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Just reporting out on what we were told. That said, I do have the sense that what Jason is experiencing is a trend experienced by other institutions in our area (we're both in CT).
-J
-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network on behalf of Charles Carlson
Sent: Tue 1/8/2013 10:37 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: attendance
ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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Hi All,
I'm very dubious of such claims as well, and I'll bet the data is close to nil, a one off observation and attribution. And hindsight is always 20/20. There are so many variables in play. It's probably useful to work towards steady admissions and creative things that attract visitors. And I'll bet the marketing consultant got a pretty penny and that is predictable.
After a big and robust study, we were told our market share would gradually decrease by several percentage points a year over the next 20 years, and it's absolutely proven not to be true. Was it bad for us to be told that our attendance was going to go down, probably not, we followed there prescriptive recommendations--like do creative stuff to attract visitors and it worked. But we probably didn't need to told that, since everybody instantaneously forgot the recommendation shortly after it was made. It looked good on paper for it's brief moment in the sun and we were all prepared for a downturn which we creatively evaded.
As I agree, it's a complex issue.
All the best,
C
On Jan 8, 2013, at 6:24 PM, Eric Siegel <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
>
> Hello, Jamie et al:
>
> This is the first time I have ever heard this kind of rationale, that as the economy improves museums (I assume that's what you mean by "institutions like ours") experience decreases in attendance. I would love to see some broader data that supports that. I am very skeptical about the pent up vacation spending rationale. I don't have an answer for Jason, and there doesn't seem to be any consistent shift in attendance at NY museums who share data other than a significant fall off in school visits due to Sandy and other factors that affect the schools.
>
> I could speculate all day long, but the responses wouldn't be much different...budget more conservatively, make sure your programming and marketing is functioning efficiently and well, and try to come up with creative things the museum can do to attract visitors. I do like the tropical fish show at the Buhl idea a lot. People are much too strict in their interpretation of mission. ;^)
>
> Eric
> On Jan 8, 2013, at 7:18 PM, Jamie Alonzo <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
>> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
>> *****************************************************************************
>>
>> FYI - We recently had a consultation resulting from an extremely robust market research project where it we learned that - historically, as the economy improves - institutions like ours tend to experience decreases in attendance, and that we should be working toward steady admission (i.e. as opposed to increases over the next FY) as a result. Additionally, there is evidently substantial pent-up vacation spending that tends to be 'released' in the form of travel outside of local areas when the economy improves.
>> Best,
>> Jamie
>>
>>>>
>>>> All,
>>>>
>>>> I know this is a common thread but we are interested in how
>>>> your attendance has been this past fall. We are an
>>>> aviation museum in CT that offers the traditional aviation
>>>> artifacts and exhibits with lots of science and aviation
>>>> demonstrations, programs, workshops, etc driven by a very
>>>> solid floor staff. Usually we track pretty well year
>>>> by year with only 5% variations either way. Our member
>>>> base is very strong and we have great community/corporate
>>>> support. However this fall we have noticed a 30%
>>>> drop. As you can imagine this is quite
>>>> alarming. And to be honest we are not too
>>>> sure why. A colleague of mine was alarmed
>>>> to find that attendance on a recent Sunday at a major museum
>>>> was scary low. This got us thinking (which
>>>> usually gets us into trouble).
>>>>
>>>> Is it the weather, the economy, the recent elections, our
>>>> near death experience with the end of the Mayan calendar,
>>>> all of these, none of these? None of this made sense
>>>> to us. Maybe this is a temporary but unusual blip for
>>>> us. We didn't feel that was right either.
>>>>
>>>> We did discuss this - With the ever increasing access to
>>>> media and entertainment, we were wondering if more and more
>>>> people are selecting to stay at home. That the idea of
>>>> going out and engaging in an activity outside the home is
>>>> not as attractive or common as it use to be. To put it
>>>> another way, we are wondering if there has been a societal
>>>> change in people's use of and attendance at museums.
>>>> We were wondering if we are seeing the beginning of
>>>> declining attendance or flat attendance at museums. I
>>>> know, scary. Like I said we are usual pretty well
>>>> attended and will commonly track better than other museums
>>>> in our community.
>>>>
>>>> We wanted to see what others thought. I hope I
>>>> explained this correctly and am happy to provide
>>>> clarification on our thoughts.
>>>>
>>>> Clear skies,
>>>>
>>>> Jason
>>>>
>>>> Jason T. Archer
>>>> Director of Floor Programs
>>>> NEW ENGLAND AIR MUSEUM<http://www.neam.org/>
Charles Carlson
Senior Scientist
exploratorium
3601 Lyon St.
San Francisco, CA 94123
[log in to unmask]
Tel: 415-528-4319
Fax: 415-885-6011
Skype: sciskypecharlie
MobileMe: [log in to unmask]
Twitter: charliec53
http://blogs.exploratorium.edu/whyintercept/
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