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Beryl;

No real data but we see (or my colleagues who watch this see) the 
same mothers bringing their young children to the pre school space 
and we know that some visitors come back to our biochemistry 
discovery lab and are upset if they cannot get into it because of 
other use of the space. I would also argue that programs are 
important to visitors based on how they flock to activities (Darwin's 
Birthday), cart activities or prototypes that we put on the museum 
floor. It would be wonderful to have the resources to track this and 
I will suggest it for our next round of visitor surveys to our 
Marketing group.

Don't think you can go wrong using the idea for planning purposes.

Martin

>
>
>Hi all,
>Is anyone aware of any research conducted on the role of programs in 
>repeat visitation?  My gut (and anecdotal experience) tells me that 
>visitors may come to a museum or science center to see an exhibition 
>once or *maybe* twice, but it is the programs that keep them coming 
>back repeatedly, and a major draw for members. This is more than a 
>bar bet, I will be using this in a planning document.
>Thanks,
>Beryl
>
>Beryl Rosenthal
>[log in to unmask]
>Dir. of Education and Public Programs
>MIT Museum
>265 Massachusetts Ave.
>Cambridge, MA 02139
>(617)452-2111 (t)
>(617)253-8994 (f)
>
>
>
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-- 
Martin Weiss, Ph.D
Vice President, Science
New York Hall of Science
47-01 111 th Street
Corona, New York 11368
718 699 0005 x 356

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