Re: Linda Young's paper

Having participated in Linda's session in Canberra, I can assure you that her
paper is not only interesting, buts sheds much-needed light on an audience most
of us haven't done much research on, as yet - seniors in groups.

It is a group that appears to be rapidly expanding as a museum audience and,
judging by sales in our boutique, it is also quite an affluent one. We have
always had a fair number of seniors come on group tours in September, but this
year we had many more than usual and it was a phenomenon that continued all
through October. We had been projecting a 13.5 to 14% increase in visitation
over the previous fiscal, but I am sure that we will now exceed this. I am told
that October was also a record month for boutique sales.

Like Linda, I am very much interested in the characteristics of this particular
audience segment, what they like and dislike, expect from us, get out of their
visit, etc. We did a very quick study on 8 days in October (the same study used
to begin to collect data on Internet users) to begin to collect data on seniors
and to help us plan further research for the late May-June period, when we get
another such influx. Interestingly, we found that seniors in groups are VERY
willing to stop to complete a 20-question survey form (much more willing than
most visitors). We got 503 responses in 8 days, which is phenomenal for us.

If anyone would like a copy of the study, please let me know and I'll ship you
a diskette. Linda, yours is in the mail!

Harry Needham
Canadian Museum of Civilization