Short description:

Delivering the Visitor Experience is a practical guide to creating and managing the visitor experience in your museum. Whether you are running an established visitor attraction or creating a new experience from scratch, this book combines expert advice, transferable models and diverse case studies from across the sector to inspire and develop your practise.

Long description:

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 experience 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.

'Delivering the Visitor Experience: How to Create, Manage and Develop an Unforgettable Visitor Experience at Your Museum" by museum curator expert Rachel Mackay is an ideal instruction manual and guide for all museum curators, both experienced and inexperienced alike -- making it an essential, core addition to personal, professional, and academic library Library/Museum Information Science collections and supplemental Library Science/Museum Management curriculum studies lists.'

Table of Contents:

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