The visitors’ voices

LIB: Why do we need visitor research in the first place?

Dr Inga Specht: We want to be aligned with our visitors’ needs. Our research must be open to their needs, perspectives, interests, expectations, and prerequisites. It needs to consider all of these aspects to strive to constantly improve our offerings and to align our facility even better with our audience in the future.

Hae-Yon Weon-Kettenhofen: For me as head of education and outreach programmes, it is important to build a relationship with our visitors. Just as in any other relationship, I have to get to know the other person involved. Who are you, then? What are your requirements and expectations when you visit us? What can we do to make you feel at home with us and give you great and meaningful learning experiences?

LIB: Have you noticed any changes in the needs of visitors?

H. Weon-Kettenhofen: Our educational work has shown us that young people in particular are gaining less and less direct experience of nature and are engaging less with nature-related subjects. One way in which this is reflected is that fewer and fewer people are familiar with animal and plant species. At the same time, their experience in the digital world is increasing, which influences their habits and perceptions. In spite of these developments, we are delighted to see that our visitors continue to be fascinated by our exhibits and lifelike landscape representations and find it exciting to come into contact with real, authentic objects and materials. I can also see that visitors’ expectations of their visit to the museum are increasing. They no longer come just to learn but are looking for a place where they can enjoy their free time. This development towards a social place for learning and leisure experiences is being recognised by more and more museums, which are adapting their offerings accordingly to meet the new needs of their visitors.

I. Specht: Museums have to change. The decision to visit a museum is also a decision to forego other leisure options for it. It’s good to know why people come to us, who they are, and what they expect of us.

LIB: What digital programmes are you working on at the moment?

I. Specht: We have a number of digital offerings such as the digital escape game “Project Pollination”. An educational platform is also currently being developed. The game and the platform are designed so that they can be accessed independently of a visit to the museum. We consider the connection to the museum in our digital offerings as well. Our audio guide will soon be available for download so that people can use it on their own devices. As the different areas are intermingled and the boundaries are fluid, we offer a broad spectrum of analogue to digital elements.

We have taken care to make the bus and its programmes as accessible as possible. The bus contains small showcases with exhibits of native species and has media stations where films can be shown, recordings of animal sounds can be played, or small minigames are available. We also bring along some equipment for observing animals and two microscopy workstations where we can analyse finds more closely. This lets us take the museum to the people and invite them to discover and experience (urban) nature.

LIB: How are the values of inclusion and diversity integrated into the exhibitions?

I. Specht: Inclusivity and diversity are intersectional issues that are relevant to all areas of our museum. We are working on a strategic plan to anchor these values in our institution. This applies to our internal staff as well.

LIB: Why do we need visitor research?

Dr Inga Specht: We want to be aligned with our visitors’ needs. Our research must be open to their needs, perspectives, interests, expectations, and prerequisites. It needs to consider all of these aspects to strive to constantly improve our offerings and to align our facility even better with our audience in the future.

Hae-Yon Weon-Kettenhofen: For me as head of education and outreach programmes, it is important to build a relationship with our visitors. Just as in any other relationship, I have to get to know the other person involved. Who are you, then? What are your requirements and expectations when you visit us? What can we do to make you feel at home with us and give you great and meaningful learning experiences?

LIB: Have you noticed any changes in the needs of visitors?

H. Weon-Kettenhofen: We have noticed that young people in particular are gaining less and less direct experience of nature and are engaging with nature-related subjects in our educational work. One way in which this is reflected is that fewer and fewer people are familiar with animal and plant species. At the same time, their experience in the digital world is increasing, which influences their habits and perceptions. In spite of these developments, we are delighted to see that our visitors continue to be fascinated by our exhibits and lifelike landscape representations and find it exciting to come into contact with real, authentic objects and materials. I can also see that visitors’ expectations of their visit to the museum are increasing. They no longer come just to learn but are looking for a place where they can enjoy their free time. This will continue to develop in the future, particularly because the options are also expanding thanks to technologies such as virtual and augmented reality.

H. Weon-Kettenhofen: I think that we as a museum need to be even bolder when it comes to digitality. The digital world is a world of its own, with its own special characteristics.

LIB: In addition to these digital measures, you are also working on very specific analogue experiences outside of the museum.

H. Weon-Kettenhofen: We want to use our “Museum Koenig mobil” museum bus to reach people who cannot or do not come to our museum. We plan to visit schools and kindergartens, but also to be present in public places. We have taken care to make the bus and its programmes as accessible as possible to give as many people as possible access. The bus contains small showcases with exhibits of native species and has media stations where films can be shown, recordings of animal sounds can be played, or small minigames are available. We also bring along some equipment for observing animals and two microscopy workstations where we can analyse finds more closely. This lets us take the museum to the people and invite them to discover and experience (urban) nature.

LIB: How are the values of inclusion and diversity integrated into the exhibitions?

I. Specht: Inclusivity and diversity are intersectional issues that are relevant to all areas of our museum. We are working on a strategic plan to anchor these values in our institution. This applies to our internal staff as well. We also need to train our employees in intercultural competence and learn how we can better reflect the diversity of society. It is important to us that we open up so that we can continue to be relevant to society in the future and create a place that fills people with joy and meaning.