http://www.birddog.co.uk
McKee’s books on the subject of Creative B2B Branding and Business Marketing are available from Amazon - http://is.gd/mckeebooks
This document provides an introduction and overview to "The Hero's Journey in London", a travel guide focused on helping creative professionals find fulfilling careers doing what they love. It discusses how creative skills can be an asset rather than a liability in the workplace. The guide will share stories of creative heroes and heroines in London to inspire readers and provide concrete tips and lessons on overcoming challenges faced by those in creative fields. It aims to help readers harness their creative energy and passions to build successful careers against all odds.
This document provides an introduction and overview of a travel guidebook called "The Hero's Journey in London" which aims to help creative professionals find careers doing what they love through stories of past and present creative heroes and heroines in London. The guidebook will take readers on a journey around London, sharing tips and lessons from various locations on overcoming challenges, setting goals, marketing oneself, and building a sustainable creative career. It encourages readers to pursue their passions and dreams rather than settle for less fulfilling work.
This document provides an introduction and overview of a travel guidebook called "The Hero's Journey in London" which aims to help creative professionals find careers doing what they love through stories of past and present creative heroes and heroines in London. The guidebook will take readers on a journey around London, sharing tips and lessons from various locations on overcoming challenges, setting goals, marketing oneself, and building a sustainable creative career. It encourages readers to pursue their passions and dreams rather than settle for less fulfilling work.
The document introduces Peter de Kuster's travel guide called "The Hero's Journey in London", which aims to help creative professionals find careers that allow them to make a living doing what they love. It discusses how creative people face specific challenges that traditional business approaches do not address. The guide profiles heroes and heroines in London who have succeeded in turning their passions into fulfilling careers through overcoming obstacles. It provides lessons and tips to inspire readers to pursue their own creative careers.
The document introduces Peter de Kuster's travel guide called "The Hero's Journey in London", which aims to help creative professionals find careers that allow them to make a living doing what they love. It discusses how creative people face specific challenges that traditional business approaches do not address. The guide will share stories of creative heroes and heroines in London to provide concrete tips and lessons on overcoming obstacles in creative careers.
The document introduces Peter de Kuster's travel guide called "The Hero's Journey in London", which aims to help creative professionals find careers that allow them to make a living doing what they love. It discusses the challenges creative people face and provides stories of creative heroes and heroines from London who have overcome obstacles in their careers. The guide takes readers on a journey through London, sharing lessons from successful creatives at different locations to inspire readers to pursue fulfilling careers that suit their talents and passions.
The first museum pecha kucha night was a chance to revisit and reflect on the inspiring presentations and conversations at the 2009 Museums and the Web conference.
Scroll down the page for my notes for each slide
This document discusses keys to building an effective website. It emphasizes that a website is no longer just a basic online presence, but rather a complex, interactive experience that represents a brand. To build a successful site, a company must have a clear understanding of its brand identity and value proposition. The content of a site is also crucial - it must be structured in a way that meets user needs while achieving business goals. Finally, a site must be continually tested, tracked, and improved to develop better user experiences over time.
Everything you wanted to know about Pinterest.
Including:
How the idea came about, What’s the big deal?, Stats, facts and demographics, Getting started, What are people pinning?, It’s not just imagery
Some of the more unusual uses, What else can I do?, Which brands are using it?, How are they?
Pinning on the move, Extending the experience off platform, Key take-outs
Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens is a historic park and garden located near Birmingham, England. The gardens feature a variety of plants and trees, as well as a lake and several follies built in the 18th century. Visitors can explore the gardens' beautiful landscape and historic buildings throughout the autumn months.
Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens is hosting events during the summer of 2015. A variety of activities are scheduled such as live music concerts on Sundays in July and August. Visitors can also enjoy the gardens, playground, and cafe throughout the summer months.
The document provides insights from surveying six different stores. The major insights are that businesses don't recognize the need for insights, and that immediate low-cost improvements could benefit customers and profits. Additionally, creativity and innovation are seen as mystical rather than mainstream.
Individual store insights found opportunities like improving branding, staff engagement, and connecting to local producers. A large retailer was critiqued for prioritizing profits over community impact. The airport was called out for its poor customer experience, high prices, and clinical environment. Overall, the document identifies hidden opportunities for innovation and putting people first across many businesses.
The document summarizes insights from surveying six different businesses. The major insight was that businesses don't recognize the need for insights and are missing opportunities for inexpensive improvements. Creativity and innovation are seen as mystical rather than mainstream. Each business summary identifies disconnects and hidden opportunities for the businesses to improve their customer experience and sales.
The document is a web quest that provides tasks and resources for students to plan a hypothetical one-month trip to London to study English. The tasks include finding accommodation, choosing an English language school, deciding on attractions to visit, and writing a postcard home halfway through the trip. Students are instructed to work in pairs, research using the resources provided, and present their plans to the class.
Following the success of our report looking at the digital presence of over 200 visitor attractions in the UK and Australia and subsequent seminar in London, we will again be discussing the world of visitor attractions (museums, zoos, parks, gardens, galleries and historical buildings) and the challenges faced by digital, marketing, communications and visitor experience teams and how they go about getting visitors through their doors.
Your visitors’ first impression of your attraction will be as a result of a digital experience not a physical one - they will plan their trip, purchase their tickets, share and reminisce through the digital channels of their choosing. So are you creating the right awareness? Is your digital presence exceeding expectations online? Is it providing a brilliant customer experience? How can you maintain digital engagement?
The document discusses the changing role of museums in a Web 2.0 world where lifelong learning is emphasized. It notes the history of audience research in museums and focuses on making museums more visitor-centered and accessible for diverse audiences. The document advocates for constructivist exhibitions that allow free choice, multiple entry points, and user-controlled learning. It also stresses the need for museums to recognize how social media and Web 2.0 can impact the physical museum experience and engage visitors wherever they are.
The "Dig Deeper" campaign aims to increase awareness of the Pennsylvania Anthracite Heritage Museum and show that it offers more than just coal history. The campaign's objectives over 12 months are to increase awareness by 25%, increase associates group members by 60 people, and increase ticket and gift shop sales by 10% each. The big idea "Dig Deeper...For Knowledge. For Appreciation. For Community" captures that the museum has more to offer beneath the surface in terms of learning, community, and appreciation of history. The media plan utilizes radio sponsorships, billboards, and magazine articles to promote events and boost awareness of the museum.
MA conf cardiff 9 Oct 2014 museum websites online experience martin bazley ...Martin Bazley
Martin Bazley's slides used in session on museum websites at Museums Association conference in Cardiff on 9 October 2014, along with Zak Mensah and the session chair Mike Ellis
Why Content Marketing Sucks - The Basic Mistake that Spoils Everythingwww.brandalizm.co.uk
The document discusses why content marketing often fails to generate sales leads, despite producing high-quality engaging content. The key mistake is focusing solely on creating and distributing content without providing a clear next step or call to action for readers. Simply sending people to a company's main website is not enough, as websites are often better at presenting information than generating inquiries. To successfully convert interest into sales leads, the document recommends: 1) giving people a single clear option to provide contact details, 2) directly asking for those contact details, and 3) offering an incentive for them to take that action.
Sticking the Feather - Connecting Customers in a Connected World - Scot McKeeBirddogB2B
Presentation given by Scot McKee, Managing Director, Birddog, at the DSM Dyneema Connect the Dots Conference, Netherlands, 2012.
McKee explains how B2B organizations require a deep understanding of digital audience behaviour to improve online relationships and engage within customer communities. A video of the full presentation is available at: http://www.birddog.co.uk
McKee’s books on the subject of Creative B2B Branding and Business Marketing are available from Amazon - http://is.gd/mckeebooks
This document provides an introduction and overview to "The Hero's Journey in London", a travel guide focused on helping creative professionals find fulfilling careers doing what they love. It discusses how creative skills can be an asset rather than a liability in the workplace. The guide will share stories of creative heroes and heroines in London to inspire readers and provide concrete tips and lessons on overcoming challenges faced by those in creative fields. It aims to help readers harness their creative energy and passions to build successful careers against all odds.
This document provides an introduction and overview of a travel guidebook called "The Hero's Journey in London" which aims to help creative professionals find careers doing what they love through stories of past and present creative heroes and heroines in London. The guidebook will take readers on a journey around London, sharing tips and lessons from various locations on overcoming challenges, setting goals, marketing oneself, and building a sustainable creative career. It encourages readers to pursue their passions and dreams rather than settle for less fulfilling work.
This document provides an introduction and overview of a travel guidebook called "The Hero's Journey in London" which aims to help creative professionals find careers doing what they love through stories of past and present creative heroes and heroines in London. The guidebook will take readers on a journey around London, sharing tips and lessons from various locations on overcoming challenges, setting goals, marketing oneself, and building a sustainable creative career. It encourages readers to pursue their passions and dreams rather than settle for less fulfilling work.
The document introduces Peter de Kuster's travel guide called "The Hero's Journey in London", which aims to help creative professionals find careers that allow them to make a living doing what they love. It discusses how creative people face specific challenges that traditional business approaches do not address. The guide profiles heroes and heroines in London who have succeeded in turning their passions into fulfilling careers through overcoming obstacles. It provides lessons and tips to inspire readers to pursue their own creative careers.
The document introduces Peter de Kuster's travel guide called "The Hero's Journey in London", which aims to help creative professionals find careers that allow them to make a living doing what they love. It discusses how creative people face specific challenges that traditional business approaches do not address. The guide will share stories of creative heroes and heroines in London to provide concrete tips and lessons on overcoming obstacles in creative careers.
The document introduces Peter de Kuster's travel guide called "The Hero's Journey in London", which aims to help creative professionals find careers that allow them to make a living doing what they love. It discusses the challenges creative people face and provides stories of creative heroes and heroines from London who have overcome obstacles in their careers. The guide takes readers on a journey through London, sharing lessons from successful creatives at different locations to inspire readers to pursue fulfilling careers that suit their talents and passions.
The first museum pecha kucha night was a chance to revisit and reflect on the inspiring presentations and conversations at the 2009 Museums and the Web conference.
Scroll down the page for my notes for each slide
This document discusses keys to building an effective website. It emphasizes that a website is no longer just a basic online presence, but rather a complex, interactive experience that represents a brand. To build a successful site, a company must have a clear understanding of its brand identity and value proposition. The content of a site is also crucial - it must be structured in a way that meets user needs while achieving business goals. Finally, a site must be continually tested, tracked, and improved to develop better user experiences over time.
Everything you wanted to know about Pinterest.
Including:
How the idea came about, What’s the big deal?, Stats, facts and demographics, Getting started, What are people pinning?, It’s not just imagery
Some of the more unusual uses, What else can I do?, Which brands are using it?, How are they?
Pinning on the move, Extending the experience off platform, Key take-outs
Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens is a historic park and garden located near Birmingham, England. The gardens feature a variety of plants and trees, as well as a lake and several follies built in the 18th century. Visitors can explore the gardens' beautiful landscape and historic buildings throughout the autumn months.
Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens is hosting events during the summer of 2015. A variety of activities are scheduled such as live music concerts on Sundays in July and August. Visitors can also enjoy the gardens, playground, and cafe throughout the summer months.
Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens is a historic park and garden located in Castle Bromwich, England. The gardens were originally part of the estate of Castle Bromwich Hall, a Tudor manor house built in the 16th century. Today, the 16 hectare gardens are maintained by the Castle Bromwich Gardens Trust as a public park for the local community to enjoy.
The document discusses nine agents of decay that can cause damage to museum collections over time: 1) direct physical forces, 2) thieves/vandals/displacers, 3) fire, 4) water, 5) pests, 6) contaminants, 7) light, 8) incorrect temperature, and 9) incorrect relative humidity. It emphasizes the importance of monitoring collections for signs of damage from these agents and controlling the museum environment through temperature, humidity, light levels and filtration of pollutants. The key to successful collection care is understanding what objects are made of and which agents pose the greatest risks, then implementing policies, procedures, handling guidelines and environmental monitoring to manage those risks and slow the natural decay process as much
Independent Museums Association provides guidance on optimizing donation box fundraising. They recommend using transparent Perspex boxes placed at entrances and exits to encourage donations by allowing people to see money already donated. Boxes should have clear signage explaining the charitable nature and funding needs of the museum. Regularly updating visible cash floats and tracking donations helps increase amounts given. Encouraging staff and volunteers to promote donation boxes can significantly boost intake. Claiming Gift Aid and the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme can further increase funds raised through on-site donations.
The document provides guidance on successfully using social media for organizations. It discusses various social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and using hashtags and tags. Twitter is recommended for promoting exhibitions and events with quick updates. Facebook is better for connecting with supporters on a personal level and engaging communities. Both require regular posting and interaction to build an audience and keep people engaged. Overall social media is a good way to raise awareness, engage new audiences, and market organizations if used strategically alongside other communication channels.
This document provides guidance on developing a successful business plan for a museum or cultural organization. It recommends involving all levels of the organization to ensure accurate information and buy-in. The business plan should include an executive summary, organizational overview with vision and values, strategic aims and objectives, internal and external analysis, financial plans, and monitoring processes. Developing the plan takes 6-8 weeks typically and an away day can encourage fresh thinking. The guidance then outlines what to include in each section to create an effective roadmap for achieving organizational goals.
This document provides guidelines for museums on the disposal of items from collections. It outlines key principles for ethical and responsible disposal, including only disposing of items as part of an approved collections development policy aimed at improving public benefit. Methods of disposal discussed include transferring items to other accredited museums, returning items to donors, and sale or destruction as a last resort. The document stresses the importance of transparency, seeking stakeholder views, and retaining items in the public domain wherever possible.
This document provides guidance on successfully negotiating business rates for museums in England. It discusses the history and basics of the business rates system, including how rateable values are calculated through different valuation methods like receipts and expenditure or contractors method. For museums, the receipts and expenditure method is often argued to be most appropriate since museums operate similarly to other leisure attractions competing for visitors. However, the Valuation Office typically prefers a percentage of gross receipts instead. The document provides case studies of museums that successfully appealed their rateable values downwards by arguing the receipts and expenditure method. It emphasizes the importance of qualified professionals handling appeals to minimize museums' rate liabilities.
The document describes the Arts Connect WM Film and Digital Arts Project, which aims to create digital interpretations of museum, library, and heritage collections through collaborations between these institutions and artists. The project will invite artists to creatively respond to collections and propose digital art installations created with and for children and young people. Its objectives are to explore collections in new ways, integrate digital arts into venues, build skills in digital arts among staff and artists, and engage young people as collaborators. The document requests that interested institutions express interest in working with artists to bring collections to new audiences through digital platforms.
The document provides an agenda for a workshop on working machines held at the Events suite Thinktank, Millennium point in Birmingham on October 17th, 2013. The workshop included presentations on standards for caring for larger working objects, assessing regional significance of collections, interpreting working machinery for the public, and working with collections in different ways. It also involved group discussions on making care guidelines relevant for all types of working collections, when to repair or replace parts versus making objects static, and feedback from the discussions. The day aimed to discuss how to care for and interpret working machine collections.
The West Midlands Museum Development Officers (WMMDOs) secured funding for a 3-year program to help over 230 regional museums meet challenges. Embedded in county museum services, the WMMDOs support museums through strategic partnerships, skills development, and helping improve collections, visitor experiences, and organizational resilience. A survey found the WMMDOs greatly boost museums' confidence by enabling improvements they could not achieve alone.
This document announces a Green Museums Knowledge Café on August 13th at the Coventry Transport Museum. The café will provide training and knowledge sharing around making museums more environmentally friendly. Attendees will learn about reducing energy bills, getting support from green champions, practical collection care and heating approaches, and suppliers of eco-friendly materials. There will be presentations on successful case studies and measuring environmental progress, as well as opportunities to meet suppliers over lunch and hear from them during the sessions. All museum staff and volunteers are invited to attend the free event and book a place.
3. So getting the visitor experience right is
vital. It will ensure your collections or
your site are better appreciated and
understood; your museum or heritage
site is properly valued (by funders and
by your community); and that more
people visit, and are willing to pay for
their experience, encouraged by
positive recommendation both by word
of mouth and from online review sites.
Ultimately, a museum collection is a
pointless bunch of objects unless
people can see them, appreciate them,
and learn from them.
Yet they won’t be able to do that
unless you’ve got the basics right; the
visitors can find you; they know what
you are offering; and once on site,
they feel comfortable, able to access
what you have, and are enjoying
themselves.
3 AIM Success Guides
Successful Visitor
Experience –
Getting it Right
Much as we love our collections, a museum without
users is very unlikely to survive. It is also missing the
point. Never before have consumers had as much choice,
or as much money to spend, on their leisure. In theory at
least, we have far more leisure time and holiday than our
ancestors, even if we feel ‘time poor’. Yet there is so
much competition for that time, and for our leisure
pound. And standards are being driven ever higher. Not
only do you have to compete for attention before you
receive any visitors, you have to offer them something
that they perceive as worth leaving the sofa and TV for.
The public have
become more
discerning in the way
they consume, and are
less afraid to be
critical.
Getting ready to tour Leeds Castle,
Kent.
4. Learning to meet visitor expectations
and make their day will also ensure
your team and volunteers are positive
about the challenges they face; making
people happy is something almost
everyone enjoys.
In this guide, I hope to help suggest:
a) How you can find out more about
what your visitors think of you –
without that knowledge, you haven’t
a chance of getting it right
b) The steps you can take to give
yourself a ‘visitor experience
healthcheck’.
Know your visitors
The experience of your museum begins
well before visitors even reach you.
Unless they are tourists working out of
a guide book, most people will visit
either because they’ve heard about
you, or because they’ve looked online.
So they already think they know
something about you. How much do
you know about your visitors?
We are blessed with an incredible
resource our predecessors did not
have. Fifteen years ago, if you wanted
to know what visitors you had, and
what they thought of you, you had to
spend money on customer research. As
a result we imposed our own vision on
customers, and were left rather in the
dark if they didn’t come. Now, with our
ability to capture information online, or
to look at social media websites, we
can find out a massive amount. You can
see where people come from; what
they thought of the experience; and
how they like other places. Tripadviser,
Google, Twitter and Facebook should
be your best friends.
The public have also become more
discerning in the way they consume,
and are less afraid to be critical. They
tell you – and others – about their
experience. That can be scary for the
museum – all those opinions flying
around, and with no ability to counter
them yourself – but actually, it’s the
most amazing tool for you. Your
challenge is first how to engage the
visitors, and then how to channel the
free advice they give you after they’ve
visited into improving the experience
for others. Even if you think online
reviews are rubbish, this is why you
need to take notice of them:
• 30% of people who read your
advertising material will trust it
unquestioningly
• 70% trust online consumer opinion,
BUT
• 92% trust personal recommendation
(including via social media).
So you first want to get your staff,
volunteers, friends and visitors talking
about you, spreading the positive
messages. Then you want to try to
influence – but emphatically not fake –
online opinion, in order to get it
looking positive.
Think about how you respond to
feedback online. If you get negative
feedback, it’s easy to be really
defensive. There’s also a real risk of
getting into an online slanging match,
or of being seen as insincere in any
apology. You want to try and show you
are concerned, but not to get into
protracted explanation online. There’s
a real danger of breathing more oxygen
into the fire – if something is toxic, you
want to cut it off. We’ve found that by
Services Successful Visitor Experience – Getting it Right 4
The personal touch on arrival at
Leeds Castle, Kent.
5. responding to negative social media by
saying something like: “We’re really
sorry to hear this – get in touch direct
and we’d really like to help sort this
out” it gets it out of the public eye, and
calms things down. And you may learn
something by talking direct.
You can also be proactive. Make sure
you find ways of capturing contact
details. This may be through feedback
forms; Gift Aid forms; competitions in
which people have to give their e-mail
addresses. Then ask if you can stay
in touch. A lot of people won’t opt
out if they have had a half-decent
experience, and you promise not
to share your data with others.
Encouraging visitors to find you on
Facebook, or to ‘check in’ and tweet
about their experience also gives you a
new way of reaching them after their
visit. It doesn’t need to be a major,
expensive database – but simply a
mailing list you can grow.
If an issue arises in customer feedback
that you’re uncertain of – you think it’s
a one-off, subjective opinion, but you
aren’t sure – you need to test it out with
others. You could use a focus group. Or
you could ask your visitors. Use your
database – however small – and send
out a simple survey, which you can
make for free using Survey Monkey.
Don’t worry too much about the
science. It’s very easy to over-analyse,
and to fret about whether you are
asking the right questions. Market
researchers will blind you with science,
but that can often paralyse you. Ask
open questions, or offer options, and
you will soon see a trend.
First things first – do you do
what you say on the tin?
The first thing every attraction/
museum/shop/public place has to do
is to tell its users/customers/visitors
5 AIM Success Guides
Impressive front entrance, which
shows exactly what you have come
to see, at the Heritage Motor Centre,
Gaydon.
6. what it is. That way you attract the
right customers, and they know what
to expect. And you can then meet
those expectations.
It starts with the name. There are some
brilliant examples of how names help
people understand the attraction.
So, if you are a museum saddled with
the name of a little known Victorian
explorer, or a steam museum that gets
fed up with being asked where the
trains are, is it worth thinking about
how you can tweak your name, or add
a strapline, to give people a better idea
of what – and where – you are?
If you can’t change the name, think
about your branding and imagery,
whether on your website or on your
doorstep. The fabulous Lyme Regis
Museum has lots more to offer than
just fossils, but being on the site of the
shop which Mary Anning established,
they’ve got some pretty amazing
specimens. It was very clever to make
the paving outside the museum appear
to be made of ammonites. Immediately
the visitors know what they are likely
to find, before they head inside. The
Roald Dahl Museum’s website greets
visitors with: “Welcome to our great
little award-winning and family friendly
museum.” Brilliant. You know exactly
what you are getting.
First impressions count
Okay, so you’ve got the customers
coming to you; they’ve found you, they
like the sound of you. You now have to
make them like the experience.
I recently visited a hugely expensive
new-build museum – part of a
regeneration scheme – and was
completely baffled. The outside told a
great story, with fantastic branding,
really big exhibits. But inside was a
different story. The visitor’s first
impression was that they had walked
into a conference centre – perhaps I
was going to spend the day learning
how to sell cars, or maximise my
revenue, or book a Christmas event.
But actually I was looking for some
exhibits. I found a slot machine (not
Services Successful Visitor Experience – Getting it Right 6
Case Study – A Wizard Name?
The Warner Brothers much-awaited Harry Potter studio experience opened
in Leavesden early last year. Early on, the management realised they
needed to be really clear what they were offering, particularly as they
would be opening after the Orlando ‘Wizarding World of Harry Potter’
theme park. Their experience was – to all intents and purposes – a museum;
showing the artefacts, props and sets developed to make the film, and
explaining the many technical marvels which brought the world of Hogwarts
to life. It isn’t massively interactive, but it is fascinating, as the visitor sees
iconic objects, and can gain an insight into the detail involved in achieving
authenticity. But the key outcome of a visit is an understanding of exactly
how the films were made. Eventually the team decided that the title should
be ‘Warner Bros Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter.’ It isn’t
catchy, but it does exactly what it says on the tin. And the place delights
audiences, with exemplary feedback on Tripadviser, as audiences get exactly
what they were told they will get. Imagine the difference if they had gone
for a more whimsical name, like ‘The Magic of Harry Potter’.
There are some
brilliant examples of
how names help
people understand the
attraction.
8. and passionate, they will communicate
that to the visitor. If they are feeling
hard done by, neglected, unwanted
and pressurised, guess what? They’ll
communicate that too. A little TLC goes
a long way.
Back to that big, new museum. It was
free to the public, so there was no
ticketing process to engage with. So no
obvious focal point for me to find – or
to welcome me. The person I found
sitting at the desk was chatting to a
colleague. She didn’t make eye contact.
She didn’t greet me. I had to ask for
what I wanted. She proffered no
information. She didn’t give a toss.
That just isn’t good enough. I want the
experience I got at Science Oxford. A
young lad in a T- shirt bounced up to
my family. “Hi” he said. “Would the
kids like to join our bubble workshop?
Mum – you pay over there, then have a
cup of coffee – girls – go that way, bang
that drum, try out that magnet, then
the workshop is in five minutes.”
We were all immediately swept up –
welcomed, our needs met, our
afternoon sorted.
The staff costs for the two museums
were identical. The outcome for me as
a customer could not have been more
different.
We know the most important people
our visitors will meet in the course of
the day are our ticketing staff – as they
set the tone for the whole experience.
Whilst it helps if your front of house
team or volunteers are naturally sunny,
happy people, do not forget that you
can teach warmth.
Services Successful Visitor Experience – Getting it Right 8
Elegant signage at Chatsworth
House, Derbyshire.
Case Study – Customer Focus
Titanic Belfast opened last year and has been a resounding success. Their
staff recruitment was exemplary, despite a not very promising
environment. They invited ‘cast members’ to audition. From the outset,
they understood their role was to engage, entertain and welcome their
audience – to be centre stage. They trained the team, before opening to
the public, using the World Host scheme used to train volunteers at the
Olympics. The day before they opened, one 19-year-old lad participated in
the video they made, which they now use to recruit additional team
members. He said with absolute passion and sincerity: “I’m just gagging to
welcome a visitor.” It was enthusiasm you wanted to bottle. They use the
film to inspire new cast members and to show to their funders, who can
see the pride and self esteem being generated by these new jobs.
9. Our caterers are frequently praised
because of their cheerful, friendly
young team. How have they found the
20 members of Generation Y who can
talk to customers? Of course, they
haven’t. They’ve trained them. They
have encouraged them to be warm.
They’ve taught them to enthuse. They
haven’t spent any money. But they’ve
invested time, they treat them well;
and their enthusiasm for the whole
process, and for the castle, now shines
through. They greet every customer
individually, they aim to make peoples’
day. They try to remember them. And
critically, it isn’t just the hello – it’s
also the ‘When will I see you again’
goodbye that is really, really important.
It’s an American programme that they
have followed, but it translates
fantastically well for a young, British
crew who are engaging with a
massively varied audience. The
feedback is great – and we have never
had a complaint that our team are too
friendly.
Not every institution has the means
to put their whole team through a
commissioned training programme –
though it’s not impossibly expensive.
You can train an in-house trainer and
buy all the material for the World Host
programme for under £4,000 which
makes it a pretty low cost if you’ve got
200 staff to engage. It’ll probably pay
back far more quickly than a new
display case. But for smaller
organisations, it’s worth thinking
whether just one customer service
champion could be trained, and then
asked to tell the rest of you about it.
Training one person will cost you £95.
Show you mean business
There’s a lot of misunderstanding
around brand identity. Getting a really
cool logo will not in itself help your
organisation. It only works if it
underlines everything you are about.
But the greatest logo on the planet,
9 AIM Success Guides
A smile at the counter makes all the
difference (The Lightbox, Woking).
10. printed on A4 and laminated, then left
in the rain and scrumpled up will not
communicate the wonders of your
museum. Nor will anything chipped,
dirty, or corrected. If a sign is wrong,
take it away. Build the cost of re-doing
the signage into any development or
change project. You’d be amazed how
many organisations are insistent on
their staff wearing name badges, but
who don’t clean their museum sign
outside their front door. Anything with
your name or logo on it has to be
immaculate.
And signage is important for another
reason. Whilst people do not always
want to be channelled in one direction,
if they are lost, or can’t find what they
are looking for, or don’t know what
your opening hours are, it’s a
frustration which will impact on their
enjoyment of the experience. Get your
secret shoppers, focus group or your
team to walk the visitor route with the
signboards covered up. Ask them to
note as they go what they wanted to
know and when. Check you are
covering those points. You will be
surprised. You’ll find signs that are
completely unnecessary. And you’ll find
some missing. I found out yesterday
that our public loos have two doors –
one which says nothing, which I
assumed to be a store cupboard – and
the other which says ‘NO EXIT’. Hmmm.
And now, for the substance
Visitors to museums and heritage sites
are changing. When traditional
museums were conceived, visitors
were content to stand a respectful
distance behind ropes and view
exhibits behind glass. But people are
no longer prepared to do exactly what
they are told, and experience a place
exactly as you want them to. They need
a range of choices. They are more
demanding – they apply the standards
they experience in movies and on TV,
or at massively-funded national
institutions, to everything they see.
They have other ways in which they
can find out about things – particularly
the internet. They want to engage in
different ways. They want experiences,
rather than to listen or observe in
silence. Generation X wants to press
buttons. Generation Y needs to know
‘why’. So the bottom line is, whatever
you are offering, you have to try and
see it through your customers’ eyes.
This is your bread and butter. You do
need to refresh it. You do need to make
sure your customers like it.
You don’t necessarily have to spend a
fortune. But whatever you do, make
sure you are using focus groups to
‘road test’ not only your current offer,
but new innovations, concepts and
designs. The cleverest designers and
Services Successful Visitor Experience – Getting it Right 10
People are no longer
prepared to do exactly
what they are told,
and experience a
place exactly as you
want them to.
Interactives aimed at families – but
they must all be working (The
Lightbox, Woking).
11. curators working with the biggest
budgets can get this wrong; you only
have to look at Tripadvisor customer
feedback to see that some really big-
ticket projects take a pasting.
There is not space or time here to go
into every element of what you can or
should do with content and display to
enhance the visitor experience. The
best book I’ve read recently on this is
Graham Black’s The Engaging Museum
– Developing Museums for Visitor
Involvement. But the key is to
understand your audience, and listen
to their feedback. Unless you are
aiming at an entirely new audience,
chances are, if your existing audience
likes what you have done when you
make a change, new customers will like
it too. But do think about how you can
tailor elements of your activity to
different demographics. Back at my
nemesis museum, I was impressed to
see on the gallery guide that there was
a daily programme of activity on offer.
But I was less thrilled when I read it –
everything was aimed at a semi-expert
level, with nothing for older children or
the interested amateur.
Key points:
• Match your offer to your audiences
• Give options and layer your
interpretation
• Technology breaks down. Be careful
not to make broken kit the
overwhelming impression of your
museum. Design in a way that
enables you to remove (or at least
cover) things if they are not
operating
• Don’t assume that money and design
will automatically create a great
result. Check before you spend that
this is hitting the right notes with the
people it is aimed at.
11 AIM Success Guides
Judiciously-placed seating always
goes down well (The Lightbox,
Woking).
Catering needs to feel part of the
whole experience (Leeds Castle,
Kent).
13. At the castle, we are fortunate to have
a lot of visitors, all spending a long time
on site – so they need feeding, and like
to go shopping while they are here,
whether to buy souvenirs or to
associate themselves with our brand.
Or just to buy stuff, or to have a good
meal, which are (after all) the most
popular ways of spending leisure time.
This won’t be the case for every
museum. If you are in a town centre,
with lots of places for people to eat
and drink, there is no need to provide
catering as a public service; a cup of
tea can just as easily be found
elsewhere. If the dwell time is under a
couple of hours, people also don’t
need to eat.
I was rather stunned recently when the
director of a local museum told me
that his museum shop wasn’t really
there to make money, and couldn’t
possibly compete with the (hundreds
of) local shops – all selling pretty much
the same stuff. He seemed to feel it
was there because ‘there had always
been a shop’. You will find it difficult to
shift bought-in stock which looks like
the things you can find anywhere on
the high street, or which have your
logo all over it – unless people feel very
positively about you. So don’t do it just
because you think you should; use the
space for something you really want.
The point of shops and catering is to
make money for you. If you can get
them to do that, they also provide an
opportunity to underline your key
messages. But don’t do it unless it
really does make money. Far better to
buddy up with the local café and point
people in that direction, or ask a local
bookshop if they’d like you to sell their
stock.
We are extremely good at managing
castles. We know our stonework, our
history, and if you need a jousting
display, we’re your best bet. But
actually, those skills don’t much help us
work out how many sandwiches we
might need on a bank holiday when
the weather is looking iffy. Catering is a
difficult thing to get right. 50% of all
restaurant businesses fail. For 20 years
we struggled on, generating plenty of
turnover – so selling lots of things. But
to do so, we had to keep a very high
number of staff on board. Our catering
didn’t actually make a profit.
So we found someone else to run it.
People competed for it. If you have a
viable number of visitors, you will
almost certainly find someone who is
prepared to manage the café on your
behalf, and carry the risk – and pay you
some kind of rent. It might be as simple
as the lady from the bakery down the
road who wants to be her own boss. Or
13 AIM Success Guides
Case Study – To Thine Own Self Be True
You don’t have to look like a Michelin-starred restaurant to offer a world
class catering experience. There’s a brilliant example of this in Lambeth,
South London, at the tiny Garden Museum. Their restaurant has been
named the 6th best museum restaurant in the world. Yet it works out of a
space less than 12 square metres; it offers a vegetarian, garden-themed
menu; it has only three staff. But it has absolute authenticity and sense of
place; it is true to the museum’s values and it generates a ‘pull’ in its own
right. They didn’t set out with massive ambitions, but with clear values
and a very strong sense of what they were, they’ve become world class.
Retail and catering are
difficult, and can
make or break an
experience. If in
doubt, don’t do it.
14. it could be any one of the many
commercial catering companies. Leave
it to the experts, and just gratefully
take the money they bring in (though
you’ll still have to police the quality).
Key lessons:
• Do it for the right reasons – profit!
• Be true to your mission and values
• Make sure it all positively reinforces
what you are doing.
Check your assumptions
You may be absolutely right that your
visitor experience is excellent. Let me
know, I’d love to visit. But equally,
please, test it out. If you can’t afford
professional secret shoppers, or to join
a scheme like VAQAS (Visitor Attraction
Quality Assurance Scheme) or Visit
Scotland’s Quality Assurance Scheme,
or in Wales the VAQAS Cymru, make
sure you ask friends and family to
walk the customer journey, from car
park or bus stop, right the way through
your museum. Or ask colleagues from
other AIM members, who will look at
it with both professional and personal
eyes.
Best yet, ask people who wouldn’t
normally visit you to try it out and let
you know what they think. You may
find yourself surprised by what they
find. Recognise that every view –
however subjective, negative or
positive – is valid, and think about how
you can tackle issues they raise. Ask
them about the concrete stuff (i.e. the
loos, the pricing) but also some opinion
stuff. Ask them about how it feels to be
there – an ‘ambience audit’. Ask them
what messages they are picking up.
This costs you nothing, yet can be the
best consultancy support you will ever
have.
Services Successful Visitor Experience – Getting it Right 14
Summary – My Top Ten Tips
• Make sure people can find you, and know where and what you are – and
get a good impression of you online before they come
• Provide a warm welcome and build a rapport with your visitors
• Invest in training and making your team happy
• Meet the expectations you have raised and managed – and make sure
everything works (or can be removed if it breaks down)
• Make sure creature comforts are managed – directional signage, loos,
heating, seating
• If you offer catering and retail, make sure they make money, and
reinforce your brand and values
• Encourage visitors to join you on Facebook, tweet about their visit, and
to write reviews on Tripadviser. Then learn from what they write
• Walk the customer journey from kerb to kerb, and challenge everything
you see asking ‘Is this the best we can be?’
• Use professionals, or create a focus group or engage secret shoppers to
test out the experience and give you an independent review
• Money is not the only investment you need. Don’t let a shortage of funds
be an excuse for not making the most of what you have. It’s more about
attitude and action than about how much you spend.
15. Further support
Useful tips on marketing heritage –
http://www.english–heritage.org.uk/
publications/conservation-bulletin-
64/cb-64-pp1-9.pdf
General information, particularly on
retail –
http://www.acenterprises.org.uk/
For a good online presence –
http://www.roalddahlmuseum.org/
More on the visitor experience –
www.alva.org.uk
For staff training –
http://www.worldhost.uk.com/
programmes
Free survey resources –
www.surveymonkey.com
For visitor attraction quality assurance
schemes, in England –
www.visitengland.org/busdev/
accreditation/attractions/
or in Wales –
http://wales.gov.uk/topics/
cultureandsport/museumsarchives
libraries/cymal/museums/
vaqasformuseums/?lang=en
or in Scotland –
http://www.visitscotland.org/pdf/
J10-0274%20VS%20Criteria%20Visitor
%20Attraction.pdf
15 AIM Success Guides
Victoria Wallace has been Chief
Executive of Leeds Castle in
Kent since 2004, after a career
in the diplomatic service. The
castle welcomes over 550,000
visitors each year, with 40%
repeat visits. The charity has no
permanent endowment and
depends entirely on generated
income to maintain and
preserve the castle.
A costumed interpreter enhances
visitors’ experiences at the
Coalbrookdale Festival, Ironbridge
Gorge for the London 2012 Open
Weekend.