Open Forum

Hey Guys, I have a question about people counters. Our galleries are upstairs, but our counter is at the main door, so we capture everyone coming in the building whether it is to attend a function in our downstairs classroom space or performance hall or to purchase tickets. I'm just curious about what other museums do. Thanks so much for any input.

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Kathy Rogers
Executive Director
Piedmont Arts Association
Martinsville VA
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We hard count everyone at our front desk with a "clicker" and make a tally on a daily sheet to indicate any special events or rentals.  25 years ago, it was about a 60/40 split, people coming for rentals vs those primarily viewing the museum; now it's more like 75/25.  Doesn't bother me . . . they're all using the resource, one way or another.

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James Mackay
Director
The Lyceum
Alexandria VA
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-25-2015 09:58 AM
From: Kathy Rogers
Subject: People Counters

Hey Guys, I have a question about people counters. Our galleries are upstairs, but our counter is at the main door, so we capture everyone coming in the building whether it is to attend a function in our downstairs classroom space or performance hall or to purchase tickets. I'm just curious about what other museums do. Thanks so much for any input.

------------------------------
Kathy Rogers
Executive Director
Piedmont Arts Association
Martinsville VA
------------------------------

Hi Kathy,

I'm curious...is your people counter a human being or an mechanical/digital device?
We find the clicker system to be wildly inaccurate and would like another means to count our visitors.

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Tamsen Young
Digital Media & Strategic Initiatives Manager
Museum at FIT
New York NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-25-2015 09:58 AM
From: Kathy Rogers
Subject: People Counters

Hey Guys, I have a question about people counters. Our galleries are upstairs, but our counter is at the main door, so we capture everyone coming in the building whether it is to attend a function in our downstairs classroom space or performance hall or to purchase tickets. I'm just curious about what other museums do. Thanks so much for any input.

------------------------------
Kathy Rogers
Executive Director
Piedmont Arts Association
Martinsville VA
------------------------------

Original Message------

Hi Kathy,

I'm curious...is your people counter a human being or an mechanical/digital device?
We find the clicker system to be wildly inaccurate and would like another means to count our visitors.

------------------------------
Tamsen Young
Digital Media & Strategic Initiatives Manager
Museum at FIT
New York NY
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 03-25-2015 09:58 AM
From: Kathy Rogers
Subject: People Counters

Hey Guys, I have a question about people counters. Our galleries are upstairs, but our counter is at the main door, so we capture everyone coming in the building whether it is to attend a function in our downstairs classroom space or performance hall or to purchase tickets. I'm just curious about what other museums do. Thanks so much for any input.

------------------------------
Kathy Rogers
Executive Director
Piedmont Arts Association
Martinsville VA
------------------------------

I recommend adding entrance counters at gallery doors, especially in a multi-use facility.  they allow you to determine how much of the visitorship is driven by the galleries, information that can be very useful for budgeting and staffing.

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Barbara Cohen-Stratyner PhD
Curator of Exhibitions
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
New York NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-25-2015 09:58 AM
From: Kathy Rogers
Subject: People Counters

Hey Guys, I have a question about people counters. Our galleries are upstairs, but our counter is at the main door, so we capture everyone coming in the building whether it is to attend a function in our downstairs classroom space or performance hall or to purchase tickets. I'm just curious about what other museums do. Thanks so much for any input.

------------------------------
Kathy Rogers
Executive Director
Piedmont Arts Association
Martinsville VA
------------------------------

We have staff and volunteers use a hand counter, clicker, like what was mentioned before. We use this both to track the number of visitors through an exhibit, or sometimes how many people stop by a facilitated cart, we also count/estimate how many visitors attend the shows that we offer. In the past we've used a digital counter, but that was more for crowd control in a new exhibit. The entrance and exit were in 2 locations of the gallery, so we could track how many people were going in and then coming out so we could send more people in. ------------------------------ Amber Parham Museum Educator/Performer Denver Museum of Nature & Science Denver CO ------------------------------
Original Message: Sent: 03-25-2015 09:58 AM From: Kathy Rogers Subject: People Counters Hey Guys, I have a question about people counters. Our galleries are upstairs, but our counter is at the main door, so we capture everyone coming in the building whether it is to attend a function in our downstairs classroom space or performance hall or to purchase tickets. I'm just curious about what other museums do. Thanks so much for any input. ------------------------------ Kathy Rogers Executive Director Piedmont Arts Association Martinsville VA ------------------------------

We have guards posted at 3 of our main entrances that use clickers to count visitors as they walk in. We compare this  "post" count against our ticketed sales from Admissions to determine how many people came and only visited our Café and Gift Shop.

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Caitlin Linkous
Accountant Assistant
Frist Center for the Visual Arts
Nashville TN
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-25-2015 09:58 AM
From: Kathy Rogers
Subject: People Counters

Hey Guys, I have a question about people counters. Our galleries are upstairs, but our counter is at the main door, so we capture everyone coming in the building whether it is to attend a function in our downstairs classroom space or performance hall or to purchase tickets. I'm just curious about what other museums do. Thanks so much for any input.

------------------------------
Kathy Rogers
Executive Director
Piedmont Arts Association
Martinsville VA
------------------------------