Open Forum

Hello Everyone --- The evaluation team at Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum hopes to organize a session proposal for the upcoming AAM Annual Meeting (St Louis, MO, May 7-10) that includes case studies, theory and replicable practices. Building from work at the Intrepid  we hope to collaborate with cultural institutions from across the country.

Key areas that we are considering include:

• “defining success” as an institution, by department, program, exhibition, etc.
• new insights into metrics used, analysis, and data dissemination among an institution’s stakeholders and constituents
• internal evaluation protocols, best practices and consistency of habits
• purposeful collecting of content-focused / experience-focused qualitative data from visitors and program participants – designed according to how success is defined
• how is market research (such as demographics, levels of education, etc.) collected in relation to content / experience data

If you relate to any of these topics at your institution and in your work, please reach out…Depending on responses and interest perhaps this can even develop into more than 1 session.

Thank you all and hope to hear from you soon.

Sheri

Hi Sheri,

I'd be happy to talk to you about this topic - we have been producing a visitor metrics dashboard for 2 years now, and recently completed an in depth study of the dynamics and nature of visitor experience and satisfaction here at OMCA. We've also instituted a Visitor Research Forum made up of leadership from across the organization to strategize and prioritize research and evaluation needs plus work on the culture shift required to become a more data-oriented organization and incorporate lessons learned into our work and decision-making. Let me know if you'd like to connect.

Kelly

Hello Everyone --- The evaluation team at Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum hopes to organize a session proposal for the upcoming AAM Annual Meeting (St Louis, MO, May 7-10) that includes case studies, theory and replicable practices. Building from work at the Intrepid  we hope to collaborate with cultural institutions from across the country.

Key areas that we are considering include:

• “defining success” as an institution, by department, program, exhibition, etc.
• new insights into metrics used, analysis, and data dissemination among an institution’s stakeholders and constituents
• internal evaluation protocols, best practices and consistency of habits
• purposeful collecting of content-focused / experience-focused qualitative data from visitors and program participants – designed according to how success is defined
• how is market research (such as demographics, levels of education, etc.) collected in relation to content / experience data

If you relate to any of these topics at your institution and in your work, please reach out…Depending on responses and interest perhaps this can even develop into more than 1 session.

Thank you all and hope to hear from you soon.

Sheri

Hello Everyone --- The evaluation team at Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum hopes to organize a session proposal for the upcoming AAM Annual Meeting (St Louis, MO, May 7-10) that includes case studies, theory and replicable practices. Building from work at the Intrepid  we hope to collaborate with cultural institutions from across the country.

Key areas that we are considering include:

• “defining success” as an institution, by department, program, exhibition, etc.
• new insights into metrics used, analysis, and data dissemination among an institution’s stakeholders and constituents
• internal evaluation protocols, best practices and consistency of habits
• purposeful collecting of content-focused / experience-focused qualitative data from visitors and program participants – designed according to how success is defined
• how is market research (such as demographics, levels of education, etc.) collected in relation to content / experience data

If you relate to any of these topics at your institution and in your work, please reach out…Depending on responses and interest perhaps this can even develop into more than 1 session.

Thank you all and hope to hear from you soon.

Sheri

I don't know if this is relevant to your inquiry Sheri but this year Boscovel House and Gardens is conducting a Marist visitor survey to learn about why our visitors come here, how they heard of us, and what the quality of their visiting experience was.  It is not focused on demographics but on content.  I have always wanted to do such a survey and have, in a somewhat home-grown manner,  But to be able to do it "professionally" and have by an esteemed polling institute is such a treat.  The folks at Marist College (Poughkeepsie) trained us and set up the template.  We are using volunteers to help assure some neutrality of implementation.  So far the results are not surprising but that too can be important as I have no interest in jarring something so successful as we plan future developments here.

Regards,

Steve 

Hello Everyone --- The evaluation team at Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum hopes to organize a session proposal for the upcoming AAM Annual Meeting (St Louis, MO, May 7-10) that includes case studies, theory and replicable practices. Building from work at the Intrepid  we hope to collaborate with cultural institutions from across the country.

Key areas that we are considering include:

• “defining success” as an institution, by department, program, exhibition, etc.
• new insights into metrics used, analysis, and data dissemination among an institution’s stakeholders and constituents
• internal evaluation protocols, best practices and consistency of habits
• purposeful collecting of content-focused / experience-focused qualitative data from visitors and program participants – designed according to how success is defined
• how is market research (such as demographics, levels of education, etc.) collected in relation to content / experience data

If you relate to any of these topics at your institution and in your work, please reach out…Depending on responses and interest perhaps this can even develop into more than 1 session.

Thank you all and hope to hear from you soon.

Sheri

Hi all!

Excited to see these ideas flying around! Can I just say that you absolutely want Kelly McKinley on your panel - I facilitated a panel last year with her on it, and she is a rock star!

CARE has discussed the idea of an instrument "triage" session to break down the barrier that we are limited by surveys - "Just do a survey" as we often hear in our institutions. We talked about a session where a moderator or facilitator proposes an evaluation or research question, and the panelists provide ideas of different methods they have used or could use to answer the question. Real case studies would be best, given we could find common questions we've all tackled. A lot of the topics you bring up in this thread, such as what does success look like and why guests visit, might make good common research questions.

Reach out to me if you are interested - or continue this great discussion on Museum Junction!

Cheers,

I don't know if this is relevant to your inquiry Sheri but this year Boscovel House and Gardens is conducting a Marist visitor survey to learn about why our visitors come here, how they heard of us, and what the quality of their visiting experience was.  It is not focused on demographics but on content.  I have always wanted to do such a survey and have, in a somewhat home-grown manner,  But to be able to do it "professionally" and have by an esteemed polling institute is such a treat.  The folks at Marist College (Poughkeepsie) trained us and set up the template.  We are using volunteers to help assure some neutrality of implementation.  So far the results are not surprising but that too can be important as I have no interest in jarring something so successful as we plan future developments here.

Regards,

Steve 

Hello Everyone --- The evaluation team at Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum hopes to organize a session proposal for the upcoming AAM Annual Meeting (St Louis, MO, May 7-10) that includes case studies, theory and replicable practices. Building from work at the Intrepid  we hope to collaborate with cultural institutions from across the country.

Key areas that we are considering include:

• “defining success” as an institution, by department, program, exhibition, etc.
• new insights into metrics used, analysis, and data dissemination among an institution’s stakeholders and constituents
• internal evaluation protocols, best practices and consistency of habits
• purposeful collecting of content-focused / experience-focused qualitative data from visitors and program participants – designed according to how success is defined
• how is market research (such as demographics, levels of education, etc.) collected in relation to content / experience data

If you relate to any of these topics at your institution and in your work, please reach out…Depending on responses and interest perhaps this can even develop into more than 1 session.

Thank you all and hope to hear from you soon.

Sheri

Marley -- I love this idea of discussing other methods beyond surveys. If you're looking for presenters, let me know. I or one of my colleagues might be interested.

Liz Kollmann

Hi all!

Excited to see these ideas flying around! Can I just say that you absolutely want Kelly McKinley on your panel - I facilitated a panel last year with her on it, and she is a rock star!

CARE has discussed the idea of an instrument "triage" session to break down the barrier that we are limited by surveys - "Just do a survey" as we often hear in our institutions. We talked about a session where a moderator or facilitator proposes an evaluation or research question, and the panelists provide ideas of different methods they have used or could use to answer the question. Real case studies would be best, given we could find common questions we've all tackled. A lot of the topics you bring up in this thread, such as what does success look like and why guests visit, might make good common research questions.

Reach out to me if you are interested - or continue this great discussion on Museum Junction!

Cheers,

I don't know if this is relevant to your inquiry Sheri but this year Boscovel House and Gardens is conducting a Marist visitor survey to learn about why our visitors come here, how they heard of us, and what the quality of their visiting experience was.  It is not focused on demographics but on content.  I have always wanted to do such a survey and have, in a somewhat home-grown manner,  But to be able to do it "professionally" and have by an esteemed polling institute is such a treat.  The folks at Marist College (Poughkeepsie) trained us and set up the template.  We are using volunteers to help assure some neutrality of implementation.  So far the results are not surprising but that too can be important as I have no interest in jarring something so successful as we plan future developments here.

Regards,

Steve 

Hello Everyone --- The evaluation team at Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum hopes to organize a session proposal for the upcoming AAM Annual Meeting (St Louis, MO, May 7-10) that includes case studies, theory and replicable practices. Building from work at the Intrepid  we hope to collaborate with cultural institutions from across the country.

Key areas that we are considering include:

• “defining success” as an institution, by department, program, exhibition, etc.
• new insights into metrics used, analysis, and data dissemination among an institution’s stakeholders and constituents
• internal evaluation protocols, best practices and consistency of habits
• purposeful collecting of content-focused / experience-focused qualitative data from visitors and program participants – designed according to how success is defined
• how is market research (such as demographics, levels of education, etc.) collected in relation to content / experience data

If you relate to any of these topics at your institution and in your work, please reach out…Depending on responses and interest perhaps this can even develop into more than 1 session.

Thank you all and hope to hear from you soon.

Sheri

Hello Everyone --- The evaluation team at Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum hopes to organize a session proposal for the upcoming AAM Annual Meeting (St Louis, MO, May 7-10) that includes case studies, theory and replicable practices. Building from work at the Intrepid  we hope to collaborate with cultural institutions from across the country.

Key areas that we are considering include:

• “defining success” as an institution, by department, program, exhibition, etc.
• new insights into metrics used, analysis, and data dissemination among an institution’s stakeholders and constituents
• internal evaluation protocols, best practices and consistency of habits
• purposeful collecting of content-focused / experience-focused qualitative data from visitors and program participants – designed according to how success is defined
• how is market research (such as demographics, levels of education, etc.) collected in relation to content / experience data

If you relate to any of these topics at your institution and in your work, please reach out…Depending on responses and interest perhaps this can even develop into more than 1 session.

Thank you all and hope to hear from you soon.

Sheri