Podcasts about Discovery Centre

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is Paul Marden.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website rubbercheese.com/podcast.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcast.Competition ends on 11th December 2024. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Our guests:https://www.wethecurious.org/ Chris Dunford, Sustainability and Science Director at We The Curious As Sustainability and Science Director, Chris Dunford has been responsible for Sustainable Futures at We The Curious since 2011. During that time, he has introduced a sector-leading programme of environmental best practice, innovative technologies, and organisational change. In 2019, We The Curious became the first science centre in the world to declare a climate emergency and pledged to meet ambitious decarbonisation targets in this decade, implemented alongside climate change adaptation.Beyond We The Curious, Chris has held positions as Head of Environmental Sustainability at UKRI, Elected Director of the Bristol Green Capital Partnership, Mentor of Arizona State University's ‘Sustainability in Science Museums' Global Fellowship, and Chair of the ASDC Decarbonisation Group. Chris' background is in science communication and stand-up comedy. https://w5online.co.uk/Victoria Denoon is the Head of Visitor Experience at W5 Science and Discovery Centre.Victoria joined W5 Science and Discovery Centre in March 2020 and has responsibility for all aspects of W5's operations. She is also currently an ASDC Trustee. Prior to joining the team at W5, she worked in Higher Education in the United States for 15 years with a particular interest in advancing the careers of women in STEM fields. http://www.aberdeensciencecentre.org/Bryan Snelling is the CEO of Aberdeen Science Centre. He's been in this position for five years having started in November 2019. Bryan has worked in the visitor attraction sector for 11 years having previously enjoyed 6 years as CEO at The Gordon Highlanders Museum in Aberdeen. Bryan has worked in many sectors during his career including education having worked across the UK in Portsmouth and London before moving to Aberdeen. Bryan is originally from South Wales and in his spare time he enjoys playing the guitar, playing cricket and reading. https://www.sciencecentres.org.uk/Shaaron Leverment is the Chief Executive at The Association for Science and Discovery Centres.Shaaron is the CEO of ASDC and has over 20 years' experience working in science engagement and education. She stands for the value of science centres and museums for social good, as community assets that are accessible and relevant for a more diverse public.Shaaron joined ASDC in 2016 as the Deputy CEO. She is also the co-founding director of 'Explorer Dome' that engages over 70,000 children and adults every year. She leads on a number of national and international programmes and collaborations that aim to improve the relevance and accessibility of STEM for a more diverse public. As a past president of the British Association of Planetaria, she is also currently the EDI co-chair of the International Planetarium Society. Shaaron is mum to two boys, and the owner of a large hairy Golden Retriever.She is part of varied networks, working with schools, universities, science centres, museums and volunteer groups, as well as nation-wide professional associations and Government agencies. She has created and directed national and international (EU) science engagement programmes, including leading the Horizon 2020 Hypatia programme in the UK to support greater gender inclusion in informal science education, and is the driving force behind Our Space Our Future, supporting participative practice in space science outreach.Through work with ASDC, Ecsite and other international partnerships, Shaaron is known for her work to support greater equity and inclusion within our STEM education and engagement organisations, with the ambition of embedding more equitable practice for transformative organisation-wide change. Transcription:  Paul Marden: Welcome to Skip the Queue. A podcast for people working in and working with visitor attractions. I'm your host, Paul Marden. Now, today's episode is a special one. A few days ago I was at the Association for Science and Discovery Centre's annual conference recording in front of a live studio audience. Joined by a panel of the great and good from the Science and Discovery Centre community, Victoria Denoon, Head of Visitor Experience at W5 Science and Discovery Centre. Bryan Snelling, the CEO of Aberdeen Science Centre. Chris Dunford at ASDC Sustainability Group Chair and Sustainability Director at We the Curious. And Shaaron Leverment, the CEO of ASDC. Now, I have to say, this was a bit of a proof of concept for us and we had a few technical gremlins, but whilst the sound quality isn't brilliant, the conversations absolutely were. Paul Marden: So without further ado, let's go over to that recording I took a couple of days ago. Why don't we start with our icebreaker questions? So this is a tradition for the podcast and nobody has been prepared for this. So, Victoria, you'll like this one. It's a really easy one. Bauble or custard cream? Victoria Denoon: You said it was going to be easy. Paul Marden: Oh, no, I could give you my answer straight away. It's a firmly held belief for me. Of course, it's the only answer to that question. Bryan, you have to live in a sitcom for the rest of your life. Which one? And why? Bryan Snelling: Oh God, can I have the ball? But do you know what? The only one that sprung to mind was Only Fools and Horses. I think, you know, a bit of dodgy dealing here and there. Can't go wrong with that, I think. Yeah, Wheeler dealing, you know what I mean? Paul Marden: One day Wanda's There'll be millionaires. Chris, play 10 instruments or speak 10 languages. Chris Dunford: Oh, horrible. I'm going to go for 10 instruments because I feel as if Google can do the rest. But 10 instruments? I can finally record my own albums. Paul Marden: And Shaaron, last but not least, control time like Hermione or Fly Like Harry. Shaaron Leverment: Oh, God, fly Like Harry, Paul Marden: Really? Shaaron Leverment: Yeah, yeah, 100%. Paul Marden: You don't need a time turner to be in every session. That wasn't the latest question at all. Okay, let's get cracking then with the main interview. Shaaron, first question is for you. This year and next sees the 25th anniversary of the millennium funded science centers which saw a huge amount of investments into science communic engagement across the country. What did that do to shape science in the last quarter of the century? And where do you think it will take us next. Shaaron Leverment: Great question. Paul Marden: Thank you. Shaaron Leverment: Like 25 years ago, as I mentioned in my talk, even no one really knew what science communication was. You know, now obviously there's masters in it, there's people who are doing PhDs in it and I think it's actually becoming a very important part of policy and recognised as strategically important in terms of the way in which nation engages with science. And I do believe that's because we have these amazing places across the U.K. now. Let's be honest, like a lot of them existed beforehand. There was at least 6, including Satrasphere, which is now Aberdeen Science Centre, which existed before the Millennium centers. And then suddenly all of these centers were. But now we've got 60, nearly 70 across the entire places. The Lost Shore is just open, which is all about surf and science. Shaaron Leverment: I think science, referring to one of our keynotes, is really becoming part of culture. And then we're no longer looking at sort of museums and centres as like cathedrals of science. We're looking at them as real kind of cultural and community assets. So that's where I think. I think that's where the trajectory is going for the next 25 years. I'll just wrap that into the end of that. Paul Marden: This is a follow up for that and really anyone can join in on this one. Thinking more about where we go in the next 25 years, let's talk about funding streams because we had a big lump of money back just before the millennium projects get them kicked off and we're unlikely to see that level of lottery funding again. So how can centres, after all, they are visitor attractions and charities in many cases. How do they diversify their income streams? Victoria Denoon: I think there's two things about that and one's really important from the ASDC perspective because there's what we can do individually, but there's also what we can do collectively as a network. So you know, we are looking at that particularly from the Millennium Science Centre perspective. Victoria Denoon: And obviously that's a bigger voice if we do that together. So that's really important to have those conversations. At W5 we do that by increasing what we do for corporate hire. We do a W5 late program, which is an 18 plus evenings for adults to come down. And because we're going to be 25 years old next year, there's that nostalgia that really helps sell that. So we're looking at key events to drive revenue across the year to really get more people in our door who wouldn't come to us otherwise. Bryan Snelling: Yeah, I think it's obviously very important to diversify our income. But what we're talking about here, in terms of the money we got in 2019, you're only really going to get that sort of money again from very large institutions or government. And I think whether you're trying to persuade an individual to come and visit your science centre or local, national, devolved governments to give you money, it's all about the message that you're sending. It's about the science centres are really important part, and we were talking about it earlier on, the culture of what we're doing here. So whether you're just one individual or a multinational that has big bucks, you've really got to try and make them understand that. Chris Dunford: I think it's. Yeah, I think it's almost as well as diversifying to new funders, it's also diversifying what the existing funders will be happy to fund, because I think the funders understandably want the shiny new exhibition, the lovely new outreach in the brand advance, the school workshop photo opportunity. And those are all good things. And we couldn't do those things without the funders. But they'll need to. As these buildings getting older, they need to recognize at some point that those things can take place in the building where the roof leaks and it closes in the summer because the heat wave and the cooling system can't keep up. So I think if you're saying to the funders, yes, you can support this workshop, but we will need some contribution towards the rooms that the workshop take place in. Chris Dunford: So I think it'd be helpful to understand that. And to do that, we just need to make the case better to our value. So it's not just this extra news thing, but day to day supporting us to literally keep the lights on and keep the rain out of the roof. Bryan Snelling: Can I just add, I think there's also an important thing here about mission drift. We should be true to our own mission. We should know where we're going, our direction, and not have as much as possible. Because I understand it's a balance. Not have as much as possible. The funder direct what we do. It should be the other way around, or at least. And one of the big words of this conference that I've heard is collaboration. And we shouldn't just be doing it all the money, we should be actually understanding this is what we should be doing and this is how we're going. You should be coming on board with us. Paul Marden: You risk the tail wagging the dog, don't you? If all you do is chase the sources of funding. And you do that in a haphazard way. It's got to follow, as you say, it's got to follow the mission and the core values of the centre. Victoria Denoon: And it is a relationship, you know, it's like philanthropy and, you know, universities doing their work with donors. I mean, you really do have to have mutual respect and understanding and be looking for sponsors or funders or partners who have the same mission and values that you do. That conversation becomes a lot easier. Paul Marden: Absolutely. Shaaron, any thoughts? Shaaron Leverment: I think I agree with what they're saying. It's really well put. Paul Marden: This is an audience question and this is from Kate Allen from Purple Stars. And she asked me, is the A in steam in cooperate and why it's not a binary question. Chris Dunford: Right. Bryan Snelling: Look it up. Victoria Denoon: Yes. Bryan Snelling: Did you see the inflection in that? Paul Marden: Absolutely. Bryan Snelling: I think it's a two way process. I think that the A is very important. And again, I'm gonna repeat myself, but I think it's been a big part of what the conference has been about and it's been about collaboration. Yes, it's important, but it's a two way process because it's not all about us incorporating the arts. It's also about the arts incorporating the st, the E and the M and the science elements. So I think it's a two way process at the moment. I feel this is just my own opinion that it's a little bit more give than take. Shaaron Leverment: I think there's an interesting, you know, there's an interesting conversation of like, do you need an artist for it to be art? What is art and what is science? You know, and actually, you know, so much of, you know, the engagements that we see involve huge creativity, kids making planets and things like that in science. I do think that we need to use all the tools to get across these massive ideas. And I don't actually even know what science is anyway, so I'm on the back. Shaaron Leverment: And I also noticed in Tom Crick, when he was looking at the curriculum, they separate mathematics and numeracy from science and tech, you know, and so in science, tech engineering is often considered the invisible E in stem. Maths is often considered the invisible M in STEM in science and discovery centres, you know, and so the arts as well. I fully believe that we need to be trans and multidisciplinary 100%. But you know, I think it includes, you know, the music and everything. I think includes absolutely everything. So maybe these acronyms, which is not, they're not useful at all. Paul Marden: I don't think it helps. One of the things that we talked about when we first. We were spinning ideas around this episode, weren't we? And you talked about the idea that you shocked me, that science matters to me and I care about it. And it's something that I enjoy doing with my family. And to consider that isn't for the government to consider. That's not really part of culture because they're funded quite separately. It offends my roles, I think. Shaaron Leverment: But also, you know, it's just another beautiful way of looking at the world. You might look up at a night sky, you know, like Mara or Kilda, like we're hearing by Este. And you might look at it with eyes where you're just wondering at the jewelry of creation or making pictures in the stars. Or you might also be wondering about, well, maybe there's a planet out there. Shaaron Leverment: And I think you can look with all eyes and you can. It's all in wonder. And the fact that they are segregated, it comes back to school science, I think. I think actually in the normal world, as human beings, we don't have to separate them, but it's just very hard, especially when these are crazy funding lines. Like Tom mentioned the difference. I did not know that festivals are considered part of culture, but science festivals aren't. It's madness. Chris Dunford: It also depends in a way what you're doing. So if you're putting the A into STEAM  because you say that as a society, as a cultural attraction, we want to involve ourselves, then obviously, yes, we don't want to. You know, it's inclusive because as Shaaron said, they can. They bring different things to the table. But if you're putting an A in there because you're saying that art is the same as the others, then they're no different. But that's good. It's good that art and science kind of behave in different ways. So. So they both start with an idea or a question. They can both be kind of curious or stimulated by something. But then whether we do night sky or whatever, the way that art might scrutinise the night sky would be different to the way that science will scrutinise. And that's fine. Chris Dunford: They can complement each other. It's not. You need to recognize the differences in those kind of, I don't know, the intellectual disciplines, so they can support each other rather than say, well, artists, science, design. It's not as simple as that. They're different, but that's okay. Victoria Denoon: I do think they play a part together in making things more accessible to people. So if you look at major technology companies, they focus just as much on the design and the look of some of their products as they do on the actual technology that goes into them. So there's a lovely added experience there with putting that together. I think it's very important, but for different reasons. Paul Marden: Absolutely. There's been a lot of talk at the conference about diversity and inclusivity. To a certain extent, inclusion is about understanding who your audience is and understanding what it is that they need. Paul Marden: So let's dig into that about your three science centres. What are the customer demographics, what does the audience look like and what areas of diversity and inclusion are important to them? Victoria Denoon: Well, I think that assumes we've actually asked our audiences, you know, what is important to them. And I don't, you know, I'd like to sort of throw that over to other representatives for science centres because we have done some of that, but we probably haven't done it enough to be able to actually answer that question. That's something we are really looking at because we have a lot of different information about the demographics, but not really what they want to see us do. So we're looking at different focus groups and how to involve more people in that to get a better picture of that for our particular science centre. Bryan Snelling: I think we were very lucky to receive a lot of well enough ISF funding plus local funding to completely overhaul our science centre four years ago. What happened four years ago, it was wonderful. But as Shaaron said, we're actually not a millennium sites and we've been going for 36 years. I think tech request, slightly longer than us, Shaaron Leverment: 38.Bryan Snelling: There we go. But not many longer than us. But over that time we've asked and we found out a lot of information about what our visitors wanted. And similar to what Victoria said, we don't necessarily ask enough. We recognise that's a bad thing. We need and we are putting in place and now to evaluate to get feedback more. But back then were very aware of sort of things that we needed to do. We needed to be wheelchair user friendly. Bryan Snelling: So everything is now accessible throughout the science centre. We're one of the lucky places that have a changing places facility which is incredibly good and it's gone down very well. We also have a sensory space which was retrofitted admittedly. But if you look at our feedback on the online, that's gone down fantastically well and it allows some of our neurosensitive visitors just to calm down, go there and just take a moment and then come back and I think the very fact that we're a science centre, it's very hands on, it's very stimulating. Bryan Snelling: So having that has been a real wonderful addition to what we've got. And I think we've also got to remember financial inclusion. So a lot of the sort of sponsorship that we look for is to work with in Scotland. It's called simd, the Scottish Index for Multiple Deprivation. Chris Dunford: I'm sure there's a similar thing in England, but I want to know what it is. Paul Marden: We'll talk about that in a minute. Bryan Snelling: But we a lot of again, it's not mission drift when you are also doing it. A lot of our funders want to give us money so we can support those maybe who don't have as much money as the rest of us. So all of these things we've taken into account and parts of what we do at the science centre. Chris Dunford: Yeah. I suppose the question ultimately is when we ask our visitors what does inclusion, diversity mean to them, we won't get the answer we need. And that's because if you have a certain demographic who are visiting and you ask them diversity, inclusion, then obviously they will speak from their own life experience. But actually the people need to ask the people who aren't visiting. So in that respect, I mean the things we draw upon, we work closely with things like local council, so we have access to their data of who's living in the city and who's facing areas of deprivation and that kind of thing. Chris Dunford: So you can kind of fairly accurately figure out who's around you in your community and who's around you in your community isn't mirroring who's coming through the door and straight away you know where your focus areas are and the reason they might not be visiting, it might be economic, but it could also because there's things that you do unintentionally. It makes it look like you're not for them. Paul Marden: Yes. Chris Dunford: So only by engaging with them, seeing you through their eyes, will you understand maybe why you've been doing a thing which wasn't encouraged when they through the door. I suppose the last thing to say on that is often it's very tempting to think the inclusion thing is going to be groups that can't afford to visit and therefore Chapel saying it may be then detracting from the purely commercial enterprise we need to do to keep the buildings open and running. Chris Dunford: And for some areas who cannot afford to visit, then yes, that's an important part of what you do. But there could be areas, community who aren't visiting. And they can afford to visit because for some reason you're not currently for them, you can become for them. And you've also opened up a whole other market as well. So whether you're looking at it because you want more visitors financially, or you're looking at it because you want to be able to reach everyone, you need to ask who's in the city, who isn't here currently visiting and can we find out why they're not visiting? And then we just work through those challenge at a time until you hopefully are truly reflecting those around you. Paul Marden: I was at a Museum and Heritage Show earlier this year. There was a really interesting talk about inclusivity and making places accessible. And one of the key facts was that people that need an accessible place to visit, if they don't know something is accessible because you haven't communicated it properly, they will assume you are not accessible. And so having the changing places toilet and the sensory room is amazing. But you also have to communicate that to people in order for them to come and feel like it is a place for them. And that's. You're right, it's not about the charitable end of the organisation. It can be just a commercial thing. When you tell that story simply and easily for people, all of a sudden you are not going to market. Shaaron Leverment: We're sort of encouraging people. We've got an accessibility conference coming up in May which will be hosted by Winchester. And hopefully between now and then we can really support people with some of these amazing visual stories. Because I think you're absolutely right that you do need to know if it's accessible. You need to know what facilities you need to have those opportunities to know that there's a quiet space and what to expect. And then someone, honestly, if they know what's there and what's not there, then that's enough. Paul Marden: I've talked about this example before podcast, but Skipton Town Hall is an amazing example. They've got a museum whose name escapes me, but they won last year's Kids in Museum's Family Friendly award. But they have an amazing page that talks about their accessibilities with photos and videos where you can see the entrance, every entrance to the building and where that entrance will lead you to. It shows you the changing places toilet. You know, they are making it super easy for you to be able to understand that. And it's on your page, but it's a page that's hugely valuable on their website. Victoria Denoon: I think just beyond what you can do on your own. Site for that. There are organisations you can work with that tell people the story about what attractions in their area are accessible. So making sure you know who those groups are and working with them to get your story out and how you can support that's really important. Paul Marden: I've got Tudor in front of me from Eureka and I know that's something that Eureka has done a lot of is communicating the accessibility of what they deeds the outside world. I'm going to take your Scottish index of multiple deprivation and take that back to the uk. I'm going to talk a little bit about Cambridge Science Centre because they've passed two weeks ago, they've just opened their new building and one of the things that they talked about on the podcast with me was that part of the motivation for locating it on Cambridge Science park was because it is cheap by jail with one of the areas of multiple deprivation within the city. Paul Marden: They run youth groups in that area and what they found was that even though these kids are in a youth group associated with the Science centre and they are right next door to the Science park, those kids don't feel that a career in Science in the UK's hotspot for tech is a place where they could end up. Paul Marden: They just don't feel like it is of them. So how do we help those kids and families in those areas feel like science centres are for them and a career in the future and in science and tech is an opportunity for them? Bryan Snelling: I think when were redesigning the Aberdeen Science Centre, as I said, the only thing that's still there because It's a Category 2 listed building is the outer walls. But what we looked at that time was we said, well, how can we make it relevant to the northeast of Scotland? So we have three zones in the Science Centre which relates to either the up and coming or very much mature economies up there. We have an energy zone, of course we do, but space, you know, Shetland is on our patch, big patch, so is Sutherland and those of you who know Scotland, very big patch. That sort of space is a big part of what's happening up in northeast Scotland, but also life sciences. So we made it relevant so that people on an everyday sort of and kids can sort of relate to things. Bryan Snelling: I think we're the only city and people will help me out here and bring me down to size if that's the case. We have hydrogen buses in Aberdeen. I think we're one of the only, let's go like that. One of the only cities that currently do that and they see these things travelling through the city centre every day. But you know, they want to know more about that. So it's about making it relevant, making it day to day obvious that this, you can work in this because actually it's there or it's that or it's yes. The other thing is about showing the other careers that you can link it, you can focusing on space, but there's more than just that. You somebody said, yes, you also need to have a chef in the Antarctica. Bryan Snelling: So show them the other careers actually link in with this sort of and just make it relevant. Chris Dunford: Yeah, and I think obviously if you've got sections of society where there's young people who feel that science isn't for them, I think the first thing to recognise obviously is that they are in their lives. They're obviously getting messages that are telling them that's the case in the way in which children from other backgrounds are getting messages telling them what science is for them. And you can see that through the lens of the science capital. You can't control all of those, but you can control how you interact with them. Now, obviously what Cambridge did is they were able to physically relocate. Most of us aren't in that position in terms of the whole building, although that reached us the ability to do that on a complete short term basis. Chris Dunford: But I think again it's recognising that inclusion work is so much more than just kind of saying, “Hey, we are free. Why don't you come along today and you can visit for free or whatever.” It's the diversity of your staff and that's across the organisation. Because if they visit and they see someone that looks like them and that tells them that it is for them in a way in which it's going to be very difficult to do with the people actually working there don't look like people they would recognise as being in that kind of group in that way. It's about the activities themselves. So again, the ideas of kind of co development. So if you develop activities, rather than guess what you think they would like, just find out what they would like and involve them in those activities. Chris Dunford: So inclusion is difficult and it takes a lot of time because you can't just kind of put a sign on the door and say work for you now. You need to change the organisation. So it is enabling them to visit and then to keep that relationship going. That's the other thing that's very difficult. But I think if you did one funded visit and they came once and that was it, that might not be Enough to make them go, “Oh, so I can't be a scientist.” You get some kind of relationship with them going on over time. So yeah, it's a long, drawn out process, which means you need to look very hard at yourself and be prepared and brave to make changes in your own organisation. Because unintentionally you are probably putting some of the barriers there yourselves. Shaaron Leverment: I just want to echo that it really is about building those relationships. We ran a program called Explorer Universe across eight centres. And you know, we were all about extra partnerships and being brave and making new engagement to people who would never have thought to come through your doors. And you know, it ended up being like a year long of partnership building and then those relationships and almost all the programs were outreach. Some of them ended up, you know, as a celebratory event coming through the science centre. But it was very much going to where the kids were going to their space, you know, physically and emotionally and mentally, whatever, and working in partnership. So if you don't have the staff that reflect that community, then you can work in partnership and create those moments. Shaaron Leverment: And then when they do come to the centre, be there at the front door to welcome them. You know, I know you and it's very much, you know, like an experience floor In North Wales. Were working in a playground, you know, and talking all about them jumping off the playground with like parachutes, talking about friction and stuff like that. And one of the best quotes from that was like, I didn't realise this was science. You're like turning what they are doing and saying that you are a techie, techie person, you are a sciencey person, you are an engineer. That's what it is. Shaaron Leverment: You know, it's not saying this is what science is, you know, it's changing the capital that they have already into science capital to know that they are already inherent, as Osley said, inherent sort of scientists anyway. Paul Marden: Yes. Shaaron Leverment: So, yeah.Victoria Denoon: I think science centres are in a really wonderful space here to be able to do that because, you know, we do build relationships with community groups and schools all the time. And research has shown that these young people, why they see themselves in relation to their peers, that will attract them more than anything else into potential careers in science. So having a space where people can come and, you know, we don't tell them, don't touch that, don't do that. Victoria Denoon: You know, they can really fully get hands on and engage in things and having that opportunity. We just opened two years ago, our Learning Innovation for Everyone Space. We offer free school programs there, particularly in partnership with Microsoft and do coding workshops and things like that and lots of other activities and you can also do OCN accredited programs with us there. So it's really about getting them together as a group of their peers and showing them what's possible in that space. Paul Marden: That's amazing. So I'm a dev by background. Telling the story of Computer Science is not something that you see in every science centre that you go to. The whole kind of the history of computing, it exists in places, there are pockets of it. But it's not something that I want to coding club as well. But how many of my kids could go to a local science centre and feel that what they're doing when they're coding the robot and building some Lego is related to something that they see when they're at the science centre and that there's a mental leap to go from this fun thing that we're doing with this robot to the career that is amazing that I could have in the future. It's really hard. Paul Marden: Talking of kids, I'm a trustee at Kids in Museum and we talk a lot about getting the voice of young people who visit attractions and young people, they're worthy, they're in their career and incorporating that into the decision making, strategic direction of museums and science centres. I think it's definitely really important when we talk about climate emergency to get that younger voice in so that trustees don't all look like me. Let's talk a little bit about the youth platform and how you incorporate the youth voice into what you guys do. Who wants to take that one first? I can spot who cracks first. Bryan Snelling: Okay. I'm not very good at this, am I? You are very good. No, but I'm actually quite proud of what we do at Aberdeen. We about a year and a bit ago introduced a STEM youth ball and we're very pleased with that. We actually work with a local festival so it's ourselves and Aberdeen Tech Fest that jointly I say support, but actually they support us. The youth board, it's made up of secondary school kids, young people and last year was a pilot year and it went very well. We're now looking at developing it further. But what they do is they look at what they want to do, they work out what they want to do within a board situation. Bryan Snelling: They've got all the usual bits, chair and the secretary, but they work out that they want to deliver this program and then they'll go away, work together on the delivery of that program. They'll also work out the marketing side of things. They'll also do all of that. But I also, and my counterpart with TechFest also bring our ideas and say what do you think about this? And they give us a very. Paul Marden: Take some of them and rubbish a few I guess.Bryan Snelling: That's what it's for. Paul Marden: Exactly. Bryan Snelling: I mean, let's get out of the way in a safe space before we then go ahead and spend money on this thing. Paul Marden: The most brutal focus could possibly bring together. Bryan Snelling: But we're very pleased with that. The other thing that we're currently looking at doing is working with local university, Robert Goldman University, especially the architecture school, to redevelop our outer area, the garden. It was the only area that wasn't developed when we did inside. And we undertook a number of brainstorming sessions with the youngsters and I mean your 5 to 12 year olds to get their input. And we did that a number of ways, remember drawing or talking or writing, whatever. And that was really interesting. We'd obviously, as the adults had done a similar thing but what they brought was a completely different point of view and it's wonderful. Paul Marden: Excellent. Victoria, you can't not look at teacher. It's only going to encourage me to. Victoria Denoon: No, I think you know, to what Bryan was saying there. We haven't started yet but we're looking at this idea of creating a Y suite, you know, which is our youth suite, which would be young people that will come in and kind of meet once a quarter to help us with some of those decisions. Bryan was talking about Inspiring Science Fund. We also did a huge renovation at W5 as a result of that and that involved a lot of consultation with young people, with teachers, et cetera. And we do a lot of youth led programs but we're looking at really how do we engage that in this more strategic direction going forward. Paul Marden: I think it's hugely valuable, isn't it? When you take it from a consultation point to something that is actually helping to drive the strategy of the organisation. It's transformational. Sharoon, do you have any thoughts about that? Shaaron Leverment: Yeah, I mean I sort of see it from a bird's eye view really, you know. But you know we have our Youth Voice Award because last year our volunteers award was won by. Part of our volunteers award was won by Winchester young group of environmental activists that were really doing great things down at Winchester Science Centre and influencing one seekers charity. And anyone who was at dinner last night, you might have seen the video from Zed King who has done so much work supporting Centre for Life and making massive changes there and not just there, like actually across the network. We are. So we've got this Youth Voice award as one of the only awards that we give because it is so important. We are all about. Not all about, but we are a lot about young people. Shaaron Leverment: So they need to have voice but it's very difficult to be sure how to do that and to make sure that we're not putting too much pressure. I mean here at this conference you can. There we've got some young people coming in showing their bio robots. We've got. Obviously we had the Esports award last night and our next keynote we've got two younger panel members to do a discussion about eco anxiety and how that feels for them to influence the way in which we think about our climate engagement from the voices of people who are experiencing it and experiencing this massive grief and anxiety about their own futures. So yeah, there's a lot of work going on obviously over in Armagh as well, you know, especially with autistic families and you know, I think it's. Shaaron Leverment: Yeah, it's a growing area and we're putting a lot of effort into encouraging like hearing these stories and different things and you know, I know we the curated. Well, with your authority sharing, I might just throw that over to you. I mean I think that's a great piece of work. Chris Dunford: Yeah. On the climate side especially. One thing we've done in the past is work with Bristol City Council, Youth Council, I think I might say most councils will have something like this because they then feed into the UK lean Parliament. I think that's really useful for two reasons. Firstly, because it gives them a space when you talk about climate issues. But secondly, it's helping them to understand the process of democracy, which young people's possibly more important now than ever. I think that's really key because I think what often happens, especially at events like cop, is that inside the room you've got the politicians and decision makers who are struggling with this really difficult challenge of how do we decarbonise and knowing there isn't an easy thing to fix it. Chris Dunford: It's going to be a lot of trailblazers, compromise, a lot of hard work outside where you've got the young people kind of screaming desperately do something, finally find the solution and then have these two different worlds. So I think if you could bring those together to bring the youth Voice into those conversations. What are the trade offs? What are the decisions? Because the consequence of decisions they inherit not us. But also it's useful for young people because it helps them understand that there isn't an easy solution and yes, there's going on strike and it's making the message clear, but there's getting into discussion of what are the trade offs, what are the compromises, and that's how a democracy works. I think that's really useful. Chris Dunford: But the other thing I'd say is if you're going to engage with young people on this and also be prepared for the fact that they're clear, they know what they want and they want the allies to take action. So if you say to them, great, there's time to change that, you're creating a youth board so you can learn about climate change, they'll say, yes, but what are you doing to reduce your carbon emissions? So we're doing this group and we're going to get your views on that. Thank you, that's fine. What are you doing to reduce your carbon emissions? So if you're going to enter into this space, they know what they want from us. They want to take action to create deep, radical and rapid decarbonisation. Chris Dunford: So be prepared for that question because they will ask it and it's the right to ask it. We need to do stuff as well as having board. At the same time, you've got to be taking the action to show that you're copying the agency, what they want. Shaaron Leverment: Have you seen the recent DCMS call as well? I mean, it's obviously strategically important at government as well. So all funders and DCMS in particular are making an election in this. So, yeah, leading the way. Paul Marden: A beautiful segue to my next question, which is what, Chris, this one's for you really is what are ASDC members doing ahead of national targets to reach net zero? Chris Dunford: Yeah. So it's probably worth just causing phone. So, in terms of the national target, for anyone who isn't aware, net zero for the UK is 2050. And net zero essentially means that your carbon emissions are down to zero or they're not zero, then you're offsetting what emissions you are creating. So the balance of the atmosphere is 2 0. And it's really hard. And the reason it's really hard, whether you're a government or an organisation, is you're following the greenhouse gas protocol, which means it's across all three scopes, which essentially means it's the stuff you expect. Chris Dunford: So it's the energy from the grid, it's your fuel and vehicles, it's burning gas in your home or places where, but it's also emissions from all the stuff that you buy and the investments from your bank and your pensions and it's the emissions from your business who travel to visit you. It's huge. It's very complex. So it's difficult. That's essentially what it means, the claim in terms of what sciences are doing. So it's a mixed back. There's plenty of science centers who still don't have a specific claim decarbonisation target, whether that be net zero or 2050 or sooner. So that's one issue I think we need to. Those who have done that piece of work have to work those who haven't to support them, enable them and encourage them to create a space where they can do. Chris Dunford: Because your Internet provider probably has a Net Zero pledge on their website, your supermarket certainly does. Your local council will, your university. So with science centres, it might seem strange that we're actually behind those players rather than leaving it. And of those that do have targets, there's probably about seven science centres in the network. This is student, big museum. So in terms of. In terms of the main science centres and then Tampa Gardens and museums, if you include them, there's probably about 11 organisations who have a kind of a decarbonisation net zero net neutral aimed before 2015. They're mostly around 2030. And again, that's really hard. And those organisations are now figuring out what that means and just how difficult that is. Chris Dunford: There is also even project who have boldly gone for a net positive to say they'll actually be removing more carbon than releasing by 2030. But it's really hard. And the reason it's hard for science centres is we're not Marks and Spencers. We can't just hire a stable team overnight and throw money at this problem. So we're renting some organisations who are tight on time and money who now to take on this huge challenge. That doesn't excuse us from the challenge. So there's no easy solution on the fact that we have to put resource into this. And I think that's why there aren't more Net Zero aims on websites for the centres at the moment. But I think we can get there. We need to recognise it's hard. Chris Dunford: And finally, if you are doing lots of engagement, as I said with schools, then again you need to be backing this up with some kind of Net zero. So it's a mixed bag of the network. There's probably about 10 or so that have specific net zero aims and they're mostly around 2030, 2040. But my prediction is in the coming years, those organisations are going to make some really hard choices and actually say how they're going to do that, because we know from experience it's really difficult. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be doing it. It means you have to push even harder than you were before. Paul Marden: Thank you. Bryan Snelling: Can I add something? Paul Marden: Of course. Bryan Snelling: I think decarbonisation is an important message, full stop, especially in Aberdeen, for obvious reasons. I hope we feel that we have an important duty almost to the visitors to the northeast of Scotland and beyond. Because I think how can we talk the talk about decarbonisation if we don't walk the walk? So there's an internal thing, which notwithstanding how difficult it is, we're just starting down that route. We've had an energy audit done of ourselves. We're now in the process of working out what that roadmap is, or maybe it should be a cycle path road towards net zero, but we need to work that out. But on the other side, we're also tasked with telling people, this is what you should be doing. This is the energy transition. Bryan Snelling: This is how you renewable energy in the future. So how can you do both? How can you do one without the other one? I mean, and I think we just need to be aware of that. And I think as the future goes back to the very first question about what's happening in the future, that's all big part of what we need to be looking at.Paul Marden: Conference is all about shaping future science together. What's your take home message from the different talks that you've been to, or possibly because we've not finished the conference yet that you're looking forward to. What's the standout moment? I know. So I would say for me, the standout moment was last night's awards. I mean, if you weren't overtaken by Zed's video, if you weren't moved by Hamish talking about. And for me, what they both demonstrated is that volunteering and engagement is a conversation. It's a two way street, isn't it? Because they weren't just there as a resource doing things, they were getting something from the relationship and giving back to the sense, etc. At the same time. For me, that bit was the most powerful. Shaaron Leverment: Yeah. And I think actually, you know, there's a lot of emotion there, you know, and it's incredible to someone stand up and say science and you saved my life. Paul Marden: Yes. Shaaron Leverment: You know, I think it was just incredible and very brave. And I think that kind of bringing that emotion into science, it's really important and remembering the people, even people. I think there's been quite a few messages about, you know, the safe spaces that we provide and that interaction with people and that genuine understanding. I think I'm really excited about. We're no longer sort of let science speak for itself and we're not going. Shaaron Leverment: You know, I think people are socially connecting and using emotion a lot more because first we feel right, first we feel and that is what our inclusive outcomes are all about. That it's what makes a difference for someone who is disengaged and doesn't feel that science and technology could be for them to feeling that maybe there's a place they need to feel they belong. So I'm really excited about that aspect of it. I also agree with everything that the elders are about. Bryan Snelling: Really. Shaaron Leverment: Yeah. Chris Dunford: I think several things yesterday for me resonated with the thing which Stephen Breslin said at the very start, which is that we come to these conferences anxious and slightly overwhelmed by the challenges we're facing and leaves feeling energized and positive with at least some of the solutions. And I think that's. That's a similar pattern that I experienced with these conferences. And I think through that lens I've been listening to all the challenges yesterday. And it's just our job is hard and potentially getting harder and as it gets harder, it's more important to society than ever. And I think that's the main thing I'm taking away. Chris Dunford: And I don't just mean things like the inclusion work and the decarbonisation work which we've spoken about during this session, but even things like one of the sessions that really stuck me yesterday was where the Science museum were talking in the lightning talks about their new AI exhibition and the fact that when all the many centers open they could have exhibits that explained Google of motion by pendulums and spinning things. A physical thing. And now we're having to have conversations about AI where there is no physical thing you can hold in your hands. Chris Dunford: There's a historical artefact, it's a circuit board doesn't tell you anything about what circuit board really does in terms of how it impacts society and how are we going to do science communication, science engagement around these challenging issues like AI which are then mounted up with all these kind of social problems with them, which again, the laws of motion that we come with. So, so I suppose I'm going away with that is the fact that our creativity is going to be tested more than before and our ingenuity and our ability to collaborate beyond our initial partners. So, yeah, for me, weirdly, it's about the science communication side and things like AI are going to make that really challenging. And how are we going to do that? Any of the answers other than the fact that we know we're not doing it alone, we're doing it as a network. And that's obviously big talk. Victoria Denoon: Yeah, I think it's the same thing. That remark by Stephen really is something that stuck with me because I did come here as well, thinking about the challenges we're facing, not just as a Science and Discovery centre, but also politically at the moment and just how pessimistic you can be about things. And really being in this conference with all of these amazing people makes you feel more optimistic about things and I think that's just really powerful and it carries you through. So for me, that's. And I think some of the conversations that have been happening here, I feel like since last year we've made a huge jump in terms of where the impact of our network is going with other people. And, you know, Tom's talk this morning really brought that home a little bit as well. So I'm feeling very optimistic. Paul Marden: Thank you. We always end our interviews with a book recommendation, which can be personal or professional. So, Victoria, do you want to share yours with everyone? Victoria Denoon: Well, I think when were talking about this, it was like, what's your favourite book? And for me, my favourite book is actually Pride and Prejudice. It's a book I would read over and could read over and over again. Jane Austen's musings. Paul Marden: Excellent. Bryan. Bryan Snelling: You know, this is the most difficult question that you're going to be putting to us. I've read, you know, fiction most of my life. I mean, you can't. I've always got a book, always looking at a book. So I don't actually have favourites. Why is it favourites? What I can say is my most recent book that I've read was the Thursday we're at the Club by Rich Lawson, which is quite nice. The most profound one was actually 1984. I read that when I was about 18 and I thought, wow. And that was really quite interesting. Followed swiftly by Animal Farm, of course. Paul Marden: So that's three recommendations bankrupt me over. Chris. Chris Dunford: So I've gone for War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. I'm a big fan of, like, old sci fi books. It's different to modern sci fi. Sci fi books like Jules Byrne and H.G. Wells will just ramble on pages about scientific theories at the time. Things they read in nature. So it's genuinely kind of science fiction. But War of the Royals because it's just. It scares me every time I read it. Like it still scares me. Absolutely. And I quite enjoy that. And I don't know why. And there's something about the complete, you know, civilisation. Actually some shouldn't put on this thread too hard, but there's something fascinating about that. Kind of, as he describes it, the liquefaction of society is everything kind of falls apart and every time I pick it up, I'm terrified and I pick it up again, I'm still terrible. Paul Marden: Shaaron, lastly, yours. Shaaron Leverment: I had forgotten this is a question. Paul Marden: Chris had three books, so you can choose. Shaaron Leverment: I'll go for in my. In my head I go for I just off the cup. The Martian is great. When it's got a little bit tiresome with the whole potatoes, improve it. But it is a brilliant. Yeah, it's great. Paul Marden: We are done. If you enjoyed today's episode, please like and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Thank you to my guests Victoria, Bryan, Chris and Shaaron, and my amazing ASDC Live studio audience. Paul Marden: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review. It really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned. Skip The Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode and more over on our website, SkiptheQueue.fm. The 2024 Visitor Attraction Website Survey is now LIVE! Dive into groundbreaking benchmarks for the industryGain a better understanding of how to achieve the highest conversion ratesExplore the "why" behind visitor attraction site performanceLearn the impact of website optimisation and visitor engagement on conversion ratesUncover key steps to enhance user experience for greater conversionsDownload the 2024 Rubber Cheese Visitor Attraction Website Survey Report

Our profile interview this evening is Professor Mfanelo Ntsobi, Chief Executive Officer at Sci-Bono Discovery Centre, a Policy Analyst, Management Scientist and Communication Strategist.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alberta Health Services joins the show to discuss how you can stay safe this summer. The Oil Sands Discovery Centre also joins the show to discuss a wide variety of summer programs on now.

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is Paul Marden, CEO of Rubber Cheese.Download the Rubber Cheese 2023 Visitor Attraction Website Report - the annual benchmark statistics for the attractions sector.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website rubbercheese.com/podcast.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcastCompetition ends on 22nd May 2024. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references: https://www.rigb.org/www.linkedin.com/in/shjfranklinSteven Franklin is a self-confessed social media addict, with 4 years' experience of work in social media, drawn from a mixture of heritage, cultural, government, and the charity sectors.To date, he has worked at Egham Museum, Bradford Museums and Art Galleries, The National Archives, and now The Royal Institution.When he's not making TikToks or trying to write witty posts on X, you'll find him thinking about how the latest evolutions in social media could translate and be used within the cultural and charity sectors. His passion for innovation has seen him deliver huge social media at every organisation that he has worked, bringing his distinctive mixture of creativity and storytelling to every account, which has resulted in an attention-grabbing tone of voice that has greatly increased brand exposure and recognition. Transcription:  Paul Marden: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in or working with visitor attractions. I'm your host, Paul Marden. In this episode, I'm joined by Steven Franklin, the Social Media Manager at the Royal Institution. Steven has seen some phenomenal increases in subscribers and engagement whilst managing the organisation's social media, which, as we'll find out, is pivotal to the role the RI has in science communication. Paul Marden: Welcome, Steven, to the Skip the Queue podcast. It's lovely to have you.Steven Franklin: Yeah, thank you very much for inviting me on, Paul. Really looking forward to this chat.Paul Marden: Yeah, me too. Me too. So, before we get started, where are you sat at the moment? Because it's looking like a pretty impressive location.Steven Franklin: Yeah, no, I thought I'd make an effort for the listeners and viewers. So I'm currently in the very salubrious surroundings of Mayfair. To be more specific, the Royal Institution on Albemarle street, in the historic writing room, which dates all the way back to the sort of mid 1800s. Interestingly, a little anecdote. This is the room where our discourse speakers are locked in and have been locked in for quite a while, for a couple of, well, approaching a couple of centuries, following one specific instance where one of our speakers got so overwhelmed by anxiety and nerves that he basically left before his talk. So, in order to prevent that from happening, we now locked speakers up half an hour before their discourse is supposed to start, so they don't have the chance to run away and leave the audience wanting more to speak.Paul Marden: And for the Skip the Queue audience, I would like emphasise that is not my plan going forward with the podcast. I am not going to lock people up half an hour before that.Steven Franklin: No.Paul Marden: So, Steven, we always start with some icebreaker questions. So I've got a couple for you. First one, what's your earliest memory of travelling outside of your hometown?Steven Franklin: Oh, I think it would have to be travelling up to see one of my aunties who lives in Northamptonshire, and I always remember sort of going up the M1, which is an interesting thing to remember, seeing sort of the lights. But I think, more importantly than the sort of mundaneity and boredom of travelling up a motorway, it was just sort of the excitement and good times of getting treated by different relatives who also had a golden retriever called Barney, who I was very fond of. And, yeah, that was probably my earliest memory.Paul Marden: Yeah, family trips like that are lovely, aren't they? I remember lots of trips up into South Wales. So mine would be that my memory would probably be the M4, travelling from Somerset up to the South Wales Valleys to visit Auger Farrell. Okay, so the next one. How would you describe your job to a two year old?Steven Franklin: I'm in the business of entertaining people. And the way I entertain people is by either doing it through the form of video, or by doing it through the form of written word, or by doing it in nice visuals, whether they are still photos or animated graphics. And as a byproduct of my entertainment, I hope to also educate. There you go.Paul Marden: Lovely. So another thing that we always ask our visitors onto the show is, what's your unpopular opinion?Steven Franklin: So I've been. Obviously, you gave me the heads up for this, and I've been thinking long and hard about what's the most unpopular opinion that I came up with that I truly believe in, and mine is that audiobooks are a more pleasurable and enjoyable experience than reading a proper book.Paul Marden: Oh, wow. Okay, so what's wrong with reading a proper book? There are librarians among us that might actually care about a physical book.Steven Franklin: Yeah. Yeah. See this where it becomes a poor reflection on my own self, basically, because the reason that I don't really enjoy reading proper books is that I find it quite difficult to sort of sit still for long periods of time. I also find it quite difficult to shut my brain off for long enough to only be really focused on the one, the book that's in front of me. So, yeah, whilst I do appreciate the romanticism of sort of reading a book in the sun or reading a book over a cup of tea or, you know, reading a classic novel on holiday and the sort of the tactile nature of the book experience, it's never really sat with me.Steven Franklin: So I think in some ways, that sort of unpopular opinion isn't really surprising, given what I work in and sort of age I am and sort of the media that I create, so I don't know whether it's a sense of the tail wagging the dog or the dog wagging the tail, but either way it's, you know, there's a nice sort of closed loop there.Paul Marden: I've got my subscription and I've got a few credits that I need to spend at the bank, but I like an audiobook, but they send me to sleep, so if I can't do factual books on audiobook that sends me straight to sleep. But even listening to fiction on audible, within five minutes, I'll be out. Whereas I can sit and read a book and that can hold my attention for a couple of chapters before nodding off. Audiobook, I just need. I was listening to a Stephen Fry narrated one the other day, the lulling tones of Stephen Fry, but off I went to sleep.Steven Franklin: I think Stephen Fry is, you know, he's sort of a silent assassin of the audiobook world insofar as he has such a, you know, his dulcet tones just naturally send you off and give me the Harry Potter audiobooks read by Stephen Fry, and I'm golden, so to speak. But, yeah, now, I also got into a bit of a nerdy sort of. And this is a very typical conversation at the RI, but a nerdy chat about whether you retain more information having actually read the book than listening to the book. Because I was of the opinion that you probably didn't take as much in if you were listening to it than if you were reading it.Steven Franklin: I can't exactly remember what the figures were, but I think the long and short of it was that actually, the science suggests that sort of retention is slightly less, but not as drastic as you might have thought. So that gave me some sort of, you know, made me feel a little bit better about myself and my inability to sit quiet for long periods of time and read.Paul Marden: So, anecdotally, I'm reading to my daughter as we read every night before she goes to bed. She's ten years old. She can be doing something else. She could even be reading a different book that I'll be reading to her. And I'm like, “You're not listening to me. What did I just say?” And she could just recite exactly what I just said. So she is listening, somehow, doing two things at once. I do not understand how she does it.Steven Franklin: I don't know whether this is actually correct, but somewhere somebody might have said something or have read it, but there's something about doing two things at once that, you know, sort of gets your brain in a state of flow and maybe ups your performance again, I actually don't know whether this is true, but if it's not, this is a lie that I tell myself.Paul Marden: So it's a pinchot that we're not actually scientists of the RI, so why don't we. You've told us what the two year old view of your job might look like, but why don't you tell us a little bit about the RI? Lots of listeners will be aware of the RI from the Christmas lectures, but it's got really long history. So tell us a little bit about that, about each role today and what you do.Steven Franklin: Yeah, so the RI founded in 1799, basically from its very inception, a science engagement institution. I think that's something that has always and will continue to always set the RI apart from other sort of science organisations, insofar as we haven't been an organisation that's got a traditional focus on research and research outputs. Our sort of modus operandi, for want of a better phrase, has always been the core principle of connecting the public with science. Back in 1799 and through the early 1800s, you know, that would have been done traditionally by. Well, it still is to this day, but obviously that's back. Back in the day of ye oldy, victorian times, it would have been done by sort of, you know, lectures and demonstrations.Steven Franklin: So the likes of, you know, Humphrey Davy, Michael Faraday, you know, these are some of the big figures that are associated with our long 225 year history. And in fact, pretty much every, you know, sort of famous scientist of the Victorian age is likely to have been a member here at some stage. Yeah. So, you know, we're very difficult. We're very different from the likes of the Royal Society in the sense that we've always welcomed women. We've always sort of had an ethos of connecting children. The Christmas lecture has been the most obvious example, but we're connecting children to science. And I think also, you know, we've also been quite historically wedded to the idea of being slightly different, less snobbish for, you know, I think, and more. More sort of open, more playful. We don't take ourselves too seriously.Steven Franklin: And in fact, during sort of the Victorian period, we were sort of lambasted by famous caricatures of the day for that very fact. For the fact that sort of. We were obsessed with teaching the public. We allowed women in. We sort of broke the traditional rules of the day. So that got us into a bit of not trouble, but people laughed at us and pointed at us and sort of said that weren't doing it the right way because we weren't an academic members only organisation. So that was. That was sort of our founding. And I think, you know, pretty much from that point onwards today, we've not really changed in that regard. The thing that's changed is sort of society around us. So we still have a lecture theatre.Steven Franklin: I've mentioned earlier that we have our discourses. They used to happen every Friday, and they now happen once, the last Friday of every month. Christmas lectures continue to this day, and next year it will be the 200th anniversary of them.Paul Marden: Wow.Steven Franklin: And the Christmas lectures have pretty much been a constant. They were stopped or paused during World War II but, you know, by and large, a tradition that's sort of a line that links us from the present all the way back to the past. And, in fact, even the desk that sits, that's in the lecture theatre today, whilst it's not Faraday's original, part of it, is, so every time they rebuild it, they keep a part of the old desk and use that. So it's a bit like that, you know, that famous Titanic sort of riddle like, if you were to change all the parts of the Titanic, would it still be the Titanic? And, you know, or bicycle, whatever. But, yeah, so there's that. And I think, to the present day, our scope's much larger now.Steven Franklin: So we have a sort of traditional stem learning framework in place where school kids, pretty much of all curricular curriculum ages, can come to on site and be taught. So we've got a very buzzing, very healthy science programme. We also do a lot off site science engagement for the schools that aren't based in London. We also have a very thriving public programme that, you know, sees some of the foremost, greatest scientific thinkers of today come and provide lectures in the Faraday lecture theatre. We're also home to a wonderful collection of scientific history. So there's been ten elements of the periodic table that were isolated here at the RI. So, yeah, we've got a history of that, and we have, well, basically, we've far too much for even us to talk about. And then I guess.Steven Franklin: I guess for me, working in sort of digital social media, I guess part of my remit, well, my remit is to engage people with science to get them interested in science. We believe, and we're quite unashamed in our belief that, you know, science is for everyone and science is important. It is quite fundamental and crucial to everyday life, regardless of how old you are. So a knowledge of science is important. And, you know, another key sort of part of my work is to sort of show off what the RI has in our heritage collection, our public programme, to get people onto site, to encourage people to become members and support our mission, and just to, I guess, entertain people through science. There you go.Paul Marden: That's interesting, isn't it? The entertainment element of it. I guess there's an element of trying to get people on board and engage in their RI's mission, but at the same time entertaining them. And everyone likes a good explosion video, don't they?Steven Franklin: So, yeah, I mean, yeah, I've sort of. Not a day goes past where I don't feel incredibly fortunate, really, because, you know, in some ways, I get a lot of the credit for success that we see on social media when videos go viral. But I'm not the one exploding hydrogen balloons or making, you know, really impressive looking sort of demos, chemical reactions, so to speak. So, you know, it's very much an all sort of team sort of mission. But, yeah, I do have it very good, actually, because I've got so much. I'm like Aladdin in the cave, got so much to play with.Paul Marden:  Lots of material. So that's interesting. So let's talk a little bit about social media at the RI. It's really important to the organisation, because when I was doing my bone round research to all of this, and I open up the annual report, then on the trustees report, on, like, page one or page two of the annual report, they are talking about the impact of social media on the organisation. So it's obviously crucial to what you do. How do you think that it's become that important for the organisation?Steven Franklin: I think, genuinely, it does link back to that core fundamental purpose. All social media is the 21st century way of connecting people with an idea. In the Victorian times, you would have had to sit in a lecture theatre and listen to the lecture given. If you were lucky, you might have been able to read it, if you were in the right sort of circles. But, in many ways, the way in which technology has evolved and where we sit here today, it's never been easier to sort of publish ideas and communicate thinking. That isn't to downplay the craft that goes into it, because I think that's two separate conversations. It is very easy to publish.Steven Franklin: It's a little bit more of a science to publish in the right way with the right sort of thinking that goes into it. So, yeah, I think, it's fundamental about connecting people with science, and that is what the charity and the institution is built on. I think we're quite fortunate, the RI, in the sense that we have a leadership team that truly believes in the importance of connection and doesn't devalue digital connection against physical connection. So, whether you're supporting our social media channels, whether you're a subscriber on YouTube, or whether you're sitting in the lecture theatre, that is a valuable engagement that is fulfilling a function and part of our purpose. So, yeah, I think that's why. And actually, it's really nice to be working at an organisation that does play such onus and importance.Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. So what is it like having responsibility for over a million followers across social? That must be a little bit bolting.Steven Franklin: Yes, it is. And I've thought about this a lot, and indeed, I've had quite a short career in social media, but I think even I've begun to mature in the way I think about this, too. I think, first and foremost, if you're working in social media, you probably aren't somebody that's overawed by that fact that you can hit huge numbers of people pretty much instantaneously. And I think if you are somebody that would get anxious about that, you probably wouldn't be working in social or indeed comms. So I think there's that. But I think it's a great honour, to be honest, to be trusted pretty much within reason, to sort of spearhead a strategy and have a bit of fun.Steven Franklin: And translate sort of, scientific ideas into a medium that makes sense for the 21st century, or indeed the trend, or indeed the platform. I think that's in a very entrusted position. Yeah, so there's that. And then, I think, for me personally, there's been a bit of maturity in sort of realising that, actually, whilst you still get that rush, when you see a viral post really take off and you get that lovely dopamine hit and you're on cloud nine, actually realising that this is not your account, you're doing the work of the organisation. This isn't Steven Franklin out there and sort of going viral.Paul Marden: This is some of the jokes. There's a little bit of you in there, I think.Steven Franklin: Yeah, no, there is, there is. But I think the thing that I've realised is that when things. When things go well, then you've got nothing to worry about. But in the odd moments where you get into a bit of a sticky patch, something didn't go quite anticipated. That's when having too close a personal connection with it does become health sage. Correct. Yeah. And actually, I think, by and large, for the most part, that sort of talking to a million people is 99% not a problem. It's that small 1% of moments where something goes awry that you didn't quite anticipate, we didn't expect. I try my best to think 360 degrees about what possibly people could think in response to it.Steven Franklin: A post that I think is harmless, but in reality we're posting to the Internet and everybody on the Internet is able to hold of you. And so I was having this conversation with my line manager a couple of weeks ago, 20 years ago, you would have published something in the press and somebody would have had the same thought. The only difference was they were having it in their living room and they were just uttering it to their other half. Today they can literally give you instantaneous feedback. So that's how the dynamic shifted. So yeah, I think hopefully that's answered your question. Paul.Paul Marden: Yeah, you touched on this a minute ago, you touched on kind of the broader strategy. So what are the goals for social, for the organisation going forwards?Steven Franklin: I mean more, more, more. How do you like it? How do you like it? I mean there is an element of that. So obviously we want to continue growing all of our channels as much as possible. We want to be talking to as many new people, raising the awareness of the institution, raising the awareness of our work, but then also sort of subsidiary to that, just sort of communicating good science and providing that sort of educational offer. So I think, there is that sort of vanity metric in terms of raw number of followers, but we're also really interested in engagement and you know, there's no point to us in having 5 million followers if only 5000 people engage with your content each month. That to us feels a little incongruous.Steven Franklin: So, putting out quality content on channels that our communities on those channels respond to and enjoy and engage with is sort of a big motivation factor for us. And then secondly, or maybe thirdly, we've been quite agile in adapting to technology in the 21st century. So some of our channels we have monetised and sort of use digital content to help drive revenue and bring in revenue. So that's a sort of secondary or tertiary sort of thing on social.Paul Marden: Yeah, it's a nice bit of feedback, isn't it, in batching to the organisation. So who are the audiences, those communities that you touched on a moment ago, who is it that you're trying to speak to?Steven Franklin: So I think by and large, like any organisation, we have an audience sort of strategy that sort of segments all of our audiences into various catchment terms that represent people and we have about six to eight of those. And we made a conscious effort to focus on to two groups that we internally refer to as the science connected and the science curious. So science connected being people that might work in science, might have done a degree in science, might have a connection through science, they might be studying it. So, that traditional science call, they work in a career that is adjacent to science and then the science curious, probably, are those people that don't fit into that group, but are probably more arts and culturally orientated.Steven Franklin: They are interested in learning new things, they are open to ideas and exchanging ideas and. Yeah. So those are the sort of two audiences that we predominantly focus on. That isn't to say that we are deliberately excluding the rest.Paul Marden: If you're not focusing on some bit, you're focused on no deal.Steven Franklin: Exactly. Yeah.Paul Marden: So I guess the reason how the way that we got connected, the way that our conversation started together, was more interested in data and pulling data out of the sector and understanding how the sector works. And in a conversation I had with Rachel at the Association of Science and Discovery Centre, she said you'd be a really good person to talk to because you're really motivated by the data behind social and you use that a lot to be able to influence what you do. So tell us a little bit about that. How are you using data to make decisions about what you do next?Steven Franklin: Well, that's a big question. I think one of the great things about working in digital social being a part of digital, is that there's no shortage of data that is at your disposal. I think one of the things that makes me sort of sad working within the charity cultural sector is that actually, by and large, the level of resource isn't there to truly sort of get to the bottom of what that data tells you. Paul Marden: Yes. Steven Franklin: So I'll get off my soapbox now. Yeah. So, as you say, I'm very interested in using that data to inform my content choices. And I think by far and away, the clearest example I have to show you today is the way that we've sort of looked at data in terms of our Instagram growth.Steven Franklin: To put that into context, in the last six months we've grown organically by 110,000 followers in about 130 posts. So absolutely staggering numbers. And then within the last four or five months, we've done approaching 10 million impressions on just Instagram alone. So, huge numbers. And the thing that I noticed was that whenever I posted a static image or graphic to the grid, so just a post, the only people that saw it were your followers, and there was a tiny fraction of people that weren't your followers. So I posted a reel and then I realised that percentage and was completely skied the other way. So, depending on how successful the reel was, you could have anything up to 75% non followers versus 25% followers on a truly viral reel, that was over a million views.Steven Franklin: So what that told me was that if I wanted to grow, the easiest way to grow is to obviously get your content to new people. And the way the platform and the algorithm was telling me the easiest way to do that was to just publish Instagram reels. So. And, there have been other stories. I think the Washington Post sort of in 21, 22, grew their Instagram channel to over a couple of million by publishing three Instagram reels a day. And they had exponential growth of which hadn't been seen before. So I didn't do three times a day. I just did three a week one on Monday, one on Wednesday, one on Friday. All videos about 60 seconds, some 40 seconds and some, up to a minute and a half. But yeah, just got into that pattern.Steven Franklin: Posted, posted posters, and then I would supplement those reels with, a couple of grid posts. And the way that I sort of was seeing or the way that the strategy has sort of evolved is that the reels are the things that grow the channel and the grid posts are the things that cultivate the community. So, our Instagram reels are our calling card.Paul Marden: Yep.Steven Franklin: For a traditional analogy, they're the billboard that you put on the motorway that lots of people see. And the content you post to your  followers or to those followers are the sort of entertaining, sort of, membership pack that they can read and that equivalent, the analogy sort of fell down. But hopefully you get my gist.Paul Marden: Yeah, I get what you mean. So when you flip it on its head and you go with the reels, you get this massive increase in people that aren't following you, seeing what you're talking about. And what sort of conversion rate are you seeing how many people are actually following you as a result of that? Is that the great point there?Steven Franklin: Yeah, so we've like, within a month, we've been growing on average, 20,000 followers a month. In some days, we've been doing one and a half thousand followers a day. You can link that. So, you know, Instagram, if you go into our most popular reel that has over 5 million views, it will tell you how many new followers that specific video has generated. That video, I think, for us, has in itself generated like 30,000 new followers.Paul Marden: Many thoughts. Now there's just play by mind. That's amazing. What is it about the content? Have you changed the content over that time? So you'd say that you're presenting different things.Steven Franklin: Yeah. So it's been really interesting. And the reason it's been interesting is because by and large, it sort of has gone against the industry received wisdom. So, for context, I am the sole person in charge of social media. I work in a digital and marketing team. We have two full time video producers who help me create visual content and assets and video. But by and large, you know, I am sort of a one man band. So I sort of decided that I couldn't create brand new content all the time. But what I could do is use the 40 minutes to an hour lecture that we have take place in our lectures sometimes three times a week that are by and large filmed.Steven Franklin: I know that we've got some of the greatest scientists in the world coming to speak about really cool things. Okay, cool. Why don't I take that 1 hour talk and skim through it at two times speed and isolate 1 minute moments that peak interest. Okay. So that's all very well and good. What are the things that we internally think peak people's interest? Well, there's the obvious one. It's the demonstrations or the impressive science experiments, the bangs, the smoke and all of that. So there's that. Then there's the talking about something that's, you know, vaguely topical trending. So I think that, the probably most obvious example of that is the, is Chris Van Dulligan and his ultra processed foods or ultra processed people book.Steven Franklin: So, yep, we released quite a lot of content around that. And that did very well. And then thirdly, I guess it's the content that is likely to somewhat divide opinion. I won't say it's controversial content, but I would say that it's content that is most likely to get people talking. Because another thing that I noticed was that if your video gets more comments, it seems that helps with performance than likes. So you could get loads of likes. But if nobody comments, then algorithm isn't interested. But if people start talking and commenting, then the algorithm says, “Oh, people really like this. And, you know, it doesn't matter what they're saying.”Paul Marden: And that's what you're seeing with the reels. Is it that you push a reel out there? And if it's, if it is thought provoking, not controversial. Yeah. Then you're seeing people commenting on that and that drawings up more impressions, which itself drives more engagement and all the outcomes.Steven Franklin: Yeah. So like to take that 5 million reel example, you know, it's got like 45,000 likes, so it's still a lot of likes. But if you did the maths, that compared to 5 million views, it's quite a small rate. The amount of comments, it's got huge. It's like the comment section alone is bordering on 5000. Conversely, we have another video that's done sort of approaching 4 million, the likes are at 100,000, but the comment section is far smaller and it hasn't received as or hasn't been pumped out. Now, am I reading too much into this? Probably, because at the end of the day we're all slightly at the mercy of the algorithm and there is a bit of luck. There is a bit of luck.Steven Franklin: But I guess for me, having sort of worked on it and sort of adopted this strategy for six months, it does seem to be the case that the more people start talking and commenting and sharing, the more the algorithm sort of takes that as a sign or marker of good content.Paul Marden: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So around the kind of content planning and production piece, there's a team of people around you. You're in a fortunate position because you've got all of these amazing scientists from around the world that want to talk about what they do in your lecture theatre where you can go and record their content and back, all of a sudden you've got a content plan in front of you of the year, haven't you? So that's a really fortunate position to be in. But how do you go from that plan of all of the activity over the year into figuring out what you're going to do on a daily basis on your Monday, Wednesday, Friday posts that you do.Steven Franklin: So there's two ways. There's the official answer and then there's the unofficial answer. The official answer is in some ways the reels that we post are somewhat predetermined by the schedule of our public programme. Now that isn't to say, and this somewhat circles back to your previous question, but I think it still makes sense. Not all of our content that we published on Instagram or TikTok is, a clip of a talk. You know, we do supplement the content calendar with our own sort of original content, whether that be green screen or our own internal science demonstrations, you know, and interestingly, actually there's another anecdote. The green screen on Instagram just dives. People aren't interested in it.Steven Franklin: The green screen on TikTok, people love it, whereas on TikTok you post a clip of a talk, people less don't like it. They probably don't feel it's very authentic to the platform. The green screen, you know, goes bonkers, you know, work that out, whatever. Yeah, but, yeah, so going back there is. There is obviously there's somewhat predetermined by the talks, but then also it's coming down to, okay, we have had, you know, how many physics, how many biology, how many chemistry, how many hard science, soft science. We are an organisation that is inclusive reflex all. So we don't want to just publish white men.Steven Franklin: We need a gender balance there, we need an ethnicity balance as well to reflect the vibrancy of everyone that comes to talk here, but also the vibrancy of the scientific community and large because at the end of the day, our content has the ability to inspire and allows people to feel seen, I guess so. So that also sort of informs our planning process.Paul Marden: I think you said something about when we were talking before, actually, if you were being really mercenary about this and just going for the engagement, then you would focus on certain demographics of who it is that's presenting all the subject matter as well. Those can skew as well. But you have this obligation to be more diverse than it used.Steven Franklin: Yeah. And that is an internal challenge. And I think it is a challenge that you could let yourself get carried away by following, chasing big numbers and fall into a trap of sort of undermining your own institution nor mission. Just at the sake of  to get to a million followers or whatever. But yeah, no, there are some challenges, you know, there are. And this is me not trying to overstate things, but we do publish content that we know sadly won't perform as well as say something else that we know probably would. But I think that is also one of the great joys and great beauties of working here is we're not yet. We will never be at a stage where we just do things for the pure KPI's.Steven Franklin: We are also all about engagement and inspiring and being inclusive.Paul Marden: There's a big mission that plays. It's quite interesting, isn't it? Because it makes you wonder whether just if you focus on one demographic or you focus one segment at the expense of the others. Is that because the algorithm favours that or is that because the audience. You would think that even if it was the algorithm favouring it's because that's because the audience that the algorithm serves is optimised around the algorithm is optimised around the audience. So you would expect it to be the audience listening. But yeah, it's a. Which came first is a chicken and egg problem, isn't it?Steven Franklin: It is. It is a chicken and egg problem. And I think, you know, sort of this comes back to you. What's it like to manage a channel of a million sort of people? You just got to accept that not everything you post is going to be to everyone's taste. There'll be things that fly and there'll be things that don't. But the things that don't, it doesn't mean that it was bad content, doesn't mean that it's not fulfilled an important or valuable function or done something that has meaning, even if it only gets, you know, 50 engagements. Those 50 engagements are very valuable and in some cases could be potentially more valuable if it's chimed with the right sort of people and got in front of the audience we wanted.Paul Marden: Yeah, my daughter absolutely adores Mark Rober videos and the crunchlight boxes that he has. And he talks about, you hide the vegetables. Yeah. You give people the big exploding test tubes or whatever, but hidden behind that is the chemistry. Or you give them a toy that enables them to do amazing things with ping pong balls, but actually along the way they're learning some physics. You can hide the veg in amongst all of your exploding videos.Steven Franklin: Yeah, correct. And funny you should mention Mark Rober. I was literally just watching a YouTube video about him earlier today on the way in. Yeah, I wouldn't say an idol of mine, but a really interesting sort of case study in somebody that sort of, you know, the way in which the creator economy is sort of pivoted to a way where you can become your own sort of advertiser as well as product. And you have the perfect closed loop. You create a product, you make a video for 30 million people that advertises your product, that then generates income so you can create more product, so you can just go round around.Steven Franklin: Yeah, I mean, I guess for me, I'm a YouTube nut and I'm a sort of social media addicts and I think there's really big potential in sort of unlocking some of the secrets of how creators work and how they think and how they approach content and product and collaboration, taking some of those principles and concepts into the world of brands and organisations and institutions, because, let's be honest, that's kind of the future. And those people, regardless of whether they've got a marketing background or qualifications in marketing, they are cutting edge marketers who.Paul Marden: Absolutely, yeah.Steven Franklin: Who know exactly what they're doing, who are obsessed by the detail, who study and analyse retention graphs until it sort of makes them blue in the face. And that's the type of thing that I would love to do, to be able to do A and B tests on Facebook, to be able to do something as simple as publish the same video, publish one without a sort of timeline that shows how long you are through the video, publish the same video with that. See how that affects retention. Because if you believe that, as we're told, that retention is one of the keys sort of metrics of success or good content, then if you can find ways in which you can create longer retention metric, then that would be a key.Steven Franklin: And even something as simple as that could possibly lead to some really big impacts. Another thing, you could post your video on reels and you could look at the or TikTok, look at a retention graph. Okay, we'll publish the same video, but we'll take that spike and we'll move that there and we'll cut the video short. Paul Marden: That's amazing, isn't it? Steven Franklin: Yeah, but that is the sort of thinking that's happening with some of the biggest creators, and sort of I guess they're in a very privileged position because they have now huge teams behind them. But I guess for me the core point is that they didn't always have these people there.Paul Marden: And did the data just add to that, isn't it?Steven Franklin: Yeah, yeah. You know, and my suspicion is I've never spoken to the likes of Mr. Beast or Mark Rober or anybody with huge social following. But my suspicion is basically if you just take one piece of data and you optimise your workflow around that, then once you've got that sorted, you then turn your attention to another piece and then another piece, and then if you've optimised five pieces of data, then maybe you are in a place where you can get another person and then, so to speak.Paul Marden: It's a positive reinforcing cycle, isn't it? So let's take that. How do you demonstrate back to the organisation the return on their investment for all the work that you're doing?Steven Franklin: Well, as sort of referenced earlier, there is the sort of monetisation aspect to that. So I have a KPI of sort of quarterly and monthly budgets that I am against, that I'm accountable to. So there's that. So that's a very obvious straight line trajectory between a very opaque money and then digital content. But then I guess outside of that, there's other KPI's, obviously, growth on channels, engagement rates, numbers of engagements, link clicks through to our posts that promoting our membership offers, whether that be family membership or adult membership or our public programme events. So those are all the ways in which I can demonstrate value, I guess. And that's just numeric data.Steven Franklin: But then there's also the actual stuff that I much more enjoy, which is the anecdotal, the sort of the written word where somebody says, give the social media manager a raise. I cheaply screenshot and send it over to my line manager to say, you know, just leaving this here.Paul Marden: Sure. Absolutely. Absolutely. This has been brilliant to talk to you, find out a little bit more about what you do and what the RI is doing with social media. It's been awesome. We always ask our guests to tell us about their favourite books that we could share with the audience. So have you selected a book for us?Steven Franklin: I have selected a book that I listened to on audible. Yeah. So Steven Bartlett's the Diary of a CEO, 33 laws, business and life, something that I've just finished listening to. Yeah, I'm a big sort of fan of, or, you know, have great admiration for, you know, Steven Bartlett and sort of the way that he's sort of, you know, that a rags to riches kind of story. But yeah, I think there's lots of. It's a very consumable, accessible book with some really nice little ideas in there that you can take away, probably implement to yourself. One of the greatest is the idea of absurdity, and the role that can be and how that can be exploited not just in social but just within marketing.Steven Franklin: And those sort of tidbits, stick with me, I guess. It's in that ever sort of growing pursuit of mind of trying to just make myself, you know, 1% better each day. And if I can learn from some of the world's best and sort of get any part of wisdom or insight from them and sort of implement that, then that's not going to do me, I hope, any bad. So yeah, that would be my recommendation.Paul Marden: There you go, lovely listeners. So if you would like a copy of Diary of a CEO, then jump onto X, retweet the show announcement and say, I want Steven's book. The first person that does that will get a copy of the book. Steven, it's been utterly delightful. Thank you ever so much. I really enjoyed we said to each other when we finished the prep call, I hope the main call goes as well as the prep call did. It really did. I've enjoyed this one just as much as the prep call. So thank you.Steven Franklin: No, thank you very much. And yeah, it's been really enjoyable. I just wish it could have been longer, to be honest.Paul Marden: Well, maybe we'll bring you back for part two again sometime soon. Thank you, Steven.Steven Franklin: Thank you.Paul Marden: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review. It really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned. Skip The Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode and more over on our website, rubbercheese.com/podcast. The 2023 Visitor Attraction Website Report is now LIVE! Dive into groundbreaking benchmarks for the industryGain a better understanding of how to achieve the highest conversion ratesExplore the "why" behind visitor attraction site performanceLearn the impact of website optimisation and visitor engagement on conversion ratesUncover key steps to enhance user experience for greater conversionsDownload the report now for invaluable insights and actionable recommendations!

In this episode of Mind Your Business, we look at how Singapore Discovery Centre, under Defence Collective Singapore, leads the charge in sustainability by becoming Singapore's first Positive Energy Museum. Through innovative renewable energy adoption, operational efficiency enhancements, and community engagement initiatives, SDC sets a new standard for environmental stewardship, inspiring a greener tomorrow for all. Joseph Tan, CEO, Defence Collective Singapore shares more and what we can expect next.    Presented by Audrey Siek This podcast is produced and edited by Anthea Ng (nganthea@sph.com.sg) She produces Mind Your Business, Biz-How-To and Breakfast Special segments on the Breakfast Show. Do contact her for topics: C-Suite, SME, Startups, Healthtech, Sustainability, Property, Intergenerational Family Business, Industry Outlook, Fintech and trending businesses in town.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Going back to school to get your high school diploma can be a major life decision. Sure, it'll likely have an incredibly positive impact, but it's still a stressful choice. The Discovery Centre has been offering the Adult Basic Education (ABE) program in this province since 1993. Right now, they're hosting a Facebook Live series aimed at easing some of the anxieties of going back to school. Jennifer Murrin is an admissions officer with the Centre.Meghan Allen is a recent ABE graduate, currently enrolled in the pharmacy tech program at Keyin College.

The eclipse is the talk of the town and Mainstreet got in on the action too. First, our colleague Rose Murphy went down to the Discovery Centre in Halifax to see how people were preparing for the event, and then Jeff spoke with the CBC's Khalil Ahktar, live from Miramichi, where the eclipse could be seen in its totality. 

Google opened their newest Accessibility Discovery Centre in Dublin, Ireland. Steven Scott will talk about what this centre is all about and the new kinds of accessible tech that's developed in-house.

Google is opening a dedicated accessibility space where Google engineers, researchers and wider product teams will focus on driving new innovation in accessible technology to help to remove some of the barriers that people with disabilities face everyday. The 'Accessibility Discovery Centre' has been built in consultation with local partners including Spinal Injuries Ireland, ADHD Ireland, the National Disability Authority, Fighting Blindness and Google's internal Disability Alliance employee resource group. Not only a workshop for research and product development, the centre will be a space for cross-industry learning, sharing information and building greater understanding and empathy among the accessibility community. The centre will also facilitate tours to increase awareness of the power of technology to empower those with disabilities. These tours will include real life examples of new technologies empowering people with disabilities via a series of interactive zones and gaming zones that bring to life the ways people with disabilities interact with technology. The opening is also an acknowledgement that there is much more to do to meet people's ever changing needs, allowing Google to learn from and partner with accessibility and disability communities to keep improving and innovating for users. Christopher Patnoe, Accessibility and Disability Inclusion, Google, said, "The Accessibility Discovery Centre isn't just a place where we will build better products and services - it's also a medium through which we can engage more effectively with different disability communities to better understand and address their needs. The new space can break down barriers and will ultimately change lives for the better. Today's event marks the beginning of that exciting journey that will first understand the myriad problems that exist and then address them in an inclusive manner." Sinead Burke, CEO, Tilting the Lens said, "As the CEO of Tilting the Lens, a global accessibility consultancy, our value is not merely in guidance and advice, but in creating meaningful connections. Over the past year, we have been fortunate to bring our clients together at Google's Accessibility Discovery Centre in London, where they have been energised by the advancements in accessible technology and ambitious to implement better practices in accessibility. As an Irish-based company, we're excited to leverage Google's global influence through their newest Accessibility Discovery Centre at home." Dr Gerald Craddock Chief Officer at The Centre for Excellence in Universal Design at the National Disability Authority commented: "The Centre for Excellence in Universal Design (CEUD) welcome the launch of the Accessible Discovery Centre (ADC), a great initiative by Google in creating an innovative space for co-designing and learning on accessibility with the disability communities in Ireland. These elements are the bedrock of Universal Design which is enshrined in legislation in Ireland and we readily recognise the value of this new initiative. The ADC will provide a 'discovery' space for everyone as well as demonstrating new and inclusive technologies." Among the first events to take place at the new space will be regular readouts with accessibility and disability communities. Developers will also be given the resources they need to integrate accessibility into products from the beginning of their processes. This is Google's first Accessibility Discovery Centre in the EU and builds on years of investment and innovation in helpful technology that can improve the lives of people with disabilities. See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: https://anchor.fm/irish-tech-news If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us...

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is  Kelly Molson, Founder of Rubber Cheese.Download the Rubber Cheese 2023 Visitor Attraction Website Report - the annual benchmark statistics for the attractions sector.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website rubbercheese.com/podcast.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. Show references: https://carbonsix.digital/https://www.linkedin.com/in/pmarden/Paul Marden is the Founder and Managing Director of Carbon Six Digital and the CEO of Rubber Cheese. He is an Umbraco Certified Master who likes to think outside the box, often coming up with creative technical solutions that clients didn't know were possible. Paul oversees business development and technical delivery, specialising in Microsoft technologies including Umbraco CMS, ASP.NET, C#, WebApi, and SQL Server. He's worked in the industry since 1999 and has vast experience of managing and delivering the technical architecture for both agencies and client side projects of all shapes and sizes. Paul is an advocate for solid project delivery and has a BCS Foundation Certificate in Agile. https://www.rubbercheese.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellymolson/Kelly Molson is the Founder of Rubber Cheese, a user focused web design and development agency for the attraction sector. Digital partners to Eureka! The National Children's Museum, Pensthorpe, National Parks UK, Holkham, Visit Cambridge and The National Marine Aquarium.Kelly regularly delivers workshops and presentations on sector focused topics at national conferences and attraction sector organisations including ASVA, ALVA, The Ticketing Professionals Conference and the Museum + Heritage Show.As host of the popular Skip the Queue Podcast for people working in or working with visitor attractions, she speaks with inspiring industry experts who share their knowledge of what really makes an attraction successful.Recent trustee of The Museum of the Broads.  Transcription:  Kelly Molson: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in or working with visitor attractions. I'm your host, Kelly Molson. In this new monthly slot, Rubber Cheese CEO Paul Marden joins me to discuss different digital related topics. In this episode, we'll talk about how you can make your site more interactive and the tasks and costs associated with that. You can subscribe on all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue. Kelly Molson: Hello. Back for a fourth time. Paul Marden: Hello. Kelly Molson: What attraction have you visited most recently, and what did you love about it? Paul Marden: Do I go first? I always go first. Kelly Molson: We've got a format now. Don't break the format. I'm comfortable. Paul Marden: I went to the Titanic Museum just recently. We were exhibiting, actually, at the Association of Science and Discovery Centres at their annual conference in Belfast, which was actually at W5 in the Titanic quarter of Belfast. And I could talk loads about W5, which I will do in another session. But the place that I went to that I was most kind of emotionally moved by which I'm a bit of a geek and I'm fairly concrete in terms of my emotional stuff, for me to feel moved. Kelly Molson: Yeah. It's normally me that's got the blubbing. Paul Marden: Yeah. So I was blown away by the experience at the Titanic Museum. I've never been to a museum with so few artefacts, which, of course, is because everything was lost at sea. And so the whole museum is about telling the story through reproductions and immersive experiences, which was all amazing. But then you stumble upon one of the original artefacts as you're wandering around, and there's only a handful of them, but it hit me like a brick wall when I actually came across them. So there's a life jacket. There's only twelve of those left in existence, and they've got one of them at the museum. And you walk into this room, where all of the names of the victims of this tragedy are on this massive wall. And it's a darkened room, but lit in the centre of the room was this one life jacket. Paul Marden: Amazing. And then you walk around and there's a section talking about the root cause of the accident. And there are the keys to the binocular store from the crow's nest, which happened to be in the second officer's pocket. And he had to get off the ship in Southampton and he didn't get back on, and so there were no keys. And so the people that were in the crow's nest couldn't open the box with the binoculars that would have led them to see the iceberg. Kelly Molson: Wow. What a story. That wasn't in the film. Paul Marden: No, it wasn't in the film. So it's really impactful. And then the storytelling was amazing, but completely lost on me. So I was chatting to. I made a new friend, Lucinda Lewis, the CEO of Catalyst Science and Discovery Centre, and we would, like, both say how amazing it was, how impactful it was. And she was like, "Yeah, and the dominoes." And I'm like, "Dominoes? What dominoes?" Paul Marden: And she was like, "Did you not see when you were looking at all of the root causes, they wrote them on these big pillars that were toppling, showing you the domino effect." I was like, "Okay, yeah, that was completely lost on me." Kelly Molson: So lesson for you is you need to pay more attention to the interpretation next time. Paul Marden: Completely clueless to the subtext of what was going on around me. But the story was amazing. Kelly Molson: Story is really cool. Yeah. I have never heard that before. That's really impressive. I think that picture that you painted of all the names with the one kind of life jacket in the middle of it is so powerful. I can see it in my head, but I've never seen it. Paul Marden: That was only one of a dozen kind of really powerful memories that I've got of being just blown away by their storytelling and how they communicated what happened. It was just an amazing place. Kelly Molson: Nice. I've got it. I missed that I couldn't make it to the conference this year because I was elsewhere. Paul Marden: Absolutely. What have you been doing recently? Where have you been? Kelly Molson: So this is a very recent one, literally last week, last Thursday, I was very kindly invited to go and visit the Ashmolean Museum, which is a free to enter museum. But what I really liked is they have a very large donations area as you first walk in and you've got card donations. Beep. So easy. I never have cash, so that was a big thumbs up for me. The museum is brilliant. I mean, it has some brilliant exhibitions in it that are there. They're always there. But I was really keen to go and see their colour revolution exhibition, which is all around Victorian art, fashion and design. Some of you might not know this about me, but I was a graphic designer in the past, actually. Probably. Actually, loads of you people know about that. Loads. Kelly Molson: I was a graphic designer once upon a time and I was a packaging designer and just design and colour. And also I've got a real passion for kind of interior design as well. So all of these things just, I have a big love of. So this exhibition for me was like, "This is the one. This is a big tick." What I found really fascinating is that Victorian Britain has this kind of connotation of being really dull and dreary, and the exhibition was kind of exploring that. It's absolutely incorrect, but they start with Queen Victoria's morning dress, which is a really powerful image. So after Prince Albert's sudden death, she plunged into a very deep grief. And she actually wore. I didn't know this. She wore black for the remaining 40 years of her life. I had no idea that she. Kelly Molson: I mean, I knew she mourned for a really long time. I had no idea she never wore another colour again. So she's obviously such an iconic image, an iconic person of that era, that image probably sticks with you, which is why it adds to that illusion of Victorian's love in the dark completely. But they didn't they really love colour.  And they love to experiment with it. And they have a big thing about insects and animals and bringing that into the colours that they wore. And the jewellery, like, some of the jewellery, like this beetle necklace, was just incredible. And there is a lot of. I know that they have a lot of that in their kind of fabrics and their kind of artwork from that time as well. But what I really loved is really small artefact in the museum that I totally loved. So it was a very early colour chart, like a paint sample colour chart. So this is quite current for me at the minute. Kelly Molson: My office is full of furnishings because we're renovating a cottage in Norfolk and it's not ready, but I've had to order all the things for it or find them off Facebook Marketplace and eBay and charity shops and vintage places and my office. So colour chart and all of that kind of stuff is, like, right up here at the moment. But anyway, there was an 1814 Scottish artist called Patrick Syme, and he tried to solve the problem of how to describe colour by giving each one of them a name. But he draw nature to do this. So you have, like, mole's breath now from Barrow and ball and lighting green and those kind of stuff. Well, this is where this started in the Victorian age, so it's absolutely beautiful. I posted it on my LinkedIn. Kelly Molson: But this colour chart is just gorgeous and it gives a number for each colour. So number 54. Its name was Duck green. The animal that it was named after is the neck of Mallard. I actually thought the colour was neck of Mallard, which I was like, that's absolutely brilliant. The vegetable that it was similar to is the upper disc of yew leaves, and the mineral is. I don't know if I'm going to pronounce this Ceylanite and I Googled it isn't green. I had no idea what ceylanite is, but it's not green. Paul Marden: Yeah, I'd struggle to identify a yew tree, let alone the upper disc green of a yew tree's leaf. Kelly Molson: Well, there you go. Honestly, I loved it. I loved every minute of it. It was really interesting. And that for me was like, I know it's a really small artefact, but it was the standout one for me because it just connected with some of it is so current for me at the moment. It was £15 pounds to go and see this exhibition and that is money well spent. It's open now until the 18th of Feb 2024. So totally get yourselves along to visit that. And also their restaurant and food is top notch. Paul Marden: Was it good? Was it really okay? Kelly Molson: We'll talk about that another time. Paul Marden: We've done a few of the Oxford Uni museums, but we've not done the Ashmolean yet, so that needs to be on my list of places to go. Kelly Molson: Yeah, definitely worth a little visit. Okay. Right. We're going to talk about interactivity today. Making your website more interactive can improve engagement which is more likely to improve your conversion rate. But very few attractions have interactive elements, which is quite surprising, actually. So we're going to talk about how you can make your site a bit more interactive and immersive. So one, the stat from the survey is that, 53% of visitor attractions survey don't have any interactive elements on their websites. Kelly Molson: So that's like. I'm quite surprised about that because during the pandemic, went all in on interactivity. We had to. It was the only way that you could kind of get people to your site and get people engaged in what you were doing. And we're talking about things like virtual tours, interactive maps, or even just integrating video and audio on your site is a way of making it interactive as well. So, yeah, I was quite surprised that it was so low, actually. Paul Marden: Yeah, it surprised me as well, because a lot of the people that we talk to want that kind of interactive content added into their sites. Kelly Molson: Do you think. And I'm not trying to make us idiots here again, because we did enough of that on the last episode, but do you think that people understand that video and audio is an interactive element? Paul Marden: That's a good point. Kelly Molson: Or is our expectation of it to be more. Because audio and video, do we see that as a standard thing now? We don't see that as a special element. Paul Marden: That could be absolutely true. And we talked a lot about things that we could do to improve the survey for next time. There's a real risk, isn't there? Because you could ask a lot more very detailed questions. Do you have a virtual tour? Do you have an interactive map? Do you have video and audio on your site? And now, all of a sudden, we've gone from one question to three questions, and we're asking too much of everybody when they fill stuff in, so you end up having to have broader questions, but those broader questions themselves become a little ambiguous. So maybe there's an element of. It could be that there's a bunch of people in that 53% of people that don't have interactivity, that may have stuff that is video or audio that we would consider to be interactive, but they don't. Kelly Molson: Do you think as well, that because life has gone back to relative normality for the majority of us, that we just are not engaging with those things as much, or they just not seem to be as relevant anymore? Paul Marden: Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? We talk about audience personas and trying to personalise the site to give people exactly the content that's relevant to them. Who is the target audience for the virtual tour? Is the target audience for a virtual tour the people that are going to come visit? Is it a way of enticing people to come and physically come on site? Is it a way of extending the reach of the attraction, or let's say it's a cultural or museum kind of setting? Is it a way for them to extend the reach of their collection to people that can't come. Understanding what the interactivity is there for and how it enables the audience to achieve the goal that they're trying to achieve. And for the clients, the attraction themselves, to be able to achieve what their goal is for that audience group is interesting. Paul Marden: Interactivity for its own sake doesn't help anyone if you're not really thought about why you're putting it there. Kelly Molson: Yeah, I was just trying to think. I've got a really good case study of this and I've forgotten the name of the place. I want to talk about it, but I've forgotten the name of it, so I'll give you an explanation of it instead. Years ago, so. Oh, God, I think this is. In 2015, Lee and I went to Australia on holiday. Lee actually asked me to marry him in Australia at Ayers Rock. It was very romantic. Paul Marden: Oh, wow. Kelly Molson: But one of the best, I should say that was the best trip, obviously, that was the best trip, but one of the other best trips that went on while were there. When were in Melbourne, I've gone to the island and I've forgotten the name of the island. It's come off totally out of my head. But went to see the little penguins, so the penguin parade that comes in. These penguins come in to shore every night and you can go and watch them come in. It's like an army of miniature penguins. And it genuinely is the most magical thing I've ever seen in my whole life. And you can't take photos because it hurts their eyes. So you're immersing yourself into this experience and it's all up here in my head. Kelly Molson: Well, during the pandemic, they started live broadcasting it on Facebook and I was like, "Shut up. This is amazing." Because it's an expensive trip back to Australia, but I'd love to do that again. I would absolutely 100% go back and do that again.  But this was like a magical opportunity to see it in my home office and watch it as well. So those kind of opportunities, I think, are pretty magical. Paul Marden: You reminded me of in the middle of lockdown, I was obsessed by watching the webcam at Monterey Bay Aquarium. Kelly Molson: I just got something else that got obsessed about a few weeks ago, which is I watched the webcam Sandringham have got. No, is it Sandringham or Balmoral? One of them have got a webcam with the Red Squirrels. I think it's Balmoral. And I got absolutely, totally obsessed with it. Had it on in the corner of the screen just while I was working, just going, "Is it there yet? Is it back yet? Red squirrel. Red squirrel."Paul Marden: I think it might be. The two of us were looking at penguins and sea otters during the height of the pandemic when were desperate to travel. Now, watching Red squirrels on a webcam might be, might not have the same justification for the rest of your day's life. Kelly Molson: It's really cool. It's really cool. You don't get to see red squirrels very often. Paul Marden: No, you don't. Kelly Molson: Anyway, apologies went off on a total tangent, but you can see, look, we've got really animated about this, so you can totally see the value of having those kind of experiences on your website and being to engage with different audiences. Paul Marden: Should we do a stat? Should we talk about some numbers?Kelly Molson: Yeah, what's the benefits? Paul Marden: Yeah. So HubSpot again. We talk about HubSpot data all the time. But HubSpot found that interactive content like quizzes, assessments and polls can increase time spent on a website by 80%. That one's lifted straight out of the survey that we put into there. But there's some more. The Content Marketing Institute shows that 81% of marketers agreed that interactive content grabbed more attention than static content. But that chimes with the data that we gathered from people, doesn't it? Because a lot of people do think that this is important stuff. Maybe not quite to the same level that the Content Marketing Institute found, but obviously people in the results set from our survey thought that this was important. Kelly Molson: Yeah. And I think it depends on what that interactive content is. So, interestingly, when we did the live webinar for the report, we had someone on the webinar mention that they were a bit worried about distraction. So we talk a lot about focusing people's attention on the job in hand, which is ultimately showcase what your attraction does, get them to buy a ticket. And this person said, are we distracting them from those journeys by doing that? But I don't know if it's part of the purchase journey. I think it might be post purchase. It feels for me like post purchase, getting them to come back and engage in your site, repeat visit stuff, just those things around quizzes and assessment and polls and stuff like that. And also this example that I just gave about the little penguins. Kelly Molson: I absolutely will go back to that place one day and being able to engage with it keeps it front and centre of my mind to go. When we go back to Australia, I'm going to take my kid to see that because she will love it. I'll make sure she loves it. And I don't know if it's part of the first point of engagement. I think it's post purchase engagement. Paul Marden: That's interesting. Yeah. What the problems say? Kelly Molson: Anyway, problems? Sustainability. Paul Marden: Yeah. Shall I share a bugbear of mine that I share regularly in meetings all the time. But a lot of interactive content, especially the stuff that uses video, can be inherently unsustainable. Video uses bandwidth. And a lot of people don't think of the impact that websites can have on CO2 emissions. Yeah, it's a link that I don't think many people make. I certainly didn't until there's been a lot of talk around in our industry about this in the last couple of years and it's really opened my eyes up. It's easy to understand if you work for an airline, you can see the CO2 emissions coming out the back of the plane, but if you build websites, you don't see it necessarily, but video consumes bandwidth and bandwidth takes all of these things, the compute power to produce the video and publish it out onto the Internet. Paul Marden: And then to shift all of that data across the Internet ultimately uses energy, and that energy comes at the cost of producing CO2. So one of the obvious ways, if we're just talking about video itself, because video is one kind of more interactive element, avoiding autoplaying videos, which is my absolute bugbear when you land on a home page of a website. And the video autoplays that for me, now that my eyes have been opened to the impact of it, I only used to see the conversion rate benefit, but now the cost associated with that is clear in my mind. And I think if we can avoid doing that and find other ways to increase conversion, I think that's really important. But also doing things to make sure that we understand what the sustainability impact of the web pages that we produce. Paul Marden: So as we make our web pages more complex, they will produce more CO2 as a result of doing that. And I think as people become more aware of this, the world is going to change. At the moment, the people that buy from us, this is not something that is front and centre of their minds in the buying process, I think, at the moment. And there's a lot of power in the hands of the marketers and the procurement people to make it so that technical people like us that build things are required to take that sustainability perspective into account when we're building things and making sure that we build things sustainably. Kelly Molson: And then there's accessibility. So interactive elements can be really great for people that can't visit your site, for one example. However, the digital aspect of that means that you could intentionally put something on your site which actually is less accessible for people who have visual impairments or hearing impairments, for example. Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. If you've got video with audio, have you got subtitles? If you've got video, do you have audio descriptions that describe what the video is showing? If you've got an interactive map, how would you provide a more accessible way of being able to see the interactive map? If you've got a 3D, interactive, immersive virtual tour, how will you interact with that? If you can't see it, to interact with it, those are all things that people need to be thinking about. And many of the institutions that we work with will have a statutory obligation to think about it as well. It's not just a nice to have, it's a statutory obligation to do it as well. Kelly Molson: Yeah, for sure. Okay, so who's doing it well? I think we should just caveat this one by saying that our report and a survey and subsequent report are all anonymous. Kelly Molson: If we ever share anyone's information, that is, in relation to the report data. We have asked for their express permission. Prior to this. Prior to sharing. In this instant, we've just gone out and found some stuff on people's websites and gone, “We really like this. This is really cool.” So we're not talking about these institutions in relation to survey data? Paul Marden: No, absolutely. Should we talk about. The first one in our list was Mary Rose Trust. And the Mary Rose Museum has got an amazing array of interactive artefacts that they've listed off the bottom of the seabed and made it available on the website so you can come.  Kelly Molson: With your mouse, you can turn it around. Not with your hand.Paul Marden: Not yet. The technology isn't quite there yet, but, yeah, you can interact with those artefacts and I think that's pretty amazing for an organisation like them, to be able to share those, because they've got an amazing collection of Tudor artefacts and to be able to share those with the outside world is really impressive. Yeah. Kelly Molson: So that's like a simple technology where you can kind of 3D model the artefact and you can spin it around and you can click on elements of it that will tell you a little bit about this part of it or where it was found or the condition of it, et cetera. So that is super cool. What was the other one on this list that you were like, “This is great.”Paul Marden: I really loved the Museum of London's Victorian Walk. It's a 3D tour affair and obviously they've scanned, taken photos and composed this together into this really cool 3D tour system that you can just move around and experience what life is like on a Victorian walk. I was blown away by, you were talking about the colour of Victorian England. Yeah, it was a really colourful experience. So in my mind, it was a bit like going into diagonally in Hogwarts in the Harry Potter world. It felt that kind of side street of London kind of thing. But you really got into it. It was very cool. Kelly Molson: Oh, that's one for me. So I should go and do that and do a little comparison of how colourful it was based on my Ashmolean experience. Paul Marden: Absolutely. Kelly Molson: Okay, next steps that someone can take if they're thinking about stuff like this. So assess what you can do really quickly and easily. So what do we already have? Paul Marden: Yeah, a lot of people are already going to have stuff, aren't they? So what video have they got? What audio have they got? Were they like Mary Rose and had a bunch of 3D scans of their artefacts that then you can stick into a tool and put onto your website. Obviously, if you've got a large collection and you want to 3D scan everything and put it onto your website, that's not a trivial undertaking, is it? But if you've already got the 3D scans of stuff and you need to then make it available on the website, then the step might be relatively much simpler than scanning your whole collection. Kelly Molson: Yeah. So have a look through your video, your audio, your 3D elements. What do you already have, what can you make more of? And then what can you easily add to your current site? Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. A lot of websites can add video and audio just straight out of the box. I'm going to get a bit geeky and talk about iframes, but essentially an iframe is a little cut out area of your website that you can post a little bit of content into that a lot of different interactive tools on the web will enable you to do so. The 3D models. There's a tool that you can create 3D models of the world in that we've used on a number of different projects. And then you just embed it as an iframe, which is essentially take a URL of your 3D scan and you pop it into your website and it comes out and works on the page as is. It's pretty awesome. And takes so little effort for your developers to be able to add it to the site. Kelly Molson: Cool. And then think about what you could commission or think about some of the things that you could potentially look at as a larger piece of project work. Paul Marden: Yeah, I mean, there's a brainstorming exercise, there, isn't there, of trying to get lots of people together and come up with creative ideas and think about what you can do. Some of the other stuff that we've talked about. Easy. Doesn't take a lot of effort. You've got the assets already or it's relatively easy to add them to your site. But what else could you do? That takes a lot of effort and planning. Kelly Molson: Ask your visitors. Ask people what more they'd like to see. Paul Marden: Yeah. Figuring out what your audience wants and how do you get them to that is step number one, isn't it? Kelly Molson: Okay, and then what kind of budget are we looking at for some of these things? Paul Marden: How long is a piece of string kind of question? This one isn't. It's really hard adding interactive maps onto your site that are fully accessible and easy to use. I guess you're looking at a few thousand pounds to be able to do that, potentially less depends on what you want to put into your interactive map, video and audio. If your website already supports it and you got a whole library of this stuff that you want to share with the outside world, it could cost you nothing but the time it takes you to add it to the site. And then you get into some of the more complex elements like the you can imagine that creating a 3D kind of immersive virtual walkthrough, that's not a trivial job. Paul Marden: If you want to go and photograph an entire exhibit, walk around the whole floor plan of your museum and create an amazing virtual tour. That's going to take some effort, both in terms of getting the right people to turn up with the right kit to be able to do that photography, and then in terms of the technology that's needed to turn that into a virtual tour, and then the effort to embed that into the website itself could be amazing. Probably not a cheap exercise.Kelly Molson: No, substantial investment, and just need to make sure that you're doing it for the right reasons and for the right audience as well. Also podcast if you are thinking about doing a podcast for your museum or your attraction, which I think is a genius idea, give us a shout and we'd be happy to share some of our kind of top tips. Kelly Molson: I think we did an episode on it back in the day with Paul Griffith from Painshill Park, who actually, he interviewed me on this podcast and we talked about some of the reasons that we did it, how we set it up, and some of the kind of costumes around that as well. So it's worth having a little bit through, dig through the archive, but if you got any questions on that then yeah, give us a shout. Good chat again today. I enjoyed this. Paul Marden: Been good, hasn't it? Kelly Molson: Yeah. I'll see you next time. Paul Marden: Thank you. Cheers, mate. Bye. Kelly Molson: Bye bye. Kelly Molson:  Thanks for listening to Skip The Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review. It really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned. Skip the queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode and more over on our website, rubbercheese.com/podcast. The 2023 Visitor Attraction Website Report is now LIVE! Dive into groundbreaking benchmarks for the industryGain a better understanding of how to achieve the highest conversion ratesExplore the "why" behind visitor attraction site performanceLearn the impact of website optimisation and visitor engagement on conversion ratesUncover key steps to enhance user experience for greater conversionsDownload the report now for invaluable insights and actionable recommendations!

At this free space program for Black, Indigenous, and young people of colour, kids have been exploring lunar curiosities and uncovering the challenges that astronauts are facing in the ground-breaking Artemis missions . The CBC's Rose Murphy dropped by to check it out.

Two museums in Halifax -- the Museum of Natural History and the Discovery Centre -- have new exhibits that showcase Indigenous culture. The exhibits coincide with the North American Indigenous Games. People on PEI hope to finally get a provincial museum. And on the phone-in: Appliance repair with Aaron Publicover.

Christopher Weber, Facility Supervisor with the Discovery Centre joins the show to talk about the re-opening of the facility, along with the different types of programs they offer.

In this episode we find out about the STEM Discovery Centre in the UK with STEM educator Michelle Fearn. www.stemdiscoverycentre.co.uk

Norm Murray speaks with one of Q$A Design Directors, Marcelo Graca about The Lakeview Village Discovery Centre. Now open, it is at the forefront of Mississauga's most anticipated waterfront development. Part community space, artist hub, and centre for sales, the Discovery Centre will be a central gathering place and community destination for residents and visitors set against a backdrop of walkable trails and the waterfront.

A new exhibit on display at Parks Canada's Discovery Centre in Woody Point reflects the history and culture of Miawpukek First Nation. The exhibit contains artifacts, crafts, texts and photographs. Artist Pam Hall came up with the idea while working on her series, the Encyclopedia of Local Knowledge, but she knew right away it would take a "village" to make it happen. CBC's James Grudic spoke with the artists behind the project.

LEGOLAND®️ Discovery Centre Toronto Reopens Tomorrow, Feb 3rd! #legoland #LEGOLANDDiscoveryCentre #LegolandinToronto #miniland #LegoRacers #buildandtest #ReneGurtner #merlinentertainments #entertainment #hozpitality https://www.hozpitality.com/Hozpitalitygroup/read-article/legoland-discovery-centre-toronto-reopens-february-3-2022-6567.html

Get ready again LEGO®️ fans - LEGOLAND®️ Discovery Centre Toronto is reopening Thursday, February 3rd! #legoland #LEGOLANDDiscoveryCentre #LegolandinToronto #miniland #LegoRacers #buildandtest #ReneGurtner #merlinentertainments #entertainment #hozpitality https://www.hozpitality.com/Hozpitalitygroup/read-article/legoland-discovery-centre-toronto-reopens-february-3-2022-6567.html

We're taking our second trip to Singapore and the western suburb of Jurong to talk to budding educator Maya. What is growing up in Singapore's industrial heartland like? What's with the unique housing situation? What do shopping malls mean to Singaporeans?Find out more about Maya's work by checking out her Instagram account @alisainmayalandFind out more about Island Life Productions and our work by:- liking our Facebook page at facebook.com/islandlifeproductions/ or following our Instagram @islandlifeproductions- checking out our website at islandlifeproductions.com- visiting our Patreon at patreon.com/islandlifeproductions 

An exclusive Augmented Reality digital experience wherein real and virtual worlds collide. #LegoNinjaGo #Legoland #AugmentedReality #digitalexperience #BeNinja #ReneGurtner #hozpitality https://www.hozpitality.com/Hozpitalitygroup/read-article/5658_celebrate-10-years-of-lego-ninjago-with-the-ultimate-immersive-experience-at-leg.html

For this week's Armagh I podcast, we caught up with Jordan Leckey, outside the Discovery Centre in Lough Neagh where he trains regularly with the Lough Neagh Monster Dunkers. He told us all about his epic swim NI to Scotland, from exactly what it felt like the moment he dipped his toe into the water to face the long, gruelling journey ahead, to the perils he had to deal with in the freezing cold water, right to the finish line with the last kilometre feeling like the longest. Jordan says he wanted nothing more than to give up in the first two hours, which he says were the hardest. He persevered however and once his body was numb to the cold and he tricked his mind into thinking about other things, all of his hard work, including building a swimming pool in his back garden to train in, got him to Scotland in record-breaking time. Jordan's support team, including his dad and some members of The Lough Neagh Monster Dunkers and the Infinity Channel Swimming group were immensely supportive. And with the achievement just starting to sink in and the adrenaline still running high they have convinced him to take his time before planning his next challenge – Jordan has plans however…

Adelaide's Lot Fourteen is home of the Australian Space Agency and the Australian Space Discovery Centre. The Discovery Centre opened earlier in May and is an interactive space facility where the community can learn more about Australia's connection to space.Listen to Enrico Palermo, Head of the Australian Space Agency as he discusses the new public space and the Australian Space Agency's purpose to transform and grow a globally respected space industry right here in SA.

The Discovery Centre's science education manager has tips for turning your home into a science lab... one that's fun for the kids!

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is  Kelly Molson, MD of Rubber Cheese.Download our free ebook The Ultimate Guide to Doubling Your Visitor NumbersIf you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website rubbercheese.com/podcastIf you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this episode.Competition ends August  27th 2021. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references:Michelle Emerson is a senior leader in development and marketing in the UK visitor attractions and museums sector. Currently Director of Marketing and Development at Eureka! The National Children's Museum, working with a fabulous team of visitor attraction, audience development, commercial operations and marketing professionals!https://www.linkedin.com/in/emersonmichelle/https://www.eureka.org.uk/eureka-at-home/https://www.eurekamersey.org.uk/ Transcription:Kelly Molson: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in or working with visitor attractions. I'm your host, Kelly Molson. Each episode, I speak with industry experts from the attractions world. In today's episode, I speak with Michelle Emerson, Marketing and Development Director of Eureka! The National Children's Museum. We discussed their really exciting plans for Eureka! Mersey, and how they're co-creating a brand new science and discovery centre that's going to be based in Wirral. If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue.Kelly Molson: Michelle, it's so lovely to finally get you on the podcast. I think I've been trying for about a year. So thank you for coming on. I really appreciate it. As ever, I'm going to start off with my icebreaker question. What would your dream house be like? And where would it be located?Michelle Emerson: I know this because I've already got the field in mind. It's about 200 meters down the road from where I currently live. And lockdown has enabled me to play on a lovely free app called Floorplanner. So I actually designed it. I know exactly where it's going to be located in the field just down the road. I just need to persuade the farmer to sell me the field.Kelly Molson: Oh, I love this.Michelle Emerson: And then I need to raise the money to build the house. But it's a very rural, very low-key single-story, cedar roof, off-grid sustainable house in the countryside with a separate garage and art studio for my husband, and a gym room and games room for my son. And then I get the rest of the house.Kelly Molson: Oh, that sounds absolutely idyllic. And raising the funds and getting the field, that's just minor technicalities. Right? You already know what it's going to look like. That's the most important thing.Michelle Emerson: And every time I take the dog on a walk through that field, it's already there in my mind. I can see it. It's already there. I just need to seem to put it into action.Kelly Molson: How perfect. We love Grand Designs here. We do watch that quite frequently. Are you going to be comfortable living in a caravan while this will happens?Michelle Emerson: Absolutely. We have a camper van called Woody that we've had for a number of years. All three of us. My son is 11 now. So he's getting a little bit big, but all three of us, plus a Labrador dog, can quite happily co-exist in that space for probably up to about nine months, nine or 10 months.Kelly Molson: Michelle, I feel like you're living my dream. I feel like we're quite aligned there. I would be all right in a caravan.Michelle Emerson: What's the worst that can happen?Kelly Molson: I've got two dogs. To be honest, there's a lot of bad stuff that could go down in a caravan with those two. So who knows. Right. Would you rather be covered in fur or covered in scales?Michelle Emerson: Oh, my word. I think I'm going to say scales.Kelly Molson: Ooh. Oh, I wasn't expecting that.Michelle Emerson: Well, I don't really know why. I think because that means I could be a swimmer. So I would be an animal that could swim, but also be on land. Don't like being too hot.Kelly Molson: Yeah. It'd be really hot with a big old fur on you, would you?Michelle Emerson: Yeah. Yes. I think I'm a scaling person.Kelly Molson: Okay.Michelle Emerson: Sounds good.Kelly Molson: All right. Yeah, it does, doesn't it when you think about it? But then the benefits of the scales, like swimming, would be good. I'm a swimmer. Yeah, but I was thinking furry because I'm a little bit furry already. So I was like, well, it wouldn't be that much difference.Kelly Molson: Okay. Next one. If you can have an unlimited supply of one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?Michelle Emerson: Friends-Kelly Molson: Oh, that's nice.Michelle Emerson: ... an unlimited supply of good friends.Kelly Molson: That is lovely. Oh, that's made me go a bit warm and fuzzy. Because I was thinking, sushi.Michelle Emerson: Yeah.Kelly Molson: Friends is a good one. Okay. All right. Now, this is the bit that we do with all of our guests. So I hope you have prepared this one. What's your unpopular opinion, Michelle?Michelle Emerson: Oh, you know this one, Kelly.Kelly Molson: I do. And I've seen photographic evidence as well.Michelle Emerson: Crocs and socks. Crocs and socks. And I've worked at home 12 months now, and my feet have not been in anything other than Crocs, walking boots, and Wellie boots, or bare feet. So the idea of putting office shoes back on is terrifying. I just don't think it's going to happen. And if my boss was to allow me to wear socks and Crocs to work, I would be very happy.Kelly Molson: See, this is my question. Is socks and Crocs in public or just in your house? Because I think if it's in your house or your back garden, that's okay.Michelle Emerson: It's already in my house and back garden. And it should be in public. It should be an acceptable thing. And I know that's a very unpopular opinion because I've been told by many people that should not be allowed to happen. But if we've learned anything from lockdown, can it be that we can just be a little bit more comfortable?Kelly Molson: Okay. I'll accept comfort, but I can't accept the socks and Crocs in public. I just can't, Michelle. And, listeners, tell me how you feel about this because I've seen this. Michelle has sent me a picture of her wearing these socks and Crocs, and I'm not going to lie. They need to stay in your house, Michelle.Michelle Emerson: Well, even though the socks have cat pictures on them?Kelly Molson: The socks were glorious. It was just the combo of them and the Crocs. That's all I'm saying.Kelly Molson: All right. Thank you for answering those questions. So just as a caveat, Michelle and I know each other. We've worked together for a number of years. But for our listeners, I'd love to know a little bit about your background, Michelle. So how did you get to where you are now?Michelle Emerson: So this is quite a long and convoluted journey to Eureka! I never anticipated being in a visitor attraction sector or tourism or anything like that. I did my degree in political geography, and I had a desire at that stage in my life to be working in one of the large international humanitarian organisations. I wanted to be in Africa, in Asia, somewhere on the ground, digging wells, doing humanitarian work, working with people somewhere where it was needed.Michelle Emerson: And straight after graduating from university in 1991, I went and lived in Ukraine for 12 months. And at that time, Ukraine was newly independent from the Soviet Union. It didn't have a currency. It was rations. And it was a fantastic experience. And in hindsight, one which I wish I'd done when I was slightly older and more able to appreciate, probably, but I lived with a local family, slept on their sofa for 12 months. And I taught English in the local school, secondary school, with no teaching experience whatsoever. But it was a brilliant experience.Michelle Emerson: And in fact, two years ago, my family and I went back to stay with the same family 25 years later.Kelly Molson: Oh, how lovely.Michelle Emerson: Yeah. And we did a lot of the same things. We went to look around the school. Absolutely brilliant timing in that Grandma and Granddad who lived in the house, it was a three-generational house, we're both still alive when we went back, and have both since passed away. So we did get to see both of them as well. So 25 years on.Michelle Emerson: So I did that. And then I came back to Sheffield where I did my high schooling works for the University of Sheffield in an environmental consultancy role. And then only a few years later decided that I would be moving to Australia.Michelle Emerson: So then I lived in Australia for eight years, and I worked for a small charity that was looking after deaf children. It was called the Shepherd Centre. And it was the charity that enabled children who were born profoundly deaf to develop language rather than using sign language. It's quite experimental, quite new at the time. It's very commonplace now. But I worked for them in a business development capacity. And one of the sponsors that we got on board at that organisation was Microsoft. And eventually, I moved over, and I went to work for Microsoft in Australia, reporting into a regional head office in Singapore, managing what was called Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher Program at the time, which was about getting old computers, PCs, and hardware back from the big corporations, refurbishing them, re-licensing them, and sending them to schools and charities and so on.Michelle Emerson: So I did that for a number of years, and then long story short decided I wasn't going to end up living in Australia forever. So I'd been there for about eight years at this point, packed up my stuff, put my backpack on, went and travelled around Southeast Asia for a year. During which time I decided I would make the decision as to whether I was going back to Australia or [inaudible 00:09:11]. And made that decision and arrived back in the UK back to Sheffield. And then started working for the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action, a membership organisation called NAVCA. Did that for five years. And again, a business development role. And then the opportunity came up at Eureka! The marketing director role there. And I went for it, and the rest, as they say, is history. I've been there 10 years now.Kelly Molson: Ten years. So Eureka!, for me, is it's such a magic place. I know. Whenever I talk about Eureka!, I have a really huge smile on my face because there is just something magic about it. When you get there, the air just feels like it's filled with excitement. It's such a special place. What I always find is, when I say we work with Eureka! The National Children's Museum, it's amazing. It's hard to describe what Eureka! is because you've got a museum in the title. There's that assumption that it's, "Oh, well, is it like the Bethnal Green Children's Museum?"Kelly Molson: And it's like, "Well, no. Actually, it's all about play. You can touch everything, and it's incredible. They've got this massive nose, and you can shove your head up there. And there's bogeys up there." And it's great, but it's a hard concept to describe. How do you do that? Share with our listeners how you describe what Eureka! is.Michelle Emerson: So the concept of a children's museum is a North American concept. And if you go to North America, you will find a children's museum in pretty much every town and city there. They are a very established part of community life. And that's where the term museum comes from. That's the term that they use. Our model is based on that. And therefore, that historically is the term that we have used as well. But a children's museum is not a collections-based museum. There is nothing historical in the museum, as people might traditionally expect. It is a visitor attraction for children aged naught to 11, and their parents.Michelle Emerson: We are all about family learning, family engagement, having fun together as a family with your siblings or your parents or grandparents, and developing a lifelong love of learning and visiting cultural attractions. And developing that pathway to further opportunities in more traditional cultural attractions, perhaps as they get older. Or developing a confidence in being in spaces and learning about things that they enjoy. And that is done through the medium of play.Michelle Emerson: At Eureka! there are galleries, but each gallery is very much based around something that's very familiar to children. So our biggest gallery is called All About Me. And as most parents out there will know, children in any age up to 11 are absolutely fascinated by themselves. It's the thing that is most familiar to them. They want to understand. And they're fascinated by sick and poo and bogeys, and all of those things.Kelly Molson: As am I still, clearly.Michelle Emerson: As are a lot of adults. I can tell you, we get a lot of fun there in Eureka!. And so putting them in a space where they can play with exhibits and with interactives that explain some of these things in a very playful, engaging way, just gives them a little bit of an insight into themselves, how they interact with the world around them, how the world impacts on them and their decision-making and so on. So it's all very playful. It's all fun. You won't find any curriculum-based learning. It's all learning by self.Michelle Emerson: And a lot of people will come to Eureka! two or three times a year as the kids get older, and find something new each time as their understanding of the world changes with their age and what they're engaging with at school. So there's something for everyone, pretty much, from babies through to 11 years old.Kelly Molson: Through to 43-year-old adults. I'm not going to lie. It was a while ago that I first visited. It's probably about four or five years ago. But I can remember Paul and I coming up and being a little bit let loose. Have a look around, and see what you feel about it. And I just thought this is great. Because we were trying out all of the things. We were doing what was the longest jump. And I can remember putting my shoes into the world's biggest shoes, and just doing all of those things. Like I say, it's just such an engaging and a magic place. And it just feels like a really special place to be. So I can imagine working there every day is a really great feeling, with the people that you're surrounded with as well.Michelle Emerson: Yeah. Yeah. It's a very fun place to work, even behind the scenes. You don't create experiences like that for other people without having fun with it yourself.Kelly Molson: No. Not at all. And I know you all are a very fun bunch. I want to ask. So there's loads of stuff that I want to talk about for feature. So you've got some really exciting plans coming up, and I want to focus on that. But we can't really talk about that without just taking a bit of a snapshot of where we're at at the moment. So how has it been for you? It's been a really challenging time. You've been closed down. You've been open again. You've been shut again. It's really tough. How has it been for you through those lockdown periods?Michelle Emerson: It's been challenging. I think there wouldn't be a single organisation in the sector that wouldn't say that, you can't use the word unprecedented because it's overused now, but this has been something that is off the scale. And nobody could have predicted or planned for, perhaps, more so than putting something away for a rainy day kind of thing.Michelle Emerson: And in fact, Eureka! has been in an unusual position through this in that we are known as a museum. We have museum in the title, like we've just discussed, but we are not, for funding purposes, able to apply for any of the support for museums. Because we are not a collections-based organisation. We're not a heritage-based organisation, although we do have heritage assets to look after on our sites. That's just an accident of geography, really.Michelle Emerson: But we have found ourselves ineligible to apply for a lot of supports. But saying that, the furlough and the business support has been absolutely crucial to supporting us over the last 12 months. And it has made a massive difference to how we see the future. We are now looking at not being able to open until the end of May, which misses some key dates in the diary for us, as it does for everybody else. But we're confident that when we do reopen we'll have a successful summer. And that we'll be able to re-engage, and depend on our loyal visitors, really, and the people in the North of England that know and love us, to come back. And it was incredible. As soon as the announcements were made about potential reopening dates a week or so ago, the number of people contacting us asking, "When can we come? When are you open bookings? When will tickets be available?" It was just phenomenal.Michelle Emerson: And it's so reassuring. It's lovely to have a whole bunch of people out there, families out there that are desperate. Their kids are asking when can we go back to Eureka!? And that is a lovely position to be in. And we're very grateful for that. And we will do our very best to get open as soon as possible, and to provide those lovely experiences. People, families are going to need it more than ever.Kelly Molson: Oh, for sure. People are desperate for experiences. We've been shut away in these four walls for such a long time. I do think that there's going to be a huge resurgence in experiences and people wanting to visit attractions. But I think you noticed that last summer. You said about your loyal visitors. You have an annual pass scheme at Eureka!, which is incredibly good value. And I think when you opened again last summer, you were practically sold out every single day, weren't you? The time slots were booked. And the people that were wanting to come back, it was pretty overwhelming, wasn't it? But fabulous.Michelle Emerson: Yeah, it was. It was unknown. Eureka! have never operated a pre-booking system. It is an annual pass model. So people have their free tickets that they can come back as many times as they want within the year. They don't need to pre-book that. There's no exclusions. They can come by holidays, half-term holidays, whatever. And we've been operating Eureka! for 28 years. So we know average to patterns very well. We know what difference the weather makes, and all those things, that we can predict at the beginning of the day what the day's going to be like. We've never done a pre-booking or pre-ticketing system. And so that was an unknown. And obviously, the caps on the number of people able to visit every day are lower than they would have been previously.Michelle Emerson: So to sell out felt great, although we were still a long way below the numbers that would have come pre-COVID on that particular day, and with those particular conditions and so on. But it's hugely reassuring. The difficulty being, really, that we have to ensure that financially repeat visitors on free tickets aren't outweighing the new visitors who are buying their annual pass for the first time. And cultivating that new audience that we need to come through the doors every year to ensure that, financially, ticket sales and admissions are still our key source of income.Michelle Emerson: So yes, it's a balancing act. But we were absolutely thrilled. And so reassured that all the work that we put in before opening last summer to making sure things were safe for visitors and to making sure the ticketing system works and all the admin behind that worked and that people were going to have a stress-free experience, rather than imagining it's all very restricted and not everything's open. And it was all one-way systems and all the rest of it. We got the balance right, we feel. And visitors reported back that we got the balance right on that.Kelly Molson: Yeah.Michelle Emerson: It'll be interesting to see how we need to tweak that and change that going forward. And it's too early to make plans, really, it feels at the moment. Because we just don't know what it's going to look like, even at the end of May. Even though it's nice to have a date to it, too, but-Kelly Molson: Yeah. That must feel really good that there is something to be working towards. It's been so long that you've just been in the, "Well, we just don't know, we can't plan for anything. It might be a couple of weeks. It might be another three months." But yeah, it must be really good to have that.Michelle Emerson: Getting your front-of-house-staff team back on board after such a long time away, get retraining, re-engaging, re-motivating and all that stuff. You don't want to do that in two weeks prior to an opening date, and then that date be shifted. And then have to do it again six weeks later. It's very difficult to make sure that everything that you're doing is in the best timeline possible when you don't know what the end result is, what the end date is going to be. So yeah. But well pleased to have a date.Kelly Molson: Good. Lots of positives to work towards. My observations from what you did brilliantly is that as an organisation, you reacted really quickly to what the situation was happening last year. So what was lovely to see is how much effort you were putting into actually engaging with your audience whilst the audience couldn't actually visit the attraction. So there were some really brilliant things that you did. You already had an online shop. So you could already encourage people to buy gift certificates or make donations when they couldn't visit the centre. So that was a real positive.Kelly Molson: But what I loved was the Eureka! At Home section. We threw that up really quickly, but there's loads of parents and kids. And they're stuck at home. We do all of these fun things. Let's make it a recorded video series, and they can still engage with those fun things. And I think there was videos where people could make their own lava lamp and their own slime, and God knows what else. But it was brilliant. And I just thought, yeah. It's so great that you've done that so quickly, and been able to almost keep your audience engaged with what the ethos of what Eureka! is all about if they, even if they couldn't come.Michelle Emerson: Yeah. I think there were a couple of really nice outcomes from that. Obviously, the audience engaged and really got something out of those activities. They're all still there. So they're accessible to anybody who wants them at any time. But it gave our front-of-house team something to do in that initial few months where we were all very, very unsure of what was happening and what was going on, how long was it going to last for? And we just basically sent a call out to our enablers saying, "Here's the challenge guys. What can you do from your living room or your kitchen table?"Michelle Emerson: And they came back with a wonderful variety of things from storytelling to little chemistry experiments to drama activities and so on. And that was what we curated into our Eureka! At Home thing.Michelle Emerson: And the other nice thing to come out of that was that we work with a number of freelancers, freelance entertainers and children's activity providers, for our main holiday periods where we layer on lots of additional events. And a handful of those are very local to us here. And obviously, their workstreams have dried up completely. And we were able to employ them to create content for us, which we shared on our platforms, obviously, which enabled them to have a little bit of an income stream as well back at the beginning. And I know they were very, very pleased to be involved with that as well. And it felt like the right partnership to forge ahead with at the time. And we got some lovely results out of it, as well as some fabulous, crazy science.Kelly Molson: They stepped up, didn't they, the enablers? [crosstalk 00:24:22]Michelle Emerson: And some amazing music and stories from Gakko, from Ian Douglas. And it was just wonderful stuff that they created in their living rooms and garages and whatever. And it was really lovely that they were able to do that for us. And we were able to support them in giving them little bits of freelance work to do.Kelly Molson: Yeah. We'll pop the link to Eureka! At Home in the show notes. Because, like Michelle said, that the content that is up there is really phenomenal, though kids are back at school. But look, there is so much good stuff in there. You will keep them amused for hours during the holidays. Trust me. So we'll put that in the show notes. This brings me to something really exciting for Eureka! So Eureka at the moment is based in Halifax, a beautiful town. And there's going to be a second Eureka!, isn't there? And this is super, super exciting. So there's going to be Eureka! Mersey. It's going to be a cutting-edge, 21st-century science and discovery centre.Kelly Molson: I'm really excited. Tell us about it. Tell us where should we start talking about it?Michelle Emerson: Well, just make that noise again. That was great.Kelly Molson: Urgh!Michelle Emerson: So yeah. So Eureka! Mersey, the second Eureka in the UK. We are aiming and on schedule to be opening in summer 2022. So this is a project that has been in development for a long time. 2014 is when we started discussing it in earnest, really. And there has been, since then, a program of, as you would imagine, the feasibility work and all those sorts of research aspects that you need to do right back in the beginning. And moving forward into fundraising capital campaigns and very in-depth process of co-creation with local children and stakeholders. So that's been ongoing for a number of years now, and has resulted to the shape of the experience as it is now, where we're at the point of contracting fabricators and exhibition designers and developers to actually deliver what the children have come up with to be the content of Eureka! Mersey. So yeah.Kelly Molson: This is what I love about the development is that this co-creation process has been so incredibly engaging. I've been watching it unfold on your Twitter account and seeing all of the projects that you've been getting the children involved with that. That must have been so much fun to be able to say, "What do you want? What do you need? And how do we make this happen?"Michelle Emerson: Yes. You don't start with a blank piece of paper necessarily. Because one of the reasons why opening Eureka in Merseyside, in Wirral, is an exciting project for Eureka!, is that everything else falls into line. So the combined authority and the [inaudible 00:27:41] city region have been incredibly supportive right from the beginning. And their regional development plans and their focus and that energy and their drive and their money is being put behind a key set of themes. All of which we are able to demonstrate that we can deliver outcomes against with opening the new science and discovery center for young people. So we know the themes and the industry in the area and the pathways to work that will be created through engagement with children at that young age that will be beneficial for the region as a whole.Michelle Emerson: And so working within those sorts of parameters, we're able to then go out to schools and youth centres and young people in the area and say, "This is going to be your space. This is going to be about you. It's going to be about your futures and what you want to achieve, and what you want to see. And the industry that's around you, and the opportunities that are around you," which for many of them were unknown, "how do we engage you? How do we get you to take your first steps?" Or maybe kids who were more engaged to take the further steps into developing that their knowledge and their experience and their passion for these things that can open up lots and lots of doors for them in the future. So the co-creation has been incredible in delivering some of those things.Michelle Emerson: It's all done with the very Eureka! expertise and hat on. Obviously, the experience will be delivered in a very Eureka! way. It's all fun and humour and surprise and excitement. But it is more so topics that children in the age range of six to 14, so older than we engage within Halifax, we'll be thinking about, will be exploring. Climate change being one of the big ones that all kids of that age are really engaged with at the moment. And rightly so. And what do they see their place in the future in that sphere being? And what can they do? And what should they be doing? And what can they encourage other people to do? And so on. So there's those sorts of things that you're trying to unravel with children who maybe have very little engagement at school. They have families with multi-generational unemployment. What can we do with and for them to improve some of their life chances?Michelle Emerson: And that's another one of the reasons why Eureka! is being located in Wirral, an area with a number of multiple deprivations in the local communities. Which is one of our strategic aims, is to reach those families. We are very lucky in Halifax in that 20% of our audience comes from very disadvantaged postcodes, and yet they still want to engage with us. We might be the only visitor attraction or museum or cultural engagement that they have in their lives, especially in their young lives. And that is something that we really want to continue to provide with the new Eureka! in Wirral, is to make sure we're reaching the people that can really benefit.Kelly Molson: Yeah. I'm assuming it will have the same ethos as Eureka! Halifax in that it will be learning through play and experiments and that thing. So it will be very hands-on centred.Michelle Emerson: It's all hands-on, I would say. The older age range in Eureka! Mersey, so the target audience, is slightly older. And therefore, the play will be slightly different. But it is that same ethos in that you won't walk into Eureka! and be confronted with a panel of text that tells you something about A, B, or C. It won't be like that. You will get a chance to explore, discover, experiment, push buttons, pull things, do some digital gameplay or coding. There's a whole variety of things that are appropriate for that age range that will be akin to how they want to learn and how they want to engage and how they want to spend a fun afternoon with their family or their friends or whoever.Kelly Molson: I guess the exact specifics are under lock and key at the moment, aren't they, Michelle? You can't give us any snippets into what's going to be?Michelle Emerson: It's not exactly under lock and key, but we will be starting to reveal some of the content from April this year onwards. And we'll be building our new websites and so on over the course of this year. Obviously, there is a website there at the moment that talks a lot about the [inaudible 00:32:36] process and a lot of our partners and funders and so on, and the involvement of local companies and organisations in getting us to the point that we're at now, which has been incredibly valuable in supporting the work that we've done. So all of that stuff sits on the website, the Eureka! Mersey website at the moment. And we'll be doing a lot of work in starting to reveal some of the exciting content.Kelly Molson: We'll put all of the links to that website in the show notes because you are definitely going to want to go and have a little look and see how the site is developed so far. And I am definitely going to be checking in after April to find out what's coming next. Because I can't wait to come and visit.Kelly Molson: Michelle, thank you. I think this is such a positive, not only for Eureka!, not only for all of you that work there but for the industry itself. To know that there are these wonderful new attractions coming and that they can do such amazing things for the local communities that they're involved with as well. So thank you for sharing all of that today. I really appreciate it.Kelly Molson: We always end the podcast by asking for a book recommendation from our guests. So I used to say something that's helped develop your career in some way. But now, I think it's just a book that you really love that you'd like to share with the visitors, with our listeners, even. So it doesn't need to be career-focused. Can be whatever you like.Michelle Emerson: Okay. So I do read a lot. I am an avid reader. And I guess I read more for pleasure than I do for work. But I would say that the book I go back to more often than others is a book called Blueback, which is written by an Australian author called Tim Winton. It's a short book. It's a good Sunday afternoon book, if you've got nothing else to do. It's less than a hundred pages. And it's probably described as a modern fable. But it's about a young boy, and it sounds a bit strange, but his relationship with a fish. And what that slightly magical relationship results in him developing a passion for the sea, and his future passion for conservation and looking after the ocean nearby where he lives in Australia. So Tim Winton has written a lot of lovely, lovely books. And that one is probably my favourite.Kelly Molson: That feels like a really fitting book for what we've just talked about. A perfect fit for engaging with something, and it becoming your passion in later life. I love that.Kelly Molson: So as ever, if you would like to win a copy of that book, if you head over to our Twitter account and you retweet this show announcement with the words, "I want Michelle's book," then you will be in with a chance of winning it.Kelly Molson: Michelle, thank you so much for coming on and sharing today. I honestly can't get the picture of Michelle's Crocs and socks out of my head. So I might ask her permission to see if we can... Oh, she's giving us a little flash. Oh, look!Michelle Emerson: No socks today.Kelly Molson: Oh, listeners. You have to head over to our YouTube channel so that you can see that, and not just hear me cackling about it. I was going to ask Michelle if she'd give me permission to share the photo that she sent me a few weeks ago. But she's done it for me. So-Michelle Emerson: That's the real deal, though. You see, that photo had socks.Kelly Molson: I might share that on our Twitter account. Michelle, thank you so much for joining us today. I really appreciate. It's been lovely to have you on.Michelle Emerson: It's been a pleasure, Kelly. Sorry, it's taken me so long to agree.Kelly Molson: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five-star review. It really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned. Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode and more over on our website, rubbercheese.com/podcast.

With its story beginning in 1994, the Lakeview Village project has been many years in the making. With construction underway of the Discovery Centre and the restoration of Serson Creek about to begin, what's next for the Lakeview Village project? To give us an update is development lead Brian Sutherland.

Home of the first true peal, St Peter Mancroft in Norwich is now home to the brilliant Mancroft Ringing Discovery Centre. Podcast host Cathy Booth catches up with Simon Rudd and Nikki Thomas to find out what’s been happening.Well, there’s been so much going on it’s hard to know where to start! Training courses at all levels, lunchtime pay as you go sessions, band visits, junior ringing and ringing festivals all feature. That’s when the team is not out and about taking ringing into schools and letting hordes of excited novice ringers have a go on 12 bells at Great Yarmouth.But what of lockdown? Cathy discovers that both Simon and Nikki have actually been doing more ringing in lockdown than ever before - extending their handbell repertoire, honing their conducting skills and setting themselves ever more complex challenges in Ringing Room.For those of you who are more advanced you might want to learn to ring Cambridge Suprise. Or maybe that's not the best place to start! How about starting with Cornwall first? This podcast also includes an excerpt from Matt Austin's conversation with Don Marrison about less traditional steps to learning surprise methods, first broadcast in our North American sister podcast, Treble's Going.Whatever your level and whatever your pathway, once everything is safe, take yourself and your band for a weekend in Norwich and try out your new skills on the MRDC training bells. You know you want to.For more information and photos - see www.funwithbells.com.

Greg speaks with Kieran Jiwa, the Master Model Builder for LEGOLAND Discovery Centre in Melbourne, Australia. This episode is a special listen for our LEGO younglings, who tune in with their folks too. Kieran discusses his lifelong journey of working towards achieving his childhood dream and shares his tips about how others can become Master Model Builders themselves. Kieran also talks about what his job involves and the joy of seeing young LEGO fans building their own special LEGO creations. Last but not least, Greg learns what a Code Godzilla is! You can check out Kieran’s personal Insta page: https://www.instagram.com/kieranmmb/. To find out the latest happenings at the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre, Melbourne, check out their website: https://melbourne.legolanddiscoverycentre.com.au/ or visit their FB page: https://www.facebook.com/LEGOLANDDiscoveryCentreMelbourne . -- Thanks for listening :) Don’t forget to subscribe to us, wherever you get your podcast fix. Drop us a line by email (fortheloveofbrick[at]gmail.com) or at our socials if you want to say hi! Twitter: https://twitter.com/4theloveofbrick, Insta: https://www.instagram.com/fortheloveofbrick/, or FB: https://www.facebook.com/forthelovebrick/.

Sunday, March 8, 2020 is International Women's Day. This episode celebrates that with insights from Leslie Gascoigne, President, Trampoline Branding, Christine & Judy-Ann Allen, Owners, Brawta Jamaican Jerk Joint and Sarah Craig, Owner, I Heart Bikes. There's also a look at what is happening at the Discovery Centre over the March Break and more of The Coast Top Five Events and Bizz Buzz. Enjoy. Producers: Ivy Ho and Allana MacDonald Mills Downtown Halifax Business Commission (DHBC) 104-1546 Barrington Street Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3J 3X7 (902) 423-6658 Hosts: Allana MacDonald Mills and Ivy Ho Guests: · Leslie Gascoigne, President, Trampoline Branding https://trampolinebranding.com/ · Christine & Judy-Ann Allen, Owners, Brawta Jamaican Jerk Joint https://brawtajamaicanjerkjoint.ca/ · Sarah Craig, Owner, I Heart Bikes https://iheartbikeshfx.com/ · Jennifer Punch, Director of Marketing & Sales, Discovery Centre https://thediscoverycentre.ca/ Bizz Buzz: Luke MacLaren, Marketing & Communications Coordinator, Downtown Halifax Business Commission The Coast Top Five Events: Morgan Mullin, Arts & Entertainment Editor, The Coast https://www.thecoast.ca/ Special thanks to: Michael Boyd, owner of Podcast Atlantic Recorded & Edited by: Michael Boyd of Podcast Atlantic Visit us at: downtownhalifax.ca Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram: @DowntownHalifax Music: “Patching Holes (in a Sinking Ship)” by Bigideas Email us at: ivy@downtownhalifax.ca or allana@downtownhalifax.ca

Robyn, who studied Biochemistry at the University of St. Andrews, talks Jess through an important stage of Tesco’s application process: The Discovery Centre.

Ed Lawless makes the British Museum more accessible to young visitors using technology within the Samsung Digital Discover Centre. He enjoys challenging the conventional models of what museum learning programmes for schools, families and young people look like. From live video links with classrooms to a growing programme of tablet guided experiences for school groups, Ed is making digital technology work for students. He has explored how familiar digital technology can be exploited in new ways to create learning experiences for whole families, not just children. Looking to the future, Ed is working with his team to develop a new strand of programming for teenagers and other young people in the Museum. Our website: https://forartsake.co.uk

Dinosaur of the day Scelidosaurus, the first dinosaur described based on a mostly complete skeleton, and an important ancestor to Stegosaurus and Ankylosaurus. In dinosaur news this week: Over 260 dinosaur tracks (mostly sauropodomorph) were found in southwest China and may show sauropodomorphs swimming In Alaska, therizinosaur and hadrosaur tracks were found together for the first time Dinosaur footprints have been found for the first time on the Scottish mainland A closed mine in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument may reopen, risking damage to dinosaur fossils The University of Alberta is holding a "Dinosaur Dentistry" event on Saturday, September 22 The Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum is looking for volunteers for their fossil preparation lab, to help clean and prepare Pachyrhinosaurus fossils National Fossil day is coming up, October 17 this year here's a list of some of the events scheduled so far Scotty the T. rex celebrated her birthday at the Discovery Centre in Easton, Saskatchewan, Canada, with a fun mock interview Mary Anning is getting a statue in Lyme Regis, at the request of a 10-year-old girl Paleontologist Xing Lida has a science fiction book out in China, called You Long Ji: Prehistoric Intruder Earth Science in Cinema at the University of Utah, will explore the relationship between storytelling and scientific accuracy in Hollywood Jurassic Outpost created a visual guide to the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park(s) and Jurassic World(s) Jurassic Park will be in 500 theaters around the U.S. next month to celebrate its 25th anniversary This episode is brought to you in part by TRX Dinosaurs, which makes beautiful and realistic dinosaur sculptures, puppets, and animatronics. You can see some amazing examples and works in progress on Instagram @trxdinosaurs To get access to lots of patron only content check out https://www.patreon.com/iknowdino For links to every news story, all of the details we shared about Scelidosaurus, and our fun fact check out https://iknowdino.com/Scelidosaurus-Episode-196/  

Last Friday, lawyers faced off at the John Sopinka courthouse over Sarcoa's claim to a large chunk of the Discover Centre. What happened? Guest: John Best. President of the Bay Observer. 

Jan Devlin, CEO of the Gravity Discovery Centre and Observatory based outside the tiny town of Gingin in Western Australia, talks to Regional Voices about the amazing work that happens at the facility and the cool jobs that go with it.  The centre is doing world class science on out-of-this world topics like gravitational waves, with a roster of staff that includes physicists and even an astronomer. The Discovery Centre also gives travellers, families and students the chance to see some of their work and to look at the universe in a whole new way – while sparking excitement and passion for science and technology jobs.

North Vancouver folk-rocker Shuyler Jansen is our featuredgueston this week's program. You may know Shuyler as a foundingmemberof Old Reliable, one of the Alberta acts that pioneeredthecow-punk genre in the ’90s. After a decade of making musicwiththat band, Shuyler has gone on to forge a successful solocareer.His fourth solo album The Long Shadow, was releasedlastmonth. It includes collaborations with members of The DeepDarkWoods, Kacy & Clayton, Neko Case, and more.Track list:Blue Rolls the RiverWe Were So YoungOld MachineRivalsFisherman's DaughterUnknowing HeartTotally AnonymousThings Just Don't Add UpMercury 

44 Narembeen Farm Machinery & Narembeen Grain Discovery Centre - Caroline Robinson by Roe Tourism Association

Welcome to episode #201 of Token Skeptic - and as always, if you'd like to support the show and future episodes, check out the Patreon page at patreon.com/kyliesturgess - there's lots of additional features and bonus content for those who help the podcast continue! is one hot podcast! In Science Vs, science journalist Wendy Zukerman dissects the latest fad framing itself as scientific fact, wading through the mass of information so you don't have to. Do women and men have different brains? Is porn changing the way we have sex? Does race exist? Is sugar really that bad for you? Short, sharp-minded and enjoyable, the show has been storming up the iTunes list and even eclipsing the famous Dr Karl. Everyone has an opinion but then, there's SCIENCE - and I'm of the opinion that more science podcasts are great for all of us!  ****** NASA  made its close fly-by encounter with Pluto after a nine-year journey of more than 5 billion kilometres, with a lot over very eager people world-wide waiting for the photos. The New Horizons spacecraft had an up close look at the Pluto system, with the probe flying by the dwarf planet on the 14th July. Images of Pluto and its moon Charon have been beamed back - and I spoke to  Outreach Coordinator Pete Wheeler, in an interview that aired live on . ****** There's only about a week to go to help save science - . The science center that has providing hands on science education for kids and community members  was facing closure in the rural town, and in response to the potential closing, a number of donors have stepped up to help keep it open. For this interview, I spoke to Kate Barnard, Discovery's Manager. You can  A quick note about supporting the podcasts! Check out  - and consider  .   - they include: Steven, Stephen, Josh, Linley, Gold, Brian, Paul, Dr T, Iggy, Lukas and Andrew. Thanks to everyone who contributes and please consider joining to help continue these shows at  Please leave positive comments and reviews on iTunes and consider supporting the show via visiting  - and I’d love to get your feedback via tokenskeptic@gmail.com.

Jeanhy Shim has over 22 years of experience in the Toronto development industry as a consultant, analyst, and entrepreneur. Jeany talked to Andrew la Fleur about the current state of the Toronto condo market, what makes Toronto unique among major world cities, and how condo investors can and should take advantage of the baby boom downtown. Jeanhy is also the founder of the newly opened Children’s Discovery Centre which is Toronto’s first ever children’s museum specifically aimed at children under 6 years old.   Click here for show notes.   Andrew la Fleur / Sales Representative416-371-2333/ andrew@truecondos.com http://www.truecondos.com twitter.com/andrewlafleur facebook.com/truecondos

0:00:00 Introduction Richard Saunders and Maynard   0:02:50 Maynard's Spooky Action.. Part #1 Maynard chats to Nicole Rogerson, the founding Director and CEO of Autism Awareness Australia, a national-based not-for-profit organisation, about some of the myths and misconceptions regarding autism. Nicole also covers a few of the more crazy so-called therapies.   0:21:50 Help Save Discovery Help us save Bendigo’s beloved Discovery Centre so they can continue to provide inspiring, hands-on science learning experiences that are fun for everyone!   0:27:20 A Week in Science The Royal Institution of Australia (RiAus) is a national scientific not-for-profit organisation with a mission to bring science to people and people to science.   0:30:55 Lateral Magazine What is Lateral Magazine and how you can take part? We chat to Editor-in-Chief and Founder, Jack Scanlan.   0:42:30 Maynard's Spooky Action.. Part #2 Maynard knocks back a few at Sydney Skeptics in the Pub and asks the big question, what can you do at home to be an active skeptic?

It's Summer and we're on vacation. For our first adventure we went to the Discovery Centre in Halifax. John starts things off by reciting Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll (with music by James Shuttleworth), then we talk about the Discovery Centre and other things you can do on vacation.