Customer Service with Tom Larkin

What are your customer service issues?
How do you hire for customer service skills?
How does customer service relate to your visitor experience?

This 60-minute online class gave participants the chance to chat live with Tom Larkin, President and CEO of Communico, Ltd, a training and coaching firm based in Connecticut. Mr. Larkin is the co-author of How To Talk to Customers: Create a Great Impression Every Time with MAGIC (John Wiley & Sons, 2007). Tom is a fun and dynamic speaker who was a hit at our customer service session at the NAI conference in Portland.

We covered how to hire for customer service skills and how customer service relates to your overall visitor experience. Tom also shared some training tips you can use with staff and volunteers at your museum or cultural attraction.

Download includes the chat transcript, PowerPoint slides, and a recommended reading list. Learn More

What problems are you having with outdoor signage?
Do you need advice on materials or construction?
How are other outdoor sites handling their signage?

Outdoor signage presents its own set of unique challenges; new technologies provide many effective solutions. This 45-minute recorded class features video of Tanya Bredehoft of Artefact Design, who has extensive experience with outdoor interpretive signage and environmental graphics.

Attendees submitted problems and photos for inclusion in the class. Learn More

We have a no-refusal pricing policy. Contact us if you need a discount on the fee.

Participatory Museums with Nina Simon

How do you get visitors involved with your museum?
What does a participatory museum look like?
What can we do with limited resources?

This 75-minute online class provided an opportunity to chat live with author and exhibit designer Nina Simon, based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Nina was the inspiring keynote speaker at the last CAM conference in San Jose.

Nina's new book The Participatory Museum, is full of wonderful ideas, both high and low tech, to create engaging museum spaces. She shared ideas and examples in a give-and-take chat.

Participants sent in questions in advance as well as asking them throughout the webinar. Learn More

What a great opportunity to communicate directly with a leading authority in the field, in a manageable virtual classroom with a small number of like-minded professionals.
April Oswald, Museum Education Director
Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute


Contact us if you'd like to be notified if we schedule another live session

Dr. John H. Falk on Identity in Museum Visitors

What is a recharger?
What do visitors want?
What kinds of goals do visitors have?

This 60-minute online class gave attendees the chance to chat live with Dr. John H. Falk, founder of the Institute for Learning Innovation and now Sea Grant Professor of Free-Choice Learning at Oregon State University. Dr. Falk is the author of numerous key books in the museum field, including Learning from Museums. His latest book is Identity and the Museum Visitor Experience (Left Coast Press, 2009).

We discussed the five "identities" that visitors don—including one called recharger—when visiting cultural institutions, and the implications for marketing, exhibits, programs, and visitor services.

Attendees sent in specific questions in advance. Learn More

FREE! No need to add to your cart.

Part 1 of the series:
Do you need to get more visitors in your front door?
Interested in learning more about branding?
Want to create a better first impression for your visitors?

This 17-minute recorded webinar covers Step 1 of the Experienceology 8-step process: Invitation. The Invitation includes PR, marketing, websites, street signage, and parking lots. A great, quick overview, perfect for viewing while eating lunch at your desk (you know you do it).

Learn More

Part 2 of the series:
Need to make a better first impression?
Concerned about your customer service?
Wondering where to begin?

This 19-minute recorded webinar covers Step 2 of the Experienceology 8-step process: Welcome. The Welcome includes front entrances, first impressions, and customer service. It's full of current examples of best practices, and practical tips you can apply right away. Learn More

Part 3 of the series:
Are your visitors lost in space?
Does your map help or hurt your experience?
Is your space disorienting?

This 18-minute recorded webinar covers Step 3 of the Experienceology 8-step process: Orientation. Orientation includes the transition zone, maps, advance organizers, and wayfinding systems. Filled with practical, specific tips you can use to improve your orientation and help your visitors make the most of your facility. Learn More

Part 4 of the series:
Where is the bathroom?
Where can we eat?
Do you have a drinking fountain?

There's a reason why these questions top the list at front desks around the world. Basic comfort needs MUST be met before your visitors can connect with your content or your collections. This 16-minute recorded webinar covers Step 4 of the Experienceology 8-step process: Comfort. Comfort includes rest rooms, refreshments, seating, and safety. You'll see practical and inspiring examples to get you started making comfort a priority. Learn More

Part 5 of the series:
What does visitor-centered interpretation look like?
How do we help visitors connect with our collections?
How do we inspire visitor action?

Truly effective communication is the key educational mission of all nonprofit cultural attractions. This 17-minute recorded webinar covers Step 5 of the Experienceology 8-step process: Communication. The Communication step includes personal interpretation as well as interpretive signage and other media. Learn More