Delivering the Visitor Experience

How to Create, Manage and Develop an Unforgettable Visitor Experience at Your Museum
1. Auflage 2023
ISBN: 978-1-78330-549-0
Verlag: Taylor & Francis

Buch, Englisch, 224 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Visitor Experience has been a long neglected aspect of museum practise, receiving less academic attention than areas such as exhibition design or collections care. Despite this, the quality of the visitor experience is the single biggest factor which will influence visitors returning to your museum, or recommending a visit to friends or family.

It is also the area of museum practise that has undergone the biggest change in the last twenty years. The image of the aged security warder shouting at children to not touch the exhibits has long gone. Now, museum visitors expect teams of friendly, knowledgeable and passionate people ready to engage them with the museum in an interactive and enthusiastic way. Expectations have never been higher, and as they grow, museums must develop the visitor experiences they deliver in order to meet them.

The book discusses the process of delivering a visitor from beginning to end; from opening a new visitor offer and building a team through to future planning and strategies for development. It draws from theories from practitioners and academics, arguing that by examining issues such as motivation and relevance, museum operators can start to truly put themselves in their visitors' shoes and build experiences that are impactful and unforgettable.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate, Professional Practice & Development, and Professional Reference

Autoren/Hrsg.

Mackay, Rachel

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft | Kulturwissenschaften Museumskunde, Materielle Kultur, Erinnerungskultur
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Betriebswirtschaft Management
• Interdisziplinäres Bibliothekswesen, Informationswissenschaften Bibliothekswesen, Informationswissenschaften, Archivwesen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Section 1. Creating the Visitor Experience 1. Recruiting Your Visitor Experience Team 2. Delivering a Great Induction 3. Volunteering and the Visitor Experience 4. Visitor Journey Mapping 5. Ticketing, Capacities and Crowd Management Section 2. Managing the Visitor Experience 6. Operational Procedures 7. Performance Management 8. Emotion and the Visitor Experience 9. Guided Tours 10. Crisis Management Section 3. Developing the Visitor Experience 11. Advocating for the Visitor Experience 12. Measuring the Visitor Experience 13. Creating a Visitor Experience Strategy 14. Continuing Development and Engagement 15. Innovation and Visitor Experience Teams 16. Change Management

Über Autor(innen)

Rachel Mackay was born in Dundee, Scotland. After starting out in museum cafés, she moved to London in 2009 and carved out a career developing and delivering the visitor experience in roles at Madame Tussauds, the Natural History Museum, and Kew Palace. Rachel runs a web resource for museum professionals focused on operations and Visitor Experience planning at threcoveryroomblog.com, for which she was shortlisted for a Museums and Heritage Award in 2021. Today, Rachel is the Head of Hampton Court Palace for Historic Royal Palaces, where she oversees operational and experience delivery for visitors to Henry VIII's iconic pleasure palace.