I would like to recommend a new book that I recently picked up called The
Experience Economy.  It is written by B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore
and published by Harvard Business School Press.

Museums have this wonderful resource and environment that could connect
better to our guests and expand our audience if we think about enhancing the
emotional and sensory experiences we provide. Many times we focus on the
cognitive and forget about senses. Hands on museums get folks more involved
in experiences, but do we think about the textures we provide our visitors to
touch.  Art museums are wonderful in connecting visitors to visual stimuli
but do we think enough about how different auditory textures might enhance or
change a visitors perception and understanding of a piece of work.  I was
recently in Chihuly's workshop watching his team work on a new glass art
sculpture.  Hard Rock and Roll was the protocal for the day.  I have never
seen Chihuly's work displayed with Rock and Roll.  Wouldn't it be interesting
to have one gallery of his work with Rock and another with Classical and
spark a variety of interpretations of his work as we fill in the experiencial
canvas.  How often do we think of adding appropriate frangrances to a
historical environment to recreate what a family might have experienced in
another historic period.

It would be great to see some responses from museums who have looked at
enhancing the "experience" to better inspire our visitors. What kind of
responses have you gotten.

Many people have resisted adding "experience" to their galleries because it
is too Disney.  Wouldn't it be a great step forward if we, as an industry,
used some of the experience development techniques that Disney uses so
succesfully, to better inspire, educate and communicate with our visitors.
And I do mean the appropriate techniques.  We don't want to be Disney
museums, but they do understand how to spark the emotions and attract
audiences.

Wouldn't we love to connect visitors to how it feels to be an inventor in a
technology museum not just show the piece of equipment.  Wouldn't we just
love to increase the understanding of a piece of art work by bringing
visitors into the context in which the art work was created.

I'd love to hear your responses.

Stephen Brand
The New Enterprise Factory
566 White Pond Drive
Akron, OH 44320
330-864-1518
[log in to unmask]
www.enterprisingmuseums.com

I am presently working with Ford Motor Compan

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