Podcasts about The Experience Economy

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 SkiptheQueue.fm.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  or Bluesky for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcast.Competition ends on 9th July 2025. The winner will be contacted via Bluesky. Show references: Matthew Tanner, Vice President of AIM and Independent Consultant https://aim-museums.co.uk/Richard Morsley, CEO of Chatham Historic Dockyardhttps://thedockyard.co.uk/Hannah Prowse, CEO, Portsmouth Historic Quarterhttps://portsmouthhq.org/Dominic Jones, CEO Mary Rose Trusthttps://maryrose.org/Andrew Baines, Executive Director, Museum Operations, National Museum of the Royal Navyhttps://www.nmrn.org.uk/ Transcriptions: Paul Marden: Welcome to Skip the Queue. The podcast of people working in and working with visitor attractions, and today you join me in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. I am actually in the shadow of HMS Victory at the moment, right next door to the Mary Rose. And I'm at the Association of Independent Museum's annual conference, and it is Wednesday night, and we're just about to enjoy the conference dinner. We've been told by Dominic Jones, CEO of Mary Rose, to expect lots of surprises and unexpected events throughout the meal, which I understand is a walking meal where we'll partake of our food and drink as we're wandering around the museum itself, moving course to course around different parts of the museum. So that sounds very exciting. Paul Marden:  Today's episode, I'm going to be joined by a I don't know what the collective noun is, for a group of Maritime Museum senior leaders, but that's what they are, and we're going to be talking about collaboration within and between museums, especially museums within the maritime sector. Is this a subject that we've talked about a lot previously? I know we've had Dominic Jones before as our number one most listened episode talking about collaboration in the sector, but it's a subject I think is really worthwhile talking about. Paul Marden: Understanding how museums work together, how they can stretch their resources, increase their reach by working together and achieving greater things than they can do individually. I do need to apologise to you, because it's been a few weeks since our last episode, and there's been lots going on in Rubber Cheese HQ, we have recently become part of a larger organisation, Crowd Convert, along with our new sister organisation, the ticketing company, Merac.Paul Marden:  So there's been lots of work for me and Andy Povey, my partner in crime, as we merge the two businesses together. Hence why there's been a little bit of a lapse between episodes. But the good news is we've got tonight's episode. We've got one more episode where I'll be heading down to Bristol, and I'll talk a little bit more about that later on, and then we're going to take our usual summer hiatus before we start the next season. So two more episodes to go, and I'm really excited. Paul Marden:  Without further ado, I think it's time for us to meet our guests tonight. Let me welcome our guests for this evening. Matthew Tanner, the Vice President of AIM and an Independent Consultant within the museum sector. You've also got a role within international museums as well. Matthew, remind me what that was.Matthew Tanner: That's right, I was president of the International Congress of Maritime Museums.Paul Marden: And that will be relevant later. I'm sure everyone will hear. Richard Morsley, CEO of Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust. I've got Hannah Prowse with me, the CEO of Portsmouth Historic Quarter, the inimitable chief cheerleader for Skip the Queue Dominic Jones, CEO of Mary Rose Trust.Dominic Jones: Great to be back.Paul Marden: I expect this to be the number one episode because, you know, it's got to knock your previous episode off the hit list.Dominic Jones: Listen with guests like this. It's going to be the number one. You've got the big hitters, and you've even got one more to go. This is gonna be incredible.Paul Marden:  Exactly. And I've got Andrew Baines, the Executive Director Museum Operations at the National Museum of the Royal Navy. That's quite a title.Dominic Jones: He loves a title that's a lot shorter than the last.Paul Marden: Okay, so we always have icebreakers. And actually, it must be said, listeners, you, unless you're watching the YouTube, we've got the the perfect icebreaker because we've started on Prosecco already. So I'm feeling pretty lubed up. Cheers. So icebreakers, and I'm going to be fair to you, I'm not going to pick on you individually this time, which is what I would normally do with my victims. I'm going to ask you, and you can chime in when you feel you've got the right answer. So first of all, I'd like to hear what the best concert or festival is that you've been to previously.Hannah Prowse: That's really easy for me, as the proud owner of two teenage daughters, I went Tay Tay was Slay. Slay. It was amazing. Three hours of just sheer performative genius and oh my god, that girl stamina. It was just insane. So yeah, it's got to be Tay Tay.Paul Marden: Excellent. That's Taylor Swift. For those of you that aren't aware and down with the kids, if you could live in another country for a year, what would Dominic Jones: We not all answer the gig. I've been thinking of a gig. Well, I was waiting. Do we not all answer one, Rich has got a gig. I mean, you can't just give it to Hannah. Richard, come in with your gig.Richard Morsley: Thank you. So I can't say it's the best ever, but. It was pretty damn awesome. I went to see pulp at the O2 on Saturday night. They were amazing. Are they still bringing it? They were amazing. Incredible. Transport me back.Matthew Tanner:  Members mentioned the Mary Rose song. We had this.Dominic Jones: Oh, come on, Matthew, come on. That was brilliant. That was special. I mean, for me, I'm not allowed to talk about it. It's probably end ups. But you know, we're not allowed to talk you know, we're not allowed to talk about other than here. But I'm taking my kids, spoiler alert, if you're listening to see Shawn Mendes in the summer. So that will be my new favourite gig, because it's the first gig for my kids. So I'm very excited about that. That's amazing. Amazing. Andrew, any gigs?Andrew Baines: It has to be Blondie, the amazing. Glen Beck writing 2019, amazing.Dominic Jones:  Can you get any cooler? This is going to be the number one episode, I can tell.Paul Marden:  Okay, let's go with number two. If you could live in another country for a year, which one would you choose? Hannah Prowse: Morocco. Paul Marden: Really? Oh, so you're completely comfortable with the heat. As I'm wilting next.Hannah Prowse: Completely comfortable. I grew up in the Middle East, my as an expat brat, so I'm really happy out in the heat. I just love the culture, the art, the landscape, the food, the prices, yeah, Morocco. For me, I thinkMatthew Tanner: I've been doing quite a lot of work recently in Hong Kong. Oh, wow. It's this amazing mix of East and West together. There's China, but where everybody speaks English, which is fantastic.Dominic Jones:  I lived in Hong Kong for a few years, and absolutely loved it. So I do that. But I think if I could choose somewhere to live, it's a it's a bit of cheating answer, because the country's America, but the place is Hawaii, because I think I'm meant for Hawaii. I think I've got that sort of style with how I dress, not today, because you are but you can get away with it. We're hosting, so. Paul Marden:  Last one hands up, if you haven't dived before, D with Dom.Dominic Jones: But all of your listeners can come Dive the 4d at the Mary Rose in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, as well as the other amazing things you can do here with our friends and National Museum of Portsmouth Historic Quarter, he will cut this bit out.Paul Marden:  Yeah, there will be a little bit of strict editing going on. And that's fair. So we want to talk a little bit today about collaboration within the Maritime Museum collective as we've got. I was saying on the intro, I don't actually know what the collective noun is for a group of Maritime Museum leaders, a wave?Hannah Prowse: A desperation?Paul Marden: Let's start with we've talked previously. I know on your episode with Kelly, you talked about collaboration here in the dockyard, but I think it's really important to talk a little bit about how Mary Rose, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and the National Museum of the Royal Navy all work together. So talk a little bit for listeners that don't know about the collaboration that you've all got going. Dominic Jones:  We've got a wonderful thing going on, and obviously Hannah and Andrew will jump in. But we've got this great site, which is Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. We've got Portsmouth Historic Quarter that sort of curates, runs, owns the site, and I'll let Hannah come into that. We've got the Mary Rose, which is my favourite, amazing museum, and then we've got all of the museums and ships to the National Museum of the Royal Navy. But do you want to go first, Hannah, and talk about sort of what is Portsmouth Historic Quarter and the dockyard to you? Hannah Prowse:  Yeah, so at Portsmouth Historic Quarter, we are the landlords of the site, and ultimately have custody of this and pretty hard over on the other side of the water. And it's our job to curate the space, make sure it's accessible to all and make it the most spectacular destination that it can be. Where this point of debate interest and opportunity is around the destination versus attraction debate. So obviously, my partners here run amazing attractions, and it's my job to cite those attractions in the best destination that it can possibly be.Matthew Tanner: To turn it into a magnet that drawsDominic Jones: And the infrastructure. I don't know whether Hannah's mentioned it. She normally mentions it every five seconds. Have you been to the new toilets? Matthew, have you been to these new toilets?Paul Marden: Let's be honest, the highlight of a museum. Richard Morsley: Yeah, get that wrong. We're in trouble.Hannah Prowse: It's very important. Richard Morsley: But all of the amazing ships and museums and you have incredible.Paul Marden: It's a real draw, isn't it? And you've got quite a big estate, so you you've got some on the other side of the dockyard behind you with boat trips that we take you over.Andrew Baines:  Absolutely. So we run Victor here and warrior and 33 on the other side of the hub with the Royal Navy submarine museum explosion working in partnership with BHQ. So a really close collaboration to make it as easy as possible for people to get onto this site and enjoy the heritage that we are joint custodians of. Paul Marden:  Yeah, absolutely. It's amazing. So we're talking a little bit about museums collaborating together, which really is the essence of what we're here for conference, isn't it? I remember when we had the keynote this morning, we were talking about how important it is for everybody to come together. There's no egos here. Everyone's sharing the good stuff. And it was brilliant as well. Given that you're all maritime museums, is it more important for you to differentiate yourselves from one another and compete, or is it more important for you to collaborate?Richard Morsley: Well, from my perspective, it's there is certainly not competitive. I think there's sufficient, I was sufficient distance, I think, between the the attractions for that to be the case, and I think the fact we're all standing here today with a glass of wine in hand, with smiles on our face kind of says, says a lot, actually, in terms of the collaboration within the sector. And as you say that the the AIM conference today that for me, is right, right at the heart of it, it's how we as an independent museum sector, all come together, and we share our knowledge, we share our best practice, and once a year, we have this kind of amazing celebration of these incredible organisations and incredible people coming together and having a wonderful couple of days. Matthew Tanner: But if I could step in there, it's not just the wine, is it rum, perhaps. The maritime sector in particular is one that is is so closely knit and collected by the sea, really. So in the international context, with the International Congress, is about 120 museums. around the world that come together every two years into the fantastic Congress meetings, the connections between these people have come from 1000s of miles away so strong, it's actually joy and reminds us of why we are so excited about the maritime.Paul Marden: I saw you on LinkedIn last year. I think it was you had Mystic Seaport here, didn't you?Dominic Jones: We did and we've had Australia. We've had so many. It all came from the ICM conference I went with and we had such a good time, didn't we saw Richard there. We saw Matthew, and it was just brilliant. And there's pinch yourself moments where you're with museums that are incredible, and then afterwards they ring you and ask you for advice. I'm thinking like there's a lady from France ringing me for advice. I mean, what's that about? I passed her to Andrew.Hannah Prowse: I think also from a leadership perspective, a lot of people say that, you know, being a CEO is the loneliest job in the world, but actually, if you can reach out and have that network of people who actually are going through the same stuff that you're going through, and understand the sector you're working in. It's really, really great. So if I'm having a rubbish day, Dom and I will frequently meet down in the gardens outside between our two offices with a beer or an ice cream and just go ah at each other. And that's really important to be able to do.Dominic Jones: And Hannah doesn't laugh when I have a crisis. I mean, she did it once. She did it and it hurt my feelings.Hannah Prowse: It was really funny.Dominic Jones:  Well, laughter, Dominic, Hannah Prowse: You needed. You needed to be made. You did. You did. But you know, and Richard and I have supported each other, and occasionally.Richard Morsley: You know, you're incredibly helpful when we're going through a recruitment process recently.Hannah Prowse: Came and sat in on his interview.Richard Morsley: We were rogue. Hannah Prowse: We were so bad, we should never be allowed to interview today. Paul Marden:  I bet you were just there taking a list of, yeah, they're quite good. I'm not going to agree to that one.Hannah Prowse: No, it was, it was great, and it's lovely to have other people who are going through the same stuff as you that you can lean on. Richard Morsley: Yeah, absolutely.Dominic Jones: Incredible. It's such an important sector, as Matthew said, and we are close, the water doesn't divide us. It makes us it makes us stronger.Matthew Tanner: Indeed. And recently, of course, there's increasing concern about the state of the marine environment, and maritime museums are having to take on that burden as well, to actually express to our puppets. It's not just about the ships and about the great stories. It's also about the sea. It's in excess, and we need to look after it. Paul Marden: Yeah, it's not just a view backwards to the past. It's around how you take that and use that as a model to go forward. Matthew Tanner: Last week, the new David Attenborough piece about the ocean 26 marathon museums around the world, simultaneously broadcasting to their local audiences. Dominic Jones: And it was phenomenal. It was such a good film. It was so popular, and the fact that we, as the Mary Rose, could host it thanks to being part of ICM, was just incredible. Have you seen it? Paul Marden:  I've not seen Dominic Jones: It's coming to Disney+, any day now, he's always first to know it's on. There you go. So watch it there. It's so good. Paul Marden: That's amazing. So you mentioned Disney, so that's a kind of an outside collaboration. Let's talk a little bit. And this is a this is a rubbish segue, by the way. Let's talk a little bit about collaborating outside of the sector itself, maybe perhaps with third party rights holders, because I know that you're quite pleased with your Lego exhibition at the moment.Richard Morsley: I was actually going to jump in there. Dominic, because you've got to be careful what you post on LinkedIn. There's no such thing as I don't know friends Exactly. Really.Dominic Jones: I was delighted if anyone was to steal it from us, I was delighted it was you. Richard Morsley: And it's been an amazing exhibition for us. It's bringing bringing Lego into the Historic Dockyard Chatham. I think one of the one of the things that we sometimes lack is that that thing that's kind of truly iconic, that the place is iconic, the site is incredible, but we don't have that household name. We don't have a Mary Rose. We don't have a victory. So actually working in partnership, we might get there later. We'll see how the conversation, but yeah, how we work with third parties, how we use third party IP and bring that in through exhibitions, through programming. It's really important to us. So working at a Lego brick Rex exhibition, an exhibition that really is a museum exhibition, but also tells the story of three Chatham ships through Lego, it's absolutely perfect for us, and it's performed wonderfully. It's done everything that we would have hoped it would be. Dominic Jones: I'm bringing the kids in the summer. I love Chatham genuinely. I know he stole the thing from LinkedIn, but I love Chatham. So I'll be there. I'll be there. I'll spend money in the shop as well.Richard Morsley: Buy a book. Yeah.Paul Marden: Can we buy Lego? Richard Morsley:  Of course you can buy Lego. Paul Marden: So this is a this is a magnet. It is sucking the kids into you, but I bet you're seeing something amazing as they interpret the world that they've seen around them at the museum in the Lego that they can play with.Richard Morsley: Of some of some of the models that are created off the back of the exhibition by these children is remind and adults actually, but mainly, mainly the families are amazing, but and you feel awful at the end of the day to painstakingly take them apart.Richard Morsley: Where is my model?Dominic Jones: So we went to see it in the Vasa, which is where he stole the idea from. And I decided to, sneakily, when they were doing that, take a Charles model that was really good and remodel it to look like the Mary Rose, and then post a picture and say, I've just built the Mary Rose. I didn't build the Mary Rose. Some Swedish person bought the Mary Rose. I just added the flags. You get what you say. Hannah Prowse: We've been lucky enough to be working with the Lloyds register foundation this year, and we've had this brilliant she sees exhibition in boathouse four, which is rewriting women into maritime history. So the concept came from Lloyd's Register, which was, you know, the untold stories of women in maritime working with brilliant photographers and textile designers to tell their stories. And they approached me and said, "Can we bring this into the dockyard?" And we said, "Yes, but we'd really love to make it more local." And they were an amazing partner. And actually, what we have in boathouse for is this phenomenal exhibition telling the stories of the women here in the dockyard.Richard Morsley: And then going back to that point about collaboration, not competition, that exhibition, then comes to Chatham from February next year, but telling, telling Chatham stories instead of. Hannah Prowse:  Yeah, Richard came to see it here and has gone, "Oh, I love what you've done with this. Okay, we can we can enhance, we can twist it." So, you know, I've hoped he's going to take our ideas and what we do with Lloyd's and make it a million times better.Richard Morsley: It's going to be an amazing space.Dominic Jones: Richard just looks at LinkedIn and gets everyone's ideas.Andrew Baines: I think one of the exciting things is those collaborations that people will be surprised by as well. So this summer, once you've obviously come to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and experience the joys of that, and then you've called off on Chatham and another day to see what they've got there, you can go off to London Zoo, and we are working in partnership with London Zoo, and we have a colony of Death Watch beetle on display. Paul Marden:  Oh, wonderful. I mean, can you actually hear them? Dominic Jones: Not necessarily the most exciting.Andrew Baines: I'll grant you. But you know, we've got a Chelsea gold medal on in the National Museum of the Royal Navy for collaboration with the Woodlands Foundation, looking at Sudden Oak death. And we've got an exhibition with ZSL at London Zoo, which I don't think anybody comes to a National Maritime Museum or an NMRN National Museum The Royal Navy, or PHQ, PhD, and expects to bump into tiny little animals, no, butDominic Jones: I love that, and it's such an important story, the story of Victor. I mean, look, you're both of you, because Matthew's involved with Victor as well. Your victory preservation and what you're doing is incredible. And the fact you can tell that story, it's LSL, I love that.Andrew Baines: Yeah. And we're actually able to feed back into the sector. And one of the nice things is, we know we talk about working collaboratively, but if you look at the victory project, for example, our project conservator came down the road from Chatham, equally, which you one of.Richard Morsley: Our your collections manager.Paul Marden: So it's a small pool and you're recycling.Andrew Baines: Progression and being people in develop and feed them on.Matthew Tanner:  The open mindedness, yeah, taking and connecting from all over, all over the world, when I was working with for the SS Great Britain, which is the preserved, we know, great iron steam chip, preserved as as he saw her, preserved in a very, very dry environment. We'll take technology for that we found in the Netherlands in a certain seeds factory where they had to, they had to package up their seeds in very, very low humidity environments.Paul Marden:  Yes, otherwise you're gonna get some sprouting going on. Matthew Tanner:   Exactly. That's right. And that's the technology, which we then borrowed to preserve a great historic ship. Paul Marden: I love that. Dominic Jones:  And SS Great Britain is amazing, by the way you did such a good job there. It's one of my favourite places to visit. So I love that.Paul Marden:  I've got a confession to make. I'm a Somerset boy, and I've never been.Dominic Jones: Have you been to yoga list? Oh yeah, yeah. I was gonna say.Paul Marden: Yeah. I am meeting Sam Mullins at the SS Great Britain next next week for our final episode of the season. Matthew Tanner: There you go.Dominic Jones: And you could go to the where they made the sale. What's the old court canvas or Corker Canvas is out there as well. There's so many amazing places down that neck of the woods. It's so good.Paul Marden: Quick segue. Let's talk. Let's step away from collaboration, or only very lightly, highlights of today, what was your highlight talk or thing that you've seen?Richard Morsley: I think for me, it really was that focus on community and engagement in our places and the importance of our institutions in the places that we're working. So the highlight, absolutely, for me, opening this morning was the children's choir as a result of the community work that the Mary Rose trust have been leading, working.Dominic Jones:  Working. So good. Richard Morsley: Yeah, fabulous. Paul Marden:  Absolutely. Matthew Tanner: There's an important point here about about historic ships which sometimes get kind of positioned or landed by developers alongside in some ports, as if that would decorate a landscape. Ships actually have places. Yes, they are about they are connected to the land. They're not just ephemeral. So each of these ships that are here in Portsmouth and the others we've talked about actually have roots in their home ports and the people and the communities that they served. They may well have roots 1000s of miles across the ocean as well, makes them so exciting, but it's a sense of place for a ship. Hannah Prowse: So I think that all of the speakers were obviously phenomenal.Dominic Jones: And including yourself, you were very good.Hannah Prowse: Thank you. But for me, this is a slightly random one, but I always love seeing a group of people coming in and watching how they move in the space. I love seeing how people interact with the buildings, with the liminal spaces, and where they have where they run headlong into something, where they have threshold anxiety. So when you have a condensed group of people, it's something like the AIM Conference, and then they have points that they have to move around to for the breakout sessions. But then watching where their eyes are drawn, watching where they choose to go, and watching how people interact with the heritage environment I find really fascinating. Paul Marden: Is it like flocks of birds? What are moving around in a space? Hannah Prowse: Exactly. Yeah.Paul Marden: I say, this morning, when I arrived, I immediately joined a queue. I had no idea what the queue was, and I stood there for two minutes.Dominic Jones: I love people in the joint queues, we normally try and sell you things.Paul Marden: The person in front of me, and I said, "What we actually queuing for?" Oh, it's the coffee table. Oh, I don't need coffee. See you later. Yes.Dominic Jones: So your favourite bit was the queue. Paul Marden: My favourite..Dominic Jones: That's because you're gonna plug Skip the Queue. I love it.Dominic Jones: My favourite moment was how you divided the conference on a generational boundary by talking about Kojak.Dominic Jones: Kojak? Yes, it was a gamble, because it was an old film, and I'll tell you where I saw it. I saw it on TV, and the Mary Rose have got it in their archives. So I said, Is there any way I could get this to introduce me? And they all thought I was crazy, but I think it worked. But my favorite bit, actually, was just after that, when we were standing up there and welcoming everyone to the conference. Because for four years, we've been talking about doing this for three years. We've been arranging it for two years. It was actually real, and then the last year has been really scary. So for us to actually pull it off with our partners, with the National Museum of the Royal Navy, with Portsmouth Historic quarter, with all of our friends here, was probably the proudest moment for me. So for me, I loved it. And I'm not going to lie, when the children were singing, I was a little bit emotional, because I was thinking, this is actually happened. This is happening. So I love that, and I love tonight. Tonight's going to be amazing. Skip the queue outside Dive, the Mary Rose 4d come and visit. He won't edit that out. He won't edit that out. He can't keep editing Dive, The Mary Rose.Dominic Jones: Andrew, what's his favourite? Andrew Baines: Oh yes. Well, I think it was the kids this morning, just for that reminder when you're in the midst of budgets and visitor figures and ticket income and development agreements, and why is my ship falling apart quicker than I thought it was going to fall apart and all those kind of things actually just taking that brief moment to see such joy and enthusiasm for the next generation. Yeah, here directly connected to our collections and that we are both, PHQ, NRN supported, MRT, thank you both really just a lovely, lovely moment.Paul Marden: 30 kids singing a song that they had composed, and then backflip.Dominic Jones: It was a last minute thing I had to ask Jason. Said, Jason, can you stand to make sure I don't get hit? That's why I didn't want to get hit, because I've got a precious face. Hannah Prowse: I didn't think the ship fell apart was one of the official parts of the marketing campaign.Paul Marden: So I've got one more question before we do need to wrap up, who of your teams have filled in the Rubber Cheese Website Survey. Dominic Jones: We, as Mary Rose and Ellen, do it jointly as Portsmouth historic document. We've done it for years. We were an early adopter. Of course, we sponsored it. We even launched it one year. And we love it. And actually, we've used it in our marketing data to improve loads of things. So since that came out, we've made loads of changes. We've reduced the number of clicks we've done a load of optimum website optimisation. It's the best survey for visitor attractions. I feel like I shouldn't be shouting out all your stuff, because that's all I do, but it is the best survey.Paul Marden: I set you up and then you just ran so we've got hundreds of people arriving for this evening's event. We do need to wrap this up. I want one last thing, which is, always, we have a recommendation, a book recommendation from Nepal, and the first person to retweet the message on Bluesky will be offered, of course, a copy of the book. Does anyone have a book that they would like to plug of their own or, of course, a work or fiction that they'd like to recommend for the audience.Paul Marden: And we're all looking at you, Matthew.Dominic Jones: Yeah. Matthew is the book, man you're gonna recommend. You'reAndrew Baines: The maritime.Paul Marden: We could be absolutely that would be wonderful.Matthew Tanner: Two of them jump into my mind, one bit more difficult to read than the other, but the more difficult to read. One is Richard Henry. Dana D, a n, a, an American who served before the mast in the 19th century as an ordinary seaman on a trading ship around the world and wrote a detailed diary. It's called 10 years before the mast. And it's so authentic in terms of what it was really like to be a sailor going around Cape corn in those days. But the one that's that might be an easier gift is Eric Newby, the last great grain race, which was just before the Second World War, a journalist who served on board one of the last great Windjammers, carrying grain from Australia back to Europe and documenting his experience higher loft in Gales get 17 knots in his these giant ships, absolute white knuckle rides. Paul Marden: Perfect, perfect. Well, listeners, if you'd like a copy of Matthew's book recommendation, get over to blue sky. Retweet the post that Wenalyn will put out for us. I think the last thing that we really need to do is say cheers and get on with the rest of the year. Richard Morsley: Thank you very much. Andrew Baines: 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 to find 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 to increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcripts from this episode and more over on our website, skipthequeue fm.  The 2025 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 conversionsTake the Rubber Cheese Visitor Attraction Website Survey Report

In this episode of the Experience Strategy Podcast, hosts Aransas Savas, Dave Norton, and Joe Pine discuss fashion group Zara's innovative travel mode, which allows users to shop for products while traveling. They explore the concept of 'modes'—temporary mindsets and behaviors that influence customer experiences—and how Zara's travel mode can enhance customer engagement. The conversation delves into the importance of context, opportunities for improvement, and the potential for community building through social media. The hosts emphasize the dynamic nature of modes and the need for behavioral science to further explore this concept. Takeaways Zara's travel mode allows shopping while traveling. Modes are temporary mindsets that influence behavior. Travel mode operates without internet access, enhancing usability. Anticipating customer context is crucial for effective modes. Supporting customer modes can create more buying opportunities. Zara's travel mode is a key conversion strategy. Leveraging community and social media can enhance customer experience. Zara should focus on its strengths in fashion. Behavioral science should study modes more extensively. The dynamic nature of modes offers opportunities for brands. Chapters 00:00Exploring Zara's Travel Mode Initiative 06:01Understanding Human Modes vs. Technology Modes 08:45The Importance of Context in Customer Experience 14:49Evaluating the Effectiveness of Zara's App Features 17:43Leveraging Community and Social Media for Engagement 20:47The Role of Behavioral Science in Understanding Modes 26:46Future Directions and Listener Engagement

How should pet sitters adapt as client expectations shift? Camp Bow Wow is celebrating 25 years as a market leader in daycare and boarding. Their recent brand refresh and national pet parent survey offer valuable clues about where the pet care consumer mindset is heading — and what we, as dog walkers and pet sitters, can learn to better serve clients and compete in an increasingly emotional and experience-driven marketplace. In this episode, we explore insights from the survey, including the rise of the emotional experience economy, the power of community connection, and the growing demand for convenience and polished brands. We share why marketing outcomes—not just tasks—is now essential, and how refining the client experience can help us stand out. With practical examples, we discuss how small pet care businesses can thrive alongside big brands by leaning into our unique strengths. Main Topics Rise of the emotional experience economy Shifting client expectations for pet care Building community and client connection Marketing outcomes vs. checklists Streamlining client experience through tech and branding Main Takeaway: Pet care is no longer about just checking the box of functional care. It's about selling the emotional experience and outcomes. Too often, we focus our marketing on what we do—feeding pets, walking dogs, refreshing water bowls. But today's pet parents crave more than checklists; they want an experience. They want joy, enrichment, and peace of mind—for their pets and themselves. When you show them how your care brings happiness to their pets and reduces their own stress, you elevate your business beyond tasks. Don't just market what you do—market how you make them feel. Links: Check out our Starter Packs See all of our discounts! Check out ProTrainings Code: CPR-petsitterconfessional for 10% off

In this episode of the Experience Strategy Podcast, hosts Aransas Savas, Joe Pine, and Dave Norton discuss a Wall Street Journal article written by Jennifer Williams about retail, focusing on how major brands are intentionally slowing down the shopping experience to enhance customer engagement. They explore the importance of creating meaningful experiences, the lessons learned from Toys R Us, and the need for authenticity in retail strategies. The conversation emphasizes measuring success beyond traditional sales metrics and highlights the future of experience-led brands. Takeaways The longer someone spends in a store, the more likely they are to convert into a purchaser. Retailers are adding experiences to encourage customers to linger longer. Time well spent is a key concept in enhancing customer experience. Experiences must be meaningful and relevant to the brand. Toys R Us failed to create relevant experiences for their target audience. Lego gets it. Camp.com gets it. Retail success should be measured by time value, not just sales per square foot. Authenticity in brand experiences is crucial for customer loyalty. Walmart is evolving to compete with experiential brands. Experience-led brands can charge for their unique offerings. Read More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/shop-slow-spend-more-the-retailers-hoping-that-customers-linger-0c87ea24?st=etbsMd&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink https://camp.com Register for the free membership in the Collaboratives here: https://www.thecollaboratives.com/contest Sign up for the Experience Strategist Substack here: https://theexperiencestrategist.substack.com

On this episode of Human Centered, host Nick Brunker welcomes Nick Yecke, Executive Director of Experience Strategy at VML, to explore the fascinating evolution of customer experience (CX). Inspired by Yecke's recent article in eXp Magazine, they chart a course through CX's history, from the early "Service Era" and "Satisfaction Era" through the "Relationship Era" and the current "Experience Economy." The conversation then dives deep into what Yecke terms the "Predictive and Autonomous Era," where AI, data analytics, and automation are set to reshape how businesses anticipate and fulfill customer needs proactively. They discuss key pillars like hyper-personalization, AI-driven self-service, emotion and context recognition, "Invisible CX," and the critical importance of ethical considerations and trust in this new landscape. Tune in to understand how the lessons of the past are shaping a future where CX becomes more intuitive, efficient, and deeply human-centered.You can read Nick Yecke's article, "Looking Back, Looking Forward," in eXp Magazine here, beginning on page 48.

Summary In this episode of the Experience Strategy Podcast, hosts Aransas Savas, Joe Pine, and Dave Norton delve into the strategic genius of Taylor Swift, exploring how her approach transcends music to embody principles of experience strategy. They discuss her emotional connection with fans, authenticity, and the aspirational roles she plays for her audience, particularly young women. The conversation highlights the economic impact of her experiences and the lessons that can be drawn for businesses in the experience economy.   Takeaways Taylor Swift's success is rooted in her emotional connection with fans. Her strategies reflect core principles of innovation and experience strategy Authenticity is key to maintaining relevance and trust with consumers. Super consumers are emotionally connected and deeply involved with the experience. Taylor Swift's evolution showcases the importance of staying true to oneself while innovating. Mentorship and community are significant aspects of her appeal to young women. Experiential engagement creates lasting memories and connections for audiences. The economic impact of her tours demonstrates the value of experiences. Her collaborations highlight the balance between authenticity and innovation. Taylor Swift serves as a modern case study for experience strategy in action.   Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Experience Strategy Podcast 01:24 Exploring Taylor Swift's Strategic Genius 05:36 Emotional Connection and Authenticity in Experience 10:32 Principles of Authenticity and Evolution 15:28 Aspirational Jobs and Mentorship 20:05 Experiential Engagement and Economic Impact Read more here: https://hbr.org/2025/03/the-strategic-genius-of-taylor-swift Register for the free membership in the Collaboratives here: https://www.thecollaboratives.com/contest Sign up for the Experience Strategist Substack here:  https://theexperiencestrategist.substack.com    

In this episode of DevelopLex, we sit down with Burgess Carey, a multi-generational Lexingtonian, developer, and visionary behind some of Central Kentucky's most forward-thinking real estate and recreation projects. From pioneering self-storage development to reclaiming a forgotten gorge to launch Boone Creek Outdoors, Burgess shares a rare blend of entrepreneurial grit, environmental stewardship, and deep civic insight.We explore Lexington's unique development challenges - from zoning hurdles to greenbelt restrictions - and why the future will require creative, regional collaboration. Whether he's automating flex industrial spaces or building sustainable treehouse retreats, Burgess brings clarity, purpose, and originality to the local development conversation.--Core Themes Discussed:Lexington at a Crossroads: The city is vibrant—but at a pivotal moment. The next 50 years depend on how we balance preservation and progress.From Self-Storage to Sustainability: Burgess shares how he transformed an overlooked niche into a scalable model—and why tech is changing everything.Reimagining Green Space: Not all ag land is horse farms. Burgess challenges Lexington to create interactive, publicly accessible outdoor destinations.Experience Economy in Action: Boone Creek Outdoors proves development can be immersive, environmentally regenerative, and economically sustainable.Advice for Aspiring Developers: Read the zoning code, follow the community conversation, and don't force a deal—if it doesn't pencil, walk away.--Highlights:Why Lexington was a self-storage pioneer long before Wall Street took noticeThe story behind Boone Creek's abandoned gas station, leaky fuel tanks, and trout-filled transformationWhat dynamic pricing and Bluetooth locks mean for the future of light industrial real estateHow the “contractor unit” market is changing—and why it's worth building forWhy regional planning, not just urban density, is key to solving housing and job shortages--Guest Bio:Burgess Carey is a Lexington-born developer, business owner, and founder of Boone Creek Outdoors. From building self-storage facilities in the early ‘90s to leading eco-tourism and flex industrial projects today, he brings a rare depth of perspective to what it means to create lasting value for Central Kentucky.--Hosted by Weston Lockhart & Ross BoggessDevelopLex is proud to be supported by:SVN Stone Commercial Real EstateCommunity Trust BankCraftsman Contractors

This week, our host Ian Truscott and our resident marketing strategist and former Forrester Research Director Jeff Clark discuss the role of the CMO and marketing post-sale, in reducing churn, increasing customer lifetime value, and loyalty in a B2B SaaS environment where there is reduced friction to switch.  In this episode, they discuss: Customer loyalty in the experience economy Five CMO considerations for customer loyalty Managing the brand gap Nurturing customer relationships Formalizing customer advocacy programs As always, we welcome your feedback. If you have a suggestion for a topic that's hot for you that we should discuss, please get in touch using the links below.   Enjoy! — The Links The people: Ian Truscott on LinkedIn and Bluesky Jeff Clark on LinkedIn Mentioned this week: Customer Loyalty in the Experience Economy — the CMO's Perspective Get Your Buyers AMPED with our Customer Journey Back to Brand - Blog post Rockstar CMO: The Beat Newsletter that we send every Monday Rockstar CMO on the web, Twitter, and LinkedIn Previous episodes and all the show notes: Rockstar CMO FM. Track List: Stienski & Mass Media - We'll be right back Coming Back Again - Kings of Leon You can listen to this on all good podcast platforms, like Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 hosts are Paul Marden and Andy Povey.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 SkiptheQueue.fm.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. Show references:  Anna Preedy, Director M+H Showhttps://show.museumsandheritage.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/annapreedy/Jon Horsfield, CRO at Centegra, a Cinchio Solutions Partnerhttps://cinchio.com/uk/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-horsfield-957b3a4/Dom Jones, CEO, Mary Rose Trust https://maryrose.org/https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicejones/https://www.skipthequeue.fm/episodes/dominic-jonesPaul Woolf, Trustee at Mary Rose Trusthttps://maryrose.org/https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-woolf/Stephen Spencer, Ambience Director, Stephen Spencer + Associateshttps://www.stephenspencerassociates.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/customerexperiencespecialist/https://www.skipthequeue.fm/episodes/stephen-spencerSarah Bagg, Founder, ReWork Consultinghttps://reworkconsulting.co.uk/https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahbagg/https://www.skipthequeue.fm/episodes/sarah-baggJeremy Mitchell, Chair of Petersfield Museum and Art Galleryhttps://www.petersfieldmuseum.co.uk/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-mitchell-frsa-4529b95/Rachel Kuhn, Associate Director, BOP Consultinghttps://www.bop.co.uk/https://www.linkedin.com/in/kuhnrachel/  Transcriptions:Paul Marden: Welcome to Skip the Queue, the podcast for people working in and working with visitor attractions. You join me today, out and about yet again. This time I am in London at Olympia for the Museums and Heritage Show. Hotly anticipated event in everybody's diary. We all look forward to it. Two days of talks and exhibitions and workshops. Just a whole lot of networking and fun. And of course, we've got the M and H awards as well. So in this episode, I am going to be joined by a number of different people from across the sector, museum and cultural institution professionals, we've got some consultants, we've got some suppliers to the industry, all pretty much giving us their take on what they've seen, what they're doing and what their thoughts are for the year ahead. So, without further ado, let's meet our first guest. Andy Povey: Hi, Anna. Welcome to Skip the Queue. Thank you for giving us some of your time on what must be a massively busy day for you. I wonder if you could just tell the audience who you are, what you do, a little bit about what museums and heritage is, because not everyone listening to the podcast comes from the museum sector. Anna Preedy: Andy, thanks. This is a great opportunity and always really lovely to see your happy smiley face at the Museums and Heritage Show. So M and H, as we're often referred to as, stands for Museums and Heritage and we're a small business that organises the principal trade exhibition for the Museums and Heritage sector that could be broadened, I suppose, into the cultural sector. We also have the awards ceremony for the sector and an online magazine. So we are Museums and Heritage, but we're often referred to as M and H and we've been around for a very long time, 30 plus years. Andy Povey: Oh, my word. Anna Preedy: I know. Andy Povey: And what's your role within the organisation? Your badge says Event Director today. That's one of many hats. Anna Preedy: I'm sure it is one of many hats because we're a very small team. So I own and manage the events, if you like. M and H is my baby. I've been doing it for a very long time. I feel like I'm truly immersed in the world of museums and heritage and would like to think that as a result of that, I kind of understand and appreciate some of the issues and then bring everyone together to actually get in the same room and to talk them through at the show. So, yeah, that's what we're about, really. Andy Povey: In a shorthand and obviously the show. We're in the middle of West London. It's a beautifully sunny day here at Olympia. The show is the culmination, I suppose of 12 months of work. So what actually goes in? What does a normal day look like for you on any month other than May? Anna Preedy: Yeah, it was funny actually. Sometimes people, I think, well, what do you do for the rest of the year? You just turn up to London for a couple of days, just turn up delivering an event like this. And also our award scheme is literally three, six, five days of the year job. So the moment we leave Olympia in London, we're already planning the next event. So it really is all encompassing. So I get involved in a lot. As I say, we're a small team, so I'm the person that tends to do most of the programming for the show. So we have 70 free talks. Everything at the show is free to attend, is free to visit. So we have an extensive programme of talks. We have about 170 exhibitors. Anna Preedy: So I'm, although I have a sales team for that, I'm managing them and looking after that and working with some of those exhibitors and then I'm very much involved in our awards. So the Museums and Heritage Awards look to celebrate and reward the very best in our sector and shine the spotlight on that not just in the UK but around the world. So we have a judging panel and I coordinate that. So pretty much every decision, I mean you look at the colour of the carpet, that which incidentally is bright pink, you look at the colour of the carpet here, who made the decision what colour it would be in the aisles this year it was me. So I, you know, I do get heavily involved in all the nitty gritty as well as the biggest strategic decisions. Andy Povey: Fantastic. Here on the show floor today it is really busy, there are an awful lot of people there. So this is all testament to everything that you've done to make this the success that it is. I'm sure that every exhibitor is going to walk away with maybe not a full order book, but definitely a fistful of business cards. Anna Preedy: I think that's it, what we really want. And we sort of build this event as the big catch up and we do that for a reason. And that is really to kind of give two days of the year people put those in their diary. It's a space where people can come together. So you know, there'll be people here standing on stands who obviously and understandably want to promote their product or service and are looking to generate new business. And then our visitors are looking for those services and enjoying the talks and everyone comes together and it's an opportunity to learn and network and connect and to do business in the broadest possible sense. Really. Andy Povey: No, I think that the line, the big catch up really sums the show up for me. I've been. I think I worked out on the way in this morning. It's the 15th time I've been to the show. It's one of my favourite in the year because it is a fantastic mix of the curatorial, the commercial, everything that goes into running a successful museum or heritage venue. Anna Preedy: I mean, it's funny when people ask me to summarise. I mean, for a start, it's quite difficult. You know, really, it should be museums, galleries, heritage, visitor, attractions, culture. You know, it is a very diverse sector and if you think about everything that goes into making a museum or a gallery or a historic house function, operate, engage, it's as diverse as the organisational types are themselves and we try and bring all of that together. So, you know, whether you are the person that's responsible for generating income in your organisation, and perhaps that might be retail or it might be catering, it could be any. Any stream of income generation, there's going to be content for you here just as much as there's going to be content for you here. Anna Preedy: If you are head of exhibitions or if you are perhaps wearing the marketing hat and actually your job is, you know, communications or audience development, we try and represent the sector in its broadest scope. So there is something for everyone, quite. Andy Povey: Literally, and that's apparent just from looking on the show floor. So with all of your experience in the museum sector, and I suppose you get to see. See quite an awful lot of new stuff, new products. So what are you anticipating happening in the next sort of 6 to 12 months in our sector? Anna Preedy: I mean, that's a big question because, you know, going back to what were just saying, and the kind of different verticals, if you like, that sit within the sector, but I think the obvious one probably has to be AI, and the influence of that. I'm not saying that's going to change everything overnight. It won't, but it's. You can see the ripples already and you can see that reflected out here on the exhibition floor with exhibitors, and you can also see it in our programme. So this sort of AI is only, you know, one aspect of, you know, the bigger, wider digital story. But I just think it's probably more about the sector evolving than it is about, you know, grand sweeping changes in any one direction. Anna Preedy: But the other thing to say, of course, is that as funding gets more the sort of the economic landscape, you know, is tough. Undeniably so. So generating revenue and finding new ways to do that and prioritising it within your organisation, but not at the expense of everything else that's done. And it should never be at the expense of everything else that's done. And it's perfectly possible to do both. Nobody's suggesting that it's easy, nothing's easy but, you know, it's possible. Anna Preedy: And I think the show here, and also what we do online in terms of, you know, news and features, all of that, and what other organisations are doing in this sector, of course, and the partners we work with, but I think just helping kind of bridge that gap really, and to provide solutions and to provide inspiration and actually, you know, there's no need to reinvent the wheel constantly. Actually, I think it was somebody that worked in the sector. I'm reluctant to names, but there was somebody I remember once saying, well, know, stealing with glee is kind of, you know, and I think actually, you know, if you see somebody else is doing something great and actually we see that in our wards, you know, that's the whole point. Let's shine a spotlight on good work. Well, that might inspire someone else. Anna Preedy: It's not about ripping something off and it's not absolute replication. But actually, you know, scalable changes in your organisation that may have been inspired by somebody else's is only a good thing as well. Andy Povey: It's all that evolutionary process, isn't it? So, great experience. Thank you on behalf of everybody that's come to the show today. Anna Preedy: Well, thank you very much. I love doing it, I really genuinely do and there is nothing like the buzz of a busy event. Jon Horsfield: Yeah, My name is Jon Horsfield, I'm the Chief Revenue Officer of Cincio Solutions. Andy Povey: And what does Cincio do? Jon Horsfield: We provide F and B technology, so kiosks, point of sale payments, kitchen systems, inventory, self checkout to the museums, heritage zoos, aquariums and hospitality industries. Andy Povey: Oh, fantastic. So I understand this is your first time here at the Museums and Heritage Show. Jon Horsfield: It is our first time. It's been an interesting learning curve. Andy Povey: Tell me more. Jon Horsfield: Well, our background is very much within the hospitality. We've been operating for about 20 to 23 years within the sort of high street hospitality side of things. Some of our London based listeners may have heard of Leon Restaurants or Coco Di Mama, we've been working with them for over 20 years. But we're looking at ways of bringing that high street technology into other industries and other Verticals and the museums and heritage is a vertical that we've identified as somewhere that could probably do with coming into the 21st century with some of the technology solutions available. Andy Povey: I hear what you're saying. So what do you think of the show? What are your first impressions? Give me your top three tips. Learning points. Jon Horsfield: Firstly, this industry takes a long time to get to know people. It seems to be long lead times. That's the first learning that we've had. Our traditional industry in hospitality, people will buy in this industry. It's going to take some time and we're happy about that. We understand that. So for us, this is about learning about know about how the industry works. Everybody's really friendly. Andy Povey: We try. Yeah. Jon Horsfield: That's one of the first things that we found out with this. This industry is everybody is really friendly and that's quite nice. Even some of our competitors, we're having nice conversations with people. Everybody is really lovely. The third point is the fact that I didn't know that there were so many niche markets and I found out where my mother buys her scarves and Christmas presents from. So it's been really interesting seeing the different types of things that people are looking for. We've sort of noticed that it's really about preservation. That's one of the main areas. There's a lot of things about preservation. Another one is about the display, how things are being displayed, and lots of innovative ways of doing that. But also the bit that we're really interested in is the commercialization. Jon Horsfield: There's a real push within the industry to start to commercialise things and bring in more revenue from the same people. Andy Povey: Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's all about securing the destiny so that you're not reliant on funding from external parties or government and you taking that control. So what do you do at Centrio that helps? Jon Horsfield: Well, first of all. First of all, I would say the efficiencies that we can bring with back office systems integrations. We're very well aware of what we do, we're also aware of what we don't do. So, for example, we're not a ticketing provider, we're a specialist retail and F and B supplier. So it's about building those relationships and actually integrating. We've got a lot of integrations available and we're very open to that. So that's the first thing. But one of the key things that we're trying to bring to this industry is the way that you can use technology to increase revenue. So the kiosks that we've got here, it's proven that you'll get a minimum average transaction value increase of 10 to 15%. Andy Povey: And what do you put that down to? Jon Horsfield: The ability to upsell. Okay, with kiosks, as long as, if you put, for example, with a burger, if you just have a nice little button, say would you like the bacon fries with that? It's an extra few pounds. Well, actually if you've got an extra few pounds on every single transaction, that makes an incredible difference to the bottom line. From the same number of customers. Some of our clients over in the USA have seen an ATV increase above to 60% with the use of kiosks. Andy Povey: And that's just through selling additional fries. Jon Horsfield: Exactly. People will. I went to a talk many years ago when people started to adopt kiosks and the traditional thing is the fact that people will order two Big Macs and a fries to a kiosk, but when you go face to face, they will not order two Big Macs and a fries. Andy Povey: So you're saying I'm a shy fatty who's basically. Jon Horsfield: Absolutely not. Absolutely not, Andy. Absolutely not. So that's really what it's about. It's about using the sort of the high street technology and applying that to a different industry and trying to bring everybody along with us. Dominic Jones: And you need to listen to the Skip the Queue. It's the best podcast series ever. It'll give you this industry. Paul Marden: Perfect. That was a lovely little sound bite. Dom, welcome. Dominic Jones: It's the truth. It's the truth. I love Skip the Queue. Paul Marden: Welcome back to Skip the Queue. Paul, welcome. For your first time, let's just start with a quick introduction. Dom, tell everybody about yourself. Dominic Jones: So I'm Dominic Jones, I'm the chief executive of the Mary Rose Trust and I'm probably one of Skip the Queue's biggest fans. Paul Marden: I love it. And biggest stars. Dominic Jones: Well, I don't know. At one point I was number one. Paul Marden: And Paul, what about yourself? What's your world? Paul Woolf: Well, I'm Paul Woolf, I've just joined the Mary Rose as a trustee. Dom's been kind of hunting me down politely for a little bit of time. When he found out that I left the King's Theatre, he was very kind and said, right, you know, now you've got time on your hands, you know, would you come over and help? So yeah, so my role is to support Dom and to just help zhuzh things up a bit, which is kind of what I do and just bring some new insights into the business and to develop It a bit. And look at the brand, which is where my skills. Dominic Jones: Paul is underselling himself. He is incredible. And the Mary Rose Trust is amazing. You haven't visited. You should visit. We're in Portsmouth Historic Dock blog. But what's great about it is it's about attracting great people. I'm a trustee, so I'm a trustee for good whites. I'm a trustee for pomp in the community. I know you're a trustee for kids in museums. I love your posts and the fact that you come visit us, but it's about getting the right team and the right people and Paul has single handedly made such a difference to performance art in the country, but also in Portsmouth and before that had a massive career in the entertainment. So we're getting a talent. It's like getting a Premiership player. And we got Paul Woolf so I am delighted. Dominic Jones: And we brought him here to the Museum Heritage show to say this is our industry because we want him to get sucked into it because he is going to be incredible. You honestly, you'll have a whole episode on him one day. Paul Marden: And this is the place to come, isn't it? Such a buzz about the place. Paul Woolf: I've gone red. I've gone red. Embarrassed. Paul Marden: So have you seen some talks already? What's been impressive for you so far, Paul? Paul Woolf: Well, we did actually with the first talk we were listening to was all about touring and reducing your environmental impact on touring, which is quite interesting. And what I said there was that, you know, as time gone by and we had this a little bit at theatre actually. But if you want to go for grant funding today, the first question on the grant funding form, almost the first question after the company name and how much money you want is environmental impact. Paul Marden: Yeah, yeah. Paul Woolf: And so if you're going tour and we're looking now, you know, one of the things that Dom and I have been talking about is, you know, Mary Rose is brilliant. It's fantastic. You know, it's great. It's in the dockyard in Portsmouth and you know, so. And, and the Andes, New York, you know, everywhere. Dominic Jones: Take her on tour. Paul Woolf: Why isn't it on tour? Yeah. Now I know there are issues around on tour. You know, we've got the collections team going. Yeah, don't touch. But nonetheless it was interesting listening to that because obviously you've got to. Now you can't do that. You can't just put in a lorry, send it off and. And so I thought that was quite interesting. Dominic Jones: Two, it's all the industry coming together. It's not about status. You can come here as a student or as a CEO and you're all welcome. In fact, I introduced Kelly from Rubber Cheese, your company, into Andy Povey and now you guys have a business together. And I introduced them here in this spot outside the men's toilets at Museum and Heritage. Paul Woolf: Which is where we're standing, by the way. Everybody, we're outside the toilet. Dominic Jones: It's the networking, it's the talks. And we're about to see Bernard from ALVA in a minute, who'll be brilliant. Paul Marden: Yes. Dominic Jones: But all of these talks inspire you and then the conversations and just seeing you Andy today, I'm so delighted. And Skip the Queue. He's going from strength to strength. I love the new format. I love how you're taking it on tour. You need to bring it to the May Rose next. Right. Paul Marden: I think we might be coming sometimes soon for a conference near you. Dominic Jones: What? The Association of Independent Museums? Paul Marden: You might be doing an AIM conference with you. Dominic Jones: Excellent. Paul Marden: Look, guys, it's been lovely to talk to you. Enjoy the rest of your day here at M and H. Paul Marden: Stephen, welcome back to Skip the Queue. Stephen Spencer: Thank you very much. Paul Marden: For listeners, remind them what you do. Stephen Spencer: So I'm Stephen Spencer. My company, Stephen Spencer Associates, we call ourselves the Ambience Architects because we try to help every organisation gain deeper insight into the visitor experience as it's actually experienced by the visitor. I know it sounds a crazy idea, really, to achieve better impact and engagement from visitors and then ultimately better sustainability in all senses for the organisation. Paul Marden: For listeners, the Ambience Lounge here at M and H is absolutely rammed at the moment. Stephen Spencer: I'm trying to get in myself. Paul Marden: I know, it's amazing. So what are you hoping for this networking lounge? Stephen Spencer: Well, what we're aiming to do is create a space for quality conversations, for people to meet friends and contacts old and new, to discover new technologies, new ideas or just really to come and have a sounding board. So we're offering free one to one advice clinic. Paul Marden: Oh, really? Stephen Spencer: Across a whole range of aspects of the visitor journey, from core mission to revenue generation and storytelling. Because I think, you know, one of the things we see most powerfully being exploited by the successful organisations is that kind of narrative thread that runs through the whole thing. What am I about? Why is that important? Why should you support me? How do I deliver that and more of it in every interaction? Paul Marden: So you're Having those sorts of conversations here with people on a one to one basis. Stephen Spencer: Then we also are hosting the structured networking event. So all of the sector support organisations that are here, they have scheduled networking events when really people can just come and meet their peers and swap experiences and again find new people to lean on and be part of an enriched network. Paul Marden: Absolutely. So we are only half a day in, not even quite half a day into a two day programme. So it's very early to say, but exciting conversations, things are going in the direction that you hoped for. Stephen Spencer: Yes, I think, I mean, we know that the sector is really challenged at the moment, really, the fact that we're in now such a crazy world of total constant disruption and uncertainty. But equally we offer something that is reassuring, that is enriching, it's life enhancing. We just need to find better ways to, to do that and reach audiences and reach new audiences and just keep them coming back. And the conversations that I've heard so far have been very much around that. So it's very exciting. Paul Marden: Excellent. One of themes of this episode that we'll be talking to lots of people about is a little bit of crystal ball gazing. You're right, the world is a hugely, massively disrupted place at the moment. But what do you see the next six or 12 months looking like and then what does it look like for the sector in maybe a five year time horizon? Stephen Spencer: Okay, well, you don't ask easy questions. So I think there will be a bit of a kind of shaking down in what we understand to be the right uses of digital technology, AI. I think we see all the mistakes that were made with social media and what it's literally done to the world. And whilst there are always examples of, let's say, museums using social media very cleverly and intelligently, we know that's against the backdrop of a lot of negativity and harm. So why would we want to repeat that, for example, with generative AI? Paul Marden: Indeed. Stephen Spencer: So I heard a talk about two years ago at the VAT conference about using AI to help the visitor to do the stuff that is difficult for them to do. In other words, to help them build an itinerary that is right for them. And I think until everyone is doing that, then they should be very wary of stepping off the carpet to try and do other things with it. Meanwhile, whilst it's an immersive experience, it is not just sitting in, you know, with all respect to those that do this, A, you know, surround sound visual box, it is actually what it's always been, which is meeting real people in authentic spaces and places, you know, using all the senses to tell stories. So I think we will need to see. Stephen Spencer: I've just been given a great coffee because that's the other thing we're offering in the coffee. It's good coffee. Not saying you can't get anywhere else in the show, just saying it's good here. Yeah. I think just some realism and common sense creeping into what we really should be using these technologies for and not leaving our visitors behind. I mean, for example, you know, a huge amount of the natural audience for the cultural sector. You know, people might not want to hear it, but we all know it's true. It's older people. And they aren't necessarily wanting to have to become digital natives to consume culture. So we shouldn't just say, you know, basically, unless you'll download our app, unless you'll do everything online, you're just going to be left behind. That's crazy. It doesn't make good business sense and it's not right. Stephen Spencer: So I just think some common sense and some. Maybe some regulation that will happen around uses of AI that might help and also, you know, around digital harms and just getting back to some basics. I was talking to a very old colleague earlier today who had just come back from a family holiday to Disney World, and he said, you know, you can't beat it, you cannot beat it. For that is immersive. Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. But it's not sealed in a box. Stephen Spencer: No, no. And it really. It's a bit like Selfridges. I always took out. My favourite store is Selfridges. It still does what Harry Gordon Selfridge set out to do. He said, "Excite the mind and the hand will reach for the pocket." I always say. He didn't say excite the eye, he said, excite the mind. Paul Marden: Yeah. Stephen Spencer: The way you do that is through all the senses. Paul Marden: Amazing. Stephen Spencer: And so, you know, digital. I'm sure he'd be embracing that. He would be saying, what about the rest of it? Paul Marden: How do you add the human touch to that? Yeah. I was at Big Pit last week. Stephen Spencer: As they reopened, to see this. Yeah. Paul Marden: And it was such an amazing experience walking through that gift shop. They have so subtly brought the museum into the gift shop and blended the two really well. Stephen Spencer: Yes. And I think that raises the bar. And again, if you want to make more money as a museum, you need to be embracing that kind of approach, because if you just carry on doing what you've always done, your revenue will go down. Paul Marden: Yes. Stephen Spencer: And we all know your revenue needs to go up because other. Other sources of income will be going down. Paul Marden: Sarah, welcome back to Skip the Queue last time you were here, there was a much better looking presenter than, you were in the Kelly era. Sarah Bagg: Yes, we were. Paul Marden: It's almost as if there was a demarcation line before Kelly and after Kelly. Why don't you just introduce yourself for me? Tell the listeners what it is that you do. Sarah Bagg: So I'm Sarah Bagg. I'm the founder of Rework Consulting. The last time I spoke, it wasn't that long after our launch. I think like two and a half years ago. We've just had our third birthday. Paul Marden: Wow. Sarah Bagg: Which is completely incredible. When we first launched rework, were specifically for the visitor attractions industry and focused on ticketing. Paul Marden: Yep. Sarah Bagg: So obviously we are a tech ticketing consultancy business. In the last three and a half years we've grown and now have five verticals. So attractions are one of them. Paul Marden: And who else do you work with then? Sarah Bagg: So the art, the leisure industry. So whether it be activity centres, cinemas, bowling centres and then live entertainment. So it could be anything from sports, festivals etc and the arts, like theatres or. Paul Marden: So closely aligned to your attractions. Then things that people go and do but different kinds of things loosely. Sarah Bagg: Say they're like live entertainment. Paul Marden: I like that. That's a nice description. So this must be Mecca for you to have all of these people brought together telling amazing stories. Sarah Bagg: I think how I would sum up museum and heritage today is that I think we're kind of going through a period of like being transformed, almost like back. People are reconstructing, connecting with real experiences and with people. Paul Marden: Yeah. Sarah Bagg: And I would like to think that tech is invisible and they're just to support the experience. I think there's a lot of things that are going on at the moment around, you know, bit nostalgia and people dragging themselves back to the 90s. And there's a lot of conversations about people and customer service and experience. And although technology plays a huge part in that, I would still like to think that people come first and foremost, always slightly weird from a technology consultant. Paul Marden: Well, nobody goes to a visitor attraction to be there on their own and interact with technology. That's not the point of being there. Yeah. Interesting talks that you've been today. Sarah Bagg: I think one of my favourite was actually one of the first of the day, which was about. Of how do you enhance the visitor experience through either like music and your emotions and really tapping into how you feel through, like all your different senses. Which was one of Stephen's talks which I really enjoyed. Paul Marden: That's really interesting. Sarah Bagg: I think if people like look at the visitor industry and across the board, that's why I'm so keen to stay, like across four different sectors, we can learn so much pulling ideas from like hospitality and restaurants and bars.Paul Marden: Completely. Sarah Bagg: Even if you think about like your best, there's a new bar there, so you can not very far from my home in Brighton and the service is an amazing. And the design of the space really caters for whether you're in there with 10 people or whether you're sat at the bar on your own. It doesn't exclude people, depending on what age you are or why you gone into the bar. And I think we can learn a lot in the visitor attractions industry because there's been a lot of talk about families today. I don't have children and I think that there, you need. Sarah Bagg: We need to think more about actually that lots of other people go to visitor attractions Paul Marden: Completely. Sarah Bagg: And they don't necessarily take children and they might want to go on their own. Yes, but what are we doing to cater for all of those people? There's nothing. Paul Marden: How do you make them feel welcome? How do you make them feel like they're a first class guest? The same as everybody else. Yeah. So where do you see the sector going over the next few years based on what you've seen today? Sarah Bagg: I think there'll be a lot more diversification between sectors. There's definitely a trend where people have got their assets. You know, like if you're looking at things like safari parks and zoos, places that have already got accommodation, but maybe like stately houses where there used to be workers that were living in those cottages or whatever, that they're sweating their assets. I think it would be interesting to see where tech takes us with that because there has been a tradition in the past that if you've got like, if your number one priority to sell is being like your hotel, then you would have like a PMS solution. But if it's the other way around, your number one priority is the attraction or the venue and you happen to have some accommodation, then how is that connecting to your online journey? Sarah Bagg: Because the last thing you want is like somebody having to do two separate transactions. Paul Marden: Oh, completely drives me crazy. Sarah Bagg: One thing I would also love to see is attractions thinking beyond their 10 till 6 opening hours completely. Because some days, like restaurants, I've seen it, you know, maybe they now close on Mondays and Tuesdays so they can give their staff a day off and they have different opening hours. Why are attractions still fixated in like keeping these standard opening hours? Because actually you might attract a completely different audience. There used to be a bit of a trend for like doing museum late. So I was speaking to a museum not very long ago about, you know, do they do like morning tours, like behind the scenes, kind of before it even opens. And I think the museum particularly said to me, like, "Oh, we're fine as we are.". Paul Marden: I've never met a museum that feels fine where it is at the moment. Sarah Bagg: But I guess the one thing I would love to see if I could sprinkle my fairy dus. Paul Marden: Come the revolution and you're in charge. Sarah Bagg: And it's not like, it's not even like rocket science, it's more investment into training and staff because the people that work in our industry are like the gold, you know, it's not tech, it's not pretty set works, it's not like fancy display cases. Yes, the artefacts and stuff are amazing. Paul Marden: But the stories, the people stuff. Yeah. Sarah Bagg: Give them empowerment and training and make the customer feel special. Paul Marden: Yes. Sarah Bagg: When you leave, like you've had that experience, you're only ever going to get that from through the people that you interact with completely. Paul Marden: Jeremy, hello. Welcome to Skip the Queue. We are, we are being slightly distracted by a dinosaur walking behind us. Such is life at M and H show. Jeremy Mitchell: Yeah. Paul Marden: So. Jeremy Mitchell: Well, anything to do with museums and dinosaurs, always great crowd pleasers. Paul Marden: Exactly, exactly. So is this your first time at M and H or have you been before? Jeremy Mitchell: Been before, but probably not for 10 years or more. It was, yes. I remember last time I came the theatres were enclosed so they were partitioned all the way around. Paul Marden: Right. Jeremy Mitchell: But because it's so popular now that would not just not would not work. It's a long time ago. It shows how long I've been volunteering. Paul Marden: In museums, doesn't it? So for our listeners, Jeremy, just introduce yourself and tell everyone about the role that you've got at the Petersfield Museum. Jeremy Mitchell: Okay, so I'm Jeremy Mitchell. I'm a trustee at Petersfield Museum now Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery. I'm actually now chair of trustees. Paul Marden: Paint a little picture for us of Petersfield Museum then. What could someone expect if they came to you? Apart from, as I understand, a very good cup of coffee. Jeremy Mitchell: A very good cup of coffee. Best in Petersfield. And that's not bad when there are 32 competitors. You'll get a little bit of everything you'll get a bit of. You'll get the story of Petersfield, but you'll get so much more. We've got collections of costume going back to the mid 18th century. We've got work of a local artist, Flora Torte, one of those forgotten female artists from between the wars. She's a story that we will be exploring. We've got, in partnership with the Edward Thomas Fellowship, a big archive of books and other artefacts by and about Edward Thomas, who was a poet, writer, literary critic. He's one of the poets killed in the First World War. But he's not well known as a war poet because he was writing about the impact of war on life at home. Jeremy Mitchell: So he's now more well known as a nature poet. Paul Marden: So you're telling the story not just of the place, you're telling the story of the people that have produced great art or had an impact on Petersfield. Jeremy Mitchell: Yes. And their networks and how they might relate to Petersfield in turn. And we've got the costume collection I mentioned going back to the mid 18th century, which came from Bedale School. They've all got stories to them. Paul Marden: Interesting. Jeremy Mitchell: This came from Bedale School, which is a private school on the edge of Petersfield. It was actually collected by their drama teacher between the 1950s and the 1970s. Paul Marden: Wow. Jeremy Mitchell: Because she believed in authenticity. So if she was putting on a 19th century production, she would want genuine 19th century clothes. Paul Marden: Let me tell you, my drama productions in a 1980s comprehensive did not include authentic 19th century costumes. Jeremy Mitchell: If were doing something like that at school, their parents would have been, all right, go down to the jumble sale, buy some material, make something that looks something like it. Paul Marden: Yeah. Jeremy Mitchell: But no, she was, well, if you haven't got anything in your attic that's suitable, please send me some money because there's a sale at Sotheby's in three months. Time off costume from the period. Paul Marden: Excellent. Jeremy Mitchell: And we've got some lovely pieces in there. When we put on the Peggy Guggenheim exhibition, which is what were talking about earlier today here, were able to bring in costume from the 1930s, Chanel dress, other high quality, not. Not necessarily worn by Peggy Guggenheim, but her. Paul Marden: Authentic of the period. Jeremy Mitchell: Authentic of the period. But her son was at Bedale, so she could have been asked to donate. Paul Marden: So. Okay. Jeremy Mitchell: Highly unlikely, but it was similar to items that she had been photographed in or would have been. Would have been wearing. Paul Marden: So tell me about the. The presentation. How was that? Jeremy Mitchell: It went so quickly. Paul Marden: Oh, yes. You get in the zone don't you? Jeremy Mitchell: You get in the zone. But it flowed and Louise was great. Louise had done the bulk of the. The work. She prepared the presentation that visually told the story of the exhibition and its outcomes and impacts. And I filled in the boring book, I call it the BBC, the boring but crucial. How we funded it, how we organised the project, management around it, the planning and getting buy in from the rest of the trustees at the beginning, because it was potentially a big financial commitment if we hadn't been able to fund it. Paul Marden: Isn't it interesting? So coming to an event like this is always. There's always so much to learn, it's always an enriching experience to come. But it's a great opportunity, isn't it, for a small museum and art gallery such as Petersfield? It feels a little bit like you're punching above your weight, doesn't it, to be invited onto this stage to talk about it. But really you're telling this amazing story and it's of interest to everybody that's here. Jeremy Mitchell: We want to share it. If we've been able to do it, then why can't they? Why can't you? Why can't we all do it? And yes, you need the story, but if you dig deep enough, those stories are there. Paul Marden: Absolutely, Absolutely. One of the things that is a real common conversation here, M and H, is looking forward, crystal ball gazing, talking. There's challenges in the sector, isn't there? There's lots of challenges around funding and I guess as a small museum, you must feel those choppy waters quite acutely. Jeremy Mitchell: Definitely. I mean, we're an independent museum, so we're not affected by spending cuts because we don't get any funding from that area. But the biggest challenge is from the funding perspective. Yes, we have a big income gap every year that we need to bridge. And now that so much more of the sector is losing what was its original core funding, they're all fishing in the same pond as us and they've got. Invariably they've got a fundraising team probably bigger than our entire museum team, let alone the volunteer fundraiser that we've got. So, yes, it is a challenge and you are having to run faster just to stand still. The ability to put on an exhibition like Peggy Guggenheim shows that we are worth it. Paul Marden: Yes, absolutely. Jeremy Mitchell: And the Guggenheim was funded by Art Fund Western loan programme and an Arts Council project grant. And it was a large Arts Council project grant. Paul Marden: So although everyone's fishing in the same pond as you're managing to yeah. To stretch my analogy just a little bit too far, you are managing to. To get some grant funding and. Jeremy Mitchell: Yes. Paul Marden: And lift some tiddlers out the pond. Jeremy Mitchell: Yes. But it was quite clear that with Peggy it was a story that had to be told. Paul Marden: So we talked a little bit about challenging times. But one of the big opportunities at M and H is to be inspired to think about where the opportunities are going forwards. You've had a day here today. What are you thinking as inspiration as next big things for Petersfield Museum. Jeremy Mitchell: I'm finding that really difficult because we're small, we're a small site, Arkansas, I think has got to be a way forward. I miss the talk. But they're all being recorded. Paul Marden: Yes. Jeremy Mitchell: So I shall be picking that one up with interest. But AR is something. We've got police cells. Well, we've got a police cell. Paul Marden: Okay. Jeremy Mitchell: Now, wouldn't it be great to tell an augmented reality story of Victorian justice to kids? Paul Marden: Yes. Jeremy Mitchell: While they're sat in a victory in a Victorian police cell on a hard wooden bench. That is the original bench that this prisoners would have slept on. Paul Marden: I've done enough school visits to know there's enough kids that I could put in a jail just to keep them happy or to at least keep them quiet whilst the rest of us enjoy our visit. Yes. I feel like I need to come to Petersfield and talk more about Peggy because I think there might be an entire episode of Skip the Queue to talk just about putting on a big exhibition like that. Jeremy Mitchell: Yeah, no, definitely. If you drop me an email you can skip the queue and I'll take you around. Paul Marden: Oh lovely, Rachel, welcome to Skip the Queue. You join me here at M and H show. And we've taken over someone's stand, haven't we? I know, it feels a bit weird, doesn't it? Rachel Kuhn: I feel like we're squatting but I. Paul Marden: Feel a little bit like the Two Ronnies, cuz we're sat behind the desk. It's very strange. Which one are you? Anyway, just for listeners. Introduce yourself for me. Tell listeners what it is that you do at BOP Consulting. Rachel Kuhn: Yeah, so I'm Rachel Kuhn, I'm an associate director at BOP and we specialise in culture and the creative economy and kind of working across everything that is to do with culture and creative economy globally. But I lead most of our strategy and planning projects, particularly in the UK and Ireland, generally working with arts, heritage, cultural organisations, from the very earliest big picture strategy through to real nitty gritty sort of operational plans and outside of bop. I'm a trustee for Kids in Museums, where we love to hang, and also a new trustee with the Postal Museum. Paul Marden: Given what you do at bop, this must be like the highlight of the year for you to just soak up what everybody is doing. Rachel Kuhn: I love it. I mean, it's so lovely just going around, chatting to everybody, listening in on the talks and I think that spirit of generosity, you know, like, it just comes across, doesn't it? And it just reminds me why I love this sector, why I'm here. You know, everyone wants to, you know, contribute and it's that whole sort of spirit of what do they say? We know when the tide rises, so do all the boats or all the ships. And I feel like that's the spirit here and it's lovely. Paul Marden: It is such a happy place and it's such a busy, vibrant space, isn't it? What have been the standout things for you that you've seen today? Rachel Kuhn: I think probably on that spirit of generosity. Rosie Baker at the founding museum talking about the incredible work they've done with their events, hires, programmes. Obviously got to give a shout out to the Association of Cultural Enterprise. I've been doing a lot of hanging out there at their stage day. So Gurdon gave us the rundown of the benchmarking this morning. Some really good takeaways from that and Rachel Mackay, I mean, like, obviously. Paul Marden: Want to go into. Rachel Kuhn: You always want to see her. Really good fun, but lovely to hear. She's talking about her strategy, the Visitor Experience strategy. And you know what, I spend so much time going into places looking at these sub strategies, like visual experience strategies that just haven't been written in alignment with the overall strategy. So it's lovely to see that linking through, you know, and obviously I'm from a Visitor Experience background, so hugely passionate about the way that Visitor Experience teams can make visitors feel the organization's values. And that alignment was really impressive. So, yeah, really lovely and loads of great takeaways from all those talks. Paul Marden: I will just say for listeners, all of these talks have been recorded, so everyone's going to be able to download the materials. It take a couple of weeks before they were actually published. But one of the questions that I've asked everybody in these vox pops has been, let's do some crystal ball gazing. It's. It stinks at the moment, doesn't it? The, the, the economy is fluctuating, there is so much going on. What do you see 6 to 12 month view look like? And then let's really push the boat out. Can we crystal ball gaze maybe in five years? Rachel Kuhn: Yeah.  I mean, look, I think the whole problem at the moment and what's causing that sort of nervousness is there's just a complete lack of surety about loads of things. You know, in some ways, you know, many organisations have welcomed the extension for the MPO round, the current round, but for many, you know, that's just pushed back the opportunity to get in on that round that little bit further away. It's caused that sort of nervousness with organisations are having to ride on with the same funding that they asked for some years ago that just doesn't, you know, match, you know, and it's actually a real time cut for them. Paul Marden: Absolutely. Rachel Kuhn: So I think, very hard to say, I don't know that there's much I can say. I feel like as at sea as everyone else, I think about what the landscape looks like in the next six months, but I think that never has there been, you know, a better time than something like this like the M and H show. You know, this is about coming together and being generous and sharing that information and I think reaching out to each other and making sure that we're sort of cross pollinating there. There's so much good stuff going on and we've always been really good at that and I think sometimes when we're feeling a bit down, it feels like, oh, I just don't want to go to something like this and meet others and, you know, get into a bit of a misery cycle. Rachel Kuhn: But actually it's so uplifting to be at something like this. And I think, you know, what we've seen here is at the show today, I think, is organisations being really generous with their experience and their expertise. Suppliers and consultants and supporters of the sector being really generous with their time and their expertise and actually just shows just spending a bit of time with each other, asking things of each other. We've just got loads of stuff to share and we're all really up for it. And I think that generosity is so critical and I mean, obviously I'm going to plug, I've got to plug it. Rachel Kuhn: So, you know, if you are a supplier, if you are a commercial business working in this sector, it might be tough times for you, but it's certainly nowhere near as hard as it is for the arts and cultural heritage organisations in the sector. You know, reach out to them and see how you can support them and help them. I mean, you and I have both been on a bit of a drive recently to try and drum up some sponsorship and corporate support for kids in museums who, you know, an Arts council MPO who we're incredible, incredibly proud to represent and, you know, do reach out to us. If you've been thinking, oh, I just want to sponsor something and I'd love to sponsor us. Paul Marden: Exactly. I mean, there's loads of opportunities when you take kids in museums as an example, loads of opportunities for. And this is what Arts Council wants us to do. They want us to be more independent, to generate more of our own funding and we've got a great brand, we do some amazing work and there's lots of opportunities for those commercial organisations who align with our values to help to support us. Rachel Kuhn: So I think you asked me there about what's in the next year. So next year, six months, I don't know is the answer. I think it's just a difficult time. So my advice is simply get out there, connect, learn from each other, energise each other, bring each other up. Let's not get into that sort of doom cycle. That's very easy next five years. You know what, I've had some really interesting meetings and conversations over the last. Well, one particularly interesting one today, some other ones about some funds that might be opening up, which I think is really exciting. You know, we've seen this really big challenge with funding, you know, slowing funding going in much larger amounts to a smaller number of large organisations and that causes real problems. But I think there might be a small turnaround on that. Rachel Kuhn: I'm not crumbs in the earth. I think it's still tough times. But that was really exciting to hear about. I'm also seeing here at the show today. I've been speaking to a lot of suppliers whose their models seem to be shifting a lot. So a lot more opportunities here where it requires no investment from the attraction and a lot more sort of interesting and different types of profit share models, which I think is really interesting. So I think the other thing I'd say is if you're an attraction, don't discount partnering some of these organisations because actually, you know, go and talk to them. Rachel Kuhn: Don't just, don't just count them out because you think you haven't got anything to invest because many of them are visiting new models and the couple that I've spoken to who aren't, learn from your competitors and start doing some different models. And I think that's been really interesting to hear some very different models here for some of the products, which is really exciting. Paul Marden: It is really hard sitting on the other side of the fence, as a supplier, we need cash flow as well. We've got to pay bills and all of those sorts of things. But you're right, there are interesting ways in which we all want to have a conversation. As you say, don't sit back afraid to engage in the conversation because you've got nothing to invest, you've got an important brand, you've got an audience. Those are valuable assets that a supplier like us would want to partner with you to help you to bring a project to life. And that might be on a rev share model, it might be on a service model. There's lots of different ways you can slice it and dice it. Rachel Kuhn: And going back, on a closing note, I suppose, going back to that generosity thing, don't think because you haven't got any money to commission, you know, a supplier to the sector or a commercial company, that you can't reach out to them. Like, you know, we are in this because we really want to support these organisations. This is our passion. You know, many of us are from the sector. You know, I will always connect somebody or introduce somebody or find a way to get a little bit of pro bono happening, or, you know, many of my colleagues are on advisory committees, we're board members. And I think that's the same for so many of the companies that are, like, working with the sector. You know, reach out and ask for freebie, you know, don't ask, don't get. Paul Marden: Yeah, exactly. Rachel, it is delightful to talk to you as always. Thank you for joining us on Skip the Queue and I am sure, I'm sure we'll make this into a full episode one day soon. I do say that to everybody. Rachel Kuhn: Thanks so much. Lovely to speak to you. Paul Marden: Andy. Andy Povey: Paul.Paul Marden: We've just walked out of the M and H show for another year. What are your thoughts? Andy Povey: First, I'm exhausted, absolutely exhausted. I'm not sure that I can talk anymore because I've spent 48 hours having some of the most interesting conversations I've had all year. Paul Marden: No offence, Tonkin. Andy Povey: You were part of some of those conversations, obviously, Paul. Paul Marden: I was bowled over again by just the sheer number of people that were there and all those lovely conversations and everybody was just buzzing for the whole two days. Andy Povey: The energy was phenomenal. I worked out that something like the 15th show, M & H show that I've been to, and I don't know whether it's just recency because it's sitting in the far front of my mind at the moment, but it seems like this was the busiest one there's ever been. Paul Marden: Yeah, I can believe it. The one thing that didn't change, they're still working on Olympia. Andy Povey: I think that just goes on forever. It's like the fourth Bridge. Paul Marden: Talks that stood out to you. Andy Povey: I really enjoyed interpretation One led by the guy from the sign language education company whose name I can't remember right now. Paul Marden: Yeah, Nate. That was an amazing talk, listeners. We will be getting him on for a full interview. I'm going to solve the problem of how do I make a inherently audio podcast into something that's accessible for deaf people? By translating the podcast medium into some sort of BSL approach. So that was the conversation that we had yesterday after the talk. Andy Povey: I know. I really look forward to that. Then, of course, there was the George and Elise from Complete Works. Paul Marden: I know. They were amazing, weren't they? You couldn't tell at all that they were actors. Do you know, it was really strange when George. So there was a point in that talk that George gave where we all had a collective breathing exercise and it was just. It was. It was so brilliantly done and were all just captivated. There must have been. I rechon there was 100 people at theatre at that point. Absolutely. Because it was standing room only at the back. And were all just captivated by George. Just doing his click. Very, very clever. Andy Povey: But massively useful. I've seen the same thing from George before and I still use it to this day before going on to make a presentation myself. Paul Marden: Yeah, yeah. Andy Povey: Just grounding yourself, centering yourself. Well, it's fantastic. Paul Marden: Yeah. But the whole thing that they were talking about of how do we create opportunities to have meaningful conversations with guests when they arrive or throughout their entire experience at an attraction so that we don't just talk about the weather like we're typical English people. Andy Povey: That's great, isn't it? Go and tell a Brit not to talk. Talk about the weather. Paul Marden: But training your staff makes absolute sense. Training your staff to have the skills and the confidence to not talk about the weather. I thought that was really interesting. Andy Povey: It's an eye opener, isn't it? Something really simple, but could be groundbreaking. Paul Marden: Yeah. Andy Povey: Then what was your view on all of the exhibitors? What did you take away from all the stands and everybody? Paul Marden: Well, I loved having my conversation yesterday with Alan Turing. There was an AI model of Alan Turing that you could interact with and ask questions. And it was really interesting. There was a slight latency, so it didn't feel quite yet like a natural conversation because I would say something. And then there was a pause as Alan was thinking about it. But the things that he answered were absolutely spot on, the questions that I asked. So I thought that was quite interesting. Other exhibitors. Oh, there was a lovely point yesterday where I was admiring, there was a stand doing custom designed socks and I was admiring a design of a Jane Austen sock and there was just somebody stood next to me and I just said, "Oh, Jane Austen socks." Paul Marden: Very on Trend for the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen, that all of the museums in Hampshire will be buying those up. And should funnily you should say that I'm the chief executive of Chawton Park House, which is one of the museums in the last place that Jane Austen lived. So very interesting, very small world moment at that point. Andy Povey: I do, it's almost an oxymoron to talk about Jane Austen socks. I don't imagine her having worn anything with nylon or Lycra in it. Paul Marden: Very true. I hadn't tweaked that. Andy Povey: There was a lot of AI there wasn't there AI this, AI that. Paul Marden: And there were some really good examples of where that is being used in real life. Yeah, yeah. So there were some examples where there's AI being used to help with visitor counts around your attraction, to help you to optimise where you need to put people. I thought that Neil at Symantec just talking about what he called answer engine optimisation. That was interesting. There were some brilliant questions. There was one question from an audience member asking, are there any tools available for you to figure out whether how well your organisation is doing at being the source of truth for AI tools? Andy Povey: Yeah, yeah. So almost like your Google search engine ranking. Paul Marden: But exactly for ChatGPT. Andy Povey: And have you found one yet? Paul Marden: No, not yet. There's also quite a lot of people talking about ideas that have yet to find a home. Andy Povey: Yes. What a very beautiful way of putting it. Paul Marden: The people that have. That are presenting a topic that has yet to get a real life case study associated with it. So the rubber hasn't yet hit the road. I don't think on that. Andy Povey: No. I think that's true for an awful lot of AI, isn't it? Not just in our sector. Paul Marden: No. Andy Povey: It's very interesting to see where that's all going to go. And what are we going to think when we look back on this in two or three years time? Was it just another chocolate teapot or a problem looking for a solution? Or was it the revolution that we all anticipate. Paul Marden: And I think it will make fundamentals change. I think it's changing rapidly. But we need more real case studies of how you can do something interesting that is beyond just using ChatGPT to write your marketing copy for you. Andy Povey: Yeah, I mean it's all about putting the guest at the front of it, isn't it? Let's not obsess about the technology, let's look at what the technology is going to enable us to do. And back to the first part of this conversation, looking at accessibility, then are there tools within AI that are going to help with that? Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. So there was definitely. There was an interesting talk by Vox. The people that provide, they provide all of the radio boxes for everybody to wear at M and H that provides you with the voiceover of all of the speakers. But they use this technology across all manner of different attractions and they were talking about using AI to do real time translation of tours. So you could. Andy Povey: Very interesting. Paul Marden: Yeah. So you could have an English speaker wandering around doing your tour and it could real time translate up to. I think it was up to four languages. Andy Povey: BSL not being one of those languages. Paul Marden: Well, no, they were talking about real time in app being able to see subtitles. Now, I don't know whether they went on to say you could do BSL. And we know from the other presentation that not everybody that is deaf is able to read subtitles as fast as they can consume sign language. So it's important to have BSL. But there were some parts of that Vox product that did it address deaf people. It wasn't just multilingual content. Andy Povey: So AI people, if you're listening, you can take the idea of translating into BSL in real time and call it your own. Paul Marden: Yeah, we very much enjoyed hosting our theatre, didn't we? That was a lot. And Anna, if you are listening, and I hope you are, because lots of people have said very nice things in this episode about M and H. Andy and I would love to come back next year. Andy Povey: Absolutely. Paul Marden: And host a theatre for you. Any other thoughts? Andy Povey: Just really looking forward to the rest of the week off. Yeah, it's a sign of a good show when you walk away with all that positive feeling and that positive exhaustion and you probably need a week to reflect on all of the conversations that we've had. Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. Next up we is AIM Conference at Mary Rose in June. I can't wait very much. Looking forward to that. Thank you ever so much for listening. We will join you again in a few weeks. See you soon. Bye Bye. Andy Povey: Draw.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 to find 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 to increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcripts 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

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 SkiptheQueue.fm.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  or Bluesky for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcast.Competition ends on 21st May 2025. The winner will be contacted via Bluesky. Show references: Museum Wales website: https://museum.wales/Big Pit National Coal Museum: https://museum.wales/bigpit/Catherine Pinkerton LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-pinkerton-b1905a110/Catherine Pinkerton is the Group Retail Manager at Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales.Having worked in senior management positions for some of the high street's most recognisable brands such as Harrods, Selfridges, Dior and Guerlain to name but a few, Catherine spent 20+ years in London building her management career. Catherine is now the Group Retail Manager for Amgueddfa Cymru (Museum Wales). She is responsible for the management of all aspects of retail operations and development, across the national museums of Wales. Catherine is currently leading on a transformation project to create immersive retail experiences in each of the museum shops, reflecting the visitor experience and collections of each of the varied museums.Guests Also Featured in This Episode:Anya Kirkby, Freelancer - Anya Kirkby Ltd – Product Development and Graphic Design anyakirkby@gmail.comArantxa Garcia, Freelancer - Exibeo VM Creative Studio – Shop Design and Visual Merchandising Arantxa@exhibeovm.co.ukNia Elias, Director Relationships and Funding, Amgueddfa Cymru nia.elias@museumwales.ac.ukGuy Veale, Freelancer – Freelancer - Sound artist/designer - gbveale@gmail.comAmy Samways, Shop Supervisor, Amgueddfa Cymru - amy.samways@museumwales.ac.ukKate Eden, Chair, Amgueddfa Cymru - Members of Board | Museum Wales Transcriptions: Paul Marden: Welcome to Skip the Queue. I'm your host, Paul Marden. So today you join me on the top of a mountain in Blaenavon in Wales at Big Pit, the National Mining Museum. I'm here today for a really special event. I've been invited to the opening of Big Pit's new Museum Retail experience, which is a programme of work that's being done by the Museums Wales Group to improve the sense of place and the sense of feeling for what could be a blueprint for the rest of the group. We're going to be joined by a number of different people that have taken part in the project and without further ado, let's get started on our tour of Big Pit. Catherine Pinkerton: Morning, everybody. Hello, welcome. It is my absolute pleasure to welcome you all today and I know there's been a lot of you'd have travelled far and wide, so thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate you coming to see the amazing store that we've created and I hope you love it. We're just going to cut the river now. Paul Marden: First up I've got Catherine Pinkerton, Group Head of Retail at Museum Wales. Catherine, welcome to Skip the Queue. Catherine Pinkerton: Thank you very much. Thank you so much for having me. Paul Marden: Absolute pleasure. And this is a corker of an episode. I think everybody is going to be really interested in finding out about the retail, the gift shop experience that you guys have introduced at Big Pit and then you're going to go wider into. Into Museums Wales. This is a really weird episode because you and I are recording the morning after the day before. So yesterday was the big launch event and I was with you at Big Pit and I've met lots and lots of people and we're going to cut to them throughout the episode and hear from those people that were taking part in the project. But you and I have got the benefit of having enjoyed yester today's event and we can look back on what that experience was like and talk a little bit about the project. Paul Marden: Before we do that, I think it would be really lovely for you to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about Museums Wales and Big Pit specifically. Catherine Pinkerton: Absolutely. Okay. So I'm Catherine Pinkerton. So I head up all of the retail stores within Amgueddfa Cymru, which is National Museums of Wales. I've been with the museum just under three years and I'm good that Cymru hosts seven sites. It's an incredible establishment to be part of and I think, you know, coming from a very commercial background, this is very different for me, but I think it's given me lots of insights into bringing kind of. Lots of. Kind of different skill sets, I guess, to this cultural sector. I think when I first initially joined Amgueddfa Cymru, there were lots of challenges. And that's not to say that we still have those challenges as they are in many of our museums. And I think coming from a retail background, it's. It's looking at something that's not. That's commercial, Paul.Catherine Pinkerton: That's key. But actually, how can we make it very collection and story based on our amazing assets that we hold within our museums? And I think that I felt was probably the biggest thing that was missing because I thought we've got these amazing exhibitions, these amazing collections, amazing, you know, opportunities, and how are we putting that into the retail structure and how do we offer that to us, you know, to our visitors? And I think. I think sometimes it may be. Have forgotten that you go around these amazing spaces and it's very based on that visitor focus and how can we make that visitor feel very happy and engaged. But actually the end part of that process is nearly always coming through, exiting through the retail space. Right. Catherine Pinkerton: And if they've had this amazing opportunity to go and, you know, a lot of investment in these amazing spaces, and then they come through that retail space which has some elements, but not all of what our collections hold, there's a confusion there. You know, that end piece. And for me, customer service and visitor experience is absolutely key to how they. How they finish and how they end their day. And if they're ending their day with something, oh, okay, I'll just have a magnet then. Because there's nothing really else here. Yeah, that pains me. That really hurts me. I think, come on, guys, we can do better than this. We are in an element of. We have our own assets, our own elements to be able to kind of display that. Catherine Pinkerton:  And I think very much it would be very easy and to take the kind of easy road of having, you know, let's. Let's pop a dragon on a mug and yeah, we're a Welsh museum. No, we're not. We have assets here. We have beautiful exhibitions, we have beautiful spaces. And actually looking from further afield into. In terms of an emotional connection. And I think, you know, for me, from all of my past kind of previous work, I'm working with Amgueddfa Cymru. It's probably been the most challenging to get perhaps senior management to understand a crazy way of Catherine Pinkerton working into a. What's emotional retail? What does emotive selling mean? This lady is crazy. What's she talking about? But actually, it's really basic, isn't it? Catherine Pinkerton: Because for me, if I take my daughter or my husband to any kind of day trip, I want to take something emotional that I've connected with home with me, and that's so simple. But actually, sometimes it's not thought about in that way. And, you know, for me, I'm all about the emotional connection. And I think we put so much investment in curatorial teams to kind of give that to our visitors. We need to end that. That end part is so important for them to finish, you know, that journey with that emotional connection that they can take home as a souvenir. So, yeah, I've probably said more than I needed to there, Paul, but.Paul Marden: Absolutely. So I think you're capturing the need to curate the. The ending experience because, you know, the nature of. The nature of people's memory is they remember the beginning and they remember the end and the bit that is in the middle is hugely important to the storytelling experience they have whilst they're at the attraction. But if you don't end on a high, then their emotional connection to you and the space and the stories they've heard is not going to be as impactful for them. Catherine Pinkerton:  Absolutely, totally agree. I think it's really key, and not just in the kind of, you know, the cultural sector, but in any sector, really. I think it's really important that connection is instant, really, because that is what you need to. That's the hook, isn't it, of getting that person, you know, and. And actually understanding what the visitor needs. I mean, it's very easy for me to say on a personal level, I'd love to have this collection of products within the shop, but actually, that's not what data tells us. That's not what our demographic tells know, you know. And they are the ones that are important. Our local communities, our demographic is key for us to be successful. Paul Marden: You know, so one of the things that I took from yesterday was the importance that you were moving away from being just any other generic Welsh gift shop to being a gift shop associated with the place. Yeah, that. That's the. That was the nub of I think, what you were trying to get to how do you go about doing that? How did you make it feel so much like a gift shop? About Big Pit? Catherine Pinkerton: It's taken a process of really pulling everything back and getting under the skin, what is the detail and the personality of the site. But actually it's talking to people and being humour. And Paul, you know, I think, very much, as I say, it'd be very ignorant for me to say this is what I think will work. And that's absolutely not what we want. What we want is for the visitors to say, I really. I mean, what was really interesting, actually, is that we did quite a lot of data analysis in terms of the demographics of customers that come through our sites. But also what was really key is areas of the sites that were really kind of, you know, three key areas that they really enjoyed or they really loved. Catherine Pinkerton:  And actually, one of the top ones was the pit ponies that they all love the pit ponies, they love talking about it, they love the stories that the mining team would talk about. It was a really inspiring, you know, inspirational moment for them to think, oh, my gosh, the pit ponies lived underground. This is really so, you know, I think in some respects that was probably missed in terms of our retail offer, because what we did after that is that we had a workshop with all our retail team and we almost did a little bit like a Dragon's Den effect. We said, right, these are the products that we have, right? Can you pick up out of these products, which products represent the pit ponies? Which products represent the shower rooms? Catherine Pinkerton: And actually, when you're talking to the teams in kind of a literal sense, there wasn't a lot within our retail offer that we already had. And I think it was a bit of a light bulb moment, really, for the retail team and said, “Oh, Kath. Right, I see, Yeah, I understand what you mean.” That's not represented in our retail offer. So what's represented currently was wonderful things and lots of Welsh kind of products. But actually, what. What makes that relatable to our site? And so I think what I wanted to do originally is just go on a journey and to kind of really, from a very basic stage, is understand what the site's POS was and actually understand what their personality was and what the curatorial team were trying to push forward as being their identity. Catherine Pinkerton:  And I think once we got the identity, we then broke that down into themes in terms of there's pit ponies. That's a huge part of the, you know, the exhibition. The other huge part of the exhibition were the canaries. So, you know, that was something that was talked about. There's a huge story around that. And then, you know, the kind of mining history and the community was massive. And actually that element was so important to me and the retail team to make sure that we got right. Because this is history, right? And this is. I come from both my grandparents were miners. So for me it was very much a, you know, a very emotional time for me to make sure that we got it right and that it was respectfully done. Catherine Pinkerton:  So that was really key in terms of how do we deliver this. That's really. That we are not stepping on people's toes. We're not profiting from something that was, you know, the strike range is very significant within what we've offered, but we really wanted to make sure that was respectful and that it was done in a tasteful way that people felt they could take a souvenir away, but know that was actually part of the exhibition. So it was those kind of areas that we really wanted to work. So once we have those themes in place in terms of what those looked like, it was then developing that and how do we develop that into an actual concept? Paul Marden: Yeah, and you've drawn in lots of people. You've already mentioned the kind of wide team that you brought in from Big Pit itself, but from the wider team in the group. Talk a little bit about what that experience has been like as a team. Who have you brought into this? Catherine Pinkerton:  So originally, when we wrote the retail concept and the retail strategy, you obviously have to kind of involve quite a lot of internal candidates to be able to allow them to believe that this journey and vision is a good one. And I'm super thankful. I've got the most amazing manager, Marc Simcox. He's the head of enterprises and he is incredible. He's very commercial, but very trusting in terms of understanding what the business should look like and actually giving that freedom to say, yeah, I think this can work. Kath. So you, you go ahead and that. That's huge. Right. We're not talking about a small project here. So that firstly was great for me. And then I think having the, you know, the opportunity to be able to get some key people. Catherine Pinkerton: And Matthew Henderson we've worked with previously and we've, you know, I knew straight away, for me, Matthew Henderson has gotten. Got a very unique way of working and we work very well together. We've got quite similar kind of ways of working, but I think that development and concept phase is really key and I think it really got to the point where we just sat in a room and kind of really understood what are we trying to achieve here, how can we achieve that? And really just making it very basic in terms of the key themes. And then in terms of product development, we brought on Anya Kirkby. So she is an illustrator and a very clever lady indeed. And we have worked with lots of illustrators and lots of suppliers over the years. Catherine Pinkerton: But what we wanted something for Big Pit was to be quite different in terms of the illustration and the product development. Because what we wanted to deliver with Big Pit was something that had been my vision since the very beginning when I started with Amgueddfa Cymru. And that is, you know, going into the shop and having those guidelines, you know, pricing guidelines, information guidelines, those small details which would probably mean nothing to the average person walking through, but actually a price ticket on something that's been illustrated pains me to see, because the work that's gone on behind that is so key. Catherine Pinkerton: And, you know, for most people not understanding that a price ticket on that is so I think those details are really key, Paul, and I think she really worked stringently with me to make sure that was, was, that was kind of a massive aspect of that role. And then Arantxa Garcia, who is just the most incredible designer. She's, she's a genius in what she does. She's incredibly creative and sometimes you have to kind of pull her back and say, okay, you want this? Okay, can you deliver this rancher? Paul Marden: Yeah. Catherine Pinkerton: And what was really interesting with a rancher is that, you know, she's got a huge, amazing CV of working with lots of people within the cultural sector and designing amazing, incredible pieces. But I think were very nervous because the, the original kind of renders that she sent through to us were quite amazing and impressive. And I said, arantha, are you able to deliver this under the kind of, you know, the budget? We've got a tight budget here. Paul Marden: That's the challenge, isn't it? Catherine Pinkerton: I mean, isn't it? Paul Marden: You do not want to be paying, you don't want to be offered the picture of a Maserati when you have got a Ford Fiesta budget, do you need to know that you can afford it. Catherine Pinkerton: Absolutely. And I think with Aranta, she was very, again, super creative lady. And I think I, as soon as I saw that image, I did say to her, right, you need to deliver this now. You've, you've committed to it, Arantia, so this needs to happen. And then finally, Richard Evans, who has, is hugely respected in the cultural sector and he really supported in terms of project management and the, you know, I hate to say this, and you won't mind me saying this, but the kind of boring kind of financial Gantt charts and keeping me in line actually. Right, Cath, we haven't got a budget for that. You can't spend that. Come on, Richard, make it work. Move some things around, you know. Catherine Pinkerton: So I think that was kind of the main area and then internally, Tracy Lucas, who was kind of my right hand woman, is our operations manager within Amgueddfa Cymru and she really supported me along with Amy, the shop manager, shop supervisor to really look at the product development. So I think, you know, and I think it was really nice actually to have them on board because I think it gave an opportunity for them to see what could be. And I think, you know, definitely in terms of retail, it's been an opportunity for us to be able to say, look, this, the impossible can be possible. Catherine Pinkerton: Actually this is an amazing project and I think what was really incredible is that when we decided to work on Big Pit, the Big Pit team and all of the mining team actually just came on board, Paul, they took it on board and I think the reason why they did that is that one of the mining teams said to me, he said, kath, you know, we never get any funding here. It's always in this big cities, you know, we, the Cardiff and it's never here, you know, we're just in the middle of nowhere. And I was like, absolutely not. That is not what this is about. It's about, you know, making sure that the community in that area is solid. Catherine Pinkerton: And I think the mining industry and they're very proud of that in terms of who works there, they're incredibly proud of what they do. And so because we chose that as our first project, they were so helpful in terms of, yeah, we're going to make this work, let's make it a success. Cath, how can we do that? What do you need from me? I mean at one point we had two of the mining staff pulling one of the drums which we upcycled out of it was like a lake or, yeah, I suppose a lake with a tractor. And I was like, this is crazy. This is crazy but just amazing that these team members are willing to do above and beyond to kind of go and help and support.Catherine Pinkerton: Dwayne Smith, finally I have to mention him because he went above and beyond. He, he's an electrical engineer for Amgueddfa Cymru and no feat was kind of Too hard for him. He helped us massively. He's got a huge team of people and anything that we needed done, I'm not, you know, I'm not a trades person, so anything Trady. I was like, Dwayne, yeah, I'm on it, Kath, I'll do it. Which is great because I was like, okay, yes, that was massively helpful, but huge learning curve, Paul. I feel I've never been so excited about drums in my entire working career as I am now. Paul Marden: And I never heard of one until yesterday. But what I found interesting was you see them all the way through the underground experience. I went down in the. The cage to the bottom of the pit head, did the whole tour. You talk about these drams and the importance of them and the transportation of the coal from throughout the mine back up to the top. And then you walk into the shop and it's subtle. The way that you've blended the museum into the shop is a subtle experience. It doesn't feel, it doesn't feel crude. But you've got a dram in the middle of the workshop. Now, I know it's a real one because we talked about it yesterday and I know the pains that you went through, but it's very subtle placed in there so that it doesn't feel crude. Paul Marden: It doesn't feel like you're trying to overwork the metaphor of the mine in the shop. It's very cleverly done. Catherine Pinkerton:  Oh, that's great, great, great to hear. Because that's absolutely what we did not want. And I think in terms of visual merchandising, actually, and picking up on your point there, is that it's very easy for us and this is something that we're doing in a different shop. It's very easy for us to look at some of our assets and pop them on a tote bag and say, there you go, that's done, we'll sell that. But actually, no, what can we do that's different? That's more kind of innovative? That's more creative. That is a hint or perhaps an opportunity for us to show and display something that is. Is then part of the visitors question. So when they're coming into store and they're speaking to our retail teams, they're questioning, is this a real drum? Catherine Pinkerton:  You know, and that is a conversation opener, isn't it? You know, and I think Kerry Thompson, who is the curator for Big Pit, he's a really inspiring man. I could listen to him all day. And he told me lots about kind of the drums and the history of Big Pit and the strikes. He's such an interesting man, but I think having the inspiration from him allowed us to make sure that we did it not in a crude way, actually, Paul, but that it was representative of the site, but not in a way that's, I guess, too obvious, you know. Paul Marden: Look, Kath, we could carry on talking for ages, but let's cut at this point to hear about some of the voices from the team that you worked with, your internal team, some of the partners that you worked with, about the experiences that they've had on the project. Paul Marden: So let's hear from some of the internal team members involved in the project. Firstly, we have Amy Samways, the retail supervisor at Big Pit, followed by Kate Eden, the chair of Museum Wales. And lastly, Nia Elias, the Director of Relationships and Funding at the Museum of Wales. Hey, Amy, how you doing? Lovely to meet you. What's your role at the museum, Amy? Amy Samways: I'm the shop supervisor for Big Pit. Paul Marden: What have you been doing in this whole project? I guess you've been integral to the whole kind of making it all about the place. Amy Samways: Yeah, so I've worked with Anya, who did all the products for the new shop. So we walked around all the exhibitions. We did a lot of underground visits and a lot of museum visits and just put things together. I've done a lot of work before this project for the last two years to try and get things more relevant to us and not just a Welsh souvenir shop. So a lot of those products stayed and then we just expanded them then. Paul Marden: So how do you go about looking for those products that make it local to here? Amy Samways: Well, we've got a fantastic exhibition at the top of the hill. We've got obviously our ex miners and we also have a lot of events through the times as well. So this year was a lot about the strike because obviously it's the 40th anniversary and we've got a massive exhibition down in Cardiff and also there's a smaller one up year as well. So we just walked through the museum and obviously, you know that disasters are obviously a big issue. We didn't want to make a big issue about those, but obviously they need. They're part of history, aren't they? So more books. We made sure we had books around that. And as you walk through, there's a lot of signs that the staff liked as well, because a lot of our guys have been done about the new projects with those as well on. Paul Marden: So do you then go looking for local suppliers to help you with that? And where do you find those? Amy Samways: Etsy, Facebook. Paul Marden: Oh, really? Amy Samways: Yeah, a lot of them. And also online. And then we've also. Because we work with a lot of suppliers as well, I'll say we need this and then they'll say, oh, you should ask so and so, and then we'll go and ask both. Paul Marden: Brilliant. So one of the things that's really interested me this year is talking to people that are running museum retail and that kind of process that goes from you as a buyer, having an idea, what do you want? How do you stock the shop? I think is really interesting process to go through, but flip it on the other side, as a local creator, you've got your thing and you want it in the shop. How do you get it found? Well, yeah, sticking it on Etsy is something that they're going to do, but then that might help them get into the museum. Amy Samways: Even if there is something that we want. Like at the minute, we're looking for NCB soap. Paul Marden: For what? Amy Samways: NCB soap. Paul Marden: What's that? Amy Samways: It's either bright green or bright pink and they used to buy it in the canteen shop and it's just imprinted with NCB. The guides have been asking and asking for it, but we have actually found a supplier now who's going to be working on it. So that should be coming this summer. Paul Marden: Wowzers. Amy Samways: Yeah. That's really exciting for you. Paul Marden:  What was the highlight? What's the one thing about this space, about the whole experience of the project. Amy Samways: That jumps out for me is seeing all the stock we've worked on and somebody actually buying it. Paul Marden:  And what is it that people are picking up? What are they walking in and gravitating to? Amy Samways: Anything Big pet, really. The little enamel little mugs have gone really well. I think the wording on those are great because it says they must not be removed from the premises. So our guides are loving those. And also our retro sign, which we had for our 40th anniversary and three years ago, but we kept it because it's such a brilliant design. It was the original from 1983 and it was on the original road sign as you drove in. So we've had that recreated and that sells really well. Paul Marden:  That's really interesting. So my wife with the family about 25, 30 years ago, came on a family holiday and they had the original guidebook that they picked up when they were here with the kind of the retro. Retro signage on there. Amy Samways: Yeah, we're back selling it again. Kate Eden: Yes, So my name's Kate Eden. I'm chair of the board of Amgueddfa Cymru. Paul Marden:  Tell me a little bit about your involvement in this project. Kate Eden:  As the board, we've been tracking the development of commercial and enterprises over the past year. Really. And really thrown our way, weight and support behind what the team has been trying to do here as a kind of flagship, really, for what we would all like the new benchmark to be across all of the seven sites of anger for Cymru. So seeing it all come together this morning has just been such a special experience. It's absolutely fantastic. I'm going to bring the rest of the board here as soon as I can so the trustees can see this and see the reaction of staff and of visitors as well, because it's a fabulous achievement and it shows us what we can do now as a national museum. Paul Marden: How well does it tie back into the original pitch at trustees? So I'm a trustee of a charity as well. The pressures that we're all under in terms of reducing funding and having to generate our own funding is so hugely important. This must be integral to the conversations that you were having as trustees. Did you have this in mind when you were signing off the agreement to spend the money? Kate Eden: Yeah. So I don't think anybody realised just how successful this could be. We'd had some mock ups and we'd had a presentation, so there was a lot of excitement and there was sort of the fledgling idea years. So we've got a sense of what it could be. But I think importantly for us, it's about that marriage of financial sustainability because it's got to wash its face, it's got to provide a working profit that can go back into the running of Big Pit here.Kate Eden: But it's got to be authentic to this place. It can't be the add on the visitor should shop that you walk through at the end. And it's a bit of a tedious thing to get back to the car park. It's got to be an integral part of the whole visitor experience in this place. And I think that's what they've achieved. Paul Marden: It's so impressive. So impressive. You know, just the structure that they've built to give you the impression of the mine in a really subtle way. The product that they've chosen, the way that they've laid out that, the shop is amazing. I think they've done an amazing job. Kate Eden: That's it. I mean, this is my local site. Paul Marden: Okay. Kate Eden: I live about three miles over the mountain there. So I bring my friends and family here. This is our go to place when I've got visitors. And I think just the way they've opened up the room, they've removed the barriers, which is really important. It's a small thing, but really important so that people feel welcome. They can walk in or they can walk ground. Paul Marden: Yep. Kate Eden: And it's. And it just feels a little bit more inclusive. It feels a bit more kind of, you know, we're here, it's easy to come and see us, you know, and spend time and then spend a little. Paul Marden: A little bit of money. Yeah. So where do we go from here as trustees? Are you fully behind rolling this out now? Kate Eden: Yeah, I mean, I think now that we've seen what we can do and the type of data that's coming through from sales, this is now the new. This is the bar. Paul Marden: Oh. So it has made a discernible difference to say. Kate Eden: So early data from Easter is really promising. Yeah. So this is the benchmark now from all of the other sites. Nia Elias: Hi, Paul. Hi, I'm Nia. Paul Marden: Lovely to meet you. Tell me about your role at the museum. Nia Elias: I am Director of Relationships and Funding. It basically means I get to work with all of the teams across the museum that work on the reputation, the reach, but also the revenue of this wonderful charity and national museum that we are. Because as well as getting funding from Welsh government, we raise our own income so it can be invested.Paul Marden: What sort of split? Nia Elias: What sort of split? So the majority of the money that comes to us does come from Welsh government because we're a public service, we're here free of charge for the people of Wales and we look after the national collection, which is over 5 million items across seven museums and a collection centre. Nia Elias: But there's a proportion then of money that we raise ourselves about sort of 30%, which is from our cafes and our car parks and the experiences that people have, and most importantly, our shops. Paul Marden:  So what was the inspiration for this project? Why kick off a strategy project around the whole retail experience? Nia Elias:  Well, this whole project, in essence started three and a half years ago when the museum decided that it would bring a strategy together for all of its self generated income. So that means our philanthropic income generation and through our enterprise, including our retail. And from a retail perspective, we knew that what we wanted to achieve with all of the money that we raise ourselves is that it's really rooted in the collection, because we have an amazing collection. It tells the story of Wales and it's owned by the people of Wales. Paul Marden: Right. Nia Elias: And from a retail perspective, we knew if people could engage with that and could take away something from the wonderful experience that they've had on site, that it would be something that they would want and it would make it unique that it's only possible to have here. Developing a project like this is quite challenging. You need the time, you need the teams and expertise, some of which are on your permanent team, some of which are naturally not. And also you need investment. And so by starting the thinking and the route of where we wanted to get to three and a half years ago, it meant when we had the funding and the opportunity to do so here at Big Pit, we knew exactly what to do. Paul Marden: Okay, so you. You put all of those pieces together and then came here and did the first cookie cutter stamp. But what's interesting is it's not a cookie cutter stamp, is it? This totally feels like the gift shop for this museum, doesn't it?. Nia Elias:  Yeah. So we feel really strongly that we wanted the balance of knowing that you're at a National Museum Wales site, knowing that you're somewhere unique, but equally that it has a sense of a place. Because all of our seven museums together tell the holistic story of Wales, but you really get a sense of personality on all of those sites, not just from the collection and the buildings and the items, but also from the colleagues that work here as well. Paul Marden: Right. Nia Elias: They're very much a part of that in terms of the stories that they tell, their lived experiences, and we had a sense of responsibility and fun to bring that through in the shop. Not just the ambiance, but also the products themselves, so much of them, the majority of them actually, are grounded in being inspired by the collection in some way, and also has a really strong Welsh and local profit as well. What we think that will come through to our customers and visitors and guests is that because we've worked across all of the teams in the museum, so curators and people who care for the collection, our colleagues here at Big Pit, many of whom are former miners, and our colleagues front of house, it means that everybody will be able to speak about the product. Nia Elias: So as you're walking around picking things up, imagining them in your home or as gifts, our colleagues can talk about what they mean to the place. And that brings something additional that you can't really buy. Paul Marden: Yeah. There's a story to it. There's a background to it that roots it. Yeah. Lovely. For you, what's the standout experience from the whole project? What have you enjoyed the most? Nia Elias: Two things I think in terms of the way that it's been done, the fact that so many teams have worked together behind the scenes to make it happen. That means that as we want to change things or tweak things or improve things, we'll have all of the knowledge and expertise already baked in, especially learning from other suppliers who've come along and helped us. So we've got that baked in now, which is really exciting. And the second thing is that I can stand here knowing that this is the standard of a national museum that our guests and visitors expect and want to see. Paul Marden: And now let's hear from a few of the external partners that Kath brought into the project. Arantxa Garcia was the shop designer and visual merchandiser. Anya Kirkby was responsible for product development. And Guy Veal was responsible for sound design. Tell me about your involvement in the project. Arantxa Garcia: Sure. So I'm the shop designer and visual merchandiser. It's a freelance role, so. So I worked with the team, Matthew, Richard, Anne and Guy. Paul Marden: Excellent. Arantxa Garcia: So we kind of all came as part of a team and each one of us looked after different areas of the project. And my involvement was to kind of reinvent and reimagine what was already here. And the idea was to create a space that was connected to the experience and to the site itself. So we've basically ripped the space apart. We've kind of kept the structure, obviously, but we've opened up the space as well. Before the shop, it would be very separate. You'd have admissions and then you have the shop area, which meant that you were only really accessing the shop if you came to visit the site. But as a local, you wouldn't be able to come, for example. Or you could, but maybe not in such an open way. Paul Marden: Yeah, you wouldn't feel welcome. Arantxa Garcia: Exactly, exactly. You may not want to just because you didn't know, whereas now you can just come in and basically hang around and also browse the shop. Exactly. We took inspiration from life underground, from the mine itself. So before the building was white, the units were white, so it could be a shop anywhere. You know, it didn't really have a DNA, so to speak, or an identity that related it directly to the site. So when visiting down to the underground and King Call as well, the exhibition that we've got just up the hill, we took inspiration from basically sort of like the. The cladding that you've got on the walls. Cladding is not the right word. So if one of the miners hears me saying that, they'll be. Arantxa Garcia: That's not the word that we told you, but the idea is that all the materiality that we're using, it's really evocative of. Of the site and it's the materials that have been used underground. So even, like the safety lamps, they'll set authentic safety lamps. And the team on site, Dwayne Smith, has electrified them. So it means that now they work, obviously, as a normal light, but it's a safety. Paul Marden: But they are the original safety. Arantxa Garcia: They are the original safety. Paul Marden: Wowsers. And what about these styles? Arantxa Garcia: So, yes, I always like going for a hunt on the side. So basically the team took me to different rooms and we just found stuff, if you like. So they're like the pressure gauges, you know, we're gonna use them just to add, again, like, references to the site and the authenticity, of course. So you also find loads of tools that would have been used underground as well. Paul Marden: I would imagine that this has been a really enjoyable project for you. I can see it on your face, how much you've enjoyed it. Arantxa Garcia: It has. And I think for designers, sometimes there's projects that take a bit longer to emerge and you keep changing things because you just don't feel probably quite right. There's something. But with this one, it kind of. After the site visit, it was just. Paul Marden: I clicked immediately.Arantxa Garcia: It just clicked immediately. So we darkened the wall. So we've kind of given that sort of grey background just to kind of creating more of like a cosy and shrinking the space. Paul Marden: But you. It pops the orange. Arantxa Garcia: Exactly. And the orange is everywhere. So, like, we've also changed the lighting, so it's a lot warmer. So again, that hint of orange. Yeah, orange on the back, orange on the miners on here. And then it comes also from the products. So the identity is there, but without going fully corporate, if that makes sense. That's the colour that you remember, isn't it? You've just been on the ground. All our guides and miners wear the orange overalls and the sort of, like the blue jackets over it, whether it's a donkey jacket in the winter or then they wear the soft shells as well. So, yeah, it's all those details, like those hints to the experience that kind of are embedded in the design. And these are regional as well. The drums are regional, all the flatbeds. Arantxa Garcia:  So the team here took the metal sides off and then sort of like left the skeleton of the drum, varnished it. And then our shop fitters aren't here. They did all the sort of the cladding using reclaimed scaffolding boards. But the original Drums would have been made out of wood. Paul Marden: Beautiful. It's so tactile, isn't it? Arantxa Garcia:  It's tactile. Again, we're looking at the DNA all the time. And shops can be more than just shops. Shops can tell stories. You just connect with it in a very different way. And just having the time the team on site involved has been absolutely incredible. Like the sense of pride and belonging and provenance that this kind of has awakened, it's been great. It's your job done really as a designer. When you just feel like everyone owns it, that's your job, that's when you can walk away. Paul Marden: What an amazing testimonial for you and the work that everyone feels like that. Anya, lovely to meet you. Tell me, what was your involvement in the project? Anya Kirkby: So I mainly focused on product development. So we looked at where we could get inspiration from the site and how we could translate that really from the site experience into the shop experience as well. Paul Marden: Okay, so you're coming, you're experiencing what's going on and then looking to the outside world as to how you can source your products. Where do you go for the inspiration for the products? Anya Kirkby: Working with the team a lot. So Amy was a huge help on guiding us on what things would be very useful for visitors, what they really enjoyed when they were on site, what were their key take home messages that they experienced. And then working with Amy and Tracey as well to look at what products people like when they're in the shop anyway and how we can kind of marry those two up. Paul Marden: So what is it that people like when they come to Big Pit? Anya Kirkby: Well, unsurprisingly, the mine, they enjoy the mines, the mining experience. So that was just something that we already had in the shop. So we just expanded on that more if possible. But then we've also taken inspiration from signage. So they already had the original Big Pit signage and we looked at that and kind of again expanded on it. So then we've kind of expanded that to signage that you find in some of the other exhibits. So up in the showers, for example, in the canteen, signage, some of the original pieces from collections. We then translated that into products. So you'll see we've got the designs across mugs, original little metal signs, moved that across to prints, notebooks, postcards. Paul Marden: You've been developing a lot of the products yourself, so bringing that kind of the unifying feel to everything. Anya Kirkby: Yeah. So along with product development and making all the kind of the new things that we can have it's just bringing across the branding through the AC brand really strongly across everything. It's got such a strong message that we may as well have that on as many products as we possibly can do. Paul Marden: And how much of the stuff is actually locally sourced? Anya Kirkby: Oh, it's huge amounts. And the exciting thing is after speaking to Amy, the things that she needs to reorder are the local suppliers, which is so nice. So a lot of the confectionery that's locally sourced candles, soap, the coal figures, the wooden spoons, chocolate boxes, the biscuit boxes. So as much as possible. And then we've worked with local suppliers as well to do photography, to do some of the signage, to do the original signwriting in the shop as well. So beyond products, we've looked at the POS points like elements of the shop as well. So thankfully we've used as many local spires as we possibly can. Paul Marden: You've enjoyed this project, haven't you? Anya Kirkby: I absolutely loved it, yeah. It's fantastic to see it's absolutely amazing. Paul Marden: Yeah. Anya Kirkby: So yeah, it's really special. Paul Marden: And then from here you springboard on to the other seven sites. How do you, how do you come up with the ideas then? Anya Kirkby: Exactly the same process. So working with the teams to find out what it is that visitors absolutely love about their sites and bringing that into the shop experience. So again I get very lucky. I get to go around a lot museums and experience it. Paul Marden: It's a tough job, isn't it?Anya Kirkby: It's tricky. But basically finding out what they love and bringing that through the really things that visitors take home with them anyway and just making it into a product that they can actually physically take a piece of the museum home with them as well. Paul Marden: It's great because there are some pocket money items here because I take kids on school visits and it's a very expensive experience. You know, if they catch take a fiver with them, often they can't get anything with a fiver but they can walk in and they've got pencils, they've got rubbers and they'll walk out happy with those little bits. But at the same time you've got some beautiful stuff that the grown ups can come and pick up and really enjoy. Anya Kirkby: It's the same as any museum visitor. You kind of have to look at who's going to be visiting. It's all types of people that come and just gauging it from that as well. So having an offer for everyone that they can enjoy. Someone said to me once that children for the first time. It's often their first time having a transaction monetary wise. Is that a museum on a school trip? So it's just lovely to kind of have something for them to experience that as well. Paul Marden: Never thought of it like that. They're out on their own. They're not with mum and dad. So they've got the money themselves and they've got to make the decision. So we are at. I took some kids to the science museum last year. Anya Kirkby: Oh. Paul Marden: And the amount of time we took in the shop because of the indecision that they had. Anya Kirkby: It's the indecision decision and then the queue of all them having a five pound note and having all the change come back or not having quite enough. But I think it's such an important. If you can't do that in a museum, where can you do it? Paul Marden: Guy. Hi. Guy Veale: Hi. Paul Marden: I just wanted to talk to you a little bit about what was your part of the project? Guy Veale: I was sound designer for the soundscape which we can't hear when everyone's chatting. Paul Marden: I can hear some birds in the background. Is that. Guy Veale: Is that canaries? Living canaries. Not dead gas. Paul Marden:  Coal mine canary. Guy Veale: So I did a little bit of research sort of towards the end of the project after lots of stuff had been built in, when they decided that some low level sound would be a good part of the experience. And looking at the brief and the shape of the room, the acoustics, a lot of this new ducting that's gone in that was not then easy to put cables into. We had to go for a wireless solution. Paul Marden:  Okay. Guy Veale: As part of that I found a Swedish company that had a system that creates its own network which is like a weird dream because normally you've got to go the IT guys and then something goes wrong and there's some sort of address problems or. Bluetooth is not always reliable. This has been a revolution just in terms of. Guy Veale: Don't if you can see them. There's little. They look like light fixtures that are centrally over these panels. Paul Marden: Oh right. Guy Veale: And they're quite. Paul Marden: Oh. And so they're speaking speakers pointing down onto the panel to separate it. So what. What. The other kind of sound pictures that you're painting. We've got the canary. What else have you got? Guy Veale: So the whole idea is that you're trying to represent the industrial heritage of the site and have as many authentic sounds from the site as possible. Paul Marden: Right. Guy Veale: So we've reused some of the really high quality recordings that also feature at different parts of the site already. Paul Marden: Yep. Guy Veale: But then, also sourced about another 70 or 80 sound from the BBC archive. Paul Marden: Oh, wow. Guy Veale: Paid for. And so. But if you think about those sounds, they're quite punctuated and aggressive. You think of any industrial sound and like chipping away or different tipples working. You know, the idea is that you don't want to surprise someone that while they're shopping and leaning over next to a speaker and hearing. So it needed to be softened in some way. And you know, traditionally the way I've done work is music and sound design is using different textures and tonal design and like a drone, I suppose, is this as a sort of basis that can be moving and organic, not totally static? Paul Marden: Yeah. Guy Veale:  And the idea was to sort of try and include fragments of relevant songs using the male voice choir.Paul Marden:  Really.Guy Veale: And we tried several things and I looked at it and I realised that you might catch someone coming in for five minutes here and they catch a snippet and it's all well and good for them, but the staff and you've got to hear this eight hours a day, every day, you know, four weeks, a month, so forth. So even just one little identifiable recurring melody starts to get too much, even on quite a long five. Paul Marden: Oh, really? Guy Veale: And I found that it wasn't sustainable. So I, in the end, I ended up using the. Almost like the vocal warm ups and breaths of the choir artificially extended out so they're not breathing, just this constant low level, breathy sort of expulsion. I mean, if went quiet now, we'd hear it as the. As a backdrop and it's embedded with a few other little musical elements that just sort of try and soften and support. I think of it like the vowels of the track and then the consonants. Paul Marden: Or the industrial chipping noises and the harsher noises. Guy Veale: So they're harsher but they're there and they're a bit removed and reverberate and in the background. Paul Marden: But it's really interesting how you describe it in that kind of. Using the metaphor of the letters. Guy Veale: Yeah, that's what it felt like. Just trying to find something that was like a vocabulary of work that has to tick so many different boxes, including like a therapeutic retail experience. People leaving the site with a sense of well being. Also like summarising what they've been through, not sort of projecting them out the door with, you know, a completely new thing or somewhere that they haven't been through yet. So, you know, fair few things to try and fit in there and, you know, hopefully it works and we'll see how things are in a year's time. Paul Marden: Yeah. Cath, the last point I wanted touch on before we finish today is oh my God, how happy everybody was at that event yesterday. How positive the experience was for all of the team members. What was for you the big standout moment for the entire project? Catherine Pinkerton: I mean, there's so many, Paul. But I think for me it's an opportunity to see what can be achieved when people collaborate. And I think, you know, joining the museum three years ago is really collaborating with lots of different departments to achieve something as a team.Catherine Pinkerton: Teamwork is absolutely the key to kind of success and I think you can only achieve that by having that really product professional kind of embodiment with all of the collaborative teams to work together for the same goal. And I, I was really proud yesterday that it took a lot of work, but actually without a team of 40 people as well as the wider organisation, it would not have been, it was no mean feat, but it was certainly wasn't just down to one person saying this is my project because it was a team effort. Catherine Pinkerton: And I was so proud of everybody that was there to kind of thank them along the way to say, this is, we've done this and now onwards and upwards. Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. You should be so proud. It really was. Catherine Pinkerton: Thank you. Paul Marden:  It's a demonstration of what a museum gift shop experience can really be like when you work together like that, when you collaborate. So well done to all of you. It was such a lovely experience yesterday. Thank you for inviting me. Catherine Pinkerton: Thank you so much for coming, Paul. I appreciate it. Paul Marden: Before we go though, I always ask for a book recommendation from our guests. Now it would have bankrupted me to have asked everybody yesterday for book recommendations. So you have to take the responsibility of a recommendation on behalf of everybody. What have you got for me? Catherine Pinkerton: The secret for me is, you know, that that book seems to be. I always go back to that book very often and I think it's a key one for lots of areas. So that's definitely a takeaway for me. But the other one I'm reading at the moment called A Monk's Guide to Happiness. I'm not sure if you've had enough to read it. Yeah, it's a 21st century take on A Monk's Guide. It's written by Gelong Thubten and he had a very high powered job and he had a burnout and interestingly he changed his whole mindset in terms of what makes him happy and really making it quite basic. Right. Catherine Pinkerton: So it's a, it's a real eye opener in terms of just pulling things back sometimes, you know, at the end of the day, come on, let's just live life and be happy but, you know, not stress out about things. I'm quite easy to do that. So this is very much a. Just breathe, Kath, get through it. But it's a good one. If you want to just strip it back and just kind of understanding the basics of being happy, then, yeah, he's great. Paul Marden: Oh, Cath, that's a great recommendation. If you go over to Bluesky and repost the show message that Wenalyn put out and say, I want Kath's book, then the first person that does that will get a copy of the book sent to them. Kath, it was absolutely delightful. I enjoyed my day wandering around Big Pit yesterday no end. Given that half my family is from the valleys and most of them were miners, I feel like I should have done this a very long time ago. But it was lovely. And to enjoy the experience of the celebration that you had yesterday, it was a real privilege. So thank you. Catherine Pinkerton: Oh, huge privilege to have you there. Paul. Thank you so much. I'm really appreciative. Did you purchase? Paul Marden: I did purchase on my way out. Catherine Pinkerton: Yay. Great, great, great.Paul Marden: Deal. Catherine Pinkerton: Deal. Thank you so much. Paul Marden: So after my trip 90 metres down to the bottom of the mine shaft, where I of course couldn't take microphones, I'm now back up on the surface, microphones back in hand and enjoying myself, wandering around currently in the winding house, which is where all the machinery is for lifting the cages that 90 metres down to the bottom of the pit head. I've had an amazing day here at Big Pit. It's been so interesting to see this museum and to talk to many of the amazing staff that have taken part in this big project to redesign their gift shops. Highly recommend a day trip to Big Pit. Really has been very enjoyable, if for no other reason, to see that amazing new gift shop experience. Paul Marden: Now, as always, if you'd like a copy of Catherine's book, head over to Blue sky and repost the show notice that Wenalyn will post out and say, I want a copy of Catherine's book and the first person to do that will get that copy sent over to them. So all that remains for me to say is thank you to Catherine for inviting me here to Big Pit today. And I'll see you again soon. Take care. Bye Bye. 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 to find 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 to increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcripts 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

Was steckt hinter dem Begriff „Experience Economy“ – woher kommt sie und warum wird sie zum entscheidenden Faktor für die Zukunft des Tourismus? Gemeinsam mit Yury Hannaleck von bookingkit tauchen wir ein in die Welt buchbarer Erlebnisse. Wir sprechen über Chancen für Reisebüros, neue Technologien, emotionale Mehrwerte und die Frage, warum ein Erlebnis wichtiger ist als das Reiseziel selbst. Ein Gespräch über Menschen, Märkte – und die Magie von Erlebnissen, die heute ein echtes Geschäftsmodell sind.(00:48) Schön hier zu sein! Yury Hannaleck stellt sich vor(01:51) Was bedeutet Experience Economy?(03:51) Persönlicher Weg: Wie Yury zum Tourismus kam(06:16) Customer Journey in der Experience Economy(07:51) Chance oder Risiko für das Reisebüro?(10:14) Buchungssystem bookingkit erklärt(13:05) Hauptattraktion bis Add-on – Einfluss auf Reiseentscheidungen?(18:55) Umsatztreiber Erlebnis: Was Unternehmen davon haben(23:23) Vom Ticket zur Erlebniswelt mit Hotel(27:04) Stolperfalle Rezensionen – wie automatisieren?(32:40) Wo steht Deutschland im internationalen Vergleich? (42:55) Wer nutzt bookingkit? (46:30) Vielfalt & Demokratisierung durch Erlebnisse(47:27) Fazit und TrendsHier findest du mehr über uns:https://tourismus-turn.de/https://www.instagram.com/tourismus_turn/https://www.linkedin.com/company/tourismus-turn/ Gast: Yury HannaleckErscheinungsdatum: 07.05.2025

In this episode of the Experience Strategy Podcast, hosts Aransas Savas, Dave Norton, and Joe Pine discuss the evolution of the podcast, introduce new co-hosts, and explore the concept of experiential retail through the lens of Scheels, a successful retail store. You might have seen in The Washington Post that Scheels is conquering middle America. During a downturn and with tariffs on the way, how will people shop at retailers like Scheels. They emphasize the importance of community, trust, and contextual design in creating meaningful experiences for customers. The episode wraps up with key takeaways for strategists looking to enhance their experience strategies. Takeaways The podcast has an additional co-host! Joe Pine The Washington Post did a great article about marketing experience retailer, Scheels. Scheels is a successful example of experiential retail. Experiential retail can drive sales for surrounding stores. Community involvement builds trust with customers. Charging for experiences can turn marketing into a profit center. Design experiences with the customer's context in mind. Companies that reinvest in communities earn sustainable trust. The importance of creating third places for community gathering. Experience strategies should focus on customer systems. Engaging in local experience excursions can provide valuable insights. This episode brought to you by The Experience Strategy Collaboratives. Enter to win a free one-person membership in the Collaboratives —a $35,000 value! Chapters 00:00 Welcome Back to Experience Strategy Podcast 03:22 Introducing the New Format and Co-Hosts 05:24 Exploring the Scheels Experience 11:01 The Importance of Context in Experience Design 18:06 Building Trust Through Community Engagement 21:11 Wrap-Up and Key Takeaways

Experiential marketing is transforming how brands connect with customers—and Aaron Vaccaro has been at the forefront of this movement. From helping scale Topgolf into a billion-dollar experiential brand to reimagining cocktail culture with Liquor Lab, Aaron brings deep insights into how experiences, not just products, are winning consumer loyalty.In this episode, we unpack the power of experiential marketing and how it answers key questions for brands:How do I stand out in an oversaturated digital ad world?How can I create real, memorable customer moments?What does it take to scale a physical experience brand like Topgolf or Liquor Lab?How do I use AI in entrepreneurship to scale without sacrificing quality?Aaron shares proven strategies from his work in venture capital, scaling startups, and investing in both inevitable technologies like AI and enduring experiences like golf and mixology. Whether you're a tech founder, marketer, or consumer brand builder, this episode offers a rare look into creating immersive brand stories that actually convert.Aaron's insights are practical and tailored for founders, operators, and marketers navigating how to:Use experiential marketing to create authentic, lasting brand loyaltyLeverage AI for business scalingCombine digital tools with physical experiencesDesign customer touchpoints that feel human, personal, and powerful00:00 – Intro to Aaron Vaccaro & Background01:30 – From West River Group to Topgolf03:00 – Building Topgolf's Experiential Empire05:00 – Liquor Lab: Making Cocktails Approachable07:30 – The Experience Economy vs. Experiential Marketing10:00 – Why AI is a Game-Changer for Scaling Human-Centered Brands13:00 – Secrets to Memorable Moments in Hospitality16:00 – Scaling Physical Brands Like Topgolf & Liquor Lab19:00 – Where to Connect with Aaron VaccaroTo connect with Aaron, visit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronvaccaro/To check out the YouTube (video podcast), visit: https://www.youtube.com/@drchrisloomdphdDisclaimer: Not advice. Educational purposes only. Not an endorsement for or against. Results not vetted. Views of the guests do not represent those of the host or show.  Click here to join PodMatch (the "AirBNB" of Podcasting): https://www.joinpodmatch.com/drchrisloomdphdWe couldn't do it without the support of our listeners. To help support the show:CashApp- https://cash.app/$drchrisloomdphdVenmo- https://account.venmo.com/u/Chris-Loo-4Spotify- https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christopher-loo/supportBuy Me a Coffee- https://www.buymeacoffee.com/chrisJxClick here to schedule a 1-on-1 private coaching call: https://www.drchrisloomdphd.com/book-onlineClick here to check out our bookstore, e-courses, and workshops: https://www.drchrisloomdphd.com/shopClick here to purchase my books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2PaQn4pFor audiobooks, visit: https://www.audible.com/author/Christopher-H-Loo-MD-PhD/B07WFKBG1FFollow our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/chL1357Follow us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/drchrisloomdphdFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereal_drchrislooFollow us on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@thereal_drchrislooFollow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drchrisloomddphdFollow our Blog: https://www.drchrisloomdphd.com/blogFollow the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3NkM6US7cjsiAYTBjWGdx6?si=1da9d0a17be14d18Subscribe to our Substack newsletter: https://substack.com/@drchrisloomdphd1Subscribe to our Medium newsletter: https://medium.com/@drchrisloomdphdSubscribe to our LinkedIn newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=6992935013231071233Subscribe to our email list: https://financial-freedom-podcast-with-dr-loo.kit.com/Thank you to all of our sponsors and advertisers that help support the show!Financial Freedom for Physicians, Copyright 2025

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 SkiptheQueue.fm.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  or Bluesky for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcast.Competition ends on 7th May 2025. The winner will be contacted via Bluesky. Show references: Dynamic Earth website: https://dynamicearth.org.uk/Dynamic Earth X: https://x.com/ourdynamicearthDynamic Earth LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/our-dynamic-earth-dynamic-earth-enterprises-ltd-dynamic-earth-charitable-trust-/Mark Bishop joined Dynamic Earth in the summer of 2022. The Edinburgh Science Centre & Planetarium provides science engagement to over 250,000 people a year at the centre and across Scotland. Prior to joining Dynamic Earth, Mark was a director at the National Trust for Scotland for seven years. In the 23 years Mark has been in the voluntary sector, he has also held senior roles at Prostate Cancer UK, Leonard Cheshire Disability and The Royal British Legion. His commercial sector experience includes roles at HarperCollins, Sky, and he co-founded two Internet start-ups. He continues to be a Trustee of Dads Rock, which is a charity dedicated to supporting men to be great parents. Transcriptions: Paul Marden: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in and working with visitor Attractions. I'm your host, Paul Marden. The Millennium Commission was set up by the UK Government to celebrate the turn of the millennium. Funded by the National Lottery, not only did it fund the Millennium Dome, now the O2, it also funded many regional venues, including a number of science centres such as Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh, which was the first major millennium attraction in Edinburgh. In this episode, I'm talking to Mark Bishop, the CEO of Dynamic Earth, about those millennium babies and what the next 25 years looks for them. After a career in charity fundraising, Mark moved to the attraction sector in 2015 at the National Trust for Scotland, before becoming CEO of Dynamic Earth nearly three years ago. Now let's get into the interview. Paul Marden: Mark, welcome to Skip the Queue. Mark Bishop: Hi. Morning. How are you? Paul Marden: I'm very good. I'm very good on a very sunny morning here down in Hampshire at the moment. I don't know what the Easter holidays are like up there for you at the moment, Mark. Mark Bishop: Well, people always talk about the weather being different in Scotland, so here in Edinburgh, we had the most amazing first week of spring last week, and that made me sad because indoor visitor attractions often benefit from when it's cloudy or rainy. So I am delighted to say the second half of Easter is terrible outside, but amazing inside our building. Paul Marden: Oh, good. So, visitor numbers are good for you this Easter holiday, are they? Mark Bishop: Well, we had probably the best number of people in since COVID Yesterday. We had 1302 people in. Paul Marden: Wowsers.Mark Bishop: That's great, because to have families and groups in celebrating science in our building during their holiday time makes me happy. Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, went. I've been doing day trips with my daughter just recently over the Easter break and you can definitely feel there's lots of people out and about and enjoying themselves over these Easter holidays. So good to hear that it's been kind to you as well. Longtime listeners will know that we always start our interviews with an icebreaker question that you cannot prepare for. So I think I've been kind to you. I've got a couple for you here. This is an A or B question. If you're going out for a night out, is it going to be a concert or is it going to be a museum nighttime exhibition? Mark Bishop: I think I'm supposed to, on behalf of the sector, go for the latter, but I am going to answer it in an authentic way and say A, a concert. So before I had kids, I'd probably go to about 150 concerts a year. Really, in the days when NME existed and it had a print edition and I'd pretty much just buy it, flick it and go, that looks interesting. And go without ever even hearing things because Spotify didn't exist and he goes to stuff and it was terrible or brilliant, but I loved it just from the variety and the surprise factor. Obviously, these days we kind of plan our music events a bit better. We know the artists and in theory we make better choices. But perhaps we don't do such good random things as well. Who knows? Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. Okay, now this one's a little bit more in depth. If there is a skill that you could master immediately, what would it be? Mark Bishop: Trying to understand how my three kids think and how I need to respond to that. But I don't think I'm the only parent on the planet that loves seeing the variety of ways they behave. But just question, how on earth did they come to be and think like that? Paul Marden: Yeah, it sounds like almost a kind of being able to speak child and become an interpreter, a child whisperer. Mark Bishop: And I think we, you know, sort of kind of be a bit more profound about these things. As an Earth Science Centre, that predominantly kind of has family audience, actually, some of the best questions we get are from younger people. So sometimes minds are probably more open and liberated. Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. Well, that's a nice segue, isn't it? So why don't you tell us a little bit about the Dynamic Earth? What stories does the Dynamic Earth try to tell? Mark Bishop: So Dynamic Earth, for those who don't know it, is the Edinburgh Science Centre and Planetarium. And as I'm sure we'll talk about, we were the first out of the millennium babies to launch back on 2nd July 1999. Our building predates being a science centre. It used to be a Scottish and Newcastle brewery. So when people say, I can't organise the proverbial in a brewery, I go, possibly released half row. And in the mid-1990s, they stopped making beer and handed the land over to public benefit. And it's become the UK's leading Earth science centre. So we're very much a science centre, but we're a science centre with a very specific theme around our planet and our universe and the experiences are very deliberately immersive. Mark Bishop: So we allow people to experience in a safe way what it feels like to be in an earthquake, to see a volcanic eruption, to touch a real iceberg, to dive to the bottom of the ocean and then fly out to the outer reaches of space. And we do all of that because we think our planet is beautiful and fascinating and the wonders of the world need to be celebrated. But increasingly, we also want to showcase the perils we're placing on our planet, our only home. We have about a quarter million people come through our doors a year, and that would be families, that'd be tour groups. There'll be a lot of school groups coming in, 30,000 kind of school groups coming in, and then we have about 400 conferences and events a year. Mark Bishop: So we have everything from Arctic conferences, water resilient conferences, and electric aeroplane conferences. You name it, we have it in our building. And I think a lot of the conferences have keynote speakers that tend to be first ministers or senior politicians, because unless somebody can tell me otherwise, I think we are the closest science centre in the world to a seat of government, because the Scottish parliament is 10 yards across the road. Paul Marden: Excellent. So you have the year of government as well? Mark Bishop: We like to think so. Paul Marden: So I've not been to Dynamic Earth yet, and I need to solve that problem. Yeah. But I'm getting a picture in my mind of telling the story around the geology of the planet, and there's going to be lots of physics around. The planetary stuff that you talk about when you take that big zoom out. Are there other elements of the science, the different sciences, that you bring into this storytelling? Is there elements of biology and botany and things like that you bring into this? Mark Bishop: Yeah, absolutely. So, for example, one of the galleries I didn't mention to you is a rainforest gallery. So you go into a tropical rainforest, regardless of what the weather is like outside in Edinburgh and Scotland, you come into a tropical rainforest, but the sounds and smells and sensations of that rainforest immerse you. And we do that because, you know, probably very few people will travel in their lifetime to a tropical rainforest. And there's lots of environmental reasons why you probably wouldn't encourage people to do that. But to be immersed in that space and to feel what it's like to be in a rainforest allows you to understand that it's humans' relationship with the world around them, and that we're not the only beings on this planet. And so hopefully we try and humble people by realising there are other habitats and species than ourselves. Paul Marden: Excellent. So today's episode, what we want to do, we've got a series of episodes that we want to do around the Millennium Project. I've got particular interest in this because my first job whilst I was still at uni was at the National Botanic Gardens of Wales, which was a millennium project. So I was there whilst they were digging. I can vividly remember it being a building site, and this dome where they built the gardens, sort of lifted out of the earth. So I felt, I can remember being there and feeling like this was something important, we were building something for the long term. It was an exciting opportunity. And we're at this kind of big anniversary, aren't we, this year, 25 years since many of those millennium projects opened. Paul Marden: And I wanted to kind of look back on those 25 years. Did it work out the way it was planned to work out? Did it turn out to be this exciting new opportunity, building a long term legacy for the country? Were there some growing pains, that kind of thing? And what does the future, what's the next 25 years and beyond look like for those millennium babies? So let's take a little step back because although I was wearing my wellies and walking around a building site, I didn't pay a lot of attention to what drove the investment in the first place. So there was a big explosion, wasn't there, through investment from the Millennium Commission in science centres. So what drove that in the first place? Why did these science centres come into being as a result, the Millennium Commission? Mark Bishop: Well, I think the thing that probably everybody felt in the 90s, from the mid-90s onwards, was you just heard about the millennium coming, as if this was going to be a significant zeitgeist kind of piece. We're all being told that every electronic device was going to break because of the millennium bug. Paul Marden: Yes. Mark Bishop: And that one didn't come to be kind of thankfully. But I think beyond that kind of anxiety piece around technology, there was a sort of spirit of looking to the future, thinking what might be. I felt like a time of optimism and hope. And so therefore it kind of made sense for government and other agencies to invest in thinking about the future, because a lot of museums and galleries and other institutions are fantastic custodians of the past. Mark Bishop: And of course galleries and museums reflect present times in terms of exhibitions and storytelling and interpretation. But there really weren't many science centres or organisations that were specifically existing to help each of us come to terms with what hasn't yet happened. So I think that's probably the kind of founding driving spirit behind it. And Dynamic Earth was very much part of that wave. Paul Marden: You talk a little bit about being a former brewery. How did Dynamic Earth come into being? What, what was the background story to it? Because these things didn't just appear on the high street in the year 2000. They were projects that ran up to that point, weren't they? Mark Bishop: Yeah. And I love going through our limited but really important kind of archive of documents to try and understand these things. And I sort of love heritage because my last job was working at the National Trust for Scotland. So therefore I'm kind of fascinated by the past as well as kind of looking to the future. And so when I go through our kind of archives and records, it shows that we stopped being a brewery in the early 1990s. Scottish Newcastle said to themselves, you know, we want to give the space over to public benefit. At the time, it wasn't defined to be a science centre. And this part of Edinburgh, the bottom end of the Royal Mile, had a royal Palace. It's had that for a long time. But it was pretty much run down housing and factories. Mark Bishop: And so this whole end of town was very down on its luck and everything kind of needed to be thought through again. So Edinburgh City Council and other agencies like Scottish Enterprise and major kind of funders all got behind thinking about this whole part of town in Scotland's capital, rather than just thinking about a side centre. Paul Marden: Right. Mark Bishop: So the land that Scotland Newcastle gave over to doing good things was partly sold off by dynavicarth to allow, you know, to allow flats to be developed next door we've got Rockstar North. The other side of me, we've got the Scottish parliament that opens 24 hours away from Dynamic Earth kind of stuff. So they opened the same week. So it's a whole story of kind of urban capital city regeneration that lies behind that. But very specifically, why did Dynamic Earth become an Earth Science Centre? Yeah, and you can't see it, but if I dramatically look out my window, I can see Arthur's Seat and the Salisbury Crags through Holyrood Park. Anybody who comes to Edinburgh, whose legs allow, will walk up the hill and experience an old volcano and a beautiful view of the city. Mark Bishop: And now the reason that's significant is that a guy called James Hutton, 300 years ago was a real leading light in the Enlightenment, and he managed to challenge all those kind of religious zealots in terms of the age of the planet by studying the rock forms right outside my window. And he went, “Guys, I've got a thought. This wasn't done in a day or seven days”. I'm telling you now, there's billions of years of laying down of rocks and stuff like that. And so, therefore, when we thought, what does this brewery need to become? Mark Bishop: A number of good people said, well, let's make this centre a homage to James Hutton, the idea that the Enlightenment is still alive with us today, the idea that you should be able to challenge existing hard set views by using insight and science to inform your thinking. And then the rest happened. Paul Marden: Excellent. So I didn't know that Edinburgh was the kind of the seat of that thinking around the geological history of the Earth and what drove the purpose for the centre. It makes lots of sense now. So let's talk about opening up. What was that experience like for the Dynamic Earth? I know there were lots of positives for many people. I know lots of millennium attractions didn't bring in the numbers of people that they were perhaps hoping for. What was that early life like at the centre? Mark Bishop: Well, so inevitably, anything that's new attracts a crowd of people who are curious. So the early couple of years were really good from a kind of visitor attraction side of things. But actually quite early on, within the first couple of years, my predecessors realised that you just can't, generally speaking, break even or make a profit from just running a visitor attraction, particularly when your purpose is educational rather than just pure entertainment. Paul Marden: Yes. Mark Bishop: And so our building had the answer built into it, in the sense we have an amazing set of conference suites for businesses, weddings and other kind of celebrations. And so quite early on, we started an events team and that now means we have 400 plus events here a year. Half of them, I would say, are kind of environmental science specific events. But that generates, you know, one and a half getting off £2 million of income ultimately for us. And that's very significant way of A, making sure that we are a place where ideas take place. Our convening power, if you want to call it that, but actually also the net contribution of that is a very significant way to fund any gap you have on the visitor side of things. Paul Marden: Yeah, I should imagine having the seat of Government 10 yards from the building helps with bringing in the events. And that's certainly not going to detract from the events portfolio, is it, being smack in the centre of the city like that? Mark Bishop: Well, if I think, I mean, in the space of what, the last three or four months, ie, 20, 25, we've had the first minister here two or three times, we've had the Deputy First Minister here the other evening. And so therefore, if you're a company or a conference organiser and you want to attract all the good and the great in terms of delegates, knowing there's a senior political figure to do the keynote address is a good way of making your marketing literature kind of really sing. I think, you know. Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. Mark Bishop: And also from a. I guess for the politicians as well, because their time is in demand, very precious. So the idea that they can reach their key stakeholders on pretty much any topic in the space of 10 yards, half an hour here and then back at your desk within the hour, that's quite attractive from a political perspective. Paul Marden: Absolutely. So, going back to those early days, as your predecessors were finding their feet, of figuring out what operating a science centre was going to be like, what were the growing pains? Were there some challenges along the way? Mark Bishop: So, inevitably, what is brand new doesn't stay new forever. And I think if you design a science centre and retrofit it into a brewery, there's obviously some trade offs in terms of layout and the design. And you have beautiful architects come in and do amazing things for you that look amazing at a kind of brochure, aesthetic level. But when you trade them day in, day out, you do sometimes question the infinite logic behind the design principle. So, for example, if you come through Dynamic Earth, we're a beautiful tented structure like the Millennium Dome or the O2 as it is today. And if you're coming in and you're buying a ticket in person, you would turn left and go to our ticket desk and join the queue there. But then the actual experience side of things is completely on the other side of the building. Mark Bishop: So the intuitive flow of coming in, getting a ticket and joining the experience is designed in a counterintuitive way where, in effect, audiences sort of meet in the middle to a certain extent. So that's probably an example of things that you just wouldn't have got right on day one, but kind of are a gentle living curse for you every day since. Paul Marden: I wonder, though, by retrofitting the centre into this old historic brewery, whether you may not have fallen foul of some of the other attractions that were built around that time, because many of them have got problems with the fabric of the building now, haven't they, these new buildings that perhaps were built with the same level of care and attention that we might lavish on them these days. Mark Bishop: Yeah, I mean, that's a good thing. I sit in this amazing sort office that basically looks like a castle turret. The walls are this thick, you know, they are very sort of stone and authentic. So it's a very authentic historic building, but with new ideas and thinking and experiences within it. So it's a trade off, I guess. Paul Marden: Yeah. So now that these centres are getting to early adulthood, how do you think they're doing? Mark Bishop: Well. Thankfully, the vast majority of science centres and other experiences that launched inspired by the millennium are still in existence. So survival in the first instance is a form of success. And I think that the fact that we're open shows we've all stood the test of time, which I think is an important achievement. I think what's clear from talking to all the science centres that I bump into is we all find it quite challenging to get that balance between your purpose and your profit, trying to get that balance between why you exist in the first place versus how you fund the building, your staff and your other bills. And so that's an ongoing kind of challenge that the original business plans are used to justify an investment probably don't reflect reality 25 years on. Mark Bishop: I think the other thing I would say that's a real shift is I think centres like Dynamic Earth were opened at the time when the Internet was absolutely in its infancy.Paul Marden: Completely. Mark Bishop: And I still remember from my homework and university work, going to libraries and getting books and using physical things to kind of acquire knowledge. And of course, the Internet now means that any facts and figures are available at the touch of a button. So if you want to know about a volcano, you can find as many facts and figures as you want on the Internet, Wikipedia or other sources. It means that Dynamic Earth and other science centres have kind of shifted from simply thinking about ourselves as a knowledge exchange centre to being a place where we inspire people to think for themselves and that. Mark Bishop: I don't know whether that happened on day 4009 or whatever it was, but I definitely think that when you look at what were doing on day one versus what we're doing in our 25th year, there's been a shift in emphasis and approach. Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. You're right that all of these facts and figures are the fingertips of the young people who are completely immersed in that as a natural way for them to research. But I've done enough school party visits, I've taken kids to different science centres, and you can't replace the storytelling, you can't replace being immersed in the place that is so powerful. Mark Bishop: I think 100% agree, and you'd be surprised if I didn't say that. But the idea that you learn as a shared experience, either as a school group or a family or a tall group, you have some jokes, you bounce ideas off of each other. And I saw that recently when my daughter came here a few months back for her last primary school visit, aged just 11, coming at 12.  And she begs me over breakfast, she said, “Please, Dad, don't do anything to embarrass me.” And I absolutely, solemnly swore at breakfast, you know, I will not do anything to embarrass you today. And I maintain I kept my promise. Mark Bishop: But when her school bus pulled up outside our building, the doors open, the kids poured out, my daughter's friends all pointed up to the top of the stairs and went, “There's a dinosaur there, Autumn, that's your dad. It's going to be your dad. You know that.” And I hope that you know that their school group had an amazing experience through the galleries, an amazing experience with our learning team and a fantastic sort of outer space experience in the planetarium. But even that sort of jokey bit of Dad's a dinosaur stayed with the kids. So at the end of their year's show, one of them hired a dinosaur outfit and they reenacted my daughter's embarrassment. And so even that tiny, silly example shows that shared experience is what it's all about. Paul Marden: Completely. I think those experiences that kids have when they go out on their school trips, it's something that Bernard et ALVA talked about earlier on this year as being really important, key points for that ALVA was asking of the government, was to make those school trips integral part of the curriculum. I think they're so powerful and so many kids don't get to experience that well. Mark Bishop: I think the challenge we sort of see here that be the same across Scotland and UK wide is even when there are opportunities to have subsidised tickets and you do everything you can to make sure the price of entry for school groups is as low as possible, often the barrier is the cost of the coach hire. Paul Marden: So I'm a governor at my daughter's school and I was talking to the head and they're in a really lucky position because they've got us. They're a very small village school, so there's only 90, 95 kids in total anyway. But they've got their own minibus which makes them mobile, so it means that any. We were at the Horse Crest, like the local heritage railway, just recently because we got invited for a trip and it was dead easy for us to go straight away. Yes. Because the kids can just get there easily and that's a different kettle of fish if you've got to hire coaches, because it's so perilously expensive now. Anyway, we digress a little bit. You've been in post now for three years, nearly three years, I think it is. Yeah. Paul Marden: What does your plan look like in the short term, but also what do you think the next 25 years look like for Dynamic Earth? Mark Bishop: I think that question sort of speaks to the idea that while an organisation should be proud of its 25 years of existence and everything it's done in that time, and we've certainly had some lovely staff celebrations and public celebrations to celebrate that important milestone. It's too self indulgent to spend all your time looking back rather than thinking about and facing into the future. And that's probably more true of science centres than anybody else, because if you were founded on looking to the future, you get to 25 years. Mark Bishop: Yes, have a little look back, but bang, think about looking forward to the future again and ask yourselves brave questions like what do we need to do that honours the spirit of what our founders did and thought about to put us together in the first place and not to betray our roots, but equally not to be constrained by them. Because the world is very different 25 years on, and particularly around the climate emergency and planetary crisis. We at Dynamic Earth, as an Earth Science Centre, feel not just an opportunity, but a kind of absolute responsibility to play our part, to kind of really shift the dial around helping people understand their role and responsibility when it comes to protecting our only home planet Earth. And so that's the kind of challenge we've set ourselves. Mark Bishop: And I'm going to do a dangerous thing of involving a prop. About 18 months, two years ago, we launched our 10 year strategy from beginning to end, and it's a document at the end of. But the exact summary is this. And of course you can see there's a clock there and you might be able to see the kind of temperature, kind of pieces, and the 1.5 is the 1 that we know quite tragically we're going to reach sometime very soon. And what we've done with that 10 year strategy is say how do we honour what we've been famous for, but how do we push and pivot that towards climate kind of response storytelling? Mark Bishop: And so therefore what we are trying to work through for ourselves is how do you maintain a popular visitor attraction? How do you inspire people, bring entertainment and delight into people's lives, but how do you absolutely hit home with some really hard truths around what we are doing to destroy the beauty of our only hope? Mark Bishop: And I'm not sure I've quite got the answers to that because becoming sort of quite purposeful and, you know, risks being didactic. And being didactic takes away the idea that you're helping people to think for themselves and risks being a bit preachy. So there's a really good set of conversations going on at Dynamic Earth and I think a lot of other places across the UK, which is, how do you, how do you exist on the right side of history while still existing as a visitor attraction? Paul Marden: Yes, because it is a tough story to tell, isn't it? And that doesn't necessarily sit comfortably with being a lovely day out with the family, but that doesn't take away from the importance of telling the story and telling it well. Mark Bishop: And I think what we feel is, if there's one criticism I'd kind of make of the past is we probably overdefined ourselves as a visitor attraction and underdefined ourselves as an Earth science education charity that happens to run the visitor attraction. And that might feel semantic, but actually it's quite fundamental because if you realise that your purpose is about educating people inclusively across Scotland, including in Edinburgh, and now increasingly helping people come to terms with climate issues, then your visitor attraction is a tool, a prop, an asset to achieve a bigger thought than just visiting numbers. Paul Marden: So is there work that you do, outreach work that goes beyond the centre in Edinburgh? Are you talking to people outside of that centre? Mark Bishop: Absolutely. And some of the work that makes me most proud of being chief exec here at Dynamic Earth is the stuff you do not see day in, day out. So we have outreach work that goes into schools and community groups right across Scotland. There's about 10 regional science festivals that take place across the year. We're at every one of those with our pop up planetarium, it's got an inflatable planetarium. Unbelievably, 30 people can slip inside a big squishy tent, and the universe comes to life wherever you happen to be. And that's kind of pretty magnificent. We go into children's hospitals, we work with community groups, we do digital and in person delivery in schools. And so therefore what we do away from Dynamic Earth as a science centre is as important as what we do at the centre. Mark Bishop: Because probably the people who might not be able to come to us for geographic reasons or financial or cultural reasons are often the people we most need to reach. And if we really believe that everybody in Scotland should play their individual and collective part in responding to climate planetary emergencies, we can't just say, well, if you don't come to us, we're not going to come to you. Because the climate issues need all of us to respond. So we have the added burden opportunity to get out there and tell our story across Scotland with that in mind. Paul Marden: Is there a shake up that's going on in the centre as you move on to this next stage of the maturity of the organisation? Mark Bishop: So I think that the things that are different in our approach is thinking about channel mix and that we kind of music to your ears because I think that science centres absolutely pride themselves on that in person shared experience, and that shouldn't go away. But actually thinking about how a one off experience is part of a longer customer or supporter journey is really key. So how do you connect with people before they come? By setting them, I know, a kind of online quiz and say how many of these questions about our planet can you answer? And then ask people to redo the quiz afterwards and see whether a visit to Dynamic Earth or another science centre has enriched their kind of knowledge. Mark Bishop: How do you connect what a family does on a Saturday to what a school group do in a classroom on a Tuesday and Wednesday? How do you get to what I call a nudge strategy, a multiple engagement kind of model? Because it strikes me that most things that, you know, mean something to people are developed over time rather than just one off experiences. So that's a shift in thinking, and it's a shift in thinking by not thinking for yourself as a visitor attraction, but thinking for yourself as a charity that exists to promote learning and engagement more broadly. Paul Marden: That's really interesting. So I'm totally guilty of thinking about the visitor attraction first and the commercial elements of it, because I guess that's our job is to get bumps on seats and to drive revenue. But when you think of that visitor attraction as the tool, not the end, you're using that tool to meet your bigger goals, aren't you? And it changes your perspective on how you do that. Mark Bishop: Well, it does because it allows you to sort of exist in a dual way of saying at a customer, experiential level, digital attraction side of things. How do you make sure that the experience you offer to people is distinctive, compelling, exciting and all the basic service features of toilets, cafe, shop, all this car parking, all those sorts of things on the functional side are doing what they need to do and then it means on the other side that you're also saying, “So what? you know, what is that trip all about? What did somebody take away?” Mark Bishop: And part of what people take away is that sense of shared experience, fun, entertainment, something to do on a wet Saturday afternoon. And that's valuable. But if you fundamentally help even a small proportion of your audience think radically different about themselves and the world around them. You might be doing something that goes way beyond what this attraction could ever imagine. Paul Marden: Yes, absolutely. So is that what you're aiming for? Is it the few minds that you can change radically, or is it the nudge of making small changes to the larger numbers of people that walk through the door? Mark Bishop: I mean, the answer to that is both, because we think every one of us has an opportunity and a responsibility to do basic things. So, I mean, the obvious good examples would be how you recycle stuff. And I look at my teenage boys, are they always recycling things in the best way or am I going through the bin resisting things? But then you ask more fundamental questions of, well, it's not just a case of recycling the bottle of plastic water. Why did you buy a bottle of plastic water in the first place? Yes, this stuff like that. Mark Bishop: And so a science centre like us helps people not just do the right thing in kind of lip service ways, but think more fundamentally about your role and relationship with what excites you at school, what studies you take, what degree you might go on to take, or what job are you going to go on to do? And how do you make sure that where you buy things from, where you work, where you spend your time is reinforcing the good rather than perpetuating the bad? And that's, you know, maybe I'm an idealist, maybe I'm a lack of realism, but actually I really do think that on our day, that's what we exist to do. Mark Bishop: And there will be maybe 1%, 2% of the people who come through our doors who are so inspired by science that they choose careers that are acting as environmental activists. I can think of a lovely lady I met the other day. I'll change her name to Laura. She told me that she came To Dynamic Earth 20 years ago for our Saturday science clubs and she used to come most Saturday mornings. And she so fell in love with science that she chose science subjects at school, went on to do a science degree and is now just finishing off a PhD in understanding volcanoes with a view that she wants to look at volcanic eruptions, where they happen and help think about where humans live alongside volcanoes. So all of that came from her coming here on Saturday mornings. Mark Bishop: So she is living proof that you inspire people young, and it can inform the whole direction of their studies and clear intention.Paul Marden: And deadline. Yeah, completely. What a lovely story to end on, but there's one more thing we have to do before we end today's Interview. We always end with a book recommendation. So, Mark, what book have you got for our listeners to maybe win today? Mark Bishop: So it will sound slightly sort of sanctimonious, but I've just started reading Mike Berners-Lee's book, A Climate of Truth. Now, Mike was in Edinburgh the other evening to do a talk as part of the Edinburgh Science Festival. Such an inspirational guy in terms of kind of climate, sustainability kind of issues. His mum must be very proud to have him. And you know, his, you know, one of the boys invents the Internet, the other one saves the planet. You sort of think to yourself, that ain't too bad. And I'm going to cheat slightly. And also just recommend one poem to people. It's Scottish poet Douglas Dunn. And it's a poem that I first heard when I was at school and I would say I read it probably 20 times a year. Mark Bishop: And the poem is called A Removal From Terry Street and it's only about 15 lines. And what I love about it is it finishes on that, on a beautiful line. That man, I wish him well, I wish him grass. And the context the poem is talking about a family removing, you know, working class family moving away from Hull and the neighbour is looking at them moving out and saying, you know, I wish him well, I wish him grass. And so I think that's just a lovely line that stayed with me. It speaks to the idea that we should all think the best of each other and hope for the futur, and think positive thoughts. Paul Marden: Well, Mark, it's been lovely talking to you. Thank you ever so much for coming on Skip the Queue, telling the story of dynamic Earth and looking forward to what happens next for your amazing attraction. Thank you very much. Mark Bishop: 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 to find 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 to increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcripts 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

Financial advice is no longer just about offering services—it's about creating real, meaningful experiences for clients.  Because an experience unlike any other is the difference between a one-time sale and a lifelong client. You want to create experiences so exceptional that your clients aren't even interested in hearing about an alternative.  And, they can't wait to tell their friends and family about it. Fortunately, Dennis Moseley-Williams is a client experience guru and explains how to elevate your client experience to create raving fans and grow your business. You'll Learn: Why efficiency is the executioner of experience Why all advisors need a secret belief to share with clients The important distinction between service and experience Lessons about the client experience from The Ritz-Carlton A social media experiment to enhance the client experience *To sign up for Brendan's newsletter packed with resources to master the human side of advice → Click Here Connect with Brendan Frazier:  RFG Advisory LinkedIn: Brendan Frazier Connect with Dennis Moseley-Williams: Serious Shift | Inner Circle by DMW Strategic Consulting Dennis Moseley-Williams Strategic Consulting LinkedIn: Dennis Moseley-Williams About Our Guest:  Dennis is the founder of Dennis Moseley-Williams Strategic Consulting, a practice management company that helps organizations secure and build sustainable relationships by creating experience-driven solutions that deliver results, increase revenues, and build enthusiastic referral-generating communities. A certified expert in the Experience Economy, Dennis helps organizations understand that customer experience is the predominant economic offering in the world today and demonstrates ways in which experiences can be crafted and staged so that they entice, educate, satisfy and transform – Content here is for illustrative purposes and general information only. It is not legal, tax, or individualized financial advice; nor is it a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any specific security, or engage in any specific trading strategy. Information here may be provided, in part, by third-party sources. These sources are generally deemed to be reliable; however, neither our guest nor RFG Advisory guarantee the accuracy of third-party sources. The views expressed here are those of our guest. They do not necessarily represent those of RFG Advisory, its employees, or its clients. This commentary should not be regarded as a description of advisory services provided by RFG Advisory, or performance returns of any client. The views reflected in the commentary are subject to change at any time without notice. Securities offered by Registered Representatives of Private Client Services. Member FINRA / SIPC. Advisory services offered by Investment Advisory Representatives of RFG Advisory, LLC (“RFG Advisory or “RFG”), a registered investment advisor. Private Client Services and RFG Advisory are unaffiliated entities. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where RFG Advisory and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. No advisory services may be rendered by RFG Advisory unless a client agreement is in place. RFG Advisory is an SEC-registered investment adviser. SEC registration does not constitute an endorsement of RFG by the Commission, nor does it indicate that RFG or any associated investment advisory representative has attained a particular level of skill or ability.

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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 SkiptheQueue.fm.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  or Bluesky for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcast.Competition ends on 19th March 2025. The winner will be contacted via Bluesky. Show references: https://www.ajah.ae/https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-griffiths-63432763/Kelly's final episodeThe transformation of Painshill Park, with Paul Griffiths, Director of PainshillWhat it really takes to launch a podcast. With Kelly Molson and Paul GriffithsPaul Griffiths has worked in the Heritage, Museums and Tourism world now for nearly 30 years.After spending 16 years working in various role for English Heritage, in 2012 he moved to the Mary Rose Museum as Head of Operations to oversee the opening and operations of the multi award winning museum, welcoming over one million visitors before in 2018 taking on moving to the Painshill Park Trust in the role of Director of Painshill. Paul spent 6 years there before his move in December 2024 to Ras Al Khaimah one of the seven Emirates that make up the UAE. In this exciting brand new role Paul is Chief Executive Officer of the Al Hamra Heritage Village, part of the Al Qasimi Foundation. Transcriptions: Paul Marden: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in and working with Visitor Attractions. I'm your host, Paul Marden.Longtime listeners will remember my guest today, Paul Griffiths, when he was CEO at Painshill Park, from when he was interviewed back in season one by Kelly. In today's episode, Paul comes back to talk about his new role as CEO of Al Jazeera Al Hamrah Heritage Village in Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE. Now, I'm always interested in the first 90 days of people's experience in a job, so we'll be talking more about that and his for the future. Paul Marden: Paul, welcome back to Skip the Queue. Paul Griffiths: Hello. Thanks for having me, Paul. Great to be here. Paul Marden:  Long time. Listeners will know that we always start with an icebreaker question and our guests don't get to know that one in advance. I think this one's a pretty kind one. I was pretty mean to Paul Sapwell from Hampshire Cultural Trust a couple of weeks ago because I asked him whether it was Pompey or Saints and for political reasons, he felt that he had to abstain from that.Paul Griffiths: Testing his interest. I'd have gone Pompey at the time because that's where we live. Well, did live. Paul Marden: Oh, there you go. There you go. So you've moved over from Portsmouth. You're now in the UAE. Tell listeners, what is that one? Home comfort that after three months away from Blighty, you're missing? Is it proper English marmalade? Paul Griffiths: Do you know what? I've been able to get hold of most things, but I've not been able to get. I know people who cook properly, so I should be able to do this myself, but I haven't. Cauliflower cheese, one thing I'm missing from home, that doesn't sell it anywhere in a sort of pre pack or frozen form. I can even get hold of Yorkshire puddings in Spinny's supermarket, but I can't get hold of cauliflower cheese. Paul Marden: Can you get cauliflowers? Paul Griffiths: Can get cauliflowers. I'm sure I can make cheese sauce if I knew what it was doing. But you normally. I'm so used to normally buying a pack of cheese, cauliflower cheese to have in my Sunday roast. Paul Marden: Okay. So if I ever get to come out, I need to bring out a plastic wrapped, properly sealed so that it doesn't leak on the plane. Cauliflower cheese? Paul Griffiths: Yes, please. Yeah, absolutely. Paul Marden: So your last episode was actually. Or your last full episode was back in season one, episode 22. So five years ago and the world has changed a lot in five years, but most recently it's changed a lot for you, hasn't it? So why don't you tell listeners a little bit about what's happened to you since you were with us in season one? Paul Griffiths: Wow. Yeah, well, season one seems an age away, doesn't it, now with all the wonderful guests youu've had since on Skip the Queue, it's been a different program completely. But, yeah, no, well, back then I was at Painshill, were coming out of a pandemic and I remember, you know, Kelly and I were chatting over all the different avenues that everyone had gone and what we've done at Painshill and that continued brilliantly. And however, my life has taken a change in. In sense of where I am, but I'm still doing the same sort of work, so. Which is, you know, when our industry, and it's such a fabulous industry, it's great to stay in it. Paul Griffiths: So I am now over in the United Army Emirates in the Emirate of Ras Alhaima, which is the third biggest of the seven emirates that make up the UAE, behind Abu Dhabi and, of course, Dubai. So I was approached, God, nearly always, this time last year, about a call over here. Yes. My recruitment company got in touch and went through, you know, had a good look at the job description and thought, well, actually, we'll throw my hat into the ring. And applied, went for a series of online interviews with the recruitment company, then an online interview with the people over here at various departments within the Al Kassimme Foundation and the Department of Museums and Antiquities. Paul Griffiths: So, yeah, looking at this brand new job, which I'm now lucky enough to be in, I then was flown out in August for a round of interviews, met all the team. You know, one of those things that you later discover, the whole real four days was one big interview, although there was. There was a central one. But of course, everyone you were meeting along the way was being asked to feedback, And I love chatting to people and enjoying people's company. So actually went for dinners and lunches and all sorts, which was just a lovely four days and almost felt like a free hit in many ways, Paul. Well, this is going to be a brilliant experience. Paul Griffiths: If I don't get the job, I'm going to have a great four days in Rasta Taima, seeing it, meeting everyone, enjoying the time here. And, you know, the more time I spent here, the more time with the team, the more time, you know, going and visiting sites. I just became more and more that this would be an amazing job. Obviously gave my absolute everything, did loads of research, gave everything in the interview. The interview took a rather unusual turn. After the sort of hour and a half of questions and my questions, I was asked to leave the room for a short period. Not unusual in that sense because I was, you know, I wasn't just going to leave and go because obviously I was in their hands for four days. Paul Griffiths: But the doctor, Natasha Ridge, the executive director of the foundation, came out the interview and said, “Right, that's all gone really well. We're really pleased. We're now off to the palace for you to meet His Highness Sheikh Saud, who is the ruler of Ras Al Khaimah and on the Supreme Council of the UAE.” So I was sort of, I went to one of the small meeting rooms you. Now I know that. Now I know where I was, where I went. But at that point I had no idea. One of the lovely. There's a very much a service thing here. Paul Griffiths: So, you know, we have in the Heritage Village as well later we have a wonderful member of our team, Geraldine, who does lots of cooking, prepares stuff and just had a wonderful fish taco lunch because we're four hours ahead of you, of course, here in Alaihi. So, yeah, so one of the guys came in with, gave me an English breakfast tea and sort of, you know, sat there reviewing what, thinking what on earth was I going to be asked by His Highness. And then was put into one of the drivers and we drove up through Rat Sahma City, through into the palace, up the long driveway and there I was sort of eventually, after about 20 minutes, presented with. Presented to Sheikh Sword who asked me, chatted, asked various questions. Paul Griffiths: I don't think there could be many interviews that you end up with His Highness in the second half of it. You know, it's sometimes a presentation. Yeah. So that was. I was there for about half an hour and that's your time over and off he goes. And off I went back to then go and have dinner with some of the team. So it was a very surreal afternoon. Paul Marden: Being interviewed by royalty. But when you're not expecting that as part of the interview process, that must be quite unnerving. Paul Griffiths: I had a heads up that at some point in my trip I might meet him, but there was no formal arrangements. I had me had to get in a diary. So it hadn't even crossed my mind that's what was about to happen. When I was asked to leave the meeting room, I just thought maybe they wanted to come back with more questions or, you know, say I hadn't gone well, whatever. But, yeah, no, that was the. I took that as a good sign. I thought, well, actually, if I'm being whisked up there, the interview must have gone relatively well because I'm sure they would present me to shake sword if it hadn't gone so well. Paul Marden: Yeah. You'd hope that he would be towards the end of the cycle of the interview round. Paul Griffiths: Yeah. Paul Marden: Not doing the early sifting of CVs. Paul Griffiths: No. He certainly had seen who I was because he asked me some questions about where I'd worked and. Okay, things like that. So he'd obviously seen a CV. He's a very. I mean, I've met him subsequently a few times. I've been fortunate to be a dinner hosted by him a couple of weeks ago. But he is a very, very intelligent man. Works really hard. I mean, work. He, you know, for him, he spends every minute working on the emirate. He ruled, he. He's the ruler. But he's almost a. It's a sort of combo, I guess he's all Prime Minister at the same time as being the ruler. So he is constantly working. You know, I'm really committed and I'm lucky in many ways that where I am working at the Heritage Village is his real. Paul Griffiths: One of his real pet projects that he's really driving forward. So, yes, we come with sort of royal. Royal approval, if you like. So. Yeah. Paul Marden: Excellent. So I. I've not been to the Emirates before, so for those of us that have not been, tell us a little bit about Ras Al Khaimah, of course. Paul Griffiths: Well, Ras Al Khaimah is one of the quieter Emirates mentioned. Sheikh Saud there, he's really driving a sort of, you know, a sort of agenda of bringing in more tourists. But he wants to use culture and territory as part of that. So, you know, it's a more relaxed, low level, if that makes sense. It's not Dubai, it's not full on, it's more relaxed Emirate. It's relaxed in cultural and many of the ways it's not, as you know, some of the other Emirates are, for example, completely dry. Ras Al Khaimah has given licenses to hotels and big restaurants in hotels for serving drinks. And there are a number of sellers where you can purchase for your consumption your own home, whereas Sharjah, you can't purchase any alcohol, for example, so it's a bit more chilled like that. It's a lovely place. Paul Griffiths: We're very fortunate to have the heavier mountains go through the far side of Ras Al Khaimah. So where I'm based is more on the seafront but then not, you know, I can see the mountains behind and there's a number of drives up into the mountains which are absolutely fabulous. Up to the Jebel Jais, which is the highest point in the UAE, we have the world's longest and fastest zip wire. I have not gone anywhere near that yet. Goes up to 100km an hour and is the longest over from the top of the mountain, whisking you off to the other side. I think it looks terrifying. But my. Paul Marden: I'm more interested in cables that take you to the top of the mountain. Maybe with some skis on my feet than I am attaching myself to a cable and going down the mountain. Doesn't sound like fun to me. Paul Griffiths: There's a toboggan ride as well up there as well.Paul Marden: Oh, I'd love that. Paul Griffiths: So that's the toboggan ride's on my to do list when the family get off, I'll save it for then and take my son Barney on that. But you know, there's all this sort of venture sports up on the top of the mountain and driving up there is remarkable. They put a proper road in. It's not the scary driving up the Alps, terrified what's going to come around the other corner. It's very like driving up a road, you know, normal sort of dual carriageway, two lanes each way and then right going through the mountains to the other side to one of the other Emirates for Jazeera , for example. So you're over on the Indian Ocean side Gulf Vermont. That road is just beautiful. There's no traffic on it, you know. Paul Griffiths: So Ras Al Khaimah is only about an hour and hour to an hour and a half from Dubai airport. And Dubai is a sort of people go to Dubai in the same way that we, you know, you'd go to London, I'd go to London when I was in Port Soviet, we would. It's now, you know, it's not considered a. There's always someone from work who's in Dubai every day almost for some reason. So nipping up to Dubai, I was like, I went to a dinner there last week and you know, it just seemed very normal that he jumped in a car and drove up to Dubai and came back that evening. Whereas. Seems remarkable actually to be doing that. But yeah, so because of where we are, Abu Dhabi is about two and a half hours away.Paul Griffiths: And we are the northern point of the Emirate, So we border on to Oman, split into a number of areas. Again, I didn't know any of this till I got here, but there's a part of Oman that's at the top of Ras Al Khaimah. And so, yeah, so it's a beautiful Emirate with nature, with mountain areas, which does get a bit chillier when you go up the mountains. I looked quite silly in my T shirt and shorts when I went up there on a Sunday afternoon. People were going past me like they were going skiing. You know, people wore coats and hats and looking at me as if I'm really daft. But I was still. It's interesting that because it's winter obviously everywhere here at the moment and at home, but it's. Paul Griffiths: People here are often telling me it's a cold day when I'm still standing. I still feel really quite warm. But yeah, finding that sort ofPaul Marden: Talking 30s at the moment for you, aren't we? Paul Griffiths: Yeah, it's a little bit. The last couple days have been down in the lower 20s, really comfortable. But when we last weekend, people were getting a bit nervous that summer had come very early because it was hitting the early 30s last week. So I don't know how for me, when we get to August, when it's in the mid, late 40s with real high humidity, I think I'm just going to go from aircon building to aircon building to aircon building.Paul Marden: I am such a Goldilocks when it comes to that sort of thing. Not too hot, not too cold, it needs to be just right. So I would definitely struggle in that kind of heat. Look, let's talk a little bit about where you are in the new job. So you've taken on the role of CEO of Al Jazeera Al Hamra Heritage Village. So tell me a little bit about the village. Why is this village so historic? Paul Griffiths: Well, it's a really interesting one, Paul, because it is very important, but it's not that old. And that's why what coming to me about making it more alive is something that's going to be crucial to us. So the village has been lived in for many years. It was a pearl farming village. So most of the people who worked here were doing pearl farming, which is pretty horrible job to do. You were, again, learning about this. You were jumping off boats, going to the ocean depths for up to three to four minutes. No protection really, apart from a very light shirt and some little bits on your fingers. But actually you're nothing on your eyes. Paul Griffiths: So you're having to look through the salt water, find the pearls come up and they were going up and down sometime 15, 16 times or more a day. And there's a fascinating exhibition in Dubai at the Al Shindagha Museum which really does focus on how this worked and how these guys were living. So, so it's a real. So that was the village. So the village had that, it obviously had then had fishing men, merchants making boats, merchants selling, trading wares. And Ras Al Khaimah has been quite a strategic part as all of the UAE really for the sort of trades coming from the Middle east and out into the Gulf. So the villages was being lived in up until the very early 70s. Paul Griffiths: Up in the 1970s the Al Za'abi tribe who were based here were offered I guess a new life is the only way to look at it in Abu Dhabi with new jobs, with land, with housing and it's just a better way like pearl farming was now being done so much cheaper and easier in the Orient in Japan mainly. So that was, that dropped away. There wasn't the other merchant trading going on. So actually the oil boom basically led the tribe to almost one up sticks and head to Abu Dhabi. And in many ways good story because we're still in touch with quite considerable amounts of the tribes people who were here. Lots of the elders have done wonderful oral histories, videos talking about their lives here. But this village survived as just fell into ruins, but actually wasn't developed. Paul Griffiths: And where it becomes important is this would have been what all of the Gulf would have looked like before the oil boom. The UAE wasn't a wealthy nation before then. You know, when I went up to Dubai and spent some time at the Etihad Museum, which is based around which Etihad Union is the not Around Man City Stadium should point out very much around about how the UAE had come together and how, you know, so it wasn't the wealthiest nation, but actually they discovered oil. They then brought seven Emirates together. It then has flourished in the ways that we now know what Dabi and ifwe looks like and even Ras Al Khaimah in some parts and really quite glamorous. But this village survived. Paul Griffiths: So although it fell into ruin, all the other fishing, farmhome fishing, pearl farming villages across the Gulf had become, just got destroyed, knocked down, you know, turned into hotels and high rises. And actually when you visit the other Emirates, lots of them are now recreating their historic areas or re purposing some of the historic buildings and they're doing it very well. In Dubai, Sharjah has actually completely rebuilt. It's what it calls the Harp Sharjah, which is. Which was its historic sort of areas, but. Paul Marden: Right. Paul Griffiths: But this survived. Many of the buildings had fallen into disrepair. And what we've been doing for the last few years, as the Al Qasimi Foundation and the Department of Antiquities and Museums is restoring a number of these buildings, we've then sort of gone into a sort of activation so you can walk around. So we've got, you know, carving now. Only a year ago it was mostly sand. We've now got a path going through it, so you can walk in. And the job that I've really been asked to do initially on arrival here is to really push that activation forward and really look at my sort of. What I've done in the past and what we've seen other places do and think about what can we do to bring this bit more to life? Paul Griffiths: Because it's the sort of storage village is around the 1970s. Well, it was abandoned in the 1970s. Well, you know, for us from the UK, from lots of other nationalities, actually, something in the 70s isn't very old. It's in our lifespan. You know, we are looking at this going well, actually. So when I was talking to a lot of. So RAK TDA's basically visit RAK tourism authority. So they are really supportive in wanting to push Al Jazeera Al Hamra Heritage Village, which will from now on abbreviate to AJAH to save me. Keep saying that. Long tanned. So they are really keen that we're doing more stuff. So why would a tourist want to come? What is there to see once you're here? Paul Griffiths: On top of some abandoned and now beautifully restored houses, mosques, you know, things that you would have expected in a village of, you know, a thousand or so population, 500 houses, you know, so more than a thousand people, really. So that's the sort of plan in that way. So in many ways I've got a sort of blank canvas to play with. But, you know, money's not unlimited, so it's about. So working closely with local communities, working with, you know, local traders, looking at what could we bring into the village on the back of the art fair. I know we'll talk about later, but it's, you know, this has been a. This is a real challenge for me to. How do I take this sort of place forwards.Paul Marden: In my mind's eye, we go to the Weald & Downland Living Museum so open air museum, lots of houses recreating life through the ages. Is that the sort of experience that I'm going to get if I come to the village of I'm going to see the properties and I'm going to see this previous way of life come to life in front of me?Paul Griffiths: Well at the moment you'll see you just see in the houses and the buildings but you're walking around looking at historic buildings but we have got a number of the houses we've put in. Each video is at the moment showing the audio visuals so you can walk around and listen to members of the tribes chatting about their youth and what's happening and you can see the buildings in real life. I guess what I'm looking for this is telling the story a little bit of the village which we don't initially do that well at the moment that's no criteria. Yes, this is what we need to do going forward. There's been several stages of activation When I came last August part not many the paths weren't all finished. We didn't have anywhere for visitor services to be at the front.Paul Griffiths: We only had a very small sort officey area which has now been built up to where I'm. Where I'm sat today. So I think what you're going to get is a multi as a blend of traders who will be in our suitcase. The Souk is fully restored sooke and shopping market area so that's my first point is to move some people in there. So I've already got a goldsmith and move to her studio in got some handicrafts we've got some textile people moving in the. Paul Griffiths: The main gallery of Nassau Heyman Design Gallery which is the one big gallery where artists can go is going to have a sort of satellite shop if you like not shop a satellite so there will be pieces of work there are in here with their little souvenir store which they sell because they get people a lot of what the design gallery does is making souvenirs of Ras Al Khaimah that are all handmade so quite special gifts. So what we're hoping is tying up with our local hoteliers who many of which have not been so it's bringing them in and they need something more to see to send their guests here. Paul Griffiths: So you know talking to some of them over lunch when I hosted some of them on Saturday it was a case of you know actually, can they send their clients and say, you can do all your holiday shopping because at the moment they're sending people to the shopping malls which are just, you know, nice, but actually merchandise them to go to a heritage village, get that experience of what the golf would have been like and bags of shopping at the same time. Paul Marden: So who doesn't love a. A museum gift shop at the end? So, you know. Paul Griffiths: Exactly. And we don't really have that here at the moment from an Al Jazeera perspective. So on my plan for this year is to put in. We've got an info booth, as it's called at the moment. It's not a world. It's not the best customer service friendly. It's like a caravan but with some windows. And yeah, it's probably a better. Now it's got air conditioning. Yes. But it doesn't work very well for customers. You're trying to talk through little windows because you can only have small windows to keep the air con working, not have too much open to. It's just passing out. Paul Griffiths: So, yeah, so I'm looking at building this summer, hopefully. Fingers crossed, touch wood, a visitor welcome centre, which is something we're really pushing along with, which will be lovely because that will be that proper visitor welcome with a shop with an induction into an introduction. Sorry, into the Al Jazeera story. And then let people go. And then when they get to the far end, they'll be the souk full of. He says again, hopefully slowly filling them out, but full of traders and local craftspeople and people who are. Even if they're not originally local, they're based in rack, so they are considered local. The UAE is built up of a lot of expat population. When I say expats, I mean just English people from around the world. It's a really accepting, welcoming community. I've been really. Everyone says hello to you as you're walking into the supermarket shops. There's no. Whoever they are where you're from. Paul Griffiths: Everyone's talking to each other because the local population know they've had to bring people in because there's thousands more jobs than there are Emirati population in Ras Al Khaimah. So, you know, it's always been. And when you look at the foundation of the UAE, it was about, we will need to bring people in to bring this. To build this nation with us. So, you know, it's been always a sort of welcome and melting pot of different people. Paul Marden: Yeah, amazing. Look, you mentioned when we had our initial chat. You've been there now three months, you've been doing lots of visiting of other attractions. Because I think you said to me, which I thought was quite interesting, that you were. There's lots that you bring with you from the UK in your experience, but there's lots of best practice and good practice happening within the Emirates already. So you've been kind of going out and visiting a lot of cultural venues and attractions in the Emirates. Tell me a little bit about those. Paul Griffiths: Yeah, so it's been a minute of a manic last month in February, because we've had the art festival. I know we're going to keep hinting at it, we'll get to it at some point, but when I've had some time away, what's been fabulous, it's just sort of. And I think as well, because the family aren't here in my own at the moment, said, “All right, I've got some time off, let's go and explore.” Yeah. So I've sort of driven across to Fajera, spent time in Sharjah and took myself up for a weekend in Dubai, which was fantastic. Booked a very reasonably priced hotel and just spent a weekend flowering around everywhere and just really immersed in my. So and only scratch the surface. There's so much more to see. So, yeah, so I've been going and looking at. Paul Griffiths: Well, you know, I don't want to do something that's not. There'll be alien to, obviously, the culture here. And that's been really. What's been great fun in the last few months is it's not just going into a new job, you know, and learning that. It's actually been a terrifying, at some points, fabulous experience. I was learning new cultures, new working lives. You know, things are working. It's done very differently here. You know, there's a different hierarchical process we have in the UK and permissions are needed in different places. And that's not. I'm not saying any of this is a bad thing, it's just learning those different things. So I've been learning all these different cultures. You know, we're just coming into Ramadan, which I've had no real experience with before. And that is. That is a massive thing here. You know, it's the month. Paul Griffiths: Every billboard you go past is someone trying to sell something for Ramadan, whether it be a new chest of drawers, you know, your family needs this new dining table for Ramadan. It's a bit like, you know, you will see at Christmas at home, everyone catching on, you know, IKEA will be saying, new table and chairs for Christmas. You know, it's. It's not. It's a sort of different repeating itself. You know, those sort of signs you have around the supermarket. Christmas back home. They're all up now in supermarkets here for Ramadan. Paul Marden: Right. Paul Griffiths: Encouraging what people are going to buy for when they break the fast at sunset Iftar. So, you know, so it's all sort of promoting. You need this for. So it's a real. We're going to a massive thing. And that's been a real sort of learning, cultural thing for me, which has been great because actually I've always enjoyed, when I'm traveling, learning about other cultures, you know, it's always been for me, I always try and visit museums, galleries, learn about the place I'm at. And so actually living somewhere and learn about someone who's been. I think it's added to the fun of the experience. But back to your question. Paul Griffiths: Yes, I've been traveling wherever the possibility to start to look at other historic venues, looking at where they've, you know, restored historic markets and souk areas and what sort of things are going in there, what are people doing there. Up in Dubai, there is a place called Al Shindagar Museum, which is where they've. Some of the historic buildings that have been saved by the creek of Dubai have been turned into the most amazing series of museums, is the only way I can describe it, because each house is a different gallery or different theme. So you have the story of the creek being built up, the story of Dubai seafarers. There was a faith and. Faith and religion room, talking about Islam and different cultures, how that's worked around Dubai. Paul Griffiths: Dubai being built up as a city, lots about the rulers and families, but every house you went to is a different place. What was so impressive there from a visitor experience perspective was the training that Stafford had was sensational. You know, you go into someone, you think they're obviously being managed really well because obviously this is. You don't just train. So obviously someone oversees this really well. But clearly the training, everywhere you went, the customer service was exceptional. People coming out from behind counters, giving you introductions, making sure you had everything needed, you know, as you were leaving. Have you got any questions? All those things we try and all have tried to teach over the years, and in many ways we've all been different levels of success of that. Paul Griffiths: But what was amazing was they also got the security guards in on the act as well, because there's a real culture here that there's a separate, they're secure, they're very different. You know, there's, we've got them here, they're in very much brown security, clearly marked, you know, protecting places. But what they've done there is they had clearly trained those security guards as well, because every security guard you came across was getting in the act of chatting to visitors, even if their English wasn't brilliant, they were really keen to direct you to the next. Come this way. So the next place, oh, you finished that room, you must go upstairs. And you know, that sort of. Paul Griffiths: And whether they, you know, really just said, look, you can have a much more interesting day than just standing, staring at people walking around. You can actually chat to visitors from around the world and get talkative. And I just had the most amazing. I ended up in this museum for over five and a half hours or something silly like that. And I thought I was going to be there an hour because it was priced very reasonably. You know, when you judge a museum on, well, actually I paid this, I'm probably going to be here for that amount of time. And actually it was just, you know, I found myself stopping for a coffee, stopping for lunch. But I was so impressed by the way the staff interacted. Paul Griffiths: They also had a number of cultural local guides as well, who really were, you know, in the full sort of Emirati national dress, but wanted to press on. This is where. This is what I'm doing. So I've some, you know, I traveled across to Fujairah every week and was in a, an old, what was the ruler's summer house. And the guy, and the guy who ran it just took me on a tour. I didn't ask for a tour. He just said, would you. Well, he said, should I take you around? Yes, please. And we had this great hours experience as he was just chatting about all the rooms. And I think people here are very keen to share their culture and their heritage and very welcoming. Paul Griffiths: So, yeah, so I've done quite a bit traveling around the other parts of the UAE. I can't go out of the UAE because I've only got a hire car at the moment, so I can't go out to Omar, that's on my list. You get yourself a car. I can travel north of the border into Oman and explore that. But for now, seven emirates to. So no shortage of places. And I've not been up to Abu Dhabi yet, so still with that on my list. So yeah, Paul Marden: Wowzers. Okay. So I guess, and this is completely, what would I feel like if I was in your position of going to this new country, immersing myself in this relatively new place that you're leading? How do I say this without flattering you? You were a well connected guy. If I went to events, everybody knew you. You had this wide network of people having worked in the UK in the attraction sector for a long time and you've now jumped over to the UAE. What's happened to the network? How does that feel? I mean it must feel slightly kind of worrying or nerve wracking. What have you done to build the network in this new place? Paul Griffiths: There's a number of points to that. Right, so let's answer in a few minutes. So the world's a smaller place so I'm still occasionally having teams call zoom calls with really close ex colleagues, friends, you know, I'm sure, I mean I always say I'm sure but everyone keeps saying, “Oh I'm really loving the journey so please keep posting. So I am going to keep posting and probably going to start to annoy people after a while”, but the feedback so far is everyone saying we're loving the journey and following you with it and feel like we're on the journey. So I will carry on. I'm sort of keeping writing stuff up and sharing it and also I don't know how long I'll be here for. You know, probation is massive over here. I have to keep my fingers crossed. Paul Griffiths: I pass probation which is a six month period because it's a real right the UAE all not just off and across the UAE. It's a real big, you know, much more than at home, much more structured. On day one was given a series and this isn't a bad thing at all, a series of probation tasks, you know, around reports that are around other historic parts because the job that I've come over will eventually evolve into a wider heritage role. But at the moment the real focus is on Al Jazeera Al Hamra, which is great. Get one site, get it going, then see where we go next. So I think I'm still connected to lots of people back home. I'm still looking, seeing everyone's posts and enjoy. Paul Griffiths: I mean my usual jealousy of not being part of the ALVA network anymore as they're all having that great time in Belfast in the last couple of days and seeing everyone's post, not just one or two, but everyone you know, Bernard down with you know everyone's post. I wish I was there with them.Paul Marden: The FOMO was real. So I had Andy Povey in the office with me yesterday and we're both saying the FOMO about that ALVAe vent was very real for both of us having. Paul Griffiths: Having spent. You know I was at the Mary Rose few years where we joined ALVA and go experiencing those council weeks and knowing just hey how much they are great for networking A. You get very spoiled because every host wants to really show off what they can do and I think the Titanic always do that because we go there before for a council meeting but it's. Yeah. So you still see this stuff. So it's still sit home and there's still people I can reach out to.Paul Marden: Of course.Paul Griffiths: If we need to and I'm still calling on people things, you know, different projects we're doing here. But then again it's about slowly building up that network here and I think there's a slightly. You know, there's a. Within Ras Al Khaimah I've started making connections with lots of other people in the Heritage world and. And outside that. So we're already, you know, connecting up with different people from different parts of Ras Al Khaimah, the work we're going to do moving forward and for me I think it's been just a. I'm sort of still pinching myself I'm here and that sort of. So many things keep happening and you know. The weather's been gorgeous because I've come out of a grim English weather to this quite nice winter here where it's mostly been late mid-20s. Paul Griffiths: You're in she and shorts when you're off duty. You know, there's other things. The thing that really surprised me is how smart actually the dress code is for business over here. Paul Marden: Okay. Paul Griffiths: So I had to sort of all the usual brands that from home Mount Marks is next everything here so you could order online and get it delivered quite quickly. So I had sort of came out of one wardrobe thinking I was going to be far more in polo shirt and linen trousers are sort of very sort of summer at Painshill look, you know outdoor. But actually yeah my colleagues are still. Because of the aircon atmosphere. Lots of colleagues particularly in the head office are in suits. A bit like where I would have been when back in my London days. When we're in the office you were in a shirt tie. So yes, I had to sort of buy A back home wardrobe almost once I got traveled out with very lightweight clothing. So yes, it's a bit different in that sense. Paul Marden:  Yeah, absolutely. Let's talk a little bit about life as an expat. How have you found the transition? Paul Griffiths: Fine so far. I say there's lots of bits around work and practice and you know, no amount of inductions will be able to help you on some little faux pas you can make about not realising where you need approvals for staff. And obviously coming from the. For the last six years of being director of Painshill and only from feeding into a board of directors, board of trustees who we'd see quarterly and you know, I chat to the chairman every week. There was a lot of me sort of making those sort of decisions instantly was here, you know, particularly as were part of the foundation and we are representing Sheikh Saud as his name's in the title of the organization now, making sure we're going through those tick sheets. Paul Griffiths: You know, if I want to do anything that needs to spend more money, that's out budget, that is going to his Highness to be signed off. So any projects we're doing, we're needing to make cases to the highest man in the country to actually get those, you know, sign offs and things. And I'm not, that's not a bad thing. But you know, it's just that from an expat I guess it's getting used to. Everything's available here. Not the big supermarket up the road sells Waitrose and Marxist products and has a room at the back for non Muslims where you push the button, door opens, it's like a little bit of a naughty boys room. Paul Griffiths: You push back door open, slides you walk in and there's the pork heaven, you know, there's bacon, there's pork scratching, patays, you know, all because it's a real, you know, it's not just there's so many expats here, particularly from the Philippines and stuff who obviously pork is a big part of their diet. So yeah, that's available. I said earlier on there's cellars where you can pick up a great beer or a couple of glasses of bottle of wine or whatever you want. So actually it's not that I found myself flying into this really different world and I'm not really. Paul Marden:  It's a melting pot, isn't it? Paul Griffiths: Yeah. And I'm not someone who's ever been since very young, you know, going off to nightclubs or anything like that. But if you wanted that There is that. The hotels. So actually, if you're a younger person coming out and you wanted that nightlife, the hotels, particularly on Margin island and Minnal Arab, the tubing hotels have really nice restaurants, fully licensed clubs and stuff. But, you know, actually I found sort of the work is busy. Everyone's, you know, lots going on, actually, just going back to, you know, I was in a hotel for the first two months, which wasn't a dreadful thing because it was an apartment hotel. So, yeah, I had enough and now we've moved. I've moved into a villa ready for the family. Come out hopefully in about a month's time.Paul Marden:  Oh, that'd be exciting. Paul Griffiths: Yeah. So that's nice. So we've got the back onto the golf course. It's quite, you know, it's a nice place to be. It's going to be nice and, you know. Paul Griffiths: Yeah, so I've not struggled adapting because it's not. It's not that, you know, normally I've got a wonderful team here, Asia, you know, so with one Emirati and some Filipinos and other people from around the. From around the world. So that's been nice. And it's melting pot of learning their cultures as well as the local culture and. Yeah. And then they eat rice with everything. So it's. Yeah. Every lunchtime there's a bowl of rice, big bowl of salad in the main course and there's me pouring on the one on the salad, everyone else on the rice. But, yeah, it's been great, Paul. I mean, I can't. It's been one of those. Every moment you think this is just a great place to be. Paul Marden: Good. Let's go back to Al Jazeera and talk a little bit about some of the events that have been going on. So I know you're coming to the end of the Ras Al Khaimah Art Festival. Tell me a little bit about that and how well that's gone. Paul Griffiths: It's been brilliant. I know. I had no idea what to expect. First time for this. So this is the 13th International Art Fair. It started off back in the small museum back in the city of Central Town, moved to here, I think, five years ago is what I'm saying, and slowly grown every year since then. So this is the biggest one we've done, really. Lots of massive sponsors on board from across the Emirates, actually fully supported by His Highness, who's been here at least four times, if not five, since we've had the vessel. He was here at the opening ceremony for the big launch, you know it was, and it was like a proper opening ceremony. Paul Griffiths: Everyone sat round with a band and speakers and you know like not quite Olympics but you know it was a proper event. This is the opening of it and it felt like a big event. Yeah. All my female members of my team had, were given time off in the day to do hair and makeup. It was proper. Everyone looked, everyone looked the business, it was lovely. You know everyone was scrubbed up from the maintenance team to, you know, our executive director looking fabulous in a brand new dress. You know it was really was. No, I've had a new suit, I got a new suit for the occasion. Paul Griffiths: So yeah, it was a lovely evening and then it's rolled ever since and for me it's been wonderful because I've seen people in this village which has been quite quiet since I'd arrived and it's sort of been okay, how are we going to get this? But actually clearly putting something on has attracted a complete cross spectrum audience. So you know, we have people coming in, absolutely fascinating, obsessed with the art, beautiful and it's artists I should say from around the world. It's all exhibited outside or inside the little houses. So you know lots of the pieces have been blown up quite big and quite impressive. I mean do look at it on the website, you know people, you know if you go to ajah.ae you can then click on from there.Paul Marden: We'll put the links and everything in the show notes so people be able to find that. Paul Griffiths: It's been, but it's been, for me it's been fabulous because we've seen so many people in, you know I was, you know, we've had, we've got pop up restaurants so this won't mean anything to people back home but the restaurant called Puro P U R O has a restaurant at the top of the mountain at Jebel Jais. Really almost impossible to get booking, you know you have to book months advance for lunch or dinner. It's the place that everybody, both locals, internationals and tourists want to see and often frequented by his Highness. They've got a pop up restaurant here which just is fabulous. Paul Griffiths: They we've had a lovely couple, Kelly and Paolo in running a restaurant called Antica which is a sort of the chef's Italian Paolo but he's lived in Australia so it's a fusion of Australian middle Italy, sort of historic villagey type cuisine with an Emirates twist. But you're just served four or five courses without there's not a menu. It's not a restaurant as such, so it's sort of a sharing experience. But you know, the food is amazing. So I was fortunate to have dinner. Well, I've actually been fortunate enough to have dinner in Antica twice and lunch there as well. But one of the dinners I was then wandering around the village about 10 o'clock at night was full of people, you know, families just. Paul Griffiths: There is a different culture over here that people do more stuff in the evenings because of the temperature and a different way of life because the local people aren't obviously, for obvious reasons, down the pub on a Friday night, they're doing stuff with the family and you go past cafes and even outside of the village, you know, 9, 10 o'clock on a Friday night, they're full of people sitting very beautifully dressed in their finest, drinking coffee and eating desserts. That's a big thing. People seem to love coffee and desserts. Paul Marden: Okay. Paul Griffiths: But, but then of course it's because because of the heat most of the year we'll spend more time indoors resting in the day and then ready to go out at night and do some more stuff. So yeah, so we've had this sort of here in the evenings. It's really fun. What was interesting is our hours for the festival were meant to be midweek. So Monday we always close. Tuesday to Thursday we're meant to be open till 6 o'clock and then Friday, Saturday, Sunday open to 11:00. Often struggling to get people out then the first night. So the Tuesday night was the first night. Medusa goes at 6:00. 5:45, I had a queue of at least 40 people trying to get in. So we just had to make an on the hooves decision. Paul Griffiths: We're going to stay open later. And then we just opened till 8:00 in the midweek. We didn't want to push it too much because of obviously from the staff welfare perspective, an hour's work. But actually that first night were just. Myself and Sikrat, who's the director of the festival, Emirati. Wonderful. Emirati has been my cultural bodyguard in many ways because he's been the person, my go to person for what should I do here? What about this person? How should I do this? So Spencer Crouch just stood there. Look at this crowd. We both just said, “Well we can't turf them away. This would be daft.” So yeah, so we've had. And we've had about 40, 000 visitors will have come through the door by the end of the festival in 28 days. Paul Griffiths: The artworks then going to stay up in place for Ramadan. So we'll be working different hours again during Ramadan and this is the first time Al Jazeera will ever do. Has ever done anything special for. Because before now it's just been a come and visit, walk in, do what you like, leave now. We're trying to structure that visitor experience. So we're going to be for Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, because Thursday's the sort of Friday night in many ways. Because a lot of people have Fridays off here. Yes, because of the day of prayers and so a lot of people in Ras Al Hamah go to Dubai and Abu Dhabi for work. So Thursday nights they'll travel back. So actually we're going to be open till midnight on Thursday, Friday, Saturday for Ramadan. Paul Griffiths: So people will break the fast with the families and then they want to do the sort of head top of activity. They've now got food back in them and an energy source. And out they come. So again, first time we've done it, hopefully see numbers with the artwork will still be in place. We're then working on some different options around cuisine, food, coffee and hopefully get some musicians in as well, just to give a bit of an atmosphere. But it is a holy month, so it's not. It's not parties, but it's enjoying the family. Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. So what does the future look like for the Heritage Village and for tourism and attractions more generally in RAK? Paul Griffiths: I think for RAK itself, we're trying to bring more tourists in then trying to get the most hotels. Interestingly, as they had a lunch with five of our local big hotels at the weekend using. Using our Antico restaurant, this is excuse to have another lunch there and invite some people in and just take on their views, which is great. So just chatting and getting their thoughts on it. They were saying what. What happens in Iraq a lot at the moment is people are finding the hotels through travel agents, through, you know, searches. I know when were looking before I came out here, I know Ras Al Hamra came up on a Thomas Cumbin telescope. Yeah, similar. What am I thinking of? Probably Tui, I guess, or someone like, you know, someone like that. Paul Griffiths: I was doing a search for when went to Canary, but up came Ras Al Khaimah as a hotel and what they were saying. A lot of people will book that and have no idea really what Ras Al Khaimah is, other than it's part of the UAE. Some people think it's part of Dubai, you know, actually, because it's not, they don't realize it's seven emirates, etc. So a lot of people are booking their sort of tourists, their hotels. Our job is to try and then get them out and attract them to do other stuff. So there's lots of adventure tourism going on at the moment. We talked about the zip wire and lots of hiking, walking, camel rail, camel riding, you know, trips to the desert where you can zoom around in 4x Fours and go karts and stuff. Paul Griffiths: So from my perspective of the Heritage village is about bringing it more alive, bringing more people in, promoting it, more linking up with these sorts of hoteliers, concierges. And this is really early days for us because this has always been sort of slightly done but not really pushed yet. And sort of listening to what their advice is and seeing how we can act upon it, you know, and what sort of stuff we can take forward because, you know, there's a lot to be done. And there's lots of other heritage sites across rat about 90 on the list of actual heritage sites. And some of those are real ruins that you're never going to be able to do anything with. Paul Griffiths: Those sort of English Heritage free sites, you know, the ones you stumble across with a little brown sign and you pull up with a lay by, have a potter around and off you go without seeing anyone. There's a bit like that. But then there's a number of sites that will work well with some activation. You know, we've got Dyer Fort, which is on the World Heritage site tentative list and we're working on projects to slowly take that forward to World Heritage status. Touchwood because it's a really important for, you know, and it's perfect for visits. You climb up to the top, you get the most gorgeous views. You know, really is a gorgeous little site. So more interpretation, more things there is what's needed. But you know, again, this is all early days. Paul Griffiths: So it's all about sort of, you know, each day's excitement. What can we do, what can we push forward, who can we talk to? And what's been great is as the festival's gone on, more people have been coming and chatting to me. Mine have become more, well known. That sounds wrong, goes back to your sort of earlier question about, you know, people are sort of learning about, oh, this person's here now. Paul said, although people can call me sir or Mr. Paul, which is fine. I can deal with that. Keep saying now, people, I keep saying, please don't call me sir. You really don't need to. But it's so culturally great. But Mr. Everyone see everyone externally, she's called Mr. Paul, so I can put up with that. But I was there. Although when we host his. Paul Griffiths: His Highness hosted dinner that I was invited to, I then got even pushed up to His Excellency, which was a title. I want to go. Paul Marden: That's quite nice. Paul Griffiths: Yeah, I love that. Apparently. I always thought that someone else I knew was his title. His Excellency was part of the family, but actually it's. Once you get to a CEO director level in royal that circle, you immediately become His Excellency, so. Paul Marden: Well, there we go. I will correct myself in future communications. Paul Griffiths: Please do. Yeah, but I thought it was wonderful. That's why it's just been lovely, the funny comments coming from people back home saying, oh, well, I've amended my entry in my phone to now shake your he status. But yeah, so. But there's a sort of cultural things. It's just. Okay, right, lovely. That's fun. Paul Marden: It's been a whirlwind for you. It's been really interesting actually, talking about it and understanding more about. About what's happening there, about how exciting it is, this huge opportunity that you've got to make a something out of this beautiful historic village and then that, you know, the remit will grow from there. So I think. I think this has been lovely. We always wrap up our interviews with a book recommendation and you've had this privilege once before. So have you run out of recommendations or do you have something ready for me? Paul Griffiths: Well, I was going to recommend the Red island, an Emirati story, because it's based on Al Jazeera Al Hamra, but I thought that might be a little bit too niche. This guy. So, again, little things have come across. This guy's written a book, Adil, and he's going to be coming to Al Jazeera to do a book reading signing. These little opportunities. I have read the book, I promise. It was actually fascinating because it's all about local culture. It went off in a number of tangents, but actually from a point of view of how the Emirati local culture works and families, it was actually quite a really good induction. But now I've decided to go with a more book for management or book for running. And I don't think anyone's given this before, but if they have, I'm nervous. Paul Griffiths: But this book, Fish!, which is one of my favourite books. I've actually launched this as the Al Jazeera Book Club for the spring. So all the team have a copy. Book clubs are massive over here for work. Every department has one here in the foundation. So this book, Fish, is based around the Seattle fish market. My colleagues who've worked me in the past, both. I can hear them groaning now because they've forced everyone to read this, but it's basically around having fun when you're at work. And it talks about the story of the Seattle fish market, how they were just flogging fish, but actually one day decided, we need to liven this up. We need to want to be here. So introduced, sort of involving the crowd, fish flying through the air. Paul Griffiths: But It's a more of a story about a woman joins, it moves up in a company into a department that no one's been able to manage. She gets to the bottom of using the fish market. And it's just a really fun, easy reading book. And so I recommend it to. To listeners and viewers. Paul Marden: That's brilliant. So listeners, if you would like a copy of Fish,Paul Griffiths: It's quite a cheap book as well, Paul, so please, you have to give one away. So it's not too much money. It's just 9.99 in the non fiction section. So, yeah, cheaper. Paul Marden: Bargain. Bargain. That's the trouble with. So I've been doing a few live events where we have panels, four people with book records, recommendations. That's going to bankrupt me. No, not today. We got a bargain this time. So I like this. Yeah. If you'd like a copy of Fish, if you'd like a copy of Paul's book, head on over to Bluesky and when Wenalyn posts the show note, go over there and repost it and say, I want Paul's book. And the first person to do that will get a copy of the book. Paul, delightful as always. Three times on the podcast, at least. Paul Griffiths: I think this would be number. This would be number four because we had the original episode where Kelly grilled me about life at Painshill. Then we did the Turn the Tables episode when I grilled Kelly on setting up podcasts. And then we did. Then we did the Goodbye to Kelly, whatever it was. 100 episode. And then this. Yeah, four Skip the Queues. Which is always a pleasure and I'm so delighted as you're my favourite podcast, obviously.Paul Marden: It's, oh, you say the nicest things. That must be a record. I need to go back and check that I think four times on the podcast is pretty impressive. Paul Griffiths: I think I should get to add all mine up into one as a total so I can beat Dominic Jones, who's always had the biggest number, isn't he? Paul Marden: So, yeah, so he does and he still does. So, yeah, I think aggregating the number of listens for across all of your episodes, I think that might be within the walls. Let me see what I can do and I'll add everything up and we'll see if you can take Dom's crown. Paul Griffiths: Sorry, Dom. Paul Marden:  Because he's not competitive at all. Paul Griffiths: No, he's not, mate. He's a great guy, though. So, yeah, a friendly rival. Paul Marden: Exactly. Thank you very much, Paul. I would love to keep in touch. Paul Griffiths: Let's keep talking. Paul Marden: I want to hear what happens not just after the first 90 days, but I want to hear what happens in a year's time and two years time. So thank you so much for coming on and telling us about Ras Al-Khaimah and the Heritage Village. It's been lovely. Paul Griffiths: Yeah, thanks for having me. It's great. Been a real pleasure. 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 to find 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 to increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcripts 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

In today's market, it's not just about what you sell—it's about the experience you create. In this episode of Wise Investor Segment, host Matty A. dives into the Experience Economy and reveals why businesses that prioritize customer journeys and unique experiences are the ones making millions. Learn how top brands and real estate investors leverage this powerful strategy to attract loyal customers, increase profits, and stand out from the competition. Whether you're in commercial real estate, entrepreneurship, or investing, this episode will show you how to create value beyond just transactions. Tune in now to discover how crafting unforgettable experiences can be your ultimate wealth-building strategy! Episode Sponsored By: Discover Financial Millionaire Mindcast Shop: Buy the Rich Life Planner and Get the Wealth-Building Bundle for FREE! Visit: https://shop.millionairemindcast.com/ CRE MASTERMIND: Visit myfirst50k.com and submit your application to join! FREE CRE Crash Course: Text “FREE” to 844-447-1555  

This UXDA Podcast episode highlights the shift in financial services designs towards building a brand reputation in the Experience economy. In today's digital world, logos or traditional marketing tactics no longer define financial brands. Instead, reputation is built through relevance, emotional connection, and exceptional experiences. The rise of digital has created a new paradigm where economic value is shaped by experience, not just transactions. This episode explores the shift from the traditional 4P marketing model to a purpose-driven strategy that prioritizes people, process, platform, and sustainability—key pillars of success in the Experience economy. The episode also covers the growing importance of human-centered sustainability—focusing on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors—and why unique, personalized experiences are now critical for financial brands to stand out.Find out:How digitalization has reshaped financial services and customer expectationsThe impact of the experience economy on financial services design and brand reputationWhy sustainability and ethical practices are essential for long-term successRead the full article on UXDA's blog: https://www.theuxda.com/blog/use-ux-approach-adapt-digital-strategy-experience-economyListen now and future-proof your financial brand!* AI podcast on UXDA article powered by Google NotebookLM

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 SkiptheQueue.fm.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  or Bluesky for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcast.Competition ends on 13th March 2025. The winner will be contacted via Bluesky. Show references: Website: https://www.crowdconvert.co.uk/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/crowd-convert/Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/crowdconvert.co.ukCrowd Convert has been created to provide attractions with the tools and expertise to create world class digital interactions that extend their incredibly moving physical experiences into the digital world. Very simply Crowd Convert is here to Rehmanise Commerce http://kellymolson.co.uk/Kelly Molson - The Lifestyle Agency AdvisorSupporting overwhelmed solo founders who crave long-term sustainable growth, through monthly advisory. Define your niche. Generate leads. Build your pipeline. Founding Rubber Cheese, a lifestyle web development agency in 2003, she grew the agency profitably for over 20 years transforming our success in 2019 by establishing it as the leading web design agency in the visitor attraction sector. She sold the business in 2024, and now support founders building specialist lifestyle agencies to find their own path – agency growth on their terms.• Gain clarity on direction, mission and positioning to win the right clients• Become confident in increasing prices and saying no to ‘stuff' that sucks time and energy• Feel the excitement of building strategic partnerships that deliver your dream clientsBuild an agency on your terms, choosing profitability over pressure, putting life before work.  Transcription: Kelly Molson: Well, look who is back. They've let me loose with the microphone again. I might never leave. Paul Marden: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in and working with visitor attractions. Kelly Molson: Can I just say that you pretty much called me a queen just before we began recording this, and I think I wear that crown appropriately today. Andy Povey: Podcast royalty. Kelly Molson: She is back where she belongs in her rightful place on her throne with her microphone. Wow. Thank you. You two have been cooking up something interesting, and I am back here to tease it out of you both today. But because I am in charge again, I get to do things my way, which means Icebreakers are back on the cards. Yay. Kelly Molson: I'm so happy to be back here doing this. Right? Paul Marden: I've never done one of these. This is so. In all of the time. I know. Andy Povey: So I've got something over you now, Paul. Kelly Molson: I can't believe this. Even when we did the sessions that were us two, the episodes that were us two. Paul Marden: You didn't ask me icebreakers. I am dodged that bullet for two and a half years. Kelly Molson:  That's outrageous. Okay, well, then we'll start with you. I would like to know who's your favourite podcast host? Why is it me? Paul Marden: Wow. Kelly Molson:  No. Genuine question. Genuine question. Okay, so, I mean, obviously it is me. We could put that aside. Paul Marden: Yeah, yeah. So put a pin in that one. Kelly Molson: Put a pin in that. So listen there, I have seen in the last. Well, since we started Skip the Queue back in 2019. Goodness, July 2019, there's been lots of different sector podcasts that have kind of popped up, and they are brilliant. And I'm all for more and more niche podcasts. They are the best kind of podcast. But I want to know, aside from Skip the Queue, what is your second favourite sector podcast? Paul Marden: Oh, oh. Attraction Pros is the one for me. I do like listening to the guys at AttractionPros. Kelly Molson: They are good. They were around before Skip the Queue. So they're like. For me, they're the ones that we are looking up to in terms of the podcast. Paul Marden: We were. Kelly Molson: Oh, oh, Podcast Beef. Josh is gonna hear this. He's not going to be happy. Andy, same question to you. What other podcasts you listen to sector wise? Andy Povey: So, I mean, that's a really difficult question because. Well, it's not. The answer's none. I don't listen to sector podcasts very much. I become a politics junkie, or I've been a politics junkie for years. Kelly Molson: Okay.Andy Povey: So my podcasts are just full of politics podcast, which in the past two weeks I've stopped listening to. I've turned off completely because the world of politics is just such a mess.Kelly Molson: It's a car crash.Andy Povey: Within two minutes of having been published. Kelly Molson: What would be normally your go to, like, the regular one that you would listen to? Andy Povey: Me being a reluctant remainer. It's all the stuff that hangs over from that. So there's. Oh, God, what now? Quiet riot. The two. Alistair Campbell and Rory Stewart. I can't remember what that one's called right now. Paul Marden: The rest is politics. Kelly Molson: Rest is politics. Yeah, cool. Paul Marden: What about the one with Ed Balls and George Osborne? Andy Povey: I tried it and haven't really got into it. Paul Marden: Yeah. So I'm the opposite way around. So that's the one I like. And I don't like Rest is politics. And I turned out that actually George Osborne is a human being and I quite like the guy. I'd go for a drink with him. Who knew? Kelly Molson: This is no news. Paul Marden: Yeah. Kelly Molson: I wonder if he'd like to go for a drink with you. Paul Marden: Probably no.Andy Povey: I'm sure he'll be delighted to hear that when he listens to this. Paul Marden: When these politicians, when they give up their day job and they return to normal life and then you hear them on programmes, they're actually quite relatable and you think, why could you not capture that relatability when you were actually doing the job? Andy Povey: Well, it's actually a key part of the job, isn't it? It's the only thing you need to be good at as a politician. Kelly Molson: You would think, “Oh, could I could make a good politician then?” I'm just generally nice to people. Andy Povey: Absolutely. What would be your policies, Kelly? What would you do? What would you bring in? Kelly Molson: Oh, new policies. Oh, well, that's a very good question. I have one about mobile phones and people walking and looking at them at the same time, which I would ban because I generally just want to kick people. Kelly Molson: You know when you, like on the tube and you've got to get somewhere and you've just got people walking up the stairs in front of you, like, whilst looking at their phone, like, I want to swipe their legs away. So something around that they would be useful. It would make me happy anyway. Andy Povey: Absolutely. Kelly Molson: Make some other people happy, too. Who knows? Good. Okay. Glad that went there. Second question. This is a good one. It's coming up to. Well, I mean, it's already started, isn't it? Conference season has kicked in well and truly. You're at NFAN. That's really the start of it. I am going to be at the Association for Cultural Enterprise Conference in March. So looking forward to seeing everybody. I'm going to be at the awards do as well. I've been judging the awards. Paul Marden: Have you really? Kelly Molson: Yes, there was a lot in my category, I'm not going to lie. That took a lot longer than I was expecting it, but it was really fun. And the short list of finalists is out now if you haven't seen it. And it's an amazing list. So yeah, I'm really looking forward to seeing who the winners are. But I would like to know what is the worst food you've ever been served at a conference? Because let's face it, can be a bit dodge, can't it? Andy Povey: So this sticks in my mind. It was an awful experience. We were at Port Sunlight up in. Actually not that far from Liverpool where the ACE conference is going to be in March. And it was pretty close, pretty soon after lockdown and it was almost like the caterers just looked in the freezer to see what they've got left over and no other conference had been there and then just put it all out at the same time. And it was all beige and it was just such mixture. Kelly Molson: Hang on a minute, hang on a minute. Let's not dis beige food because I'm not gonna let. I am a bit of a fan of beige food. So if you. If there was a conference that basically the lunch was made up of like kids party food, that would be the best conference I'd ever been to. Like sausage rames. Andy Povey: As long as you can have half a grapefruit covered in tin foil with cocktail sticks with cheese and pineapple stuff in it. Kelly Molson: No pineapple, I'm allergic, that would kill me. Paul Marden: But cheese tinned pineapple, it's got to be. Kelly Molson: Oh, tin pineapple is actually okay. Weirdly, that wouldn't kill me. So yeah, I would be down. I know, it's weird, I know. It's just fresh pineapple. Who knew?Kelly Molson: So little classed. Paul Marden:  Still loves the sausage roll and a scotch egg. Andy Povey: That's fine. Sausage rolls and scotch eggs, absolutely no problem. It's when you mix them with onion barges and samosas and Chinese spring rolls and. Paul Marden: Sounds like every Boxing Day lunch I've ever been to. Kelly Molson: I'm not going to lie, it actually sounds like my dream conference. Paul, over to you. Paul Marden: Conferences that serve you food that you cannot eat with one hand. Andy Povey: Yes. Paul Marden: Yeah. So pasta with a sloppy sauce. Why would you do that to me? I mean, I am not the best eater. I need a bib at most times, but if I'm out in public, I don't want garlic bread, I don't want saucy food. I want stuff I can shovel crack quickly and politely. I mean, as politely as you can shuffle food, but, you know.Kelly Molson: I'm with you on this. Like, what is wrong with the sandwich? Yeah, genuinely, I don't feel like we need to push the boundaries of conference food. I'm happy with stuff that you can pick up with one hand and eat comfortably. Kelly Molson: Stuff that, you know, you're confident that you can sit because let's face it, you get quite upright cos. And personal to people at conferences, don't you, when you're trying to, you know, it's not. Let's not be overloading them with garlic or anything. Kelly Molson: Delightful, you know? Yep, exactly. I don't know, I still, I keep going back to the whole party food. I think kids parties have got the right idea. Party rings, sausage rolls, scotch eggs. Paul Marden: And what sits that you can put in your mouth like a walrus. Kelly Molson: Oh, you know my party tricks. Brilliant, guys. Okay, listen, unpopular opinions are back for one time only. So, Andy, what you've got for me? Andy Povey: So mine's food related and it's probably more unpopular in my house than it is anywhere else, but Chinese food is massively overrated. Paul Marden: Behave. Kelly Molson: Yeah, I'm very on the fence about this one. Andy Povey: My kids love it, but the things they love are all the stuff that come with the sugar sauces. So lemon chicken, the sweet and sour chicken balls, all that kind of stuff. We good? So we mean, I don't need dessert and the main meal at the same time. Paul Marden: So we're talking English approximations of Chinese food from the takeaway. Yeah.Andy Povey: Nothing very sophisticated. Kelly Molson: I'm afraid I feel like that is all the stuff that I used to like, but now if you served me up a big plate of all of that stuff, it'd be like, oh, God, I'm gonna, I'm this. I'm gonna really struggle with this and I'm gonna be up in the night, aren't I? Paul Marden: I'm basically just a nine year old. Because it sounds like my idea of heaven. Sweet and sickly, deep fried. What's not to love? Kelly Molson: All right, well, let's see how our listeners feel about the whole Chinese debate. Paul, what about you? What you got? Paul Marden: The best radio station, is in fact Radio 4. Andy Povey: I agree with you 100%. Paul Marden: So that's not a controversial opinion. I thought that was going to be massively controversial. They've been podcasting for about 100 years. They podcasted long before there was really a podcast. It's all just spoken voice. So if I got trapped on a desert island, my luxury would be a Radio 4 on a radio to listen to because there's always a variety of stuff that you can listen to. Kelly Molson: Do you not listen to any of the other? Paul Marden: I do quite like. I quite like Greg James in the morning. Kelly Molson: I love Greg. I am a Radio 1 fan. Paul Marden: So have you listened to Greg on Radio 4? Kelly Molson: No, I know he does do that. Paul Marden: But, yeah, he's got a program on Radio 4 where he delves through the BBC archives. Rewinder, it's called, and it's brilliant. I love it. It's Greg James. Funny, combined with the novelty of listening to new things on Radio 4. Kelly Molson: Okay, all right, well, I'll give that a go. Yeah. I'm not fully sold on the Radio 4. I do like it. Paul Marden: But if I've got three or four hours in the car, up to a meeting and then another three or four hours to drive back afterwards, I'd rather listen to Radio 4 than Radio 1 because I won't get repeats of stuff. Kelly Molson: Yeah, I definitely am with you on that. And I would not. Yeah, I would not listen to Radio 1 for that length of time for that reason. Well, I'm. I did used to like. What was the pop quiz? Was that on Radio four? No, that was radio. Paul Marden: That was Radio 2. Kelly Molson: It was two, wasn't it? Sorry, I'm getting my radios mixed up. Paul Marden: Getting your old person radio mixed up. Kelly Molson: If I'm honest, I quite like a little bit of magic every now and again, but that really does age me. It's quite gentle. It's calming. When you've had a three and a half year old toddler screaming at you in the car for a while, it's quite nice to put something neutral on. Andy Povey: Absolutely. Kelly Molson: Thank you. Thank you for indulging, actually. Paul Marden: That was enjoyable. Kelly Molson: You're welcome. Andy Povey: That's why she likes doing them. Kelly Molson: All right, listen, let's get to the good stuff. I mean, everyone likes that bit. Let's face it, they've missed it, they want me back. But let's get to the actual route of why we're supposed to be here. Andy Povey: So I have another unpopular opinion that sort of leads in as a segue to where we were going. Kelly Molson: Oh, for God's sake, who's in control of this podcast? Me. Go on, then. Andy Povey: So this unpopular opinion is that if you're an attraction operator, you don't want a ticketing system. Kelly Molson: Excellent segue. Andy Povey: We were just talking about conferences. There are sessions in conferences and one of my favourite conferences I go to is the Ticketing Professionals Conference. But there are sections in each of these conferences on how to find a ticketing system, how to choose your ticketing system supplier, how to get a better relationship with your ticketing system. And in my opinion, an attraction operator doesn't want one. They want happy guests who are giving them lots of money to come and have great experiences. They don't care how it happens. Kelly Molson: It's true. Yeah, yeah, I agree with that, definitely. But are you dissing ticketing professionals and saying basically the sessions you're putting on a rubbish no one gives them? Andy Povey: No, no, no. There's a certain section of society that really enjoys it. So I describe this as. When I go to B and Q to look for a drill, I'm one of the geeks that actually wants to understand how the drill works and how fast it is and all that kind of stuff. But the majority of people going to buy a drill don't want a drill. They want a hole. Kelly Molson: Want a hole. Andy Povey: Yeah. So he's an attraction operator. You don't want a ticketing system. You want happy customers who are giving you lots of money and having great experiences. Kelly Molson: Okay, right. So that was a great segue into where I was going. Look, you two, you two have been thick as thieves for a good few months, if not longer, and there's been something cooking up between the two of you. Kelly Molson: I have had a little bit of privy to understand what's been going on, but this is the first time that you've actually got to the point of talking about it openly and publicly, isn't it? And that why you've got me back on, basically, is to grill you on what you're doing. So spill up, fess up. What have you been doing in the background, the two of you? Paul Marden: Well, this all came about after a lunch that Andy and I had in August of last year, where were putting the world to rights and figuring out what do attractions need to do with their ticketing, what do they need to do with their websites, and what could we do to try to improve things? And Andy had thought lots about this stuff and he prepared me. It's quite the lunch. He prepared me a PowerPoint presentation for lunch. Kelly Molson: Wow. Like when you want your mum and dad to get you a dog. Andy Povey: Absolutely. Can we make this happen? Paul Marden: Yeah, it was. It was his wish list. Clearly, this PowerPoint has been worked on for many years because there was lots of wishes, lots of ideas, and being the developer at heart that I am, I'm like, how hard can that be? It's only a website. Surely we can do this. Surely we can do it. We've done bits of it before and we started to think about where we could go with stuff that had long predates me. Yeah. There are elements of Rubber Cheese that you and Wag were working on for years, probably prior to the merger with Carbon Six. But it's been a really challenging market. Paul Marden: And getting out there and meeting people and talking about some of these elements of E commerce and ticketing, sales and personalisation and things like that we're going to talk about in a minute are quite hard to sell into people when it's a challenging market. And it seemed like, well, that was our first date and we thought that it could be a marriage made in heaven for the two of us, because Andy's got a lot of understanding of the sector and the needs and the challenges and who would benefit from this sort of technology. And I'm in the lucky position after having merged Carbon Six and Rubber Cheese, of having some of this technology that we could then develop. So it was a seed that grew from there, really, wasn't it, Andy? Andy Povey: Yeah. And he's carried on growing. I mean, the intent behind it all was that everything is just so disjointed at the moment. So if you're a big theme park with accommodation and a decent retail and decent catering, food and beverage offering, you're looking at seven or eight different systems that you need to run your business and someone needs to plug all of those together to get a good guest experience. And unless you're the size of Merlin or Disney or Universal, with lots and lots of resource to apply to plugging these systems together, it just doesn't happen. Which is why we're still not delivering the Best in class Omni Channel experience to people who are coming out for a day out. Kelly Molson: I think this is a really exciting conversation. And if I think back to some of the conversations that we were having prior to me leaving Rubber Cheese, Paul,it's exactly the challenge that they were having. You know, thinking back to a particular pitch where there's a historic house, there was a plague playground, there was a golf course, there was a spa, there was a hotel, there was something else. And all of these things had so many different systems that were running them and there wasn't really a way to facilitate bringing them all together. And that's the challenge because that's exactly what they need. But they weren't of the scale to be able to invest in the infrastructure to be able to do that. But it is exactly what they needed. Kelly Molson: So is this thing that you've built, or in the process of building and developing, going to solve that problem for people? Andy Povey: That's the objective. Paul Marden: That was a very guarded statement, wasn't it? That was a politician's answer. I think the answer that were just groping for then was yes. Kelly Molson: Yes, it is.Andy Povey: Yes. Kelly Molson: It's exactly the answer that I wanted. Andy Povey: We're forming a company that we're calling Crowd Convert and we'll put a link to the URL and website and all that kind of stuff in the show notes. And the objective behind CrowdConvert is that we will make this all work together. It's a journey. We don't have it today. It doesn't exist. I worked for Merlin Entertainment for the two source group for 18 years now. We had lots of resource in comparison to smaller attractions, but we still didn't make it happen. So it doesn't exist out there at the moment and we're going to build it. Kelly Molson: Okay, so we've got Andy, we've got an industry veteran. Hope you don't mind me. Andy Povey: Not at all. Kelly Molson: Kind of makes you feel, it makes you feel ancient, but you're not. But, you know, you've got all of this historic understanding and experience within the sector. Paul, yours is building, obviously we've built that over the years with Rubber Cheese. But you're, you know, you're the digital specialist that can come in and support facilitating building these and you've both come together under the Crowd Convert name. So this is the new company that the two of you have formed. I love the name. Andy Povey: Thank you. Kelly Molson: So I want to understand, like how then there's a story there. What I want to get a little bit of a deeper understanding is what is the offer? So, you know, what is the thing that you are actually building and does that thing have a name at the moment? What does it look like? So firstly, where did the name come from? Crowd Convert. Paul Marden: Weeks and weeks of effort. I hate choosing names for things, so hard. You come up with a brilliant idea and then you say it to your wife, “Oh my God, you can't call it that”. Or you come up with a name and then somebody's bought the domain name and by the end of It I was just like, please, somebody just put me out of my misery. I don't care what we choose. Andy Povey: It was actually the most torturous thing about getting this all together. There were a few others that came in very close second. But choosing the name and getting that together was really quite painful. Paul Marden: But it was the right process because we were so happy with the result at the end of it. Andy Povey: Absolutely. But it seems or it felt to me like the choosing the name, when we actually got to that part of the process took two or three minutes. And if we'd have thought of that name right at the start, then would we have rejected it or would we have carried on? Could we have saved two minutes? Kelly Molson: So you worked through the process, which means the name has more meaning. Paul Marden: Yeah. Kelly Molson: So what is the meaning behind it? What's the ethos behind between Crowd Convert? Like what? Andy Povey: So we've reverse engineered this one a little bit. And if you're in the world of attractions, you have a crowd. You hopefully you have a crowd. And as a visitor to an attraction, you want to be part of a crowd. You don't want to be the last person in the pub or the only person in theatre, because that just feels weird. But as an attraction operator, I want to have a relationship with you. I want to know who you are, I want to know what you want. I want to give you a great experience. I want to give you a membership. If I'm a charitable organisation, I want to convert you to a donor. If I'm not, then I want to turn you into an advocate at a superfan. Andy Povey: So Crowd Convert is giving you the tools to convert those crowds into individuals that you can create that know, like and trust relationship with. Kelly Molson: That's nice. So you talk a lot on the website about kind of humanising that process. And I think it is. It's taking it back to that kind of one on one that talking to people as individuals rather than talking to them as a mass. Andy Povey: Absolutely. That goes back to the. You don't want a ticketing system. Don't show me what goes in the sausage. Give me a great experience. Paul Marden: Mixing your metaphors there. Andy Povey: I know. Kelly Molson: You lost me at sausage. So, sorry. So I want to go back a little bit, Paul, to what you. Something that you said earlier about that this predates you and your part that you play in Rubber Cheese and your ownership of Rubber Cheese. So I'm going to make an assumption here that something that you're using is something that we already kind of started, but quite a long time ago. So we had almost like a product at Rubber Cheese that was in the ticketing space. And if I'm honest, as a small agency, you only have so much resource to work on things that are for you and ultimately the things that were for us and for you, like the podcast and the survey and the report, always took priority. Kelly Molson: And that was an awful lot of work for an agency that was, you know, before we merged, there were six or seven of us. You know, we weren't huge. We didn't have a whole lot of capacity and resources to give up to these things. But we did start to develop a product that kind of. We knew that it could be good, but it almost. We just, we had to shelve it and we just said, you know, one day we might get investment or one day we might be big enough that we could actually kind of focus on that. It feels like that's the product that you are now. Paul Marden: That is definitely the great grandparent of the idea that we've got now. Kelly Molson: I like that. Paul Marden: So there's, I guess there's two parts to some of the stuff that you had developed previously. Some of it was in the ticketing space. So for very small attractions, you developed a system that had an inventory of tickets that you could buy online and it would issue the ticket, create a barcode, send it to them. But there was also a piece that you did that integrated with existing ticketing systems. And that's the area where I think my mind was going is around building a best in class e commerce experience. Because people sat on the sofa on a Thursday night trying to decide what they're going to do at the weekend, want to be able to find an attraction, get their tickets, and then carry on watching the telly. They want quick and easy experience. We can build that experience. Paul Marden: We know from the survey that it's nine steps on average to be able to complete an attractions checkout, plus or minus a couple of steps. So there's ones that are even worse. And that checkout experience is torturous in many cases. They want to know when you're coming, what time you're coming, what type of ticket you want to buy. They want to know who's coming, the names, possibly the email addresses of all of your guests that you're bringing with you. They'll want to know what your home address is, what your billing address is. They'll then want to sell you a guidebook. They might upsell or cross sell some other products along the way. And that's how you end up with 12 steps in a process that just feels torturous. Paul Marden: I had one last year where they even made me enter a password for a site I was never going to return to and told me off twice for getting the password wrong. I mean, the process that many attractions go through to make you buy, it's a wonder anybody ever perseveres. What's stopping us from achieving an Amazon like one or two click experience? How can we go from that really extreme version down to something really simple and quick? And we've proven that it is possible to do that. It's possible to get down to a couple of clicks and we do that. I know you look surprised. Kelly Molson: Yeah, well, yes, I, well, I am surprised, but also quite excited by that because that is one of the issues that has come up year after year in the visitor attraction, you know, website report is the amount of steps and the aggravation it causes people, but also the cost that it could save attractions. Paul Marden: Yep. Kelly Molson: I mean you said nine steps. I thought were, I thought were aboutbbetween seven and nine steps is about the average. Kelly Molson: Right. So we know that can cost attractions a huge amount in lost revenue. You know, I'm just going back to the 2022 report, but it was something like 250k for one of our best performing attractions. But it's also tied to, you know, that excessive amounts of CO2 emissions, which I know you focused on really heavily for the current report. So you're saying that the product that you're building could essentially take those average steps down to two. Andy Povey: It's not good. It does. Kelly Molson: WowPaul Marden: It does. Yeah. So the way that we do that is a number of different core principles. Yeah. So we are not going to ask you for anything we do not need in order to affect the transaction. We are only going to ask you to share the data we absolutely need to complete the transaction. We are going to start to make some assumptions about you through personalisation technology. We will know roughly where you are and how far you are away from the transaction. If you're within an hour's distance of the place, chances are if you're looking on Thursday night, probably looking for this weekend. If you're on a different continent, you might be planning for a long term holiday. Paul Marden: If we know that you're quite local, let's assume the date that you want to travel based on our understanding of average behaviour of people at that particular attraction and then let people change it if it's not right. Yeah. Another thing Andy talks about a lot is not overselling. So a lot of ticketing systems are trying to upsell, cross sell and increase the average order value, but by cannibalising the conversion rate. And you talk, Andy, don't you, about the maitre d at the restaurant? Andy Povey: Yeah. So it's. It's like comparing a McDonald's experience to go to a fine dining place. So if I'm in the McDonald's world, I have to choose what drink I want, what dessert I'm going to have, what main course I'm going to have, all at the same point. And it's a really artificial transaction. It's almost like if you were walking into a fine dining restaurant with the maitre d at the front going, “Welcome, Andy, come in. Lovely to see you. Can you tell me what you'd like for your starter for your main course? For dessert? Will you like coffee after dessert? Would you like a liqueur after the coffee?” We still haven't got to the table and that's where we are with attractions, upsells. Andy Povey: Because we believe mistakenly, in my opinion, that's the only opportunity that we've got to sell guidebook or the teddy bear or whatever to the guest who's coming. We should stop all of that because it's stopping the transaction, it's interrupting the transaction, adding extra steps and causing people to leave. Kelly Molson: It's a really good point. I mean, I actually have in the past have advocated for adding in upsells in that journey. And because I have often been like, well, yeah, actually it's a really good opportunity for people to sell a little bit more, you know, whether it's a guidebook, whether it's an experience, whatever that might be. So what would you say to people who they still want to do that? Is that, are we then talking about, you know, there's options for you to do that or actually that becomes part of the pre visit, pre boarding. So it funnels down into like emails, comms and stuff. Andy Povey: It's both options, really. For an upsell to work really well, it needs to be at the time where it's most appropriate. So back to the restaurant analogy, offering me a coffee at the point I walk in the door is completely inappropriate. Andy Povey: Offering me a coffee after I've had a great meal and I'm feeling quite full and quite happy with myself is entirely the appropriate time to offer me the coffee. So let's make the offers on the upsells appropriate to the time and to the guest. So if you're an attraction that charges for car parking, for example, it might be that 9:00 in the morning on the day of visit when the family are just getting in the car to travel to the venue is the most appropriate time to offer the car parking upsell. Not at the point where I'm buying the ticket. It might be if you've got a VIP upgrade experience. So if you're a water park there's a cabana you can have. If you're a theme park it's a fast track experience. Andy Povey: If you're a museum then there's a guided Tour that upsell VIP type experience you offer 48 hours before the day of visit. Kelly Molson: Sure. Andy Povey: Memberships are another great thing. So there's still the majority of first time membership purchases are made as the consumer is leaving the attraction. Had a great day out. Get today's entry feedback against your membership and that's still go and join this queue with kids who are overtired and a little bit disappointed because they're leaving and I'm stressed because I've got a. I'm tired as well and I've got a long drive home and then I've got to work out what we're going to do for dinner when we get in. There's all these negatives. Don't try and sell me a membership then. Sell me the membership for the next seven days and hit me up with lots of different messages through appropriate channels. Andy Povey: So it might be that a WhatsApp message on the way home offering me a really simple way of upgrading to a membership is the most appropriate that time. But it might be that 9 o'clock on Monday morning when we can assume that a lot of people are going to be sitting behind a desk. Then it's the most appropriate to send me an email and then hit me up again Thursday when I'm thinking about what I'm going to be doing next this weekend coming remind me of the great experience I had and give me an opportunity then. So just be, make it much more human. Kelly Molson: It makes sense. And there's something that you. I've been able to have a sneak peek of the Crowd Convert website. So we'll talk a little bit later about where people can find out a little bit more about you. But I've been able to have a little look at that and there's something that you talk about which is about rehumanising commerce and there's a really lovely story on there that you talk about, which is the Shopkeeper's Wisdom. And I read that, I was like, this is really nice because I've always. The local shop is or did sit at the epicentre of the community at one point. And I have got really vivid memories. So we lived on a little estate near my school in Essex and across the road from us was the corner shop. Kelly Molson: And it was where everything happened, you know, like it was the post office, it was where you got your papers, where you got your sweets. At one point is where you got your videos, not your DVDs because they did not exist. You know, you got your VHS cassettes and you could go and rent, you know, everything kind of happened there. And they knew you, they knew your family, they knew your mum and dad, they knew your names, you know, and it was a really, it was just quite a wholesome experience. And you talk about that, the Shopkeeper's Wisdom. So you say, you know, the local shopkeeper knew everything that it was to know about their customers. And that is kind of taking it back to that level. That's, that's what this feels like. Andy Povey: And that's completely where we're trying to get to. We don't want to get to the level of creepiness where people are getting all upset about what were. Andy Povey: And we don't want to be intrusive. But we have a great opportunity in the attraction space. Our customers want to engage with us. They're going because they enjoy what we do. They're going to see us because they want to experience the thing that we're doing. It's not like we're selling insurance or car tires that you just got to have and it's really tedious. People want to engage, so let's make it easy for them to do that. Kelly Molson: Okay. So we're doing that by making it quicker for them and less friction to buy a ticket in the first place. Communicating with them at the appropriate times and in the ways that they want to be communicated to and offering them. Because we don't want to stop offering people extra things. We're doing it in the way and at the time that's appropriate for that audience. Paul Marden: We're absolutely convinced that moving some of these upsells and cross sell opportunities to later in your relationship will increase the likelihood of you closing the deal. Don't cannibalise the conversion rate at the initial conversation. You haven't built a trust relationship with someone, so don't keep throwing options at them. It's just too much. I'm a simple boy. If I go to a restaurant, I want a really simple menu, three or four things, and I'll make a choice. Yeah. If you give me too many options, I'll just sit there and I won't be able to decide. And I think that's what we do when we present people with nine steps and we want to know the email address of everybody, we want to know the postcode of where they live because we want to be able to market to them and that's important. Paul Marden: But there are other better ways of being able to identify where somebody is other than using their postcode and making them type something in. They don't need that hassle. Andy Povey: So this is all about the e commerce journey. Stepping back a little bit closer to what Rubber Cheese do. And the DNA behind Rubber Cheese is making attractions websites work really well. And it's back to the point about things being disconnected and attraction operators having to plug them together. How many websites are there or how many attraction e commerce journeys are there where you click on the button to buy a ticket and you're taken to a different page and that different page can have a completely different look and feel? Kelly Molson: Oh, yeah. I mean, that's a massive bug. It's been a bugbear of mine for years. Andy Povey: But how many websites do you have where I can be sitting there looking at the tulip experiences coming up? We heard lots of that kind of stuff at the end fan conference. I'm on the tulips page. But then you take me to a page where I've got to pick the date that I want to visit. I've already told you, I'm on the tulip page. I want to come and see tulips. I'm not interested in Father Christmas. Kelly Molson: I'm just all about the tulips. Andy Povey: So don't make me choose twice. Make it work together. Kelly Molson: Okay, So I want to play devil's advocate here because I'm sitting here listening to this going, this sounds great. I'm going back to what Andy said about, you know, attractions, they don't really want a ticketing system. They just. They don't really care about the system. They just want it to work. Right, I get that. But there's going to be a lot of people that are listening to this podcast going, “bloody ticketing system”. There's a lot, right? Let's face it. Paul Marden: It's a busy space. Kelly Molson: You are. It is a busy space. And if you are an attraction sitting here going,”Oh my God, another one.” We know that another one. You know that we know what we've got isn't working for us. We've, we've got workarounds, we're doing what we can with what we already have. But you know, ultimately we can't grow with what we have and we know we need to change it. This is a big task, right? You know, your ticketing system is often embedded so deeply into your organisation that the process of selecting a new one and then implementing that change is so vast and overwhelming that one people declare we just won't bother. That's why I've got these workarounds in place or two, you know, overwhelmed with choice. And yes, I know there's specialists out there. Kelly Molson: You know, we work with a couple that will help you go through that process and select the right partners for you. But if someone like me is sitting here going, “Okay, why do I come to Crowd Convert?” Like, why is this, what is it the thing that your product is going to be stand out for that is going to sit above or is going to solve the problems I've got above all of the other options that I've got out there? Andy Povey: So this is back to the comment earlier about this being a concept, an ethos of philosophy. Our business will grow through either building solutions, acquiring other solutions that have already been built, or selecting partners to integrate with. And we will do the whole integration. So it doesn't matter what ticketing system you're using that you have today, if you want the better digital experience for your guests, we will integrate to your current ticketing system. Kelly Molson: Okay, so you're taking the pain of having to change something that's deeply embedded in your organisation and almost putting something, a layer on top of that will actually facilitate this better customer interaction, purchasing process without the need for all of the stressful change. Paul Marden: Do away with the whole monolithic solution that solves the operation of the entire business and start to turn it into LEGO bricks. I want a LEGO brick from a website. I want a LEGO brick for my ticketing. I want my LEGO brick for my e commerce experience. I want my LEGO brick for my online shop. We'll either build or acquire those LEGO bricks or partner with the best of breed LEGO bricks that exist. Other building blocks are available and we will help to plug those together and make them work effectively. But you can imagine, you know, I always talk about, we talked a lot about ticketing today, but I, whenever I talk to somebody about ticketing, changing your ticketing system is like open heart surgery on the business. Paul Marden: Yeah, it's something you don't necessarily do casually, although I have met people who have changed it casually. But it's often so difficult because it's so deeply ingrained across the entire operation. But if you start to. It's a horrible, boring technical term. If you start to build this composable set of systems that can plug together, then it becomes easier. If you plug in an e commerce online ticketing solution and it plugs into your current ticketing system, well then later on when you change that ticketing system, you won't necessarily have to change the online experience in order to be able to do that. Yeah, we'll be able to plug into the new one that you choose. It makes it easier for you to chop and change things and become less dependent on one single monolithic provider. Kelly Molson: Yeah, because that's the thing. Right. You know, I think the past dream has been one system that does everything and suddenly that one system goes down and you're absolutely screwed. Andy Povey: That's not the way the world works anymore. And the human world. I use analogy of a TV. I got a new TV a few weeks ago out of the box and turned it on and I was presented on screen with an option to get the remote control for my new TV to operate other devices in my house. And my kids could have set it up. Kelly Molson: Danger.Andy Povey: Absolutely. Why is integration so difficult? And that's the way the world is going. If you look at credit card processing two, three years ago, to be able to accept a payment by credit card, you had to sign into a five year agreement with a credit card process provider. I was in my local WIX yesterday and I could have bought credit card terminal off the shelf. Andy Povey: They were sitting on the shelf next to the suites at the checkout. For 50 quid I could have taken it home, unboxed it and I would be processing credit card transactions there and then. I'm not signing into a three year agreement. If I don't like it, I can take it back and get one in pink because I prefer pink to white. It's got to be much easier. The world is becoming much easier. The technology world is becoming much easier to make these things work together. So you won't need clever people like Paul to make it all work together. Crowd convert. Paul Marden: I'll be on the golf course, won't I? Kelly Molson: Do you play golf? Paul Marden: No. Never played golf in my life. Crazy golf. Kelly Molson: I like the analogy. I like the Lego brick analogy. I like this whole kind of the concept that it's, you know, like plug and play but you know, you haven't got. You're using the base of what you already have, but you can pop these things as part of it. That feels really understandable for people to get their head around the concept of what you're doing. Paul Marden: But still totally integrated. What we don't want is the solution that is that somebody, an attraction that we've been to recently, where to get in, you have to go through different turnstiles depending on whether you've got a day ticket or a membership ticket because the two different sets of systems can't talk to the same turnstile at the same time. And so then you need more double the staff to be able to man the turnstiles. Kelly Molson: And confusion, and it ruins that whole first impact of arrival because you don't know yet. Andy Povey: But we're exposing our dirty laundry to the consumer. Why? They don't care. Kelly Molson: Yeah, yeah. Andy Povey: It doesn't matter to them what ticketing system you've got. Paul Marden: That is the vision. And the vision is becoming reality as well. Kelly Molson: Okay, well, let's talk about that. So there is a website that I've had privy to and the product is in its, should we say it's in its infancy at the moment and it's being developed. Paul Marden: Yes. Kelly Molson: So this is the time to that you'll be having, I guess you'll be having conversations with people about what that product, you're almost building it for the people. Right. You're having conversations with them about this is what we see happening. This is how we see what we do. What are your needs? Paul Marden: Yeah. Kelly Molson: Okay, cool. So can people get involved with that process? Paul Marden: Exciting. Andy Povey: Absolutely. Paul Marden: Anyone can talk to Andy. He'll talk to anybody. Kelly Molson: It's true, he will. Paul Marden: I just get locked in a cupboard and told to design things. Andy Povey: Make it work, plug it together. Kelly Molson: Okay, so I've got a few questions about what does this mean for Rubber Cheese? What does this mean for Rubber Cheese? What does this mean for Skip the Queue. What does this mean for the report initiatives that we do? I guess that's all still happening. Paul Marden: Yeah, yeah. Absolutely no changes to Rubber Cheese at all. This is part of a wider, bigger family that Rubber Cheese is part of. And looking at different parts of the attraction operating experience. Paul Marden: Yeah. So Rubber Cheese is going to carry on almost single minded focus on websites that enable people to get to the buy button. Kelly Molson: I like that. Paul Marden: Getting them from being interested in the attraction to hitting that buy now button or get your ticket button. Yeah. That's our specialty and that will remain our specialty. The job of Crowd Convert then is to convert them. Kelly Molson: Pick up from that point. Andy Povey: Absolutely. Kelly Molson: That's lovely, isn't it? Andy Povey: And that's where the build, acquire and partner comes in. So there will be other organisations, other tools that we partner with and plug together. And that's the bit that Crowd Convert does. It's almost the umbrella, the glue that glues all of these things together. Kelly Molson: Okay, so what more do our listeners need to understand about Crowd Convert and how can they get involved? How can they be part of this conversation to define what this product actually looks like and does for them? Andy Povey: So we're launching the website. You can find Paul and me on LinkedIn. We've got a bunch of events and exhibition shows that we're going to be at over the next few months where we're actively going to be asking people to get involved. If you are interested, then pick up the phone and drop us an email. We'll have a chat. Paul Marden: Contact@crowdconvert.co.uk.Kelly Molson: I was going to say we need the domain name in there. Crowdconvert.co.uk is the place to go. Go and have a look, find out, have a little bit of a read through about the site. It's designed in a really nice way. I think that what I really liked as I was reading it through was kind of this real focus on building something for the greater good. It's not just another ticketing platform. It's not just about. It really is about working with the attractions to build something that is just, it just works. And it works for them in the way they need it to and it works for the visitors in the way they need it to. Andy Povey: And that's it completely. It's about putting the guest at the centre of everything we're doing. And looking at this from the consumer's perspective, does it make sense or am I going to have to work out where I bought my tickets? So I know whether I go through the right hand turnstiles or the left hand turnstiles, that's just rubbish. Kelly Molson: Yeah, okay, great. So website is launching.Paul Marden:  It is launched. It's up and running. Kelly Molson: Oh, it's out. It's out there all right. It's out there in the world already. So that's where you go, listeners, if you want to find out more about what's happening. And I would really recommend booking a call with Andy, booking a call with Paul, talking through, you know, if anything that we've talked about today has made you feel quite excited about what the prospect of this product could potentially be. Book a call with them. I mean, listen, if you're seeing Andy at a conference, you just need to up. And you'll find him. Or maybe it's just me.Paul Marden: Me, not so much. Kelly Molson: Oh, it's just me. Okay, listen, I always finish off my podcasts with a book recommendation for our listeners, so I'd like to ask you both if you've prepared a book today. Andy, what do you have for us? Andy Povey: So I pondered this for quite a while because I was expecting it and I think it's the third or fourth you've asked me for. So I'm actually not going to recommend a book at all. I told you that I've given up on podcasts earlier on and I found Audible. So at the moment the thing that's occupying all of my attention is that, The Day of the Triffids on Audible which is fantastic. Fantastic escapism from everything that's going off in the world at the moment. Paul Marden: Interesting. Kelly Molson: That's nice actually. That's really good. But audiobooks are really good for long drives that were talking about earlier. They're quite good. I got into. Sorry, Paul, just. I'll come to you in a minute. Paul Marden: It's all about you. Kelly Molson: It's all about me today. I really got into. Kelly Molson: Just before the pandemic and during it there was a BBC podcast called the Lovecraft. Oh gosh, what is it called? The Lovecraft's Tales. I'm gonna have to have to check this on my.Paul Marden: Sorry, listeners. Well, she's out of practice on this. Kelly Molson: So I am out of practice. Apologies, but you know me. The Lovecraft investigations. Don't know if anyone would listen to it. It's brilliant. It's based on the love. It's loosely based on on Lovecraft books but it was quite like it's about supernatural. But what I really enjoyed about it was linked to like local places that I kind of knew like Retend and Forest and there was a lot of like, kind of like Norfolk, Suffolk and Dunwich and stuff. And that was. They're really good for like long drives as well because you can really get into something on like a two or three hour journey. So I totally with you on the triffids thing. So I did bring it back to Andy in the end. Andy Povey: Thank you, Kelly. Kelly Molson: Paul, what have you prepared? Paul Marden: I am an absolute Fan of classic British crime novels. Love an Agatha Christie. Love, a  mystery of some sort. But I'm not going to recommend an Agatha Christie one. I'm going to recommend one that I've got on Audible as well, that I found originally from Audible. Paul Marden: And it is one of the British Library classic British crime series, where they're republishing stuff from, like, you know, the 20s and 30s, and it's called the Wintringham Mystery Anthony Barclay. It's a classic whodunit in a kind of locker room mystery in a massive stately home. It's just like a Poirot novel, but it's not Poirot. It's a different one. But I love it. It's a brilliant book. Kelly Molson: When you find stuff like that, it's really comforting, isn't it? It's like a little a warm hug and a cup of tea. Andy Povey: Absolutely. Kelly Molson: Lovely. Well, do our listeners still get to win copies of those books even though they're audiobooks? Paul Marden: Yeah, but they don't do it on X anymore because, you know, who wants to be posting on X? So if listeners. If you'd like a copy of Andy's. Well, no, you can't have Andy Lovecraft books but it was quite like it's about supernatural. On Audible or mine. On Audible or on Paperback, then head over to Bluesky and repost the shownotes where Wenalyn has announced the podcast and the first person that does that will get a copy of the book. Kelly Molson: Lovely. Well, it has been an absolute treat to be back on the podcast today. Thank you. Paul Marden: You're not coming back over again? It's still mine. It's mine there. Kelly Molson: Please let me come back. Please. Anything that we've talked about today will, as ever, be in the show notes. So you'll find links to the Crowd Convert website, you'll find links to Paul and Andy's LinkedIn profiles and email addresses, whatever. However, best to get in touch with them. But I highly recommend having a chat with them. Can I just say, because it is all about me. I've been very sad to not be part of the podcast moving forward. But I am also been really thrilled that you have taken completely up to the ownership of it. So I just. While I'm on here, and it is about me, I just wanted to congratulate you for taking over and making it your own, because you really needed to do that. And it's brilliant to see. Kelly Molson: And I've loved listening to the episodes. I think the bravery in doing some of the live ones. Paul Marden: Stupidity. Kelly Molson: Well, maybe a tad. Paul Marden: We won't talk about what happened at NFAN last week. Please let's not talk about that. Andy Povey: What happens in Blackpool stays in Blackpool. Kelly Molson: Next time I come on the podcast, I'm going to make you spill that as a guilty confession. Paul Marden: But you know what? I absolutely loved it. I came back afterwards and I listened to that episode and it's the first one where I've been. I really thoroughly enjoyed listening to the conversation. I'm finding my feelings only taken me a couple of years. Kelly Molson: Well, it only took me a couple of years as well. But you're there now and it's brilliant. So, like one, well done. I genuinely think that you're doing an excellent job and I'm very glad that I got to hand the baton over to you and you're doing it differently. Paul Marden: You can just come back as a guest star. Andy Povey: It was more of a temporary end, wasn't it, than a handover. Paul Marden: It's mine. It's mine. Kelly Molson: I think it was a, "Here you go, dumped on your lap." Paul Marden: Thank you for coming back and talking to us. It's been marvellous. Kelly Molson: Thank you for having me back. I've loved every minute. 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 to find 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 to increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcripts 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

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 SkiptheQueue.fm.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  or Bluesky for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcast.Competition ends on 5th March 2025. The winner will be contacted via Bluesky. Show references: https://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/https://www.linkedin.com/in/zakmensah/Zak Mensah is the co-CEO of Birmingham Museums Trust. He is passionate about helping their service make an impact by focusing on the needs of over 1 million visitors. He is encouraging the organization to adopt a "digital by default" approach. Zak's mission is to ensure that their people, skills, and services remain adaptable to the rapidly changing landscape of the cultural sector. He is exploring new ways of doing things, including innovative business models, partnerships, and arts-related KPIs, while sharing as much as possible publicly.With a background in staff development and digital, Zak has been involved with the web since the late 90s and has seen its influence grow in all aspects of life. Prior to joining the arts sector in 2013, he helped small businesses, charities, Jisc, universities, and the Heritage Lottery Fund "do" digital well.Zak also runs his own consultancy to promote positive change and keep his skills sharp. His goal is to make a ruckus. https://www.vam.ac.uk/https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyakino-wittering/Amy Akino-Wittering is Head of Operations and Commercial at Young V&A, which opened July 2023 and recently won Art Fund Museum of the Year and Kids in Museums, Family Friendly Museum of the Year awardsResponsible for the general management of Young V&A she directly manages the visitor experience and teams, catering contract, volunteering and back of house operations, collaborating closely with central V&A colleagues to deliver operations and income for Young V&A. Previously Amy worked at V&A South Kensington as Senior Visitor Experience Manager-Sales and was on the opening project team leading on visitor experience and retail at Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery.She started her career at Imperial War Museums working across sites from assistant to management roles in Retail and Admissions and systems management.  https://www.hampshireculture.org.uk/​​https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-sapwell-b3b2a281/Paul Sapwell has been Chief Executive at independent arts and culture charity Hampshire Cultural Trust since 2018, having joined the trust in 2016 as Chief Operating Officer following an early career primarily in hospitality and leisure. Paul is a passionate believer in the transformative power that cultural experiences can have on the wellbeing of individuals and communities, and a prominent advocate for the role of commercial growth, underpinned by a flexible, entrepreneurial team culture, in sustaining museum and arts organisations. Transcription: Paul Marden: The museums and culture sector are facing unprecedented headwinds. Static or reducing funding from local government, fewer grants from trusts and foundations, all while dealing with increased people costs. The continued headwinds from cost of living crisis. But this sector continues to deliver more with less and support the cultural life of our country. Paul Marden: Welcome to Skip the Queue. I'm your host, Paul Marden and in today's episode recorded the Science Museum at the Association of Cultural Enterprises View from the Top event. I'm joined by Amy Akino-Wittering, Head of Operations and Commercial at Young V&A. Zak Mensah, Co CEO of Birmingham Museums Trust, and Paul Sapwell, CEO of Hampshire Cultural Trust. Paul Marden: And we're going to talk about how the cultural sector can innovate in order to thrive. Anyone that's listened to the podcast before will know. And this is the nervous bit. Paul Marden: We always start with an icebreaker question which my lovely guests victims have not been prepared for. So, Zak, I'm afraid you go first, my friends. So if you were a cartoon character, which cartoon character would you be? Zak Mensah: That's easy. I think I would be the thing that gets chased by the. Is it the wild Cody who runs around all his home? But I'd be the. What's the little, the stupid Roadrunner. Yeah, so I would be Roadrunner because you constantly are literally running 100 miles an hour and then a giant piano lands on you at 4:00 on a Friday afternoon, but you respawn on the Monday and you start all over again. Pretty much feels like me. Paul Marden: I love that. I love that. Amy, you're next. Let's think of all of the inventions over the last hundred years that were offered. Flying cars, those sorts of things. What is the one thing were promised that you really miss and think we really need in our lives? Amy Akino-Wittering: I think a Time Turner, which is basically from Harry Potter. Basically you can just go and do things like six. They do six days all at once. Paul Marden: You can be Hermione if you've got a Time Turner. Amy Akino-Wittering: Yeah, great. Paul Marden: Excellent. I love that, Amy. Thank you. Paul. Paul Sapwell: You said these were going to be under no pressure. I wouldn't have liked. I wouldn't have liked either of those. Paul Marden: Oh, well, you're not going to like this one then. I'm sorry, mate, I'm, I, I live in Hampshire. Paul runs Hampshire Cultural Trust. Paul. Paul Sapwell:  Oh, even better. Paul Marden: Saints or Pompey? Paul Sapwell:  Oh, blimey. Okay, well that's, I'm an Arsenal fan. Paul Marden: So there we go. Paul Sapwell: I couldn't possibly answer Saints or Pompey? I mean, we border both. So I would just be in so much trouble if I pick one or the other. So I can. I've got to get out. Paul Marden: Are you dodging that one? Paul Sapwell: Yeah. I thought you might watch Arsenal regularly. Paul Marden: I thought you might. So we are going to start with a question from somebody from the audience, a young man named Gordon. Apparently he might be a millennial. And he says, After 15 years of turmoil, financial crash, austerity, Brexit, Covid, we face continuing cost of living issues, rising national insurance and a Trump presidency. Are we doomed in 2025? Or to put it slightly better, what are the biggest risks for your organisation and the wider sector, and what are you each doing to thrive in the year ahead? And I'm going to start with you, Paul. Paul Sapwell: That's an easy question, isn't it? Paul Marden: You can thank young Gordon. Paul Sapwell: Brilliant Gordon, Yeah. I mean, I think 2025 is going to be an incredibly tricky year, but to sort of look further than that. I'm certainly an optimist, but I think we're in a time of transition, particularly in terms of our sector, in the cultural sector, in terms of what's going to fund us and what's going to sustain us going forward. You know, I think the years of the level. I think a lot of the speakers have touched on it, but the years of the level of public sector funding is, whatever happens with this government and next is going to be going down and we just have to face that. I run an organisation which we started out in 2019. We're about 85% publicly funded. Now we're 34% publicly funded with the same turnover, I hasten to add. Paul Sapwell: And so we've made a good go of it, but I think the headwinds this year are really difficult. That said, I think that we have to be confident investing for the longer term and particularly, obviously, in this conference in areas of commercial growth. I think that, okay, the growth projections have been downgraded. I am confident that we will, as the decade continues, move into a period of growth. And we've got to be looking at the long term rather than the short term. The trick is, of course, not running out of money in the short term. And that's a really difficult place to be. Paul Marden: In the water, just here. Paul Sapwell: I don't have an easy answer to that, but I think fundamentally, you've got to give the customer what they want and the customer is still there. Paul Sapwell: And we have a fantastic product. But we've got to certainly pivot much further towards what customers want commercially, in my view, than putting as much emphasis as probably we did 10 years ago on trying to find more and more public funding, because I think that's going down. Paul Marden: Zak, have you got any thoughts on that? Zak Mensah: Yeah, I mean, in terms of money, just generally people want to back winners. So I think one of the difficult things that internally we can all say it's doom and gloom, because it does feel that doom and gloom. There are definitely days, weeks and months. I think it's right to say that it's doom and gloom. Like you can be optimist but still understand it's difficult time. And I think a lot of our, you know, a lot of our workforces certainly feel that, it can feel very difficult because every year they ask, will they have their job? Right. And that's a really fair question to ask. And we sometimes as leaders kind of say, “Oh, if we can get through the next two years, but two years for normal staff are sometimes a very long time to try and say, “You or may have not have a job to make life through.”Zak Mensah: So I think that's something I always think back in back of my mind. I think a lot of the difficulties, whichever flavour of government is about understanding how to be more savvy, about understanding the trends, about things that are fundable. Because there are lots of things that were funded 10, 20 years ago, that money has dried up. And so we've all got to think about, for example, a lot of people now looking at, well, being a speaker this afternoon was talking about more on EDI, for example, and how younger people certainly are interested in having more of a purpose driven business. Is how for us, we can make sure we're focused on the, what I was called, the user need. So the needs that people use us. Zak Mensah: Because if you can concentrate and focus on what they want, whether it be money, otherwise that ultimately does lead to a business model. Because there's no point saying just because museums and galleries have been around for 100 to 200 years, they have an absolute right to exist. The only way they exist is because every decade or whatever there's another crisis comes along and a group of people, including ourselves here, live in this room, but also listening to this make it happen. Like, we've got to convince councillors, government, businesses to be part of that journey. Because the funny thing I will say is that, you know, at Birmingham Museums, the art gallery was founded in 1885 by industry people. It was industry people that founded it. It was industry people who wanted the city to have great arts. Zak Mensah: And so now we're turning back to those same people and saying, "We need you to now step up and contribute." It doesn't always have to be money. It could be in kind support, could be advocacy. That's the kind of thing that we need to do as leaders right now, in addition to the normal making the money work and stretch as far as we can. Paul Marden: Absolutely. Amy, what are you doing at Young V&A to thrive in the year ahead and face some of these challenges? Amy Akino-Wittering: Yeah, absolutely. So we've now been open for just over two years, so I feel kind of, well, coming up to two years. And so I feel we're kind of in that stage where we kind of opened and sort of just try to make sure that we are operationally savvy. And last year was very much about refining that. And I think this year is very much about what's next and how can we build upon kind of success of opening, looking at ways in which we can innovate through doing new kind of commercial opportunities, but also how can we develop our audiences. And as well as part of kind of the wider V&A, we've got two more sites opening as well. Amy Akino-Wittering: So how as an organisation are we going to work together to kind of be in this new family of sites and work together through there? So I think for us in the kind of coming year is all about, what's next? We've opened the door. We started with a really strong foundation and a really strong vision, but then how can we keep on innovating and keep iterating that to improve? Paul Marden: Excellent. I'm going touch on stuff that Lewis talked about a minute ago. One of his reflections I really liked was thinking about how do we create a space for colleagues to engage with some of these really important issues that have been on the PowerPoints. Zak, maybe you could start. What do you think your organisation can do to act as bottom up catalyst for change as opposed to trying to drive these changes from the top down? Zak Mensah: I think the first thing is about understanding that there are a lot of people who do want to be able to voice their hopes and fears around a whole host of subjects, whether it be specifically around, if you're ethnic minority, about your fear of living in the UK, if you have climate, lots of important subjects people want to talk about. You know, I think certainly internally, and I'll be very clear about this, I think there's a very different view sometimes about the difference between internal and the external voice of the organisation. So what we see a lot of is staff individually believe that as a service there are lots of things we could and should be talking about publicly that may or may not directly align with how as a leader we see it. Zak Mensah: So, you know, there are lots of fights we do get into. We can't get into every single fight. And sometimes there's a real fine balance around what we decide to go for. So if you take during Black Lives Matter example, me and Sarah Shropshire started in November 2020, there was an expectation that immediately we would be like the spokesperson for the whole museum sector about black and brown issues. And like, it's really hard to say, actually. I am not speaking on behalf of every single person in the whole country. I do take it seriously and we set up internally ways people to talk about it, but didn't always feel appropriate. Zak Mensah: And I'll give another example is around, for example, war. Any one time there's something like 15 global conflicts happening and, you know, we talk and go backwards and forwards internally sometimes about, you know, do we talk about them publicly? If we talk about them internally, how we talk about them, do we single one out or do we talk about them all? Are they equal? How do you equally talk about things are very horrific for a number of people?Zak Mensah: And knowing that we've got staff from dozens of countries who all have different views on how their homeland or area they're interested in is impacted. Things are very horrific for a number of people. But I do think that there's always. It's always really tricky because the best conversations and the best conversations need care and a lot of the conversations happen in like, pockets that we have no control over. Zak Mensah: And so it's again, how do you set an environment as a leader that is allowing the bottom up to do their own thing, but in a way that isn't going to be detrimental to the whole workforce? Because I think it is. Again, I mentioned it's been. It's really tricky and that's the simple truth. It is no easy answer to these things because if it was easy, we'd all solved it. Yeah. But acknowledging it there, it's the elephant in the room, I think is really important and growing to be more and more important for us as leaders. Paul Marden: I think Lewis was saying it's really important to know where you stand on issues and it is okay for you to have a stance on issues that says, I'm not going to make a stand on this one issue. I thought that was a really interesting perspective. Imy's talk. I think were talking a lot about the journey of Titanic Belfast, which I love as a museum, to go to a museum that emotionally moved me as much with so very few actual artefacts. I just think it's an amazing storytelling experience. But you talked a little bit about the team and what you do to be able to nurture that team. And one of the things that we're talking about is trying to get 110% out of everybody getting to more with less, getting them to innovate. Paul Marden: How do you balance all of those challenges and not break the people and maintain a 98% retention rate like Titanic does? Paul? Paul Sapwell: Well, maintaining a 98 retention rate, I think fairly unprecedented and huge congratulations. I mean, I think it follows on a bit from what Zak was saying, actually. You know, it's tough, isn't it, being leaders in terms of whether you're making that kind of external message or whether you've got a tough internal message. I mean, I've always taken a stance that you've got to be as transparent as you possibly can be and people will go a long way with you if it doesn't appear that things are being taken in a dark room somewhere. And I think for us, what we've tried to do is to put in the mechanisms for that to happen. I've been really fortunate to work with a fantastic people director, Hampshire Cultural Trust. Paul Sapwell: One of the first things, I think you've also got to make a stance, by the way, on people being important. One of the first things I did as CEO was say we need a people director. It's quite rare in the heritage sector. I came from hospitality, it was the norm. It's an odd thing that people and HR doesn't always sit at the top table. Sometimes it's sort of delegated down in operations or even finance. So I think that's really important and we needed a strategy and part of that is putting in place a lot of the stuff that you talked about of the Titanic, which I think is really impressive. And we're somewhere on that journey, but not quite as far along, but proper employee forums where you listen. Paul Sapwell: I meet with an employee elected employee forum quarterly and talk to them about all issues with nothing off the table. We also have an EDI group with a mix, again, senior leadership on there talking about these issues. And I think that, you know, if there was one thing I would say it's, you're not always going to be able to give easy answers, are you? This year we're being hit with an enormous national insurance hit to the staff costs and that is going to affect pay. I can't pretend that it isn't. And if we're going to not run out of money in the next few years, we're going to have to give less of a pay increase this year than we would like to. Paul Sapwell: But we've been talking about that openly since it hit and I hope that our team will go, will understand, but obviously that doesn't make it, make it easy. And I think the same is true with the issues that you're talking about. You can't take a stance on every single issue that comes through each of these forums every quarter, but you have a conversation about it. And I think that's the most important bit for me. Paul Marden: Amy, I'm going to segue wide away from today's talks. Regular listeners will know that I'm a Trustee of Kids in Museums and I was chatting with my fellow trustees about today's event and we wondered, given the impact of the cultural sector, on the impact that it has on the lives of young people and how there are so many challenges at the moment for disadvantaged young people to engage in the sector. You know, we all know that post Covid, many schools have cut their school visits into museums and galleries. I pick you because Young V&A was the winner of Kids in Museums Family Friendly Awards last year. So let's just start with you and talk about what are the innovative things that you've done to break down barriers to encourage children and families to engage in the museum. Amy Akino-Wittering: Yes, of course. So Young V&A when we kind of opened its entire purpose is about engaging children. It's all about kind of that creative confidence in Generation Alpha. And so the whole museum has been designed with and for young people. So its target audience is between naught to 14 year olds. We spoke with over 22,000 young people in the development of the museum to hear what do they want from it. I think there's a survey which said that 40% of children thought that museums were boring and it weren't places for them. So, well, what can we do as we've got this opportunity to redevelop, to make sure that it is a place that people want to go and enjoy and be themselves. Amy Akino-Wittering: And so that was kind of like the North Star in terms of what every kind of decision in the kind of opening and making and running of Young V&A is really centred around this as well. And so it goes from the aesthetic in terms of the height of things, the bright colours from this swirling staircase that we have at Young V&A, which came from an idea that someone wanted to helter skelter in the space to the tone of voice in our interpretation and also how the objects are displayed. We've got objects from across the V&A, we've got over 2,000 objects. But it's not just the museum as was the Museum of Childhood collection, it's from across all of the different departments of the V&A. And it's been curated with that kind of child centred and child focused way. Amy Akino-Wittering: Co design is also a really kind of core part of it as well. So we kind of co designed with local audiences and children for various design displays and also co curation. So each gallery was co curated between the learning team and the curatorial team as well. And then obviously we've kind of got to actually open the building and have a team to deliver that visitor experience. And again, that is all very much fed through that audience lens. And so we looked at our structures of, you know, what types of people do we want in the space? You know, our core audience are children. We need people who want to engage with that audience. It's a very specific kind of audience, but also we are a hyper local organisation as well and so how can we encourage applicants from the local boroughs? Amy Akino-Wittering: So we drove a very inclusive recruitment process where we basically did a behaviour led process for recruitment, we redid all the job descriptions, went out into our local community, did workshops and CV surgeries and basically just made it as easy as possible for people to apply and get interview. And the kind of core things that were looking at was behaviours. We can teach people how to go on a till or to learn how to do fire evacuations, but actually it's much harder to get people because that's what the job is. You know, the majority, you know, all your visitors will come to a touch point with the front of house team. They are your most important ambassadors. Amy Akino-Wittering: So we need to make sure that we've got the best kind of resources and time and structure in place to support them, to give the best possible experience that we can. So we spent a lot of time doing that. We spent a lot of time as well working Kids in Museums come in and do training about specific family engagement training as well, which has been really beneficial. And then also we really believe that, you know, the customer experience, the visitor experience is directly impacted by the employee experience. You can't expect the team to deliver this amazing, joyful visitor experience if actually they're pretty miserable behind the scenes. So how can we make sure that the structures that we have and the environment that we have is reflective of how we want them to be on the floor as well? Amy Akino-Wittering: So we make sure that we have forums to make sure that, you know, people can have their say. We make sure. So we did this team charter, which was this sort of collaborative effort to see, like, how do you want to feel in the workplace, but also how do you want your visitors to feel? And actually, it was all very similar in terms of the outcomes that came from that kind of exercise. And it's these kind of agreement that we have together to how we're going to work together and those kind of things which we do to ensure. It's that kind of frequent communication and making sure that we're on the same page and it kind of brings that joy which then comes out to the visitors. Amy Akino-Wittering: And that is kind of I think all those things together has all really helped in terms of when someone comes into the space, children, they're front and centre. They really feel like it's a place for them and they've got kind of people around them which really get them and that they will help facilitate their curiosity and things like that. So that's what we've done. Paul Marden: Amazing. Paul, have you got some thoughts? Paul Sapwell: Yeah. I love what you're saying about the visitor. The visitor services guys on the front desk. I mean, they are the most important people, essentially, and that's why I was nodding vigorously. I think that's part of what I was talking about earlier in terms of pivot into more of a commercial view, because a commercial company completely relies on their customer who comes in. And I think my experience of being in an organisation that's moved out of being run predominantly by a council to one that's independent now was, I've got to be honest, at the start, that wasn't how it felt. Paul Sapwell: And actually you could produce big lists of visitor figures, but ultimately, if they went up or down, it didn't really matter because the funding was going to stay the same, whatever, and there would be other metrics, and I think that's the big shift in mentality, because if you don't give the customer what they want, and that means really valuing people on your front line. And, you know, we've had conversations at the Museum Association about it, about how there's almost been that divide in museums between the people who talk to your customers and the museum staff. And I think that's a really. Or people who would see themselves doing proper museum work. And I think that, you know, that's something we've got to. We're moving in the right direction, but we've got to move quicker. Paul Marden: All of our best memories, aren't they, of going to these places are not necessarily about the amazing artefacts, it's the stories that your team tell people when they interact with them. You feel so happy as a result of it. I think of some amazing experiences. Zak, have you got any thoughts on this? Innovative ways in which we make museums family friendly, how we encourage make them more children friendly? Zak Mensah: Well, the first thing is it's something like 50% of people have children. And so knowing that is in the UK is a thing. Just knowing that as a fact. Right. Means that thinking then about families who will come, but also the staff workforce. Because again, like, you know, if your staff, you're your biggest advocates we just talked about is making it friendly for people to have children in the workforce means that most people recommend it and word of mouth is the biggest way that you can influence people and then from that when people come. So we've got nine venues overall pre pandemic, have a million visitors a year. Zak Mensah: We say we're family friendly, but I've got two young children and quite often the experience, not just my place, but other places doesn't actually say match up with that because like just saying to a seven year old, you must love art, doesn't really work, right, if it's Blue. Paul Marden: Can't tell them. You can't just make them like, yeah. Zak Mensah: I can't tell anything because anyone in my family anything. If you convince about bluey=, then you've got another chance. But you know, you've got to think about actually what is their experience going to be. So, you know, have you got picnic area? Have you got toilets? Lots of toilets. Do you allow your staff, for example, in previous roles? We allow people, if they want to do potty training, they could do potty training in the gallery. Because the reality was if they didn't use the potty that they had in their bag, it was going somewhere else. And so I remember watching in horror as someone literally tried to scoop up a child and move their parent out of a gallery to start to go to the toilet. Zak Mensah: And I was like, there was no way they were going to make it out that door. I would love to have that CCTV footage because I bet that was quite interesting. But, you know, it sounds, you know, some sort of flippant and fun. Zak Mensah: But that's the little thing because like all those little things about making it, you know, enjoyable. Because if you can make it enjoyable for the. For the parent or the guardian, you can make it fun for the, you know, for the kids. You know, you have to have sharp crayons and pencils. Whatever it is, like always things that's really kids don't want much. That's the little thing because like all those little things about making it, you know, enjoyable. Right. Like, if you can give them almost that version of experience to make people think it's good. Because I think we sometimes dissociate the child's experience with the fact they're with someone else. So actually you've got to make it good for the people that they're with. And quite often people do it, you know, who take. Zak Mensah: They might take the extended family. So they'll say like, you know, I'll take my niece or whatever, I'm there. And they don't usually actually have to have the children. So sometimes they need help as well, you know, to make sure the experience. Paul Marden: Extra needs to be able to solve the kids' problems. Zak Mensah: Absolutely. So for me it's about making it that friendly from that perspective. So often with school trips, for example, it's how can you make the school trips fun? Because I see quite a lot of kids on school trips that they sort of being marched through and forced to go. So then they're less likely to recommend it to their parents and their parents just like to come. So for me, it's kind of like trying to use that learning visit which often people's first. Most people tell me, I've been to museum as a child and they usually get towards school age, secondary school, and they don't go anymore. Paul Marden: Yes. Zak Mensah: So it's like, how do we make sure that. I don't think as a sector where family friendly enough, other than those people who already are super engaged, they make the kids have fun. I'm probably talking about my trauma now. Paul Marden: Let's return today's speakers. Let's just talk a little bit about Mike's discussion of using behavioural models to influence buying decisions. Yeah. What are the biggest behavioural barriers that you see within your organisation? In terms of visitor experience, from kind of awareness through to decision making, what could you do? What could you change? Zak Mensah: So the first obvious one is a lot of people are terrified of being in spaces because they're not sure how to behave. There's this weird secret code that doesn't. It's not actually written down anywhere that people think the museum experience has got to be quiet, that it's got to be. That you've got to know what you're looking at. It can't just be fun. And actually having. Just having fun is a really important part of what you want to do. So for us, I think the problem is, as well as once you work in the sector, those barriers are invisible because you just work there. You feel comfortable now coming. Yeah. And so the behaviour part is super interesting. And so, for example, it's a phrase I sometimes use around, like. Zak Mensah: It's around this idea of, like, “People like us do things like this”, which I stole from Seth Godin. So, you know, what we did, for example, is w e now don't have staff uniform because we've got quite a diverse. We're dividing diversity in Birmingham and we want people to feel comfortable and recognise people outside the building who then might be going, like, sure, I might. Hoodies, for example. If you wear a hoodie, you might own. The museum's. Not for me, the museums for other people who wear suits, etc. So actually, if they see staffing. Yeah, if they see staff in hoodies or whatever, in hijabs or niqab, whichever outfit they want to wear, then that is a signal about those people are welcome. Zak Mensah: That's one example where that idea came from the team about how we can show and tell and do what we say we're going to do, rather than just saying, “Oh, but we're really friendly museums are great and come in.” Because actually they are intimidating from the outside. They're often intimidating intellectually. Paul Marden: Yep. Zak Mensah: The train, the media, all the time is being really high brow all the time. So it's like actually we. We have to find ways to accept that those barriers exist. And that often means finding people who don't use you to actually tell you that. And we've just finished a citizen's jury, for example, which had almost 30 people who are representative of the city come in and 80% of them at the first meeting said they didn't think the museum is relevant to them. Those are ordinary people who live in the city who. That's 80% of those people. Four in five people don't think the museum is relevant for them, even though we know that we could make it relevant to them. And that was a really sad, shocking figure, but also is motivating. Zak Mensah: And I think our job, you know, as leaders is how do we help people feel inclusive, to be an inclusive space and then like. And go for it. Paul Marden: Excellent. Thank you, Amy. Amy Akino-Wittering: Yeah, I think a lot of what we have done as well is to try and go out of our four walls of Young V&A as well. So we do a lot of kind of community engagement as well through kind of the learning team as well as for volunteering programme. Like we rocked up at stores at Whitechapel Market and kind of saying, “This is our kind of programme”, just chatting with people where they haven't heard of Young V&A even though it's down the road. And so it's like, how can we, yeah, kind of go out and about and also kind of advocate across as well. And then also it's like when people do kind of take that step to actually go onto our site and then come into the building making sure that the visitor experience is as inclusive, as welcoming as possible. Similar. Amy Akino-Wittering: We also just have aprons and they can wear whatever they want underneath and just again, so as people feel relaxed and they feel when our audiences come in, they say, oh yeah, no, that's something that I might wear. Or you know, they just feel more kind of settled and at home. So that's something that's really important that we kind of do as well. Paul Marden: Lovely, Paul. Paul Sapwell: The biggest challenge for us, I mean being a smaller organisation and a brand that isn't known. As well as it could be, I think our biggest challenge now is that customer journey from online through to what you get when you arrive and we're not consistent enough. And I know we'd all talk about this forever but you know, big commercial organisations do this really well. You know, you're going to sell a ticket within a couple of clicks from a social media piece, you're going to get a follow up email that looks exciting and you know, then your product is either going to arrive or you're going to arrive at it and it will be like you thought you were buying. And I'm not sure that we always do that. Paul Sapwell: I've got to be honest and I think to do that you've got to put a lot of investment in it. And that's what we're part of the strategy that we've launched, we launched back in November is about that. Paul Sapwell: And again, that comes back to, you know, commercial mindsets that matters. It matters that we put the right image in whatever way that is to the right customer who we're trying to attract. We've got to understand those customers better and then make sure that's, that's seamless. And, you know, we run 20 venues. They're really different. We've got everything from the Great Hall, Mediaeval Hall in Winchester, which is full of people on from travel trade have come off of cruises and things. And then we've got Milestones Museum in Basingstoke, which is a sort of family living history museum. Paul Sapwell: They don't get any international tourists. So having a really limited pot of marketing to be able to go all these sort of areas is really difficult. But I think that would be the challenge. But thinking about it holistically, really, because it's the same person who clicks on the social media ad to the person who ends up arriving in your venue. And that needs to be really consistent. Yeah, it sounds like cash is the barrier. We're going to try and work with it. But that's the important bit for me. Paul Marden: I'm grinning like the village idiot because this is what I advocate all the time. I'm looking at my marketing friends in the audience who would also share. Share your thoughts on this. We know from the Rubber Cheese survey that it's eight to 10 steps it takes people to checkout. I tried to buy tickets for an aquarium last year and they made me enter a password along with the names and addresses of everybody that was joining me and then told me off three times for getting the password wrong in the checkout process. I had to be really to buy those tickets and. Paul Sapwell: Well, yeah, you touch on. Yeah. I mean, we could have a whole conversation, but no, I mean, we love a complicated ticketing system in the cultural sector, don't we? I mean, with all the right intentions. I mean, even the list in some places of different concessions. I mean, you don't want to go. I think I'm that or I'm that. You know, and it's done with the right intention. But it's an enormous barrier. Paul Marden: Yeah, completely. Paul Sapwell: And you know, we make things so complex and I don't have the fix, but I know we've got to fix it. And that means putting sort of. Again, learn from companies who do this really well rather than. Yeah. Looking for ideas ourselves. Lots of people do it really well out there. That's what we got to do. Paul Marden: Thinking of lots of my team who might think that this is something somebody should solve. Zak Mensah: The fix is simple, isn't it? Because you just said then that there are other people doing it well. What we're not really good at artists actually copying people. Zak Mensah: Like just copy someone else who's done it better than us. It's really. It really does annoy me. Let's just say that what always happens is that we make decisions by committee, don't we? So it would have been two steps, but then someone from marketing said, but you've got to have a newsletter. And someone from another team would say, “You've got to also ask for this. And then you've got to do this. Then you've got to try and get the kids to come for school trip.” Before you know it, people mean well and they've made it really complicated. I think sometimes it's like, actually, let's just do the simplest thing. Let's do all the hard work to remove those barriers and then we can try and flog them stuff when they get there. Paul Marden: So friend of mine, Andy talks a lot about you don't go to a fine dining restaurant and walk up to the maitre d and he says to you, “Would you like a table, by the way, are you going to have dessert? And would you like a coffee? And what are you going to have for your starter main course and dessert? Oh, right, I'll take you to your table.” You have a conversation with people and you lead them and you don't try and pack everything into the very first time you ever talk to the potential client. Zak Mensah: Which is why Greg's does so well. Paul Marden: Yeah, look guys, I could carry on about this conversation, but we are the barrier to everybody getting to their drinks and nibbles and so we've got. Paul Sapwell: Including us. Paul Marden: I know, sorry. We've got a couple of things that I must cover. So we always ask our guests for a book recommendation. It can be a novel, it can be work related. So Zak, would you like to go first with yours? Zak Mensah: Yeah. Turn the ship around! I think it's David Marquet. It's a book about a nuclear submarine commander who basically realises all these stupid rules. And so he just said to everyone, just tell me you intend to. So say to him, I intend to turn the ship left, I intend to take holiday, etc, because he realised that there were so many stupid rules and I think museum will have loads of stupid rules. It's a really good thing. And I know most of you won't read the book because most people say, “Yeah, I'll read it. They don't read it.” There's a 10 minute YouTube video. Surely you can spend 10 minutes of time if you can't be bothered to do that. There is literally a 30 second Wikipedia article about it. But please don't do it. Paul Marden: Zak feels very strongly about this. Paul, your book recommendation, please. Paul Sapwell: Well, last year I read Wild Swans by Jung Chang and I'm trying to find a way of getting into a business conversation. I think there's so much that comes out of that book, but I think, yeah, striving for Utopia is often, you know, the book. Right. Most people in terms of living under communist China and we know we could go on about utopian things that haven't worked, but I think there's, for this conversation, that's perhaps where we need to think, you know, going forward here. There isn't a sort of utopian way that things should be done for our sector. There is, you know, we're making our way here and yeah. Obviously it's a fantastic book. Paul Marden: Excellent. Thank you, Paul. Amy, your recommendation? Amy Akino-Wittering: Yeah, so mine isn't linked to like professional development at all. Mine. Paul Marden: Well, you did have one. Amy Akino-Wittering: Well, I did have one and you were like, no, just go for your favourite one. So I was like, Persuasion by Jane Austen. It's a classic. Paul Marden: We've got, we've got big anniversary at the moment, haven't we? In Chawton where Jane Austen lived has got big thing about 200 years, 250 years? Amy Akino-Wittering: Celebration for the whole year. So I'm gonna go in. Paul Sapwell: Yeah, everyone's trying to get in on this, by the way. I just have to put this out there. You know, she was born in Hampshire. Paul Marden: I know. Paul Sapwell: Born in Hampshire, actually. Born Basingstoke. Paul Marden: I know.Paul Sapwell: Yes. Paul Marden: There's a lot of celebrations for Jane this year. Paul Sapwell: Yeah, everyone's trying. I've seen so many angles for her. Oh, she was here and she went to the toilet. Fair enough. I mean, it's a big celebration. Paul Marden: If you'd like a copy of the book or any of these books, head over to Bluesky and like and repost the show announcement saying, I want Zak, Paul or Amy's book. And the first person to do that will get the book sent to them. Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this episode, then please leave us a five star review. It really does help more people to find us and remember to follow us on Bluesky , X or Instagram for your chance to win the book. Thank you very much, everybody. Paul Sapwell: Thank you. Amy Akino-Wittering: Thank you. 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

We're live! Broadcasting straight from Israel, we're kicking off this third season with another amazing episode for you

In this engaging conversation, SK Vaughn and Virginia discuss the evolution of event planning and the launch of Virginia's software startup, Partytrick. They explore the importance of creating memorable experiences, the transition from consumer to B2B platforms, and the significance of resilience and execution in entrepreneurship. Virginia shares her insights on modern hosting, the experience economy, and the lessons learned while scaling her business. The episode concludes with a look at future projects and the importance of celebrating everyday moments.TakeawaysGatherings are essential for human connection.Efficiency and productivity are key in event planning.Transitioning from event planning to software can create a larger impact.Modern hosting focuses on the experience rather than perfection.The experience economy emphasizes meaningful interactions.Scaling a business requires listening to market demands.Execution is more important than just having ideas.Resilience and flexibility are crucial for entrepreneurs.Creating memorable experiences can foster brand loyalty.Celebrating everyday moments enhances community and connection.Chapters00:00 Surviving and Thriving: Personal Updates02:58 Virginia's Journey: From Event Planning to Software05:58 The Transition: Building Efficiency in Event Planning09:05 Introducing Party Trick: A New Way to Host12:02 Modern Hosting: Creating Memorable Experiences15:13 The Experience Economy: Redefining Gatherings17:49 Scaling a Business: Lessons Learned21:06 Defining Success: Impact and Integrity24:05 Looking Ahead: Future Projects and GoalsResourcesExclusive Membership Group ✨ Sign Up!New Merch Dropping

Episode 247FACULTY: Principal Ron BakerCLASS: #TheGuideIn this episode, Scott is in the office again with Accounting High Principal Ron Baker to discuss the future of accounting and the shift towards the transformation economy. Ron outlines the evolution of economic eras and how firms can position themselves to offer superior value by focusing on transformations rather than just services. They also touch on examples from various industries, and discuss the potential of subscription models.

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 SkiptheQueue.fm.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  or Bluesky for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcast.Competition ends on 19th February 2025. The winner will be contacted via Bluesky. Show references: https://www.yorkmaze.com/Tom Pearcy, Chairman of NFAN and Controller of Fun at York MazeTom is the "corntroller of fun" at York maze, the UK's most popular corn based attraction. Tom diversified from farming in 2001 with a small corn maze, and the business has quite literally grown year on year. York maze now has over 20 corn themed rides, shows and attractions. Tom was recently appointed chairman of the national farm attractions network, the representative body for the UK's farm attraction sector.   https://www.escapadegroup.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/helen-bull-5907968/Helen Bull - Chief Executive Officer - The Escapade Group Ltd https://www.tulleysfarm.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartbeare/Stuart Beare, CEO, Tully's Entertainment GroupStuart has developed Tulleys Farm into one of the UK's best known seasonal attraction venues and operators. The Tulleys Farm Partnership includes retail, catering and venue hire.The Tulleys Productions arm has been developed from the operational and marketing experience in the UK Halloween, Haunted and Scare attractions sector, it comprises of three key companies. Stuart's company Screams Attractions Ltd focuses on overall event concepts, operational systems, mentoring, business planning and scare attraction design. Scream Park entertainments Ltd supports and advises on scare actor recruitment, training and management. FunFear Ltd design and install scare attraction technical solutions, from lighting, power, attraction safety through to sound.Stuart has spoken widely at conferences and seminars in the US, Canada and the UK on Agritainment, Agri-Tourism and seasonal attractions, especially focused on the UK Scare attractions industry and the Tulleys Farm Halloween Shocktober Fest event. https://www.innovativeleisure.co.uk/https://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-pickersgill-5a988010/Phil Pickersgill, MD, Innovative LeisurePhil has over 35 years' experience in the leisure and attractions industry and has plenty left to contribute!With a background in engineering coupled with his in depth knowledge of the industry, he founded Innovative Leisure with a vision to introduce new, adventure related products, from around the world to the UK and European markets.Phil plays an active role in a number of the trade associations that steer the leisure industry for example: as a Chair of Trade Members (from Jan 2023) and part of the BALPPA Management Committee (British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers and Attractions) for over 14 years (and a past member of the NFAN Management Committee (National Farm Attractions Network).Through these groups, and his extensive industry network, he is usually very close to the latest developments, issues and trends in the market. https://www.roarr.co.uk/https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-adam-goymour-5248832a/Adam Goymour, MD, Roarr! is one of our previous guests on the podcast.Check out his previous episode back in 2020 with Kelly Molson.https://skipthequeue.fm/episodes/adam-goymour Adam proudly involved in my family owner/operator portfolio of businesses. Which owns and operates1. The leading day visitor attraction in Norfolk (ROARR!) West of Norwich, where it also hosts (PrimEvil) - Norfolks largest scare experience event. (UK's Best Scream Park

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 SkiptheQueue.fm.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  or Bluesky for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcast.Competition ends on 5th February 2025. The winner will be contacted via Bluesky.  Show references: Website: https://www.agility-marketing.co.uk/https://www.agility-marketing.co.uk/service/digital-advertising-survey/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-dimes-agility/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitaagility/ Liz Dimes is a Digital Marketing Director for visitor attraction specialist, Agility Marketing and the lead behind their digital advertising and conversion optimisation strategies. She boasts over a decade of experience in delivering tangible results. With a relentless drive for results she has steered impressive returns for clients across the attraction industry. Anita Waddell is MD and founder of Agility Marketing, visitor attraction marketing specialists.  Anita has been a Visit England judge, currently sits on the BALPPA Management  Committee and looked after the National Farm Attraction Network during Covid.Anita fell in love with the sector during her first ever marketing role at London Zoo.   Having always worked in the attraction sector, she founded Agility at the start of the millennium.  In total, across her career she has worked with over 70 attractions.With a passion for digital and data driven marketing, she adores seeing clients get results and enjoys mentoring her team to deliver winning campaigns. 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. For many regional attractions, the Head of Marketing is a one person marketing machine expected to be all over digital, email, social and out of home advertising. In today's episode we're joined by Anita Waddell and Liz Dimes from Agility Marketing who'll be sharing insights from their attraction marketing academy to help power up your marketing in 2025. After starting her career in attractions marketing at London Zoo, Anita has run Agility Marketing for over years, working with clients like Camel Creek and Blackgang Chine. Liz is the expert behind Agility Marketing's digital advertising and conversion optimization strategies, having found her love for visitor attractions when joining Agility in 2017. Paul Marden: Liz, Anita, welcome. Skip the Queue. Anita Waddell: Thank you. Liz Dimes: Great to be here. Paul Marden: So this is not our first episode of the new year, but it's the first episode we're recording in the new year. And as I was saying before we started, my rule is that I can still say Happy New Year up until the end of January as long as it's the first time I've said Happy New Year to somebody. So Happy New Year to both of you. Liz Dimes: Happy New Year to you. Anita Waddell: Happy New Year. Paul Marden: As you know, we always get started with an icebreaker question. So I've got a couple of little icebreakers for you and they are topical, relevant to where we are right now. So I'm going to go with Liz. Which is better, Christmas Day or New Year's Day? Liz Dimes: Christmas Day. Although I must admit I prefer the run up to Christmas than the actual day. Paul Marden: Oh, okay. So it's the excitement of going out and doing all the prep and the present wrapping and yeah.Liz Dimes: Christmas trees, pretty lights, shiny things. Excitement. But yes, I think I'd definitely choose Christmas Day over New Year's Day. Paul Marden: It's funny, isn't it? Because we'll split. I'm definitely Christmas. Much more Christmas than New Year's. I'm quite happy on New Year's to be sat watching hootenanny on telly while I'm going out and doing a big go out and party with lots of people. Liz Dimes: But absolutely, I agree.Paul Marden: my age, but there we go. Anita, do you chuckle the Christmas decorations and the lights into a box and throw it into the loft or are you Ms. Neat and everything is neatly folded and packaged away ready for future Anita to thank you and be able to do everything easily next week? Anita Waddell: I would love to say I was the latter, but having done that on Sunday, I think it's more about getting them away in a box and deal with the problem next year. So, yes, so, yeah, I aspire to be the neat queen, but unfortunately it is just, yeah, time takes its toll and it's a matter of getting the job done. Paul Marden: There's a real spread in our house. Mrs. Marden is tidy it away as fast as you can. I will sit there literally for hours straightening all of the out and making sure that it's right. And then next year you can figure out who was responsible for the packing away because you could just see it straight in front of you. Liz Dimes: I saw a recommendation the other day, actually, that you should put sort of £20 or something in with your Christmas decorations so when you get them out next year, you can buy yourself a takeaway while you're sorting them out from last year's. You. I didn't do it, but I thought that was a brilliant idea. Paul Marden: So I came back to work on Monday and I went. All the stuff from the office was all packed away and I went to put it in the storage locker and we share our storage with the building owners and I just found the Christmas tree stuck in the cupboard fully decorated and I think, is that really putting the decorations? Is that really taking it down? Have you broken the rules or is ihat really a cunning plan?Anita Waddell: That's one way of doing with it, isn't it? Definitely. Paul Marden: Exactly. Look, we have got lots to talk about, but first tell me about yourselves and tell me about your background. Anita, tell me a little bit about you. Anita Waddell: I suppose visitor attractions has always been my thing, ever since my first marketing job, which was at London Zoo many years ago, I caught the bug really. But I suppose I was at London Zoo. I was very. They weren't in the strong financial situation, so there was actually a recruitment ban. So I was a young aspiring marketeer who joined the company. And as everybody who was experienced and worried about their own career path left, I just absorbed their role. So over the spate of three years I had a huge amount of experience and from there then left to become a marketing manager of a much smaller attraction. Anita Waddell: And having doubled their numbers from, you know, up to over 200, 000 over a year, I suddenly thought, hold on a minute, I actually, this is really fun industry and something that's actually, I can do okay. So from there I went on and ended up working for an agency myself who were specialists in visitor attractions. And then 20 years ago I thought, “Well, hold on a minute, maybe I should try this for myself. Maybe I can have my own agency.” I thought, “What's the worst that can happen?” I just have to go back and do the day job again. So over those years more people have joined me. I've got three cracking directors, really good senior leadership team and Agility now is a visitor attraction marketing agency. Paul Marden: Amazing. How about you, Liz, how did you get into this industry? Liz Dimes: Well, I started in a very different interest. I did an automotive and I started doing more PR than marketing definitely, but it just wasn't. I enjoyed it a lot and I learned a lot about cars but it wasn't really my passion so I sort of left and thought I'm going to try something else. I was more interested in learning about the digital marketing as that was really starting to kick off in the world at that point. So I got a digital marketing role at a business school which was near to where I live, which is very different. And I really started to get the bug for the digital marketing aspect and just in general enjoyed learning more and more and more about that. Liz Dimes: But the whole sort of B2B business school side, little bit dull for me if I'm totally honest. So. And actually that business all got sold to another one so I was made redundant at that point. So it gave me a little bit of a chance to sort of sit back and go, right, what do I actually want to do? And digital marketing was definitely the thing, particularly sort of paid advertising for me. And that's when I found Anita and Agility Marketing and they happened to have the perfect role for me and that was in 2017 and then just loved the industry very quickly from joining and sort of have no intention of ever leaving it, to be honest. Paul Marden: It's super fun, isn't it? It's fun doing the marketing thing that we do in this particular space because it's all about helping people to enjoy themselves. Liz Dimes: So what could be more fun and families and I have a, I've got a five year old so I really in that moment at the moment, I'm my own target audience at the moment, which is always nice. Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. So one of the things that Agility has recently done is set up the Attraction Marketing academy and I think today we're going to talk, not talk about that, but we're going to talk about some of the stuff that you cover in that academy. So why don't we just start by telling listeners a little bit potted understanding of what the Academy actually is so. Anita Waddell: I mean the Academy is what it says on the ting. It's a marketing academy for visitor attractions and it actually, the re. Where it came from was out of COVID Some obviously don't want to go back to Covid ever again. But during that time everyone was in survival mode and they really shared, they collaborated, they did everything they could to work with each other and once life got back to normal a bit more, that collaboration stopped. There wasn't the need for it but we really enjoyed sharing all of our knowledge and expertise during that time. So the Academy was really has really been born to allow us to continue to do that. So it is a visitor attraction masterclass I suppose. So we have pre recorded content, we have fresh content through live sessions monthly. Anita Waddell: We have ask me anything clinics so people can, our members can jump on board and say, look, you know, actually we had a brilliant ask me anything clinic in December where they were, were talking about events for one particular member for the forthcoming year and there were loads of fresh ideas that came out of that for her. So it is really providing that mentoring but also that detailed knowledge and expertise which all attractions, if you're a one man band, you don't necessarily have, you're having, you know, you have to be jack of all trades. So. So we're a helping hand really. Paul Marden: Yeah. I think it's really interesting, isn't it, that many of the attractions that we deal with are massively well known brands but actually when you look at the team behind it, they are more like a small business or small to medium sized business. They often don't have massive teams even though they're brands has massive recognition and you can often be quite surprised, can't you, that it is this kind of one person marketing machine at the centre of what is a really well known brand. It's quite surprising sometimes and I think the more we can do to support those people the better really. So why don't we delve a little bit into some of the stuff that the Academy covers and then we can talk a little bit about some of the ways that marketers can help improve their outcomes for this year ahead. Paul Marden: So one place to start is always about benchmarking. This is something that at Rubber Cheese we find really interesting and we care a lot about with our Rubber Cheese survey. But I think benchmarking and understanding where you are against the competition is not competition against the rest of the sector. I should say is really important because you can understand what good and bad is can't you? And this is something that you guys care quite a lot about as well, isn't it? Liz Dimes: Absolutely. It's really at the heart of everything we do for our clients. We benchmark with the industry. That's the brilliance really for us of working solely in the visitor attraction industry. We can really see what's the good, bad and ugly of all things marketing within that industry. So we recommend that you'd benchmark everything really. But obviously it depends on what you're doing. So you'd benchmark your socials, your emails, your website performance, your reviews, your paid advertising results, just anything you, anything that you collect data on for you. If you don't know whether that's good or bad, how do you know what you're looking at really with your data? Liz Dimes: So  you might see that this year you were 2% up on your last year's results and think, great, but if everyone else is 10% up, then actually maybe there's something key in there that you're missing that would really be a quick fix for you to do. And without knowing that it's impossible to do that, it really, I mean, the majority of the benchmarking we do is digital advertising because that's, it's 70% of our work for our clients. But as say we do benchmark across everything and by benchmarking we know that we can ensure that we're optimising well to make sure that we're achieving the best results possible for all our clients. And at the end of the day that's what we're here for and that's what we all do. Liz Dimes: I'm going to push this over to Anita a little bit, but it's because benchmarking is such a key thing for us. We've actually got a new initiative we're announcing now in January. So I'm going to let Anita do that. Paul Marden: Oh, come on then. Drum roll, Anita. Anita Waddell: Okay, so this spoilers. The inspiration of this came from Rubber Cheese and your website benchmarking for the visitor attraction sector. And we benchmark all the time. But actually we know that we work with 15 to 20 attractions across the year. But you know, the attraction sector is so much bigger. And what we wanted to do was launch an industry wide survey on digital advertising so people can identify how big their budget should actually be for digital advertising. What performance, what click through rate, what cost per acquisition, what cost per click is actually good and average across all of the platforms. For example, we know in our business a lot of our clients will use the Google search, Google performance match, Meta, TikTok. Anita Waddell: But we also know that when we start working with some attractions, they're only using Meta or they're only using Facebook. And so it's really just taking a broad brush of the sector to actually understand what is happening out there across whether it be theme parks, whether it be a heritage attraction, whether they're a zoo. Just a broad brush to really give something back to the sector. Like you've done with Rubber Cheese. Really. Paul Marden: I think it's so important, isn't it? Because paid advertising can be a bit scary for some people because it feels a little bit like you're gambling or it feels like a fruit machine. But I always think that it's a fruit machine where you can figure out the odds. And once you figure out the odds, you just have to decide how much money you can pump into the top of it and magically at the bottom money comes out in relation to the odds that you've calculated. But if you can across the sector. Anita Waddell: Yeah, exactly. I mean, the beauty of digital advertising is that it is, you know, there is a system and a process to it. So you know that you've got to get people to your website. You know you've got from the website, you need to get into your landing page at every stage of the journey. Coming back to benchmark working, you can identify what is working well and what actually can be tweaked to optimise it even further. And we've got clients now after Covid, there was with that when we focused purely on. Well, actually to be honest, during COVID there wasn't a lot of marketing going on at all because people were so desperate to get out the organic, social and email marketing could just cope with it. Anita Waddell: But then people came back and they started to do a lot more out of home. But now we're finding clients are actually saying this year in particular with the increased costs in the budget. Sure. We know we get a lot of, we know we get a lot from digital advertising. Shall we actually reduce our home budget and put more into digital advertising because it's more measurable and that confidence can be given. Paul Marden: We've all only got limited budgets and it's all about deciding where the best place to spend your money is. So, yeah, we'll come back to this benchmarking point a little bit later, I think, because I think is really important. But let's dive into some of the channels that marketers can use and talk about some tips and tricks across each of the channels. Maybe should we start with social? Is it important top attractions? I think you've already answered that. But how important? Liz Dimes: I guess I think it's very important. I think we all know that's where people spend their time at the moment. Depending on who you're. Because in general as a sort of blanket, a lot of the target audience for all attractions is very similar. But depending on where you are you a tourist destination, are you more of a regional destination, are you a heritage site, are you a zoo? It will depend. So. But most of those audiences are spending a lot of their time on socials. But because of that and because everyone knows that their concentration is much less, your competition is much higher. But you see, but you got to be there. If you're not there, you're not in with a chance. So it is, it's incredibly important and I think it's about what should your focus be. Liz Dimes: So actually if you are a one man band and you have a certain amount of hours in the day to do it, what are you going to focus on? Maybe pick two or three. So if you are going to pick two or three, I think at the moment you would pick Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, still. I know we all think Facebook is disappearing, but the grandparents take their grandchildren on these days out. Paul Marden: Exactly. And that landscape of the different social platforms was stable for a very long time, wasn't it? But it's changing quite a lot. So should you be on Twitter? Is it a scary place to be now? Should you be on Bluesky? But, but in you're saying TikTok still, Facebook, Instagram, those are the key places that you should be focusing attention. Probably. Liz Dimes: Absolutely. I think if you've got extra time, if you have extra resource, then absolutely test those extra platforms out and see where you've got. But actually if you're, if your time is limited, then focus on doing the best for the top platforms of where your audience are. And at the moment we believe, and all the data believes for that for our audiences it's Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Paul Marden: Yeah. And, and what are the basics that you've got to be covering there? What should they be posting about? To be able to kind of meet the bar. Anita Waddell: I feel the key with social media is that you know you can, it's got to convey a message that is going to provide overall reason to visit. So you need to get your planning right. And so yes, you want to have different formats and you want to make the posts are not wallpaper posts and you want to make sure that the post you're saying are said. You know, the same message is said in three or four different ways but ultimately you know, you're trying to stimulate an action and whether that's just engagement at this stage, you know, people aren't necessarily going to visit immediately after seeing a post but if they engage then see more posts and over time when they do want, they do want that day out, you'll be in their, in their top of mind. Anita Waddell: So I think the key we always say is like no, make sure you get your planning right. Your, your commercial messages in January are going to be totally different to your commercial messages in Summer or Easter when you know, in January you might be thinking about we've got, we need a value, a volume driver promotion because people haven't got any money. We want you Season passes are always sold in the first few months of the year. So you want to make sure you've got some promotion, you've got your season pass messaging out there. So it is, you know, make sure you've got your planning and messages right and from there you can then be creative as you like. But you've got to make sure that you're saying the right thing. Paul Marden: Let's follow that thought. What are the special little sprinkles that people could do this year to really energise their social media? What is it that they can do to inject that creativity? Anita Waddell: I think different formats, I think, you know, you can say the same thing, overlook different formats to really make them zing. Liz Dimes: One of the things we're really seeing good trends on and again this does depend on who you have in your team. But if you've got a member in your team who is willing to be on camera and is entertaining, is witty, can be a bit different. There's, there's a few attractions that are doing this really well already. But if there's something about. So we all talk about user generated content and absolutely you should be sharing user generated content. You should be making your most of your micro influences and your. All that kind of thing. But actually there's sort of EGC which is Employee Generated Content as well. And I think a bit of behind the scenes is still works well. Liz Dimes: A bit of witty content from someone and if you' the right person who's willing to do it and has the great personality and is happy to be on screen, then please take advantage of that person. Really, please use it. Because also they'll probably really enjoy it. I mean, there's a number of attractions where I know because we've spoken to them, where they're sort of bit famous. So yeah, people go round, go and they spot them and they want to go and say hi to that person and that. And if it's the right person who's comfortable with that, they really enjoy that. Yeah, so if you've got that person, go for it. That's a real, it's a real trend at the moment that's working well. Paul Marden: Okay, let's move channels then. Let's talk about email marketing because interestingly, in the Rubber Cheese survey this year, the data that we had showed that this was the weakest source of leads for attractions. Now, as I always say when I talk about our data, you know, there's statistics involved and you know, what we know is about the data set that is in front of us. It's not always completely reflective of the entire sector. So is that illustrative of what you guys see as well or is it more effective than that for you? Anita Waddell: I think I would say that we measure our email marketing. We put UTM codes on all of our links so we can actually track effectively. I would probably say they're not seeing it either because they're not tracking it effectively and UTM codes are so easy to set up these days or they're not. You know, the end of the day, the emails is a channel of communication. So if your email says exactly the same thing every single month, you just need to, with your, with your programming. And I think programming is going to be such a big thing, continue to be such a big thing this year. You need to really stimulate that repeat business. Really stimulate, give people a reason to revisit it. Your email marketing needs to be saying something different every single time. Anita Waddell: Otherwise people will just get bored with it. So I would say it's those two things. Paul Marden: Yeah. So it's all about keeping the faith. It is a valuable channel. You should focus on it. But you need to be able to have all of the tracking in place so that you can attribute the leads to that source and then a decent story to tell that's going to engage people. Anita Waddell: The only other thing I would say is that, and I don't. I think most people have got their heads around this now. But GDPR, when it came out, everyone was terrified of not getting, you know, you can only email people if you get an opt in. Well that's correct. That's one method of consent. But with legitimate interest, if they visited you already then you've got a reason to remarket to them as long as your Privacy Policy is correct and you've your, your everything else. So I think that's why some people go out. Some people are, we're amazed when we start conversations that they still are asking people to opt in and not using legitimate interest. So that could be another reason why in your survey results they were a bit skewed. Liz Dimes: I think there's quite a bit of scaremongering out there a little bit with email marketing at the moment because Apple are, they have updated their privacy settings a while ago which means that effectively when you're looking at your email results anything that's gone into an Apple mail will be marked as open even if it's not. So effectively your open rates are a little bit pointless since that update. So what's important to look at is your Click Through Rates because then you know those people have opened it and then how many have clicked through. Which is why the UTM codes are particularly useful because that helps with that. The other thing that Apple are doing at the moment is they're suggesting they're going to start the sort of promotions tab. I can't remember what their terminology is. Liz Dimes: Like you have in your Gmail when you log on your laptop, on your desktop as opposed to in your phone. So that will affect, that absolutely will affect email marketing. But what it will affect is email marketing that isn't tested, updated, optimised and tried and best. So if you do just keep doing what you're doing. Absolutely. Your email marketing is gonna, you're gonna lose on that. Paul Marden: So good email marketing is a worthwhile thing to do. Liz Dimes: Absolutely. And it is about testing because actually one of the things that we don't know yet because it's not happened yet but one of the things that might work is by making sure, rather make sure you're not sending from a no reply or admin at or an info at send it from a person's email that's less likely to be marked as spam or promotions. So all these things are as these updates come through test if suddenly you see a massive drop off in your click through rate, something's happened. Try something different on the next go. Paul Marden: Yeah. Liz Dimes: So I think, I imagine people are worried about whether Email marketing is going to continue to work and there probably will come a time when it doesn't. But at the moment I think it's still an important part of the mix. Absolutely. Anita Waddell: I think for Life Stage as well, it's worth taking it into account because there's some real hard data that's come back which suggests that the younger audiences are not using email marketing anymore. And I think that's really, that's quite true. But that is that Life Stage or is that young people? And I think that will play out because when people get into the office world, the world of work, they start using email a lot more and they become more familiar with it. So I don't know if it's Life Stage or if it's actually happening. We work with Tullis and Tully's obviously run a lot of brands which are aimed at sort of a 20 to 30 year old market and one of their biggest drivers is still email marketing. Anita Waddell: So I think, yeah, I think, but I think as Liz said, measure, optimise, test, do all of that and it should still deliver. Paul Marden: Good. Let's cut to the web. What are the problems with websites that you're seeing for regional attractions at the moment? Liz Dimes: One of the things we see quite a bit is that people who look at their own website as them, not as their customer. So they'll look at their website on their laptop. Their customers are not looking at their website on their laptop. They will look at it as someone who already knows the product, who. And even if you think you're not, your unconsciousness does know. So I mean, the average for visitor attraction websites is that nearly 90% of your sessions are happening on a mobile. So if you are ever looking at your own website, please look at it on your mobile. It's so easy to go, “Oh, I'm on my laptop because I'm doing my admin work right now and my admin work includes. I'm going to have a quick look at our website.”Liz Dimes: If you are going to do it on your laptop, press F12 please, because if you press F12 on your PC, you'll be able to look at it as a mobile. It won't be quite exactly what it is in as a mobile, but it's a good go. Not everyone knows about F12, so hopefully that helps a few people. But I think that is a real, it's a real key thing that we do find that some people tend to look at their own website not as a customer. So really think about it. Liz Dimes: If you are, say your key audience is a 35 year old mother of two, one has a toddler and one is a school child, put yourself in that place or ask do you know someone, one of your friends, that audience, ask them to go through your website blind and is your customer journey working? Do they immediately understand what you are? Can they quickly find out your opening times? Can they quickly find. If you have parking, can they quickly book? Is the booking, is the. Is the push through to booking which at the end of the day is the ultimate goal for pretty much everyone. Really, really think about it as your customer. And I think sometimes that's really difficult to do when you're so ingrained in your own attraction. Paul Marden: I can't stop myself grinning like a loon. You're talking about my life. This is the conversation I have over and over again. User testing. That's one of the questions in the survey that always blows my mind. How few people do user testing and how few people do user testing on a mobile and putting themselves into the shoes of their customers. I don't care if you like your website or not. I care whether your customers can do what they want to do. That's the only thing I care about. That's a bit untrue. I'm playing to the audience a little bit. Liz Dimes: But no but it is so true. And I think there are. If you can't, there's ways you can look at it from a more sort of data perspective. If you're a data person in your. I know people are still getting their heads around GA4 and to be honest, so am I. Even though I'm in it all the time because they change it every five minutes, hate it and you have to build a lot of it yourself. But there are a lot of positives of GA4 as well. You can see relatively simply how many people are going from your homepage or your landing page or your event page, whichever page you want to look at. Liz Dimes: If you want them to go to your ticketing site because most people use external platform ticketing sites, what percentage are landing on that page and going where you want them to go. Now it will be a low percentage always, even if you've got a really good system because they will want to find out more on different things and in lots of ways you want them to. But actually if you've got a return visit on your website, really that's when they should be booking. They've had a look, they found out where you are, they've talked to their friends on WhatsApp. Yes, that is one of the key options. Can they really quickly get to your booking site and book have a look at that data? If you can. Liz Dimes: And if it's really low, maybe you haven't got the right call to action buttons on your page or they're not as obvious as you think they are because maybe you're looking at it on a desktop rather than a mobile. Paul Marden: Amen. Liz Dimes: Good. Oh, I'm pleased because you're the number one expert in the website, so I'm glad you agree with me. But there's. Yeah, there's lots of things, there's lots of quick wins by just having a look. Paul Marden: Right, let's just very quickly touch on some of those then. So what are the quick wins that people can do with their websites right now that is going to turn it into a lead generating machine for them? Liz Dimes: What is your load speed? Are people bouncing off because you're not loading quickly? If it is low, do something about it. What are your call to actions? Are they obvious? Are they clear? Have you chosen one key call to action per page? Don't confuse your customer. Their attention span is really low. Does it show off what you want it to show off? Those are the top three things I would say look at. Anita Waddell: The other thing I would probably add to that is look at your home page. Make sure you're updating it regularly and giving those people the reasons to visit. I'm often quite surprised how they update the rest of the website but then they don't update the homepage on what is coming and what's next and what's on and also what's on now. So I think, yeah, I would say look at the homepage. Think of the homepage as really a signpost page. Once they live there, you want, they want to go, they've got to find something on there that's going to interest them and so that would be my recommendation to add to that. Paul Marden: Good. So those are all great things to do once they hit your website, but you've got to get into the website in the first place. So let's talk about paid advertising because that's something that you guys do a lot of, isn't it? Yeah. And that's the thing that can drive reliable traffic to your website. So it's hugely important. Liz Dimes: Absolutely. Paul Marden: I bet there's some real howlers that you see when you're first engaged by a client and you come and look at what they're doing in paid advertising. What are those real gotchas that you see? Anita Waddell: God, it's like opening your. Yeah, go on, Liz. You can reveal some secrets of what people are doing. Paul Marden: This is therapy session. This is a friendly, safe space. Just unburden yourselves. Liz Dimes: Yes, we won't name any names, don't worry. Well, while we're talking about website, I think one of the things with paid advertising that people really don't, they forget to think about or forget how important it is what web page are you sending that traffic to? Because absolutely, it might be your homepage, if your homepage is the right page, but equally it probably isn't your homepage. It needs to relate to the ad you are placing. So I think sometimes it's the last thought. It's, “Oh, we want to do an ad, we want to do an ad, do it.” And then, “Oh, don't even think about where we're going to send it. Send it to the homepage.” So I would say that's a really key thing that people sometimes forget. Liz Dimes: And actually, if you think about again, always come back to what will the customer think? Would it annoy you if you clicked on an advert for red shoes and the ad opened a page for trousers? It would annoy you. So why would your customers not be annoyed if you click on an ad about summer and it opens a homepage and there's not a really quick call to action to get to that summer information? So again, always think about the customer. One of the other things. Well, the other thing that is incredibly important in our industry is your location. Who are you targeting, location wise? And we have regularly taken on clients who have done it themselves or had previous agencies or whatever, doesn't matter where it happened. Liz Dimes: And they're targeting the whole of the uk, maybe they're in Cornwall and they're targeting Scotland as well for a term time visit. Paul Marden: Right. Liz Dimes: Someone in Scotland is not going to drive seven hours to come to you for a day out. Look at where your customers come from, map them. If you can really find that, you've got that data. If you're taking online booking, you have got the data of where the people live who come to you, find out where those people live and use that information for where you're going to generate the best results for your targeting for your adverts. I think that's incredibly important in this industry.Anita Waddell: And I think it goes, that goes beyond just radius targeting. Oh, absolutely. You really do need to map your audience to find out where they're coming from because, you know, like road systems will change the direct. No, change the layout of where people come from. Competitors will change, will give your some areas higher propensities to convert those visitors than others. So it really is worth investing in some mapping geo mapping tools and time to get it right. Paul Marden: I bet this is probably. How long is a piece of string quite type question, but broadly is the paid advertising for attractions? You know, there were terms, there are search terms that people are going to be searching on that you're going to want to sponsor or you're going to be sponsoring things in social platforms. There are some spaces that are, you know, fantastically competitive and hugely expensive. I'm thinking car insurance. You know, it will, you know, the cost per click of that is going to be phenomenal, but the return on investment for them is great. Yeah. Is this space a competitive and expensive space or is it remarkably reasonably priced? Liz Dimes: That really is. How long's a piece of string, I'm afraid, when it comes to search. So if we're just going from a search perspective. So if you're using Google Search Ads, absolutely. It depends what the keyword you are using is, how expensive that cost per click is going to be and really. Or you can help it by having an amazing ad, having an amazing landing page and being really relevant and your location targeting being right for that place. So you can be the low, you can get yourself to the lowest in the range that's possible for that keyword, but you're never going to get a keyword that cost £2 to cost 10p. What you can do, and what I would always suggest you do is use more longer tail keywords, which is the correct terminology, longer tail. Liz Dimes: But so if you're, if you're using, rather than maybe using day out, use day out in Yorkshire, family day out in Yorkshire. So you're extending the, the detail of it. Yeah. And the more detail you have, the less competition there will be within Google. You can do some really good keyword planning and get an idea of what your, what the type of cost will be for the type of keyword you're going for. If we stick on the Google search point. Actually, one of the other real howlers we regularly see is people actively targeting or not realising they're actively targeting their own brand name and therefore. And Google's algorithm, if you're doing a list of keywords you're going for, will always do what works best. Liz Dimes: So if you have either on purpose or accidentally put your brand name in there, all your budget is going to go on your brand name. Now, as long there are occasions when you might do that. If your SEO is terrible and you're coming up on page three for your brand name, go for your brand name. Absolutely do it in a separate campaign. So you're spending only a certain amount of money. But in general I'm yet to find attraction that isn't coming up on the map, on the Google map or on the top of the search results for their own brand name. So you are effectively paying Google for website visitors, clicks, conversions that you would have got for free. Don't do that. Please don't do that. And we see that relatively regularly.Paul Marden: You differentiated between paid advertising for search and paid advertising in social platforms. So we've got the tooling in Google to be able to estimate how much things cost. Go for those long tail search terms because they're probably going to better value for you, probably have better landing pages. And be really clear, if you've got a nice long tail search, you know that person is looking for something very specific. So serve them a really specific landing page to arrive at on the other side. That speaks to them and they'll love it, won't they? They'll be much more likely to engage. So you get that return on investment even further. What about in social, what. How are you planning out? You know what the cost is likely to be and where you should focus your energy. Liz Dimes: So because we are doing this all the time, we have a good idea of what that. So in social you'll look, you want to look at the cost per thousand impressions, what's called the CPM as opposed to the cost per cl. That's the, that's the bit in social that you can't affect. Meta, for example, are going to. If the cost per thousand for the target audience you are going for in the location you are going for is £4, it is £4, there's nothing you can do to change that. £3, it's £4. And unfortunately it is depending on where you are. For some people it's lovely. If their location's less, that's great. But if your location is more expensive. You've got to just deal with that. Liz Dimes: Unfortunately, in the last few years the cost per thousands have gone up around 12% and they're estimating this year it will be around 4%. So to get the same number of impressions in 2025 that you got in 2024, you're going to need to spend 4% more. Unfortunately, it is what it is. I hate saying that, but it's true. You can't. We can try and lobby meta all we like. The cost is what the cost is. It's a demand and supply thing. Paul Marden: Exactly. Liz Dimes: But what you can do is be realistic. You are going to have to get the same number of impressions. You need to spend 4% more. However, if your budget has to remain the same, how can you improve your click through rate one? Well, 0.2% to get. So although you'll get less impressions, you'll try and aim to get the same number of web visits and clicks from that. Can you then improve your conversion rate on your website? 0.2% and therefore you actually, for the same budget, you may get more conversions. So although you have to understand as we all do, that costs of everything are going up and impressions are one of those things. Liz Dimes: Actually, can you optimise and improve your ads because minimal improvements in your click through rate, minimal improvements in your conversion rate on your website are going to result in more revenue at the end of the day for potentially the same budget or a minimal increase. Paul Marden: And what are those? Again, this is such a sweeping, broad question, but what are those things that people could do to improve the engagement in the ads themselves? Liz Dimes: I'd say the number one thing to look at is your targeting correct? Paul Marden: Yeah. Liz Dimes: Is your location targeting correct? Is your audience type targeting correct? And then are you tailoring your ads to your audience? So if you're doing a target and you're targeting grandparents, for example, maybe your ad needs to be slightly different if you're targeting the parents or maybe your ad needs. And then your ad again will need to be. If you're, if you're remarketing and you're going to your sort of what we would call a hot audience that needs a very different ad to prospecting, a cold audience. So really focus on your targeting and focus on speaking. Again, think about the customer. Who are you speaking to with that ad? Anita Waddell: I think the other thing to mention and add to that is also the number of ads you're putting out because you never know exactly how your audience is going to react. So we actually do a lot of testing for a campaign. We would put a lot of ads out and it could be marginal differences in an ad because that's what, that's really what you want. So is it a bold heading? Is it not a Bold heading is it use the word say to save or best prices or you know and each of these will result in say that we're looking for that marginal gain because over time all those marginal gains will add up on the creative and the messaging and you'll get the best result. But it's time, energy and to get there completely. Paul Marden: Look, this has been really interesting but I want to just leave people with two or three things that they ought to prioritise to get 2025 off to a great start because last year was rubbish for so many people, wasn't it? So let's what can we all do to help get the show on the way for the attractions this year? Anita Waddell: I think the key thing is giving that people a reason to visit. It's getting the programming right. What people should be doing is looking at the last two years, breaking down the visitor numbers throughout the year, ascertain where there's opportunity for growth. We know people is much easier to build those peaks when, during the school holidays when people are actively looking. If you still, if you're not reaching capacity in those periods, that would be our, you know, build the peaks rather than the troughs. If however you've got to the stage where you think on your, you're creaking a bit at the seams and actually you want to build the term time campaigns, consider that as a secondary but again giving them that reason to visit now rather than waiting to a different time. Anita Waddell: And then once you've done that, you can plan your marketing budget around those opportunities. If you know that you've got more capacity in the summer, give more budget to the summer or if you know you've got more capacity in the October half term, give more budget to the October half term. So it's all going to start of where you want to get those extra people from and to and where. And then as some, as Liz mentioned later, postcode mapping, making sure that whatever advertising and marketing you're doing, you're hitting the people in the right areas who are going to have the biggest propensity to convert. And I've only got one other last thing to add is it's looking and learning from last year. Anita Waddell: Looking back at the data points, look at your benchmarks, your email, but email open rates, your landing pages, your digital advertising, try and get that margin of 1% improvement. If you can improve all of your marketing just by 1%, that's a lot of 1%. Paul Marden: That's a lot of people, isn't it? At the end of the day coming through the door. Liz Dimes: Absolutely. Anita Waddell: Yeah. So, so that would be sort of my kind of, you know what I would do. And Liz, has you got anything else you want to add to that? Liz Dimes: No, I think that's all of it. I think as say for, from the digital advertising side, postcode map if you can and absolutely look back and then test based off that and then test again. Paul Marden: Well, there's some homework for everybody. We always finish with a book recommendation and that book recommendation can be fiction or non fiction and I've got two guests so there's got to be two books. So Anita, what's your book recommendation for our listeners? Anita Waddell: This, this was a really tough question actually because one of my new year objectives is to read more. But I looked back and thought, “Okay, over the last five years, what books have I read and what's, what can, what's really resonated and what still I feel I can remember really”. So, so the one, I think it's Who Moved My Cheese by Dr Spencer Johnson. I don't know if how regularly it's mentioned on, on this podcast, but it's not a new book but it all talks about how you got, you know, you've got two stories about two little mice and two people and they, and the two little mice go off and they find cheese in this maze every single day. Anita Waddell: Whereas the two people found their cheese, they're happy with their cheese, they really like this certain cheese. Why would they look elsewhere? And then that cheese and then ultimately that cheese supply from the two people runs out and it's talking about having to innovate and change to survive. And I, and it's done in a really easy reading and fun way. And so yeah, I think that would be my recommendation to anybody. Paul Marden: Right Liz, what about you? What's your recommendation? Liz Dimes: Well, this was actually recommended to me because I thought about it. Okay, what have I been recommended that I've read? And actually it was recommended by a member of my team, Miles. So this comes from him. It's Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss, who I don't know whether you've read this book, but he was an FBI negotiator and he has since written this book and it's actually written in a really easy to take in way. I just found it really interesting and just started reading it and read it basically which I don't do nearly as much reading as I used to before I had a child. So if I've managed to do that, you know, it's a good one. Liz Dimes: But my key sort of takeaways from it was how if you first think about negotiation skills, you probably think, “Well, what would I say?” And actually, that's not what you should be thinking, it's what are they saying? Your key negotiation skills is actively linked listening. And if you're actively listening, then you can follow the other key skills which are mirroring what they're saying, repeating the last of their three words, things like that. I just found it really interesting and it has made me rethink how I engage with people. So I would recommend it as a good read. Paul Marden: You got me thinking about my. What I was going to say now. Thinking about what were the last three words that you said? Oh, patting your head and rubbing your tummy part to this. Isn't there as thinking about the conversation and having it? Liz Dimes: Exactly. I think that's what he says. He says, while you're having a conversation, there's two of you. You're half listening, but actually the majority of you is thinking about what you're going to say next. If you're thinking about what you're going to say next, you are not listening, so you are not taking in what that person is saying in the way that you should be. And actually, if you can switch that bit off and really listen, what you say next will be the right thing. It's really hard. It's really hard to do, but I have actively tried to do that. When I think about it sounds. Paul Marden: A little bit like interviewing on the podcast, because this is a skill I've had to learn. This does not come naturally to me and it. It felt like a hostage negotiation at the beginning and it did feel a little bit like I had to negotiate my way out of the podcast episode. But with time and with practise, these things become easier and you can focus on the conversation whilst you're doing figuring out where the conversation is going to go. But, yeah, I've heard reviews of that book. I've not read it myself, so you've got me thinking I need to go and get that. Liz Dimes: It's worth a read. Paul Marden: Dear listeners, as always, if you would like a copy of either Anita or Liz's book recommendation, then the trendy thing to do is to go over to Bluesky now, not Twitter. Who wants to go onto Twitter? It's full of megalomaniacs. So go over to Bluesky and retweet the show message and say I want Anita or Liz's book. And the first person to do that will get a copy sent to them and I will be generous. It can be the first person for each book will get a copy. I'm not getting bankrupted this time with loads of book recommendations. I just want to leave people with one last thought. We know that benchmarking is important to you guys and this is something you're going to be doing a lot over the next few months. Paul Marden: So if people want to get involved with working on the benchmarking project for digital advertising that you guys are doing, what do they need to do? Anita Waddell: They need to go to our website where there'll be more information about it, and that's agility-marketing.co.uk.Paul Marden: And hopefully it will be in the show notes as well. So you can jump over to the show notes and follow the link there. But agility-marketing.co.uk and people will find all they need to know about the benchmarking that you're currently doing and how they can get involved in it. Brilliant. Ladies, this has been a wonderful conversation. Thank you very much. Liz Dimes: Thank you for having us. Paul Marden: We will catch up again soon. 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

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 SkiptheQueue.fm.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  or Bluesky for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcast.Competition ends on 22nd January 2025. The winner will be contacted via Twitter or Bluesky.  Show references:https://litlablondon.wixsite.com/lit-laboratoryhttps://www.instagram.com/litlablondon/https://www.threads.net/@litlablondonhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/litlablondon/https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Lit-Lab/100090991921959/ Abi Fafolu has a Master's degree in Bioengineering from Imperial College, and over 7 years' experience in public engagement with science. She spent her early career in science engagement, including on the Science Desk of The Guardian Observer and promoting open-access publishing at the European Medical Journal and Springer Nature.Since joining the UK government in 2015, she's worked in strategy, policy and programmes across four government departments including the Office of the Government's Chief Scientific Advisor, Lord Patrick Valance, upholding the role of science and evidence in decision making, and promoting developments in science as a Press Officer to the UK Science Minister. Abi is currently a government policy and strategy maker, and runs the Lit Laboratory (Lab), a "Science and Sip” experience reconnecting underrepresented audiences aged 21 to 40 with science. 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. Paul Marden:  In today's episode I'm joined by Abi Fafolu, Founder of The Lit Lab. Abi has a Master's degree in Bioengineering from Imperial College, and over 7 years' experience in public engagement with science.Since joining the UK government in 2015, she's worked in strategy, policy and programmes across four government departments. She currently a government policy and strategy maker, and runs the Lit Laboratory, a "Science and Sip” experience reconnecting underrepresented audiences aged 21 to 40 with science.Unfortunately the internet wasn't kind to us when we recorded this conversation, and so the audio quality isn't great, but the conversation definitely was.Paul Marden:Welcome, Abi. Welcome to Skip the Queue.Abi Fafolu: Thanks, Paul. Thanks for having me. Paul Marden: Lovely to have you. Today's a little bit weird because we're recording this just before Christmas, but it's not actually going to go out until the new year. So what I'm going to say is happy New Year to you. I hope you've had a lovely Christmas, but the reality is we haven't had it yet. So strange. Abi Fafolu: Thank you and likewise. Paul Marden:So we always start our interviews with some icebreaker questions which you're never prepared for. So here goes nothing. I've got a couple for you. I think they're quite nice ones actually. What's your go to coffee order when you go to a coffee shop of your choice? Abi Fafolu: Embarrassingly, I saw a skit about this recently where I thought that I had a unique choice, but clearly I've been very moth by the Internet. It is a skinny flat white and the skit that I saw actually was people ordering hot chocolate, which has gone extinct in coffee shops. I think there were a few people doing kind of hot chocolate watching. They were seeing where the people would order hot chocolates and have the binoculars out to watch those people as they made that rare order in the shop. But no, mine is very common. It's a skinny flat white. Paul Marden: Yeah. So mine is just a normal straight up flat white. No nonsense, no fuss, just give me coffee. I just want a nice coffee. My daughter, her order, she's only 11, but she's taken to iced hot chocolate. But what do you call it? Is it iced chocolate like an iced coffee or is it iced hot chocolate? I always stumble over the order and it's never up on the menu. So I always feel a bit awkward asking for whatever it is that she wants. Abi Fafolu: I like that. Paul Marden: Yeah. Okay, next one. What animal do you think best represents your personality? Abi Fafolu: Oh, gosh, I'm probably like a reliable owl or something like that. Yeah. Kind of cosy in my tree when I feel like it, being a bit nosy and flying out to have a look at what's going on. Paul Marden: And every now and again savage on little animals. Abi Fafolu: Oh. I mean, maybe a bit of that, probably. But yeah, I think something like that. Paul Marden: Okay. I think mine would have to be one of those, one of those dogs that is really annoying and full of energy because I'm just, I'm always at like full power. I'm one of two extremes. I'm going full at it. Yeah, I'm just zonked out, shattered at the end. Yeah. Abi Fafolu: Okay. Paul Marden: So I'd probably be like a springer spaniel where loads of walking is necessary to get rid of all the energy. Otherwise I'll be really annoyed.Abi Fafolu: Got you. A little dog who doesn't know that they're little and springs out into the world. Paul Marden:I'm sure there's something Freudian about that. I'm not sure. So we are talking a little bit about your project called the Lit Lab today which as listeners will know I always have a little chat with people before we do the interview and you know, I'm really interested in this concept, the tagline that you talked about which was the idea of getting adults to drink in a Science lab. We first met at the Association of Science and Discovery Centres and you know, we had a lovely conversation whilst were at the ASDC conference and I found out a little bit more about Lit Lab. But I think before we get to that point let's just talk a little bit about you and your background. So tell us about you. Tell us about your background and maybe a little bit about day job. Abi Fafolu: Yes, of course. So I am a Scientist by training. I have a Master's degree in Bioengineering from Imperial College and about 7 years experience in public engagement with Science. So that has looked like working on the Science desk of the observer newspaper, publishing medical research at Spring and Nature, working with the Chief Scientific Advisor and in government and with the Science Minister as well doing kind of comms and press releases. At the moment I work in strategies by working thinking about where my organisation wants to get to and how we do that. And for me I think it probably brings together a lot of the skills and interests I have. Abi Fafolu: It's really about kind of seeing that bigger picture and wondering how things come together and wondering what things will be different and kind of looking at the evidence and friends and things that are going on that help to paint a picture actually of kind of what the options are and gives you a sense of what's possible. So I think there's a thread really through my kind of career history which is a lot about being nosy and having that kind of owl sand view of the world. And yeah, I think my kind of interest and passion in and Science has also kind of given me a lot as well in the subject and things that have piqued my interest. Paul Marden: I think it's such an interesting opportunity for you to being in public policy and Science within government over the last few years. It's a really interesting perspective and it's the kind of career that no kid at school would ever dream is a career. Yeah. You know, kids at school can imagine being a chemist or a biologist, they can relate to that. But the idea that Science exists at the heart of government and influences everything the government does is not something that your average kid would think about doing. So how do you end up falling into a role like that? Abi Fafolu: Yeah, well, I mean, I suppose my reflection on what you've just said is sort of. So I think for me, you know, I'm currently the only person in my network who has a background in Science, so I didn't really have a clear picture of what it would look like to be a Lab Scientist. You know, you do those practicals at school, you meet teachers and, you know, lab assistants who are, you know, models of that for you. But I didn't know anyone that did that sort of work and I wasn't sure if I was good at it. I just knew that I enjoyed it. Abi Fafolu: And I think when I stumbled across the idea that actually there's a whole strand of Science that's about communicating with people, what's going on, about bridging that gap, really, between the doing and the using of Science, that, for me, opened up a whole new world. And a lot of the kind of journey I suppose I've been on in my career is thinking about how to really help people see the impact of the Science in their everyday life. So I think, you know, in publishing, you're at the forefront of all the developments, you see everything that's going on and it's really interesting. But the average person on the street, you know, has no idea how to apply bioengineering techniques that are, you know, novel and coming out of the lab for their everyday life. Abi Fafolu: But then when we have a situation like Covid, where we're starting to look for novel ways to make vaccines, you know, that's the sort of application, I suppose, of the work that people are doing and the interest that drives them. So for me, I think following that curiosity into this kind of world of Science engagement has been a bit of a journey. Paul Marden: So that leads nicely to the association of Science and Discovery Centres, how we met at their conference. There was a lot of talk at the conference, wasn't there, about public engagement? How do we enrich people's lives with Science and help people to feel that Science is part of their them and that they can influence the Science decision making and the direction that Science takes over the next decades. You're a trustee of ASDC, so what does that involve? Abi Fafolu: Yeah, you've said it really. But ASDC's mission is absolutely that, to make Science accessible and inclusive for more people and to be seen as a valuable part of everyday life. So their role broadly is to kind of bring together and support Science engagement centres, discovery centres and other spaces like that together. And I know you've had probably doing a wonderful job of explaining what ASDC does and the value it brings. I won't go too much into that, but as a trustee, I suppose the core of that role is to give support and challenge to the CEO. I suppose you think of it as, you know, a CEO doesn't really have colleagues or peers and so, you know, we're head trusted advisors in her, in this case. Shaaron ASDC. Abi Fafolu: We are the people that help the sense tech decisions and make sure the organisation is living up to its purpose. Paul Marden: Absolutely. So that's a little bit of background. Let's talk about the Lit Lab. Explain to our listeners who know nothing about the Lit Lab. What is it? Let's start with the broad picture of what it does. Abi Fafolu: Yeah, yeah, sure. So the Lit Lab is the UK's first Science and bit. It is a laboratory or Science themed social event where people do fun homestyle Science experiments, make drinks and take part in kind of friendly challenges. It's a social event that is something I do alongside my day job, as I mentioned. And so it runs quarterly at the moment. But essentially people arrive or kind of pop up Science lab, usually in the basement of a bar or a pub. We've done bigger venues like box parking spaces like that as well. But when they arrive they will find kind of their own lab coat and goggles waiting for them. They might get a drink at the bar while they settle in and then we have a host and lab assistant who will walk them through three experiments and two games. Abi Fafolu: So we always start with a drink, we make a drink. We call that our kind of molecular mythology series. So anything from kind of dry ice cocktails, cool kind of layered drinks and then we end with an explosion. So yeah, some of our more popular ones tend to be ones that involve a bit of cleanup at the end. So that's kind of the model for the event and it's really about helping adults to reconnect with Science and have a good time doing it. Paul Marden: Excellent. So you're taking this out into pubs and bars. It sounds like a Science centre in the back of a van or something. So what sort of kit are you taking with you into the event spaces? Abi Fafolu: Yeah, I mean you're not far off with the kind of back of a van analogy. I have a garage full of labware.  But my neighbours always look at me a bit suspiciously when I start to pile up my pipettes and bits of lab coats and that sort of thing. Paul Marden: Awkward conversations with the neighbours as they're watching what you're taking out the garage. Abi Fafolu: I mean, if I suddenly see flashing lights at my door, I'll probably have a sense and someone's got the wrong end of the stick. But no, we, as I said, you know, kind of a small pop up and so really it's a startup and it's got all of the kind of all that comes with that. So, you know, storing lots of kit in my garage means that the event is intimate because there's only so much, you know, test tubes and beepers and chronicle class I can fit in one space. And then we're on the day, kind of a group of lab assistants and me who will set up the stations for guests. So, you know, for different experiments where we're really trying to replicate, you know, the type of materials and tools that you would use to explore the same sort of things. Abi Fafolu: So one of the things that we do in the lab is DNA extraction with home style ingredients, things that you can find in your skin do with skids. But we're using, you know, conical glass and pipettes and syringes so that we're really being accurate with our measurements and people have that chance to get stuck in. Abi Fafolu: But we don't do any tutorials. It's not, it's not a lesson. It's really for people to get hands on and try things out for themselves. So we give them a QR code that they scan for instructions and it will tell them kind of what the stats are. But you can take that all either, you know, you've got all this in front of you and if you want to mix some things together and see how it goes, then that's the, you know, that's the spirit of Science. They're more than happy for people to do that too. Paul Marden: Excellent. So where did the idea come from? How did, how did you come up with the idea for the lit lab? Abi Fafolu: So it's like a lot of people thinking about kind of, you know, what they want to do with themselves and kind of what skills they have and things they're passionate about. Particularly kind of post lockdown where, you know, you had a lot of time to reflect and think about whether you were making the most of, you know, your skills and abilities. I was seeing a lot of kind of social events come out that were particularly focused around sort of activities. People, I think, wanting a bit more purpose as well when they do leave the house, because that was a luxury. We didn't take for granted that when we step out, we're spending time and that means so much. So a lot of activities that people were doing were things like pains and sips. Abi Fafolu: So this is the model, really, that I've reprised, where people buy tickets to an event and they create art and have drinks and really, it's a model that's really growing globally. So I think that the market in America is in the millions, if not billions, as a kind of global event concept, and definitely picking up here as well, but you see it kind of taking off in different formats. So there are pottery and sips and D Day and sips and all sorts of things like this. And so for me, I kind of. I looked at that and I thought, I think I should do something like this, too. And so I spoke to kind of friends and family and I said, I kind of wanted to try out this thing. I think I could make something similar here. Abi Fafolu: And so I got together a group of friends at my mum's church hall, bought some lab coats from Amazon and spent absolutely ages writing loads of Excel sheets about the experiments that we could do and what I need to buy to kind of get that together, and had them for far too long for an evening after work, doing all sorts of great experiments. And they loved it. Abi Fafolu: They thought it was. It was great and really fun. And so, yeah, it kind of took off from there. I thought, you know, this maybe might be something that we can bring to more people. And so since then, with, I think, about 300 guests, we've got, I think, sort of a thousand or so followers on social media. We've been in timeout London and Secret London magazines and that sort of thing. So, yeah, I think it's reaching some of the right people, but I think you could do more. Paul Marden: So for me, I think there's something about it that really attracts me. I'm an extroverted introvert, so I like to be around other people, but it can be challenging going into a new social situation. For me, I might not feel comfortable. What makes me feel comfortable is being in the context of having a shared mission with people. Paul Marden: So the idea of, you know, having these experiments to conduct with people, there's something to focus on rather than just the people that are around you. And you know, I need to speak to everybody. I need to be the life and soul of the party. No, no, I'm focusing on this thing. And the social element of just being with other people happens around you when it's done at its best because it's not taking all your conscious effort. Your conscious effort is focused on this thing that's in front of you. You and the rest of it is just blossoming around you. Abi Fafolu: So yeah, no, absolutely. I think the other part of that is that you're in a room with people with similar interests. Right. You're creating community. There are people there that are really excited and curious about kind of rekindling that passion that they had for Science or that interest that they had. And so there's a real energy of people kind of wanting to get stuck in and being excited kind of for every thing that we bring out. And yeah, it absolutely is, you know, part of my plan for it to be able to build a bigger community around it. And we have some of that online. Abi Fafolu: So there's a lab Patreon site where we share Science news, blogs about kind of running a pop up Science lab, you know, behind the scenes and really helping people to reconnect with Science, even if they're not in that space with people, but also just to find that community with that said interest. Paul Marden: So you come up with these spreadsheets at the beginning. You tracked all your mates in a church hall for the first evening. Was there a lot of experimentation involved in. I'm a meta level here. Yeah, experimentation around the experiments that you want to run. Were there some that you did that just weren't successful? Abi Fafolu: Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So I do have a mega spreadsheet of kind of experiments like I could do a lot of the ones with fior. I've had to rule out the various disappointingly. But we'll see how we can get around that in future. But no, absolutely, there's the constraints of, you know, the idea of this is that a lot of the Science is home style and you could absolutely kind of go home and replicate that. One of the things that we do online is created tutorial videos used to try some of the experiments from the lab. And so what I don't want is to have to find kind of lab grade chemicals because that's not homestyle Science. Paul Marden: No. Abi Fafolu: And so I really want it to be accessible in the truest sense. And so that's a, you know, a philtre for me when it comes to thinking about what sorts of things we could do as much as possible as well. You know, having experiments that have real world kind of application or implication. I talked about the kind of DNA one, you know, the method that we use for that at home is really similar to what we do in the lab. It just has, you know, different types of reagents, you know, more specialised or more tailored to doing that. But yeah, I think being able to really kind of illustrate kind of core concepts in Science as well as do them with materials and things like that are accessible is a strong philtre for me. Abi Fafolu: But thinking about some of the ones, I suppose that haven't made the cut. And as I say that actually I should say that we do have a kind of core set of experiments as well as seasonal ones. So the most recent event was Halloween and we started by making blood transfusion cocktails. So we had blood bags with grenadine in them. We did a kind of gruesome DNA extraction with picking livers, we made potions that are wrapped to finish off the session, that sort of thing. But yeah, a lot of the ones that are kind of more temperamental, I guess, and not so resilient for people who are not going to read the instructions are the types that don't quite make it in. And they can be things like, you know, dry ice doesn't last forever, it eliminates, it evaporates quite quickly. Abi Fafolu: And so there are things like that where, you know, over the course of the kind of two hour event maybe is not the best type of experiment to try and do because by the end of it some people will still have dry ice and some people won't. And I'm not, you know, I'm not in a degree where I can, you know, just turn the corner and get some more. So yeah, some of them are just kind of practical, why they don't quite make the part. But yeah, definitely a longer list of things I try with more opportunities to do. Paul Marden: I talked a little bit about why it piques my interest. But who is the audience that you're seeing coming along to events? Abi Fafolu: Yeah, so I think both from kind of attendance at events and you know, the feedback that we get and the kind of data from that, but also our insights from social media and things like that. We can see that the audience is largely women. So about 70% women age between 21, maybe 45. Interest really in Science culture, trying new things, meeting new people. And I'm especially interested actually as well in targeting minority audiences. So the women, but also black and ethnic minority people who are underrepresented in Science, who maybe, you know, don't have access to Science and that sort of discourse and really just to change perceptions about who Science is for. So I think the idea that you can do Science outside of a classic setting, outside of a lab, outside of research, outside of academia is really important to me. Abi Fafolu: So, yeah, I think it's a broad audience and I think Science is absolutely for everyone. But part of my mission is also to make sure we're reaching some audiences who aren't really. Paul Marden: That's the audience. Are you doing, is this a solo effort for you or have you got teams of lab rats that come along and help you? Abi Fafolu: And so I'm a solo entrepreneur, I am the founder, one of those hats. But on the day of the event I do have a team, we call them lab assistants rather than lab rats. But I do have a team of people who are amazing at preparing the experiments. People so they can get stuck right in troubleshooting any kind of niggling issues, you know, with the experiments on the day and making sure that people kind of know what they're doing. And for me, actually it's been really important to open those opportunities up to up and coming Science communicators. So, you know, people who want that experience really in practising and engaging the public directly with Science. Abi Fafolu: And again, you know, there's nothing quite like this at the moment, so I'm hoping, you know, that's a good opportunity for them as well to kind of pick off those sorts of careers. Paul Marden: Yeah, it's quite nerve wracking, isn't it, doing what you're doing, stepping into a sector where. Or creating your own segment. Yes, you're taking inspiration from things that already exist, but nobody else is doing this. And you've got. It's at the core of being entrepreneurial, isn't it? You've got to test the market and experiment to see where it goes. But that can be quite nerve wracking. So having that team of lab assistants, those people that are helping you on the day, you know, it's invaluable because you can't have eyes in the back of your head when you're at the event, it's really, you know, it's really hard, I guess, to be able to run one of these events, keep it all flowing, solve the problems and be a gracious host at the same time. Abi Fafolu: Yeah, absolutely. And I should say, actually I'm not the host, so I am very much kind of in the background for the events themselves, they are hosted by. I have a few different people that kind of tap into this role, but essentially they're presenters and people whose job it is that have that sort of MC role to keep the crowd engaged and enthused. And again, like I said, they don't teach, they don't set out. Kind of made the story of what we're going to do, but they encourage and, you know, prod and make jokes with the group and that sort of thing. One of the elements of it that I think works well as well is that we try to introduce kind of competition. Abi Fafolu: So if we have, you know, two or three tables, depending where we're doing it, you know, each table is a group that competes and they choose a table name which is made up of a range of things that might be for that month, elements in the periodic table, their favourite horror movie and their favourite brand of alcohol. So they get kind of wacky table names and earn points as they go along. And we actually, for most events, compete for spots or fleets. So if you're a winning table, you'll find a rap of spots coming your way. So, yeah, it's definitely a social event I think we major on as well as Science in our event. Paul Marden: Of course, it does sound a little bit like a kind of classic Science communicator role at the Science Centre, doesn't it? You know, that job to engage people in Science. But you're hiding. You're hiding the vegetables, aren't you? They're learning a little bit about Science, but at the same time they're enjoying themselves and you've got to major on the enjoyment and engagement, otherwise they're never going to learn something. Abi Fafolu: Yeah, no, I absolutely agree with that. And we provide some of that background to people that want it. So, you know, in the same way that you can scan the QR and find out what the instructions are, you can also scan and find out kind of what the Science is behind what you're doing. Because I think, you know, if people are particularly curious, you want to make sure that they have the opportunity to follow up. Paul Marden: Yeah. So you're taking this out to pubs and bars. Have you got future plans to try other types of spaces or to take this to other places? Abi Fafolu: Yeah, so I know that you we're alluding to as well, the kind of theme of this. So, you know, absolutely, we're doing Science, but this is. This is culture, this is creativity, this is all of the things that, you know, make Science real and enjoyable for people as well. So Absolutely. I see it as a kind of creative cultural endeavour. I've done a few events in sort of different contexts. I, for example, was just running a winter fair event called University of East London. And that, I think, gives us the opportunity to have people kind of zip in and out from what we're doing and see it in the context of other things as well. And I think this brings to the forefront even more that, you know, this is something that's for entertainment. Abi Fafolu: You know, like, there's education here, that this is an entertainment concept. So, yeah, I think it really has a place in lots of different spaces and I think there's lots of opportunity, really, to see where it can go. Yeah, absolutely. Would love to work with different types of venues, so universities. But also there are these other cultural institutes, talking museums and places like that, where I think there could be a really nice partnership opportunities there. Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. There's an element of. And it was something that somebody said at the ASDC conference. It was one of the questions that got asked at the Skip the Queue episode was all about getting the A into STEAM. So getting. Getting the Art into STEAM. Subjects. There's an element of if you could take this into a bar and a pub, you can take this into art institutions, to galleries, to museums, other cultural institutions. All these sorts of institutions are looking for ways in which they can extend their reach, that they can. Can serve different audiences, generate revenue for themselves at times when the institution is quiet. And this is just a lovely concept to be able to pop the things in the back of the van and take it to institutions and help them to do those things. Abi Fafolu: Yeah, thank you. And I think, just to add to that, I think we're definitely seeing a rise of that with the kind of museum lakes. It's a theme across lots of different venues completely. And. And it's absolutely that. It's about the kind of adult market and recognising, I think that, you know, just because you're an adult doesn't mean that you can't still have fun with the things that you were interested in as a younger person or, you know, hobbies that you don't have the opportunity to do. So, yeah, Science is a hobby, definitely something I'm all the way behind. And I think the kind of adult space is a really good opportunity for that. Yeah. Paul Marden: Oh, completely. I get to masquerade behind my daughter. I'm taking her to Science centres for her benefit. But the reality is I have a whale of a time and I love going to the Science central, Science museum And I'd feel a bit odd going as a single bloke wandering around some of these institutions on your own during the daytime. It might not feel quite right. But a Science late event, I could totally, you know, I've done enough ASDC events at Science centres where we've had the evening meal in a Science centre in the evening and it's been delightful to wander around these places in the evenings. There's a huge amount of opportunity at your local Science centre to find things that engage adults as well as kids. Abi Fafolu: Yeah, absolutely. Paul Marden: What are your goals? Where do you want to take the Lit Lab for the future? Abi Fafolu: Yeah. So, I mean, again, this concept of kind of popping things in the van and kind of rocking up wherever is definitely a perk of the current model, but it still sort of means that at the moment, you know, the little ad is in London big as I am, you know, I don't want that to be a kind of barrier for it and I definitely don't want it to stop the right people from reaching it. So for me it would absolutely be that to be able to reach more parts of the country and particularly, you know, like the cities of culture. I'm thinking that, you know, the Bristols and the Manchesters and the Bradfords next year as the 2025 or this year. Paul Marden: That was slickly done. Well done. Abi Fafolu: Yeah, I think, you know, being able to meet people where they're already exploring these interests and then hopefully see that Philtre out as well would be wonderful. Paul Marden: Okay, so is that partnership model or is that a kind of a franchise model or are you open to conversations with people about how you could deliver this? Abi Fafolu: Yeah, no, absolutely open. I think that's, you know, a perk of being. Being the first, isn't it? But, yeah, all things are on the table and I think that's a wonderful thing. You know, I'm probably still in the. It's my baby face. I can imagine. I can imagine that there's probably a bit of hand holding that would. Would come before any. But yes, I think absolutely open. Paul Marden: Yeah, that's interesting. Well, look, it's been lovely talking to you, finding out a little bit more about you and finding out more about The Lit Lab. I think it's such a wonderful concept. I feel a team rubber cheese evening event coming along soon where I think we bring the team and we do a little bit of Science together. I think that might be a nice idea. Abi Fafolu: Idea more than welcome. I'd love that. Paul Marden: So we always ask our guests to give us a book recommendation. So Abi, what's your recommendation for the listeners today? Abi Fafolu: Yeah, I had a good think about this and you know, in all that I've talked about, I think there's probably also something about reclaiming this kind of nerd label. I think my recommendation is probably going to fall in that space, but I'm happy with that and I own it. But mine is in the genre of sort of mythology, magical realism, fantasy, and I really love Greek mythology. But I'm actually also getting into African mythology, of which there are loads of kind of classic but also kind of up and coming writers. And one that I'm really enjoying now is called She Would Be King by Wayétu Moore. And it's a story of basically the kind of creation of a new space in Liberia during the kind of transatlantic slave trade. Abi Fafolu: And it basically imagines the stories of the three different people in a sort of anthology way, who get powers as they go through the real horrible and inhumane kind of trials of, you know, being part of that. So from America to Jamaica to West Africa, you know, these three people go through different experiences of that and they all get powers that help them to cope with that. And it draws on the types of powers that you might see in African mythology. So it's a really beautiful book and a really inspiring and kind of educational one too. I think there's a lot of, you know, factor accuracy in terms of, you know, what happened and the types of experiences that people accounted. Yeah, that's one of my definite recommendations and I'm actually rereading it at the moment. Paul Marden: Wowzers, listeners. So if you'd like a copy of the book that Abi recommends, normally I'd say get over to X and repost the show announcement on X, but you can do that on bluesky now. So go find us. We are @skipthequeue.fm on Bluesky and do whatever you do to repost a notice on bluesky and say I want Abby's book. And the first person that does that will get a copy of Abi's book sent to them as a gift from us. And I'll be very excited because we'll have more followers on Bluesky. X is a bit of a dumpster fire now, so we are moving rapidly to Bluesky. Abi, it has been delightful to meet you. Paul Marden: If listeners would like to find out more about the Lit Lab, all of your links and your socials and the website will all be posted in the show notes. So listeners, you'll be able to go and find out about where the next Lit Lab events are all on Abi's website. It's been lovely to meet you. Thank you ever so much for coming on the podcast. Happy New Year. Abi Fafolu: Thank you so much. Paul. Thanks so much for having me. And Happy New Year to you too. 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

The epicenter of the Experience Economy is how well we respect customer time. To be good stewards of customer time, we must be doctors of detail, and we need to put customer needs above our own. How do customers score your level of care?Support the show

The Experience Economy begs companies to understand what customers want, need, and deserve. If we believe this, then why do so many companies operate without customer service protocols, or training?Support the show

829: Why Dentists Need to Create an “Experience Economy” in Their Practice – Debra Engelhardt-NashPeople spend thousands on cellphones and handbags. But the same amount for dentistry is “too much money”. How do we change that thinking and get more patients through the door? To help you answer these important questions, Kirk Behrendt brings back Debra Engelhardt-Nash, co-founder of The Nash Institute, to share her expert advice for cultivating trust and loyalty through exceptional, memorable experiences. To learn how to get patients to want to stay, listen to Episode 829 of The Best Practices Show!Learn More About Debra:Give Debra a call: (704) 904-3459Send Debra an email: debraengelhardtnash@gmail.com Follow Debra on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debraengnashBook Debra for speaking or consulting: https://debraengelhardtnash.comRegister for Debra's Dental Business School course: https://www.thenashinstitute.com/upcoming-events/dental-business-schoolRegister for Debra's Team Communication Skills course:

Is it possible to create lifelong clients who are obsessed with your brand? Dennis Moseley-Williams says yes—but only if you stop selling products and start creating experiences that truly change your clients' lives. As a thought leader in the Experience Economy and founder of DMW Strategic Consulting, Dennis has helped countless financial advisors stand out in a crowded market by moving beyond transactional relationships.Many advisors fall into the trap of cookie-cutter service models, leaving clients feeling like just another number. This “race to the bottom” commoditizes your work and makes it easy for clients to leave for someone offering a lower price.By emphasizing less marketing and more experiences, Dennis's approach flips the script and will help you build a cult-like following with an unforgettable brand that truly transforms lives.3 of the biggest insights from Dennis Moseley-Williams …#1.) Sell Experiences, Not Services: Discover Dennis' 6-step framework for designing transformative experiences that result in lifelong customers. #2.) Find Your Big Idea: Use this simple yet powerful prompt to uncover your big idea and avoid simply copying your competitors.#3.) Harness the Power of Rituals: Learn how intentional rituals, like those used by the Four Seasons, can foster client loyalty and belonging (PLUS a new ritual you should implement in your own practice immediately!).SHOW NOTEShttps://bradleyjohnson.com/94FREE GIFT + JOIN THE DBDL INSIDER CREWToday's Gift: Get a free copy of Dennis' book, "Serious Shift: How Experience Staging Can Save Your Practice" [while supplies last]To get access to today's free gift AND become a DBDL Insider with VIP access to future resources and exclusive content, text "94" to 785-800-3235. *Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP at any time to opt-out of receiving text messages.FOLLOW BRAD JOHNSON ON SOCIALTwitterInstagramLinkedInFOLLOW DBDL ON SOCIAL:YouTubeTwitterInstagramLinkedInFacebookDISCLOSURE DBDL podcast episode conversations are intended to provide financial advisors with ideas, strategies, concepts and tools that could be incorporated into their business and their life. Financial professionals are responsible for ensuring implementation of anything discussed related to business is done so in accordance with any and all regulatory, compliance responsibilities and obligations.The Triad member statements reflect their own experience which may not be representative of all Triad Member experiences, and their appearances were not paid for.Triad Wealth Partners, LLC is an SEC Registered Investment Adviser. Please visit Triadwealthpartners.com for more information. Triad Wealth Partners, LLC and Triad Partners, LLC are affiliated companies.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In part III of our mini-series, 'How to Shape a Legacy' we're leaning into legacy as it applies to community and more broadly, culture. In part I we started to define legacy, in part II we talk what it means for business, and in part III we're leaning into how people—one by one, bit by bit—feed the stories we tell ourselves about who we are. How do these stories shape our collective identity and how do each of us contribute to these narratives in meaningful ways?   In this episode, our host, Maya Guice, talks to BRC Vice President of Creative and Story, Matthew Solari. A creative director with an impressive portfolio spanning museums and cultural institutions, Matt brings a unique perspective on storytelling and its role in shaping cultural legacy. But this isn't just about his work—it's personal. Matt shares how his family has influenced the legacy of one community in Long Island, offering a heartfelt glimpse into the power of family, tradition, and shared stories.   To learn more about Matt, visit: https://bit.ly/3ORg4Si    To learn more about BRC: www.brcweb.com    Special thanks to the sponsors of this miniseries, The World Experience Organization, a global institution dedicated to promoting the experience economy, improving the quality of experiences, and enhancing the opportunities for experiential creators worldwide. Learn more: www.worldxo.org

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

When Samantha Gadd began her career in HR, she quickly noticed traditional HR processes and practices often overlooked the people they were meant to serve. Struggling to find the “human”  in human resources, Samantha took a leap of faith and founded Humankind, an organization dedicated to putting humanity at the center of work. Today, Humankind is New Zealand's leading HR and employee experience (EX) consultancy, partnering with over 1,200 organizations to create more human-centered workplaces that prioritize employee well-being and drive business success.Samantha Gadd is a seasoned business leader and expert in employee experience (EX) with over a decade of industry expertise. She is the founder and CEO of Excellent and Founder and Director of Humankind.In this episode, Dart and Samantha discuss:- Samantha's journey from HR to EX- Who buys into EX in organizations- The origin and principles of the EX Manifesto- Links between workplace culture and employer brand- The EX Design School curriculum- Values of EX that reframe success metrics- The PREP model: purpose, relationship, enabling, and performance- Who is best suited for the EX curriculum - And other topics…Samantha Gadd is a seasoned business leader and expert in employee experience (EX) with over a decade of industry expertise. She is the founder and CEO of Excellent, an organization dedicated to transforming how organizations approach EX. She is also the Founder and Director of Humankind, New Zealand's leading HR and EX consultancy which has collaborated with over 1,000 organizations to design impactful employee experiences.As an EX expert, Samantha has spent over a decade helping high-profile clients transform workplace environments to enhance employee engagement and well-being. In 2022, she also led a group of 34 contributors to co-author The EX Manifesto, which defines key principles of EX design. Signed by leaders in over 30 countries, this document represents a global commitment to reimagining employee engagement and well-being.Resources mentioned:www.EXmanifesto.com The Experience Economy, by Joseph Pine II: https://www.amazon.com/Experience-Economy-Updated-Joseph-Pine/dp/1422161978 Customers Included, by Phil Terry: https://www.amazon.com/Customers-Included-Transform-Products-Companies/dp/0979368111 University of Toronto, service design certificate: https://learn.utoronto.ca/programs-courses/certificates/service-design Connect with Samantha: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthagadd www.excellent.io Work with Dart:Dart is the CEO and co-founder of the work design firm 11fold. Build work that makes employees feel alive, connected to their work, and focused on what's most important to the business. Book a call at 11fold.com.

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 hosts are Oz Austwick and Sinead KimberleyIf 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 28th November 2024. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references: Download The 2024 Visitor Attraction Website Survey - https://rubbercheese.com/survey/https://www.linkedin.com/in/sineadwaldron/Sinead Kimberley is the Senior Client Success Manager of Rubber Cheese and has a background in digital marketing, engagement software and all things client satisfaction. She guides clients through the various stages of their project, ensuring they have the information they need when they need it, as well as being the link between our developers and clients. https://rubbercheese.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/thatmarketingbloke/ Oz Austwick is the Head of Commercial at Rubber Cheese, he has a somewhat varied job history having worked as a Blacksmith, a Nurse, a Videographer, and Henry VIII's personal man at arms. Outside of work he's a YouTuber, a martial artist, and a musician, and is usually found wandering round a ruined castle with his kids. Transcription:  Oz Austwick: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in or working with visitor attractions. I'm your host, Oz Ostwick. In this episode, Sinead and I are going to talk a lot about the third Annual Rubber Cheese website Visitor Attraction survey. So, firstly, I just want to say, hi, Sinead. Sinead Kimberley: Hello. Oz Austwick: Sinead's been struggling a bit with a cold and I dragged her onto the podcast anyway, so I should apologise to her, but she'll be great. Sinead Kimberley: She always is, always fun to join. Oz Austwick: I'm gonna start by asking you a couple of questions. We're not gonna do the icebreaker thing that we do with guests, but when Paul and I host an episode, we like to talk a little bit about where we've been, what attractions we've been to. So how about you? Where have you been recently? Sinead Kimberley: I've been to Stockholm, in Sweden, actually. That is not an attraction in itself, although it's beautiful there. But we did try to go to a few attractions, so we tried to go to the Paradox Illusion Museum. We very excitedly got to the front, asked for two tickets and they said they're completely fully booked for the entire day, and we couldn't get in, which was surprising. I kind of didn't really factor in that it would be a numbered visit thing. I thought, “just, it's open, come and have a wonder.” But I guess the structure of it is you have to have so many people in a room to be able to enjoy the paradox of it. So it made sense in the end. Oz Austwick: Yeah, I guess. It's interesting, isn't it, that wasn't clear? Sinead Kimberley: Our research was essentially looking. We knew we wanted to go there. Oz Austwick: Yeah. Sinead Kimberley: What's the address? And can Google get me there? That was my research. Oz Austwick: Okay, so really can't really blame them for that, then. Sinead Kimberley: No, we cannot blame them. But we had a similar thing as well where were also trying to go to an escape room because were there to visit friends. So we didn't want to go to all the museums we've kind of already seen, although they have some incredible ones there, the Vassa being one of them. Very similar, I think, to Mary Rose Trust. They've got a massive ship that sunk pretty soon after coming out of the bay and the King wasn't very happy about it, but we thought, we'll go and just try and escape room, just to kill a couple of hours. And I looked for every escape room I could find in Stockholm that we could physically get to. And then once you go into one of those sites, you then pick the Room, then the day, then the time. Sinead Kimberley: And you have to go room to room in each of these websites to see if they've got any availability on the day you want and time you want. And I really wished. And maybe this is a thing that exists that I just don't know about, but I wish there was one place I could go and just say, I want to go to an escape room in Stockholm on this day, roughly this time. What is available? Because I gave up after about half an hour of searching through every single one. Different rooms, different places, it was impossible. So we didn't go in the end. Oz Austwick: That's quite interesting because I suspect that trying to book for half an hour is probably quite a lot. I guess most people probably wouldn't last that long. But not being able to search for something by availability seems a bit odd that you have to say, I want this specific room. And then you have to go into it and say, “Oh no, that's not available.” And then you have to go and find another one and go into. Yeah, it would be really nice to be able to look at something like that and just say what's actually available. Sinead Kimberley: Yeah. And I feel like I'm not that big on the. I don't have that many brainwaves, so I imagine someone's already done this. If anyone knows and can point me to it.Oz Austwick: Certainly interesting. And maybe there's a lesson there for people who are listening that are working in attractions that can. If somebody wants to come, can they search by when it's available or do you have to pick a day and look to see if there are any times free? Maybe that's something we'll talk about because we're going to talk about our report and I think maybe that booking process is something that might crop up again. So did you actually make it anywhere at all or did you just give up and not visit anywhere? Sinead Kimberley: We went to a chess bar in the end, so they had a very swanky, very kind of trendy feeling Chess bar. And apparently some very famous chess player was going to go there and have a tournament against somebody from YouTube. I'm not in with all the YouTube stuff, so I don't know who it was, but my husband and friend played chess for about three hours and me and another friend drank wine instead of any visitor attraction. Oz Austwick: Sounds like a pretty ideal attraction to me. It's interesting, is it? Because there are definitely quite a lot of Scandinavian, maybe Swedish chess players. And where's Magnus Carlsen from? Is he Swedish? I know he's Scandinavian. But when he's. He's the best, he's the best player out there at the moment. But I know there are a number of quite famous YouTubers. Anna Kramlin is. Sinead Kimberley: Yes, that was the one. Oz Austwick: Was it? Okay. Oh, she's. She's brilliant. Sinead Kimberley: I think she was going to be there. Oz Austwick: She's got an amazing YouTube channel where she just travels around and plays people at chess. She goes to America and plays chess hustlers in the park and she's an international master, I think. But her parents are both grandmasters at chess and every now and again her mum just comes along and she's this lovely softly spoken lady who just sits down and utterly destroys people at chess. Brilliant watching. So, yeah, I very much doubt Anna Cramling is watching this or listening to this podcast, but if she is, good for you, Anna. Keep it up. Yeah. So where have I been? It's a bit of a cop out because this is something we do quite often, but we live a few minutes drive from Petworth, so we quite often go and park up and go for a walk around the park. Oz Austwick: And we say park, it's thousands and thousands of acres and it's absolutely lovely. It's a bit like stepping into Pride and Prejudice and going for a walk around and seeing the herds of deer just grazing in the landscape. And it's a Capability Brown thing. And you see the house on the hill overlooking, it's absolutely beautiful. We go there a lot. The kids love running around and my teenage daughter, it's a bit special to her because she's got a very serious boyfriend at the moment. They've been together for almost a year and that was where they went for their first date. They went for a walk around the grounds at Petworth and it was absolutely delightful. All very Jane Austen. Sinead Kimberley: That's a lovely first date. Oz Austwick: Well, this isn't it, you know, I mean, at that point I'm going, “Well, yeah, he's okay, he can stay, we like him”. And he came up and introduced himself and shook my hand and I'm just like, wow, okay. Is this what dating's like now? Because it's. I'm pretty sure it wasn't like that back in my day. But yeah, it's a lovely place. Can't recommend it enough. You need to either be a member of the National Trust or pay for your parking, but there's usually a coffee van in the car park so you can have a nice coffee and walk around a lovely estate. So it's pretty much perfect for me. We should probably talk about the elephant in the room, or rather the elephant that isn't in the room. And I'm sure I'll get in trouble for calling Paul an elephant. Oz Austwick: But he's not here today. He's off at the Historic Building Parks and Gardens event, which is an absolutely new one for me. I've not even heard of it before. So we hope you're having a lovely time, Paul, and thanks for letting us loose with the podcast. So what else is going on in the world of visitor attractions at the moment? Sinead Kimberley: ASDC, is it coming up? Oz Austwick: ASDC, yes, the Association of Science and Discovery Centres have their big annual event soon and there's something really special happening at it this year, which is we're going to record an episode of Skip the Queue live on stage. We're not going to broadcast it live because there's a distinct possibility we'll mess it up and we'll have to do bits again. But we are going to record it and it's going to be really interesting. And that one's going to be hosted by Paul, which is probably why he's letting us loose without him. And, yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. I think it's going to be quite interesting to get out and about because I've been out to record on site and nobody else has managed it yet. So this will be Paul's first on site recording. Sinead Kimberley: That'd be very cool and hopefully I'll be able to join you for the event at least, as the audience.Oz Austwick: Yeah, I certainly hope. Yeah, that would be great. So if you're listening to this and you've got a venue and you'd like us to be there, please do let us know. We'd love to come and see you. I had an amazing time recording at Trentham Monkey Forest, so if you've got monkeys, then let me know. I'd love to come and meet your monkeys too. But it's probably fair to say that the. The annual survey and the report has taken up a lot of our time recently and we're actually able to talk about it now because it's been released. We know that some of you came along to our launch webinar, but a lot of you didn't. So we'd like to talk about some of the really interesting things that are in the survey. Oz Austwick: I guess it's probably reasonable to start off by talking a little bit about how it's different this year compared with previous years. And there are a few things we've done differently. There are a few subjects that we've brought into the survey to ask people about that weren't in there before. So the use of AI and sustainability. I know we're going to talk a little bit more about sustainability later. That's something that Sinead's quite focused on. But one of the major things is that we've introduced some multi site operators into the database of attractions that we use to produce the report and I think that's probably changed the way the report looks a little bit, wouldn't you agree? Sinead Kimberley: Definitely. I think it's compared to the reports before there are sections of it that maybe look a bit more complex because you've got different tabs you can move between and you can see the data both with all of the data we have. So with the multi sites and without. So if you are maybe a smaller attraction the without might be more interesting for you to have a look and benchmark yourself against. But I think it's really interesting to see how very different the results are. If you look at our normal kind of attractions that we get survey results from compared to when you look at the multi sites. In nearly every single one, the biggest tech within whichever category is usually completely different between the two different kind of data sets, which I thought was really interesting. There's very little crossover really. Oz Austwick: It really isn't it? And the question you need to start thinking about at that point is the tech different because multi sites need different tech or is it different because multi sites actually have the financial ability to be able to say this the absolute best. So that's the one we're going to use. And I don't think we can say for sure one way or another at that point. We can say that the biggest, most successful venues tend to use these things but we're not really in a position where we're able to say and this is why. So I think that's quite interesting. I think there were a lot of discussions when were trying to produce the report about how we use this data because there are definitely different types of multisites out there. Oz Austwick: There are those relatively small local groups where you get maybe two or three local museums that all used to be run by the same council and now are run by a charity. But then you've got some of the multi sites that have some of the biggest and most famous venues in the country that all have their own websites but the decisions are clearly made at a group level and then you've got the massive multi site operators with hundreds and hundreds of venues where they're all done through the same site, the same website. And the question is, then, is that, say, 600 venues or is that one website? And that makes it a really difficult thing because if we look at it and say it's 600 or so venues, then that's 600 venues, all using the same technology. Oz Austwick: But if it's one website, that's only one website using that technology, and that hugely changes the way that it's reported. So I think you're absolutely right to look at it, look at both and see how it applies to you as an attraction. And if you're unsure, drop us a line, talk to Sinead, talk to me, talk to Paul. We've got a huge amount of information and we've put what we think is the most important things out there in the report. But there's a lot more we can talk to you about and we'd love to, because, you know, we're kind of sick of talking to each other about it, wouldn't you say? Sinead Kimberley: Not just yet. Not sick of you just yet, but I would say when it comes to, as well, coming to talk to us, I think one of the areas that, I mean, I can be useful in and that I'd love to have conversations with my clients in the ones I'm not already talking to about it, is sustainability. And this is one where Oz is probably sick of hearing me talk about constantly. But I think the thing that I find most interesting, if you look at sustainability on its own, you can maybe see it as something we should be doing, but is very hard and, like, how do you do it? Well. But the report looks into how it links really well with performance as well. Sinead Kimberley: A lot of what makes something sustainable also makes it highly performing load faster, and that ultimately gives you a better user experience on the website. So for those who are maybe kind of grappling with how do we make something sustainable in an industry that can find this very difficult because of the nature of what you're doing? Looking at it more from that performance perspective, I think helps maybe give it a little bit momentum, a bit more enthusiasm towards doing something that will have material benefits for you later on, as well as making you a bit more kind of conscious and environmental in the website. So I thought putting those two things together was really interesting in the report. Oz Austwick: Yeah, I think that's a really interesting point, isn't it? It's not just about ticking a box for sustainability. ”Oh, look at us. Isn't our website brilliant?” And it feels a bit like just patting yourself on the back for the sake of it. Almost everything you do to make your website more sustainable is making you more successful and your site more efficient and hopefully making you more money as well. So I think that's definitely something to bear in mind. Sinead Kimberley: Yeah. And I think the activities that you can do to make it more sustainable and therefore more highly performing and a better user experience, they're reasonably simple. So we have a lot of our customers at the moment are going through that process with us of our team, reviewing the site, checking where can we make those quick wins to boost you up the kind of score. And so in the report, we talk about the average attraction being at F, which is the worst score along the whole score grade, that kind of data shows us. And it doesn't take a whole heap of stuff to get you even just above that average line. But mostly kind of C, B, A, they are all achievable to get to those kind of grades with things that you would. Sinead Kimberley: If you went to look at your site after we have made changes to make it more sustainable, you'll notice it loads a little quicker, hopefully, but you won't really notice anything else that's changed. So a lot of it is the smart little tech things you can do in the background that, you know, we didn't know were possible, maybe when the sites were built originally or, you know, we've just not heard about, we're focusing on something else perhaps. So I think that was. I hope people can see how easy it can be to just get both of those quick wins, the sustainability and the performance, without changing too much. You know, the design team are not going to be unhappy after we've kind of had a go with that. Oz Austwick: Yeah, and I think it's, it's probably worth saying that one of the reasons that I think sustainability has been a conversation that people have backed away from having is that it feels like it's going to be really complicated. And the reason it feels like it's really complicated is because it's quite technical. But if you're talking to someone like you and the team of developers that you work with, then this is really simple stuff for them. Being able to look at a list of things that are causing your site to not rank very well, sustainability wise. They can say, “Oh, well, we can do those three really quickly. That's only half a day's work to get that fixed.” And that can have a huge tangible difference to the site, definitely. Oz Austwick: Okay, so moving on from sustainability to very much a related subject is the booking process. We've talked a bit about trying to make the site more efficient and make it load faster and therefore make it more sustainable. That does feel very much like it's connected to the booking process, because one of the things that seems fairly clear, looking at the report, is that people are still expecting their visitors to go through a lot of steps and that hasn't really changed year on year. We've said before that if you reduce the steps in your booking process, it will make you more money. And we can see that really clearly from the reports we've done in the past. And yet the average is still really high. Oz Austwick: It's seven steps to be able to book a ticket and that feels like we're making people do a lot. Sinead Kimberley: I think if you look at other industries as well, they have really run down that avenue of reducing the steps. If you look at Amazon, it's scarily easy to go, just “Buy now”. Admittedly, they've taken details earlier on in the process that are slightly different, but any new site that I go on to where I'm trying to buy something or I'm trying to kind of plan something, even if I can do everything on my phone and even when it comes to, say, Apple Pay, if I can just do two clicks and my payments done, I don't need to put in, you know, manually enter my details and things like that. I feel more happy after that experience. I don't feel like I've had to go and find my purse and get my card. Sinead Kimberley: I haven't had to go and remember whatever detail it is, or checked, you know, my husband's details, if he's coming along with me or anything. And the easier you can make it, I think the better. I know we've got a few colleagues who have children and Steve in particular will tell me how on a Thursday evening, he sat on the sofa, maybe after putting the kids to bed. After dinner, you're a bit tired, you've had a full day of work, you want to just go, “Oh, I need to do something on the weekend”. You pick up your phone and find where you want to go, quickly book it, get back to the TV or whatever other relaxing activity you were doing. And the quicker you can do that, the more it takes stress out of what is potentially a stressful thing as well. Sinead Kimberley: Not even thinking about when it comes to obviously, the more sales that you get because you're then somewhere they think of as easy to go to, easy to book. Oz Austwick: Yeah. Sinead Kimberley: So, yeah, I think the survey highlighted that really, really well. Oz Austwick: Absolutely, yeah. I couldn't agree more. And I love this idea of Apple Pay or Google Pay being more used because A, that allows you, as an attraction, to get that data without having to specifically ask for it. But also as a visitor, the amount of times I've got my phone out and I've literally, I've been out and about, I've been doing something, maybe I've taken one of the kids to a swimming lesson or, you know, I'm sitting at the back of a concert waiting for my daughter to come on and do her bit and I think, “Oh, I'll just book that thing.” And it says, “Oh, you've got to put your car details in.” Oz Austwick: I've lost count of the amount of times I've been stood in a car park with my phone balanced on the back of the car trying to find a credit card so I can. I don't want to do that. Sinead Kimberley: How many times have you put the phone down? You've not even carried on that booking. Because I'll do it later, if later comes.Oz Austwick: Yeah, I mean, if later comes, definitely. Sometimes, without a doubt, I would much rather be able to just say Google Pay and give it my fingerprint and let it do it for me. And I think the question we need to be asking ourselves as an industry as a whole is why are we asking for this information? And there's a really interesting thing in the survey which I think highlights that we're asking for information from people that A, we don't need. And you and I, we both know this. We talk to people who book things and it annoys them all the time. And people are asking for information so they can market to us and get us to come back. They can upsell, they can sell more things to us. Oz Austwick: But we've got some really clear data looking at where traffic to your website comes from. And the absolute lowest source of traffic to a website to a visitor attraction website comes from email marketing. So we're literally putting people off buying tickets to a venue to get information from them so that we can market to them and get them to come to the venue again. And the numbers just don't hold up.Sinead Kimberley: Don't make sense, no. For the bigger venues, at least hundreds of thousands of pounds, you could get more in revenue if you were to remove some steps. And yet we hold on to those steps for potentially email marketing, which is not where you're getting your hundreds of thousands of pounds back from. In the end, it doesn't add up, but I think it maybe goes into what we spoke about a while ago, where you do what you've always done, you don't think about the why. Why are you asking for the information? Why are we doing this? Why? You know, is email marketing still the big thing that we are trying to do all the time? Oz Austwick: Yes. Yeah. There's a huge amount of perceived wisdom within the industry. And even now, going to events and listening to people talk about how you should market your venue, and it's all really arbitrary. It's like, this is clearly what you should do, this is how you should do it. And there's no justification for that. There's no reason behind it. There's no proof that if you do it this way, this is what will happen. And I think that's one of the things that the survey now, in year three, is becoming more and more able to show you that these things are changing. We've got actual trends, we've got figures, we've got data that is indisputable, and we can see how that data is changing over time. Oz Austwick: So we can look at the fact that in year one, when we knew how many people have tested their site for mobile optimisation. That doesn't tell us an awful lot. It just tells us that some sites have and some sites haven't. But now we've got three years worth of data, we can see that this is still a really important thing and it's getting more important every year. And so we know for a fact that if you aren't testing your site for mobile usage, then you're probably suffering, I think. Sinead Kimberley: Was it 80% of visits to the site are on mobile? Oz Austwick: Yeah. Sinead Kimberley: So if you've never tested that. Oz Austwick: But yeah, it's something ridiculous, like less than 20% of sites have actually bothered to test the mobile version of their site to see if it works the way they think it works. And that's an easy win for you. Get a small group of people together, get it tested, run them through the process and find out if it's. If it's good or not, and look at the steps. And I think it's probably worth mentioning that while we're talking about taking steps out of your booking process, what we're not looking at doing is putting all of those complex decisions into a fewer number of steps. So we don't go from having seven steps to book a ticket to three steps to book a ticket, but those three steps are now infinitely more complex. Oz Austwick: We're actually saying, look at the questions you're asking and say, do you actually need to ask Them? Yeah, like you said, you know, if I want a toaster, I can buy a toaster from Amazon in maybe two clicks and if I buy it from someone else that accepts Google Pay, maybe it's three clicks. But I'd really like to be able to take my kids out for the day without having to go through seven or eight different clicks and then fill in different ages for all of the kids and, you know, putting everybody's names and I just, I'm not interested. I'd much rather.Sinead Kimberley: If they welcome me at the door by saying, hello, Sinead, it's nice to see you. Is this Adam who you mentioned? Carry on. But I don't think that's in many attractions. Oz Austwick: No. And I would much rather get an email with my tickets in it with a little link in the email saying, we'd love to know a little bit more about you. If you fill in this form, we'll give you a free coffee. Sinead Kimberley: Yeah. Oz Austwick: And then I'm like, oh, great. Yeah, okay. And I've already got my tickets. It's not going to put me off. But I think that does link beautifully into the subject of discounts because that's something we asked about and we featured in the report and I think it's quite a surprising result, wouldn't you say? Sinead Kimberley: Definitely. Oz Austwick: We know for certain that discounts make more sales.Sinead Kimberley: By quite a substantial margin. It's kind of double the number of sales if you have discounts versus if you don't. Oz Austwick: And I know there are a lot of people out there, people running attractions, people who are involved in the industry, who feel really passionately that you shouldn't offer discounts, that it devalues what you're offering. And yet the numbers don't necessarily agree with that. Sinead Kimberley: No. And I think I can understand having a concern that when we're saying how the data from our survey revealed that. I think it was maybe might have to correct me on these later, But I think 2.9 thousand sales via discounts versus 1.2000 sales or something. So it's quite a substantial difference if you are offering a discount versus not. And then my worry if I kind of take myself out of my role is if the price per ticket is a lot lower, what's my ultimate kind of revenue at the end of that? Have I sacrificed revenue? Am I taking in ultimately less because of the discount? But I don't think anyone is really proposing, you know, 50% discounts on a ticket. Sinead Kimberley: So really from that data, the revenue would be increased by discounting, which feels like opposite things to hold in your brain at the same time, but it is enticing people. I think sales work in every other industry, we know they work. We love sales. You see it and there is a bit in your brain that just reacts to it. Even if you're not interested, you might notice it more. And so I think to ignore it entirely without checking it or testing just feels like maybe not thoroughly investigating it enough based on the data we've seen, at least. Oz Austwick: Absolutely. And the data is really clear, just like you said, that the number of sales that are made is just so much higher when you're offering discounts. But what we're not able to show in the survey is what sort of discount people are offering, what level of discount they're offering. And we know really very clearly that every attraction is different and the way your audience reacts is different and the way you interact with them is different. So we're not saying go and knock 50% off your ticket, we're saying have a think about discounts and look at what you can offer and test it and see if it works for you. Because it's clearly working really well for some people. Hugely well. Sinead Kimberley: And I think on that kind of knowing your audience and seeing how you think they will actually react to this. I think if I think of any place where I've been and if I felt like I got a good deal, I don't have to think I know, stole my ticket. But if I feel like I got a good deal and I then also have a lovely experience there, I have a lot more reason to go and try and recommend that to a friend or go back even again, because I feel like I got treated well essentially in a considered way of maybe what I would find beneficial. Sinead Kimberley: And if that starts with my interest being piqued by a discount and then it goes on to me actually now being part of that audience that maybe I wouldn't have been otherwise, that also has a knock on gain rather than if I saw a price that I saw no discount to, no benefit to, then I wouldn't maybe go in the door in the first place. So you don't just miss that first discounted sale, you might miss the next full price sale of a ticket. Maybe. So there's so much to think about, depending on the audience that you're looking at. Oz Austwick: Absolutely. And I guess I kind of fall into the group where if I'm going to go somewhere, I'm probably going to go there. If you offer a discount or not, I'm probably still going to go. Getting my family to a venue is quite a big job. You know, logistically it's quite tricky. There are a lot of us and we go out a lot, so going somewhere, we tend to travel a little way to get to somewhere a bit special. And we'll have made the decision before I go to book the tickets, but if I can book the tickets and I say, “Hey, I've saved 20 quid doing this”, then in my head what I'm actually thinking is I can spend 20 quid when I get there. Sinead Kimberley: Yeah. Oz Austwick: Maybe we don't have to buy a picnic from a supermarket on the way and save money that way. Maybe we can eat on site. Sinead Kimberley: Yeah. Oz Austwick: So I don't know for sure, but I strongly suspect that my overall kind of purchase value is more when somebody offers me a discount up front. Sinead Kimberley: Yeah. Oz Austwick: But again, you know, test it. Your mileage may vary. Sinead Kimberley: Yeah. Oz Austwick: So I guess, I mean, we've talked about this for quite a long time now and I think that we probably shouldn't go on too much but to stress, you know, if I can give you anything to take away from this discussion. It's a, that you really need to get hold of this data and look at it and see how it applies to you and test it, you know, look at what people who are making success out of their venue are doing and see if you can do the same thing. Oz Austwick: But also come and talk to us. We'd love to talk to you about this stuff. There's so much data and there's so many ways you can look at it and we're really able to break it down in a really granular way to say, “Oh, this is what animal based attractions are doing. This is what aquariums or this is what historic homes are doing, this is what theme parks are doing, this is what museums are doing.” We can do all of that. We can't put all of that data out there. Sinead Kimberley: No, it'd be very long. Oz Austwick: Yeah. I mean, it would be ridiculous. And I strongly suspect that our designer would leave when, in fairness, I might too, if we had to make a report that was five times as long as the one that we've done. But, you know, if you're a client of ours and you want to talk about how you can do better, you know, hit up Sinead, drop her an email. If you, if you're not a client and you want to talk, then talk to Sinead, talk to me, talk to Paul. We'd really love to kind of go through this with you and help you be more successful. That's kind of why we're doing it. Sinead Kimberley: Exactly. I think that on the just talking about it as well, if it's one of those things where it feels very big and you're thinking, I've got 300 other things I'm meant to be doing, how am I meant to go and look at sustainability and reducing the steps and all of these other things, I think you can almost maybe be led as well by what people are increasingly doing, which is looking at the user experience and getting information from whoever is using your site. Because I was really happy when I saw the increase this year in people who are testing the site. And if you even can't get to that point where you can't do a big user experience testing thing, go and talk to all of the partners you're working with. Sinead Kimberley: Because the vast amount of knowledge in the kind of community that's formed around all of these attractions, us included, particularly for our clients, even just asking us, you know, go internally and let me know how people experience booking on the site. Partners, I think, will be happy to help have a look at that. Even if it's only a small sample of feedback points that you get that you can maybe incrementally just try and change slowly. But I think opening up that question, however big or small you're able to do it, will mean that by the time we ask you these questions next year, you're that slight step forward from where you want to be. And you don't just look at the report and think, oh, again, I wish were further up. Sinead Kimberley: I wish we could benchmark ourselves closer to the average or the higher end of the results we're getting. So, like Oz said, just come and have a chat about it. We might say, it's brilliant, it's perfect, there's nothing you could improve. Or we might, say, make the CTA bigger. Small things or big things. Just start the conversation about it, I think, and start thinking about it. Oz Austwick: Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's probably fair to say that as an organisation, we. We're really trying to put our money where our mouth is when it comes to visitor attractions. So if you follow Robert Cheese on Instagram, you'll probably have seen that Sinead that I, that Steve, our project manager, that Paul, we're all going out and visiting attractions and actually trying to experience that booking process as a visitor. And you may well be surprised if you give us a bell or drop an email and say, we'd really like to talk about our website, we can say Great. Because when I booked tickets to come and see you, this bit was really difficult. And there's definitely some personal experience in there as well. So, yeah, talk to us. Oz Austwick: And if you want to talk to me, I'll come to you happily, as long as you make me a coffee. I'm a sucker for a coffee. So do we have any Calls to Action? Sinead Kimberley: Talk to us. We're not needy, honest. But please talk to us. Oz Austwick: We are a little bit needy. Oh, I know what it was I wanted to say Sustainability Action Group. We're very aware that sustainability is of growing importance and yet it's relatively new. And this is something that we're going through ourselves. We're currently reworking our own website and we're helping a of our clients to do those. So what we're trying to do is put together a group of people who are all kind of going through the process together. And this isn't us saying we're the experts at this and we'll help you do it. We've got the technical expertise and we can help with that, but we're all going through the process. Oz Austwick: So if you want to go through that process and you want to improve the sustainability of your website, then we are putting together a group of people that want to work together and share their wins, share the things that haven't gone as well for them, and hopefully we can all lift each other at the same time. Drop me an email or reach out to us on social media and we'll get you involved if you want to do that. So before we wrap it up for good, I want to ask you the question that we ask everyone that nobody's asked you yet, which is, do you have a book recommendation? Sinead Kimberley: I do. And not to keep banging on about sustainability, but I will keep banging on about sustainability. Oz Austwick: She really will. Sinead Kimberley: Just ahead of Black Friday and all of that madness. I love the visit attractions versions of Black Friday because you're not selling a thing, you're selling an experience when you have your tickets that I love. Keep doing that. But I read a book recently by Patrick Grant, who is in the British Sewing Bee, and his book was called Less. And he has made my life very difficult because now I'm not allowed really to buy things because of my what I've done to my brain. But essentially the book looks at how to buy what you need and look after it and not constantly just need, need more and more. Sinead Kimberley: And the way he describes pots and pans and jumpers from his gran and all of these other lovely homely feeling things really made me think about where you put your money and what you're getting back out of that. And so when it comes to, for example, when were in Stockholm, were thinking, what do we want to do? We don't want to go shopping. We do want to go and try and do an escape room. We want to go into the Paradox Museum. We want to go do something, experience something. I feel like it makes sense to put the money there rather than buying another thing that you don't really need. And so maybe ahead of Black Friday as well. Sinead Kimberley: I think I'll try and keep that in my mind when I see all of those Amazon sales with things that I definitely want but don't necessarily need right now and try and look instead at experiences you can get from it. So, yeah, I think read that book or listen to it on BookBeat or any of the others that are available. But yeah, it really opened my eyes a little bit to the free Black Friday things you're seeing around you, I think as well. Oz Austwick: Amazing. I mean, I've not read it, so I will definitely. I'll get a copy and have a read. And if you're listening to this and you want a copy for free, get onto Twitter X and be the first person to say, I want a copy of the book Sinead has recommended and we'll stick one in the post to you. So thanks so much for talking to me for agreeing to come on when you're not feeling 100%. I really appreciate it. I've had a lovely time chatting and maybe we should just attack Paul. What do you think? Sinead Kimberley: Yeah, might as well. He's not here to argue.Oz Austwick: 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! Help the entire sector: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 conversionsFill in your data now (opens in new tab)

Our final panel from Travel Week dives deep into growing demand for hidden gems, illustrating how destinations can connect with travelers seeking unique, authentic travel along with more traditional landmarks and luxuries. You'll also hear how Tourism Exchange USA and receptive tour operators can help. Moderator: April Hutchinson, Editor of TTG Luxury. Panelists: Liz Bittner, CEO of Travel South USA; Nate Huff, President of Tourism Exchange USA; and Lena Ross, Director of Product Development at America 4 You.

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 13th November 2024. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references: https://www.cambridgesciencecentre.org/Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube| LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-porter-8a0b85121/Becca is a seasoned development and business strategist with over five years in the leadership team at Cambridge Science Centre (CSC). She has played a pivotal role in driving CSC's strategic growth, securing transformative results, including a 50% increase in income and establishing key partnerships that help sustain CSC's mission.Her expertise in fundraising, stakeholder engagement, and business development has been integral to CSC's evolution. Representing CSC at external events, Becca engages with stakeholders across academia, industry, and government, fostering impactful relationships that strengthen the organisation's community presence and reach.Before joining CSC, Becca held the position of Licensing Manager at the RSPB, where she led efforts to negotiate intellectual property rights for product-based partnerships. Her strategies resulted in an increase in profit, underscoring her strong commercial acumen and collaborative approach.With a professional background enhanced by six years of international experience with Carnival Corporation in Miami, Florida, Becca brings a global perspective to her work. Her ability to connect and communicate across diverse sectors reflects her adaptability and understanding of complex business landscapes.Becca's approach is marked by her commitment to expanding CSC's impact and access to science engagement, helping inspire the next generation of learners. Her ongoing efforts to cultivate partnerships and innovate within her field underscore her dedication to making science accessible and engaging for all. https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-g-farrer-ph-d-25a18976/Andrew Farrer is the Head of Programmes and Delivery at Cambridge Science Centre. A biological anthropologist by background, he started at the Centre as a Science Communicator travelling around communities and schools on the Roadshow programme. In his current position, he makes sure the team has what they need to deliver the very best in science communication. His PhD used ancient DNA to understand how the human microbiota (the bacterial community living on and in the human body – and keeping us alive!) changed in Britain over the last 1,000 years. Alongside this, he used his passion for science and interest in theatre to develop a science communication programme to bring together the interdisciplinary academics at the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA – an effort that resulted in new international collaborations. He has just got back from a cycling tour in the country of Georgia, where he evaded angry guard dogs, navigated roads that were active building sites, and managed to avoid falling off until the last day! The trip was amazing though! https://www.linkedin.com/in/mandy-curtis-688a33111/Mandy Curtis is the Head of Exhibitions at Cambridge Science Centre. She has been with the Cambridge Science Centre since its opening in 2013, beginning as a Science Communicator, then progressing through the Education team and into Product Development. In her current role as Head of Exhibitions, Mandy oversees everything that is in and delivered at the Centre. She is also responsible for the Centre's overall look, building maintenance, and alarm systems, as well as keeping the shop stocked with STEM-related items.Previously, Mandy worked in the pharmaceutical industry and as a school lab technician, where she also ran a STEM club. She was actively involved in Scouting in her village for over 15 years, remaining on the Executive Committee after her own children left and leading sessions for science-related badges, along with serving as the camp cook.Mandy enjoys walks along the beach in Norfolk with her very large dog, visiting as often as she can. She also loves having her children and their partners back home, especially since they return to their own homes afterward!  Transcription: Paul Marden: Welcome to Skip the Queue podcast for people working in and working with visitor attractions. I'm your host, Paul Marden. In July this year, Cambridge Science Centre opened its new building, returning to the real world after having been a science centre without a building for several years. In today's episode, I'm joined by some of their team. Andrew Farrer, Head of Programmes and Delivery, Rebecca Porter, Head of Development, and Mandy Curtis, the Head of Exhibitions. And we'll talk about the trials and tribulations of opening a new building from scratch and the benefits now the site has opened. Paul Marden: Hello, everyone. Welcome to Skip the Queue. Becca, Andrew, Mandy, lovely to see you. Really good to talk to you about the experience that you've had recently at Cambridge Science Centre, returning to the real world and having your own physical building for the Science Centre. Paul Marden: For listeners, I've had a little part to play because Rubber Cheese worked with CSC on the journey building websites. So I know a little bit about what's going on, but there's a whole load of stuff. I'm sure there's loads of anecdotes and stories that you're going to be able to tell us all about the trials and tribulations of building a brand new science centre from scratch. Before we get to that, it would be really nice if we did our icebreaker question. So I'm going to do one for each of you. Okay. So it doesn't matter which order I go in because you're not going to get any benefit from knowing what the question was. All right, so I'm going to start with you, Becca, because you're first. First on my. On my list. Okay. Paul Marden: What one thing would you make a law that isn't one already? Rebecca Porter: Oh, that is very interesting. I'm not sure. the rest of those. Andrew Farrer: The rest of us are feeling a bit nervous at this stage. Yeah, Becca's law is Andrew is no longer allowed in any meeting. Rebecca Porter: Yeah, yeah, that's a good one. I'll go with that. Paul Marden: That's very specific. I think when I come to power, not if I come to power, I don't think I dive that spec. I might go more broad. It might be about abolishing foods that I cannot abide eating or something like that. Not particularly. Take one of my team out of a meeting. Seems a little bit wasteful. Andrew Farrer: You don't know what I'm like in meetings. Paul Marden: Andrew, what is the biggest mistake you've made in your life? Andrew Farrer: Working with Becca, obviously. No, no. I just digest. Biggest mistake I've made in my life. There's a lot of things in the moment are very stressful and you think, oh, my. What? Why am I here? Why did I do this? Why did I not think more or think less or whatever? But everything that was probably, this is a massive mistake in the moment just turned out to be a really good story in hindsight. Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. Andrew Farrer: No, I'm happy with all of them. Paul Marden: There's some things that you think, oh, gosh, I really wish I could have deleted that from my memory completely. I spent a year doing a PhD and then dropped out because I realised that I didn't like working in a box on my own. But I don't think I would actually go back and not spend that year doing what I was doing, because it took quite a lot to realise that I don't like sitting in a box on my own and I actually like having other people around me. Yeah. At the time, it didn't, sitting on the bench at Egham Station, deciding, what am I doing with my life? It didn't feel like that was such a great decision that I'd made. Andrew Farrer: No, but they're all part of the sort of fabric that makes up the next decision, aren't they? Paul Marden: So, yeah, the rich tapestry. Andrew Farrer: That's it. That's the rich tapestry of life. Paul Marden: And, Mandy, I'm going to go for one last one, actually. It's not too dissimilar to what were just talking about. What was your dream job when you were growing up? Mandy Curtis: Before I answer that, I just have to give you my answer to Becca's question, because it's something I discussed at a previous job. If I could make one law, it would be that there was only one type of black sock. Rebecca Porter: That's actually a brilliant answer. Paul Marden: Again, hyper specific. Mandy Curtis: No. Trying to pair up all those black socks and none of them are quite the same. That is so annoying. So, yeah, that would be my law. Paul Marden: I don't think I need. I think I could broaden it and just say, there is only one type of sock, because my daughter's sock drawer is not black. There's not a single black sock in there. Mandy Curtis: I couldn't do that to Andrew. Andrew Farrer: You leave my socks out of it. Mandy Curtis: My actual question, when I was small, I had, in my mind, I wanted to be a scientist. Throughout all the jobs I've ever had, that's pretty much what I've been. And the job I had before this, I worked as a school lab technician and my boss came to me one day and said, “I've just got an email from Cambridge Science Centre. Looking for science communicators. I think you'd be really good at it. Why don't you apply? And I did.” And that was when it was, yeah, this is what I should always have done. Paul Marden: So interesting, isn't it? That's not a natural leap, is it, from a lab technician in a school to being a science communicator. But there's so much about teaching which is just telling the story and engaging people and making them want to do stuff, isn't it? Mandy Curtis: Yeah. It's surprising that there are a lot of parallels. Yeah. The thinking on your feet being one of the biggest ones. Rebecca Porter: I actually used to want to be a marine biologist when I was younger, and then I realised growing up that I'm nowhere near the sea where I am now, so that was slightly problematic. And also I saw the movie Jaws for the first time as a child and it terrified me and I quickly changed my mind about that. Paul Marden: Okay, let's segue from Mandy in your science communicator role, because I think it's a good segue. Let's talk a little bit about the journey that you've been on at Cambridge Science Centre over the last few years. Andrew, I'm going to start talking to you, mate, because I remember vividly last year I was at the association of Science and Discovery Centres conference and you were on stage with the guys from We The Curious, and you were talking about what it was to be a science centre without a building. Yeah. And the work that you guys were doing in the community for the listeners that weren't at the conference. Let's just take a step back and talk about the background of Cambridge Science Centre. You had a physical building, didn't you? Paul Marden: And you moved out of there and you spent a period of time being remote, virtual. I don't know what the quite the right term is, but you spent a while on the road. What prompted that to leave the previous centre? Andrew Farrer: Yeah. So that question that was being asked in the conference that what is a science centre without the building? It's really something that's very much in the fabric, the DNA of Cambridge Science Centre. The organisation is 11 years old now and through that time being an organisation that has a science centre and also being an organisation that does the outreach, which is what we would call like going out into the community and into schools and being in the spaces of the people that you're most wanting to engage, both of those things have existed in parallel and that there are strengths to both having a physical centre and being able to do that kind of Outreach and Cambridge Science Centre from the very beginning that brought those two things together and maximised the benefits of both in service of the other, really. Andrew Farrer: So what if you had all of the assets of a full science centre, but you could take them out on the road? What if you have the flexibility of kits that could be taken out the road, that you could do them in a space that you control? So that has always been part of things. We've had, you know. The new Science Centre that has just opened is the third permanent location that the organisation has had in its lifetime. And the decision to leave the previous one was something that was taken by the whole team. We got everyone around the table. This was post COVID. We were still coming out of having been truly remote. We're all about being hands on with science, which is very difficult in the world where you're not allowed touch anything or stand close to anyone, you know. Andrew Farrer: So we had to do a lot of stuff to respond to that. And then we came out of that situation, world came out of that situation and were sort of reconsidering what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it. And the Science Centre we had up until that point, until 2022, you know, had been a fabulous space. We've done some amazing stuff in it. We were very closed of what we've done there. But were just finding with the goals we had, with what we wanted to move on to, it was no longer a space that could fit that set of targets. So the question, what was Science Centre without a building? Wasn't that question stepping up because we decided to lose the building? Andrew Farrer: It was kind of, it became a bit more of a focus, but really about the fixed space. Taking a step back for a moment while we really thought about what we wanted. And then we got the amazing opportunity that I'm sure we'll be talking about in a sec with the Science park and Trinity College, which brought that having a fixed space back up on par with the Science Centre without a building. And those two are still. They've always been, they were and they are continuing to be in parallel. And we're just about ready to open up one of our new pop up sign centres. That would be a space out in New England which is going to run there for the future as well, which will run in parallel to this fixed space. Andrew Farrer: So it's not a new question for us, it will never be an old question for us. It is what Cambridge Science Homeset is brilliant. Paul Marden: And during that period where you were without a fixed home, what really worked well for you, what was effective about that outreach programme and that was a became the sole focus for a period of time?Andrew Farrer: I mean were building on what was what we've been learning and what had been working well for that point I guess the last nine years. Yeah. So we knew that our exhibits, our hands on exhibits where you can, you don't just see a phenomenon, you can experience that moment, you've been affected, they're all possible. And so we could take them out. And we'd done that before with setting up sort of science engagement zones in banks and leisure centres. The corner of ASDA one time I think and we evolved that during just after Covid into these pop up science into these fully fledged kind of spaces that were on sort of par with the fixed space. Andrew Farrer: And we really lent into that, created these full, effectively full science centres with those exhibits, with the shows, with the activities, with the science communicators who could have the conversations with people and engage with the kids and answer questions and have a bit of fun and have a laugh, all that kind of stuff. In spaces that were underused in the community. We could take over empty shop units. We were in balance of rural museums. We've been all over the place and we are in those communities. We become part of the communities in the spaces. They already know it. Yeah. And that sort of eases that sort of barrier. Oh, I've got to go to the science place. Because suddenly the place part of that is their place. Yeah. And we're all about making the science. Andrew Farrer: It's as open and fun as possible and building up with whatever level anyone walks in with. So that was, it really was really kind of having the opportunity to hone that ability to create the proper full science centre spaces. And in getting that honed that raised our level on well, what is the fixed science centre? If you can have a fixed thing, what can you do bigger and better there? Which in Eintrum Nadia will want to speak to later. Because some of the new exhibits are phenomenal and they come out of the learning we've had from being on the road and being able to engage people in their spaces and give them a reason now to come to this space. Paul Marden: I'm guessing that when you go out into their space rather than making them come to you get to meet and see very different people. You know, the barrier that exists in somebody having to come to your building means there's a lot of people, there's a lot of young people, there's A lot of families for whom a great day out is not automatically thought of, you know, when they're thinking about what they're going to do at the weekend, they might not necessarily think of a science centre because it's just not what they consider to be fun. But if you go out to them, into their spaces where they are familiar, in the corner of Asda, in the Rural Museum or whatever, you're. You're getting closer to the people that don't normally walk into a science centre. Andrew Farrer: Absolutely, yeah. It's all about. Every single person has some form of barrier that they have to deal with. And, you know, many people have many more barriers than others. No matter what we do, there are still barriers to overcome, but it's about dropping those as low as you can and thinking about getting people across them and supporting them and getting them across them. So, I mean, absolutely, if you say if you're in their space, you remove the whole suite of barriers that exist into travelling to a fixed science centre, which is something we're thinking about and trying to then reduce those. For the fixed science centre. There are other barriers that apply. Andrew Farrer: Even though you're in their space and you've still got to do a lot of thinking and a lot of work to make sure it's an inviting space that they feel they're able to come into, that they can then get comfortable in, and then they can start asking questions and playing with things and break that kind of, oh, it's not for me bubble. Because it definitely is for everyone. You want each other play. Paul Marden: Yeah. Even so, making it an inviting space and making them want to take that step over the threshold into wherever the space is that you are. I've watched kids I'm thinking of a year ago, I was at the London Transport Museum and they had a big exhibition all around sustainability in their exhibition space, which is, I don't know, ⅓ or 3/4 of the way around the museum. And you could just see these kids just stood at the edge watching because they didn't feel confident that they could step into the space and immerse themselves into what was happening in that space. And you've just got to. You've got to make it easy for them to take that step over the threshold, haven't you? Andrew Farrer: Absolutely, yeah. And it's the reason that we have so many different ways of engaging, that the exhibits are there with the activities are there, that the shows are there, that the communicators are there, because people will do that in different ways. What they're comfortable starting to approach, you know, is different from the depth you can give them later. And people will do it in very different ways. But one of the early pop up science centres we had a day where we had, we partnered with a group from the University of Cambridge called Chaos with a student science engagement team. Paul Marden: Right. Andrew Farrer: And their name is apt, but they're brilliant. They're brilliant. And they were all around the earth and all of these different activities and it was really interesting because we noted that, you know, almost to a Percy, everyone walked in, every kid, every adult and they went straight to our exhibits. Not because Chaos wasn't inviting, not because they didn't have cool things, not because they were pushing people away in any way. But it was exactly as you say it was that moment to be like, I don't know, this space, here's a thing that's non threatening, it's not going to ask me a question. But the Chaos were asking kind of questions that were going to, you know, they were going to get at someone for. But you don't know that when you're first walking. Andrew Farrer: No, you play with the exhibit, you start to, you know, that's the safe thing, you start to see what it's doing and then you receive. People build up the confidence, exactly as you say, and then they kind of wander over and suddenly they were just doing laps of the space were in. Just like repeat visiting every one of these activities. Brilliant. You know, and that's a mini version of the journey we want to take people on across their lives. Paul Marden: Yeah. Okay, so question for all three of you then. What was the motivation then really behind returning to a fixed building? Was it an aspiration that you always had, that you wanted to return to a fixed centre or what was the driver for that? Rebecca Porter: We've absolutely always had an aspiration to have a fixed venue in Cambridge. Obviously the clue is in the name Cambridge Science Centre. And we knew that we needed that nucleus, that hub that we could operate all of our other engagements from. And certainly from a supporting organisation perspective, it's very useful for us when we're having those conversations with external stakeholders about the opportunities to get involved with a physical space as well as our outreach programme. So certainly from that point of view, we had an objective to find one. Interestingly, we'd done a piece of work with a group, there's a network in the city called Cambridge Ahead and as part of Cambridge Ahead they have a young advisory committee and we'd done a scoping exercise with the young advisory committee Thinking about that positioning, where we wanted to be. Rebecca Porter: And the key takeaway from their research was that we needed a sort of peripheral location, so an edge of city location that was accessible, that could work for, work well for schools, but would also still allow us to have that public engagement. And for us as an organisation, we really wanted to deepen our relationship with some of the communities that were existing a bit on the margins of the city, particularly those in the north that do suffer from varying levels of deprivation. And Cambridge is a very interesting place because despite the fact that it's got this really illustrious heritage and it's seen as being very affluent, actually it's the most unequal city in the uk, or certainly in England. Paul Marden: Oh, is it really? Rebecca Porter: Yeah. And so we wanted to be able to have our physical space closer to those communities that need more access, need more support, more guidance, so that we could bridge a gap between them and between the Cambridge Science park, which is our new home, but not just the science park, the wider ecosystem and the other research and innovation parks. So, yes, absolutely. We always had an objective to get another physical space operating. Paul Marden: Lovely. So, Becca, I'm guessing this doesn't all come for free and that somebody's got to fund the work to get the centre together. And that's your job really, isn't it, to find people to help you do that, say, how'd you go about doing that? Rebecca Porter: So absolutely everything that we do is completely reliant on the support of like minded organisations and individuals. So we go about in lots of different ways. We have a wonderful board of trustees who are very engaged with the work that we do and they help to make introductions to us in their networks. But it really is a case of going out and doing a lot of footwork, understanding what organisations are operating in our space and what their objectives are in terms of community engagement and how do we align with that. So there's a lot of research that goes on in the background to figure out who we should be talking to. Rebecca Porter: It's wonderful being in a city like Cambridge because 9 times out of 10, most of the companies we talk to do have some objective to do something around STEM engagement in particular. And they're also very supportive of our own objective, which is to widen participation and increase diversity. So they understand that the work that we're doing with those children from the most underserved communities is absolutely vital. So that makes it quite an easy story, quite a compelling story to tell. But we are, we're hugely lucky to have the supporters that we do. And I think key supporters for us are obviously the Cambridge Science park team who enabled the transition into our new venue. Because it was, it all seemed to just line up perfectly really that our own internal discussions around where we wanted to position ourselves. Rebecca Porter: We knew we wanted to deepen our own relationships with these various communities. We knew we needed some kind of peripheral centre space. Unbeknownst to us at the time, but happening in parallel, the Science park team were also considering their relationship with their neighbouring communities and how they can enhance that and do more. Because the Science park is actually, it's a very porous space. So not all of the research and innovation parks are quite the same. But Cambridge Science park absolutely wants to be open to its local communities. It wants them to come in, spend time in the green spaces there and understanding a bit about the different companies that are working within the park. And the Science park as well as the main land owner, which is Trinity College University of Cambridge, again are very keen to support STEM engagement where they can. Rebecca Porter: So it felt like they, our objectives at the time as well as the Science Park's objectives just meshed together beautifully and that resulted in us having this transformational opportunity to be inside the heart of the Science park and alongside that in wider discussions with some of the stakeholders of the park. Specifically were introduced to some of the property development companies that are operating in there who again were very supportive of what we're trying to achieve, but also had the vision to understand that not only are we supporting the local communities, but we're offering a conduit for supporting their tenants. So how can we help them to realise their tenants ambitions? And so they've been very supportive as well. Rebecca Porter: And we're also incredibly lucky to have a suite of organisations that we refer to as our Executive Council, who are our corporate partners that are the lifeblood of our organisation. Their funding and their support underpins everything that we do. So I want to just recognise our Executive Council members in particular, but also the key stakeholders for us with the new centre are the Science Park, Trinity College, Brockton Everlast, an organisation called LifeArc and ARM the microprocessing chip company. So yes, they're all major stakeholders and we're very lucky to have them. Paul Marden: That's amazing. So the Executive Council, that's quite interesting. What do they have some influence over the work that you do and the direction that you take? It's more than just them handing over sponsorship money, it's actually an engagement in what you do. Rebecca Porter: Absolutely. Nothing that we do is transactional, so we don't ever take anyone's money and run. We always try to offer reciprocal programme opportunities, staff engagement opportunities, and with our executive council members, they really do help shape and influence the trajectory of the organisation. So we have regular meetings with them, we talk to them about what our plans are, where they think there may be opportunities that we aren't perhaps looking at, that we could be exploring or should be exploring. And they certainly do have that. That level of influence over the direction of the organisation in general. Paul Marden: And then I suppose the choice of the location is partly driven by those relationships that you built with Trinity College and the Science park. And I guess it was collaborative, the choice of the location itself. Yeah, you didn't go looking for a building with some shortlist. There was. You built a partnership with these people and together you found the space that worked for all of you. Rebecca Porter: Yeah, absolutely. In fact, the space that we're currently occupying is a pre existing building, so it's called the Trinity Centre and it actually was a conferencing space with a catering facility on site as well as the park barbers, interestingly. And so through the relationship with Trinity College and through the discussions with the team in the park, we recognise that actually the space could be working a bit harder, not just for the science park, but for the wider community. And so we essentially repurposed one half of the ground floor of that existing building and Mandy's done a fabulous job turning that space into what is now our new Science Centre. So, yes, I mean, personally, I think having been in that space a lot, if you didn't know it was a conference centre before we took it over, I don't think you'd ever guess that. Rebecca Porter: So, yeah, it's been really wonderful. Paul Marden: You just cued me up perfectly to turn to Mandy. How do you go about filling a space with all the amazing exhibits to make it from a conference venue into this exciting and inviting science centre? How did you even go about doing that? Did somebody give you a blank sheet of paper and tell you off you go, just do whatever you like? Mandy Curtis: Well, pretty much it was a blank slate to work with. But then of course, we've got all our experience from the years leading up to this. So we've got a suite of exhibits that we know work and we know which ones we wanted to take forward, which ones we wanted to build on and expand on. So although in some ways it was a blank slate, it was very much a guided blank slate. So it's still a. For a Science centre. It's still a relatively small space, so we made the decision early on that we wouldn't have themed areas. So we're not big enough to have a space corner and a biology corner. So we've gone for an experiential centre. So you come in for the experience, you come in for one of the most. The thing for me is intergenerational play and learning. Mandy Curtis: So families coming in together, there's something for everyone. So that led the thinking and the decision making with exhibits and I reached out to lots of different people, existing standing exhibit makers, and some people have never made anything like this before. So we've got a real mix here. But what was important was that it's not somewhere where you walk, where the kids walk in, press a button and walk away. It was about prolonged active engagement. So each exhibit has layers of interaction. So you can come in, do one thing, come back another time and do something different or within the same visit, you can build on what you're doing. So, yeah, it's very much about the experience. Paul Marden: So is there an aspiration for the kids and the families to revisit to you? Do you want to create this space where they want to return several times over the space of a year or even as they grow up? You're supporting them through different things that interest them? Mandy Curtis: Absolutely. That's. That's very much what it's about. We have a membership where you want to create the feeling of belonging, of being. This is a place to come with annual membership, you can come as many times as you like. Lots of the exhibits will be the same, but because of the way we've made them and we've prepared them, there's always something different to do with them. And also we have a programme of shows and lab activities that constantly change, so there's always something different and new to do in the space. Paul Marden: Have you got particular audiences in mind that you want to appeal, make the space appealing to? Mandy Curtis: Yeah, we have a very specific audience and I call that everybody. That everything here can be reached by anybody. That's. Yeah, I don't exclude or include anybody. That's why. That's part of the layering. So younger kids, less able kids, older people, there's something here for everyone. I mean, obviously we have an age range for children that is most suitable, but there are also things for younger kids. There's. I mean, quite often we get families coming in and the adults are saying, well, this is way too good for just kids. And that's exactly how I feel about it as well. It's. It's a family place, it's for pretty much any age group, any. Any abilities. Yeah. Paul Marden: So how do you make that. If you're appealing to everyone, how do you make it more inclusive to kids with challenges? Kids with send difficulties, for example? How do you provide something that can enrich everybody's understanding of science? Mandy Curtis: It's really about having some familiar things here in two different ways. So there's familiarity in that. We've got some of our classic exhibits on site, so if people have ever been to one of our previous sites, there'll be things that they recognise from there, but also bringing in things from the outside world, from their world at home. So one of the exhibits is a paper plane launcher. I mean, who hasn't made a paper plane? So it's stuff that they're familiar with, but come here and do it and it just brings out a whole new level. So we talk about ways you can build a better paper plane, ways you can adjust your paper plane, and then, of course, just putting it through the launcher is just incredible fun. So it's taking stuff that people know about and can relate to and that's really important. Mandy Curtis: So some of the, some concepts that we want to get across are potentially outside of people's experiences completely. But if we can present it in a way that starts at level that they're familiar with, they can relate to and engage with, then there's a progression through and we're able to get concepts across that you might, if you went straight in at the top level, you just, it just wouldn't engage them in the same way. Rebecca Porter: To add to that, I just wanted to say that our magic pixie dust, if you will, that brings everything to life, really are our team of science communicators. So that also, you know, that's what, you know, brings every experience in the Science Centre to life is our wonderful team. Paul Marden: Yeah, I mean, that's this, that. That's like every good attraction, isn't it? It's never about the physical space, it's about the feelings that you get and it's the people that are there that help you build that feeling, isn't it? That's why it's a magical place that makes people want to come back, isn't it? How do you also serve that very local community? Have you found that by locating yourselves on the science park, where you are close to those areas of multiple deprivation within the city? Have you found that just mere locality is enough to encourage people in or are you actively doing things to bring that local audience to you? Rebecca Porter: Absolutely both. So we're already doing a lot with one particular community. There's a part of the city called King's Hedges and we see a group of children there once a week for an after school club and have just started transitioning that club from their own space. We've been operating it in their community centre but now they are coming to us, which is fabulous. And one thing that I've really loved since we've opened the new venue is our proximity to those particular communities. An example of how much more accessible we are is that we did a soft launch before we did our major public opening in the summer with some local schools, one of which was King's Hedges Primary School, and the teachers were able to just walk the children to us and that's never been possible before. Rebecca Porter: And we've got much bigger plans to expand the community focused piece to other parts of the city because we would really love to have at least four days a week where we're running an after school club of some description for groups around the city that face additional barriers. So, yeah, we are all over that. Paul Marden: That's amazing. It sounds so exciting. I run a coding club for kids at my daughter's school. A lot of it is about the engagement that the kids have. They don't get that enrichment outside in those STEM technology. So for you guys to be reaching out to that local community and offering that after school provision for them to be engaged in science, then there's a group of kids that just must lap that up. They must love it. Rebecca Porter: Absolutely. And I think Andrew's always said that for us, we obviously there's lots of extracurricular clubs. You've got drama clubs and dance clubs and acting clubs, but very rarely do you come across anything science focused. And what we would love to see moving forward is that's normalised that actually you can go to an after school club, that it's all about science and it's just part of the everyday offering that's available to children, particularly those local to us. Paul Marden: And have you found, I mean, it's probably too early to tell, but have you found that it's beginning to blur the lines of the science park into the community? Because there's something about Cambridge, isn't there? And the whole he's a world leading hub of science and driving science forward and making science commercially valuable happens at that point where the university meets the rest of the community around it. Are you seeing that you bringing the kids into the space is beginning to open their eyes to what is possible for them on their own doorstep. In terms of science. Andrew Farrer: Yeah, I think we are seeing the first steps of that, you know, in your previous questions and what Mandy and Becca have said, I think they've, you know, referenced and alluded to the layers. We're talking about the new centre as if, you know, it's open and therefore it's done. It's not done, we're not done, you know, and yes, getting those exhibits in there and all of the work that Mandy put into making them so generalist enough in the sense that, you know, these age ranges, these ability ranges, these, you know, whatever range you want to talk about can access them. But then it is, what's the programming? We only really launched, the soft launch was end of June. The big launch was, you know, end of July. Really. Andrew Farrer: That only covers 2 of the audiences that we're on, which is the schools and the sort of public inverted commas. There's the everyone this half term we've started that work with the North Cambridge Community Partnership Club that has been moved in that Becca was talking about. But that is very much step one next year is all about filling those four afternoon slots with such a variety that work in such a different way. It's about bringing in the schools throughout the days, throughout the week. It's about flexing those weekends. As Mandy said, it's about finding what all of these different organises, local and more further afield want, need, what their questions are, things like that. Andrew Farrer: We're here to respond so we can create sessions that the generalist concept of the centre might support those in the send community, but we can create a session where it's okay. This will be the quieter session. This will be where we'll have timings on the exhibits that allow will change the lighting. And we're still sort of exploring and thinking about how we do that. Right. So that the experiences is just as good, just as strong, just as inspiring and isn't affected by the fact that something might have been slightly altered. And there's a flip side to that. There are people who are much better at engaging when there's a lot going on. It's almost like there's a hyper sensitivity. There's things to think about on that side as well. Andrew Farrer: So this is a project that 2025 will see a lot of work on, but really is a never ending process. As long as there are people and as long as there are individuals which can help deliverance, then we are there to make sure. That everyone gets the access and that means using all of the physical kit, we've got all of these physical spaces and our team to respond as, you know, as much as we can. So. Paul Marden: So is there much for you? Did your team of science communicators have to do much to get themselves ready to return to the physical space? Or did they walk in the door and it just felt like home straight away? And they were delivering what they've been delivering for 11 good years? Andrew Farrer: Yeah, there was an element of coming home and there's an element of this is what we do. Because as I said, the outreach and the permeable space are singing in harmony, as it were. But this new space does have. It's new and it's bigger and better and more accessible than anything we've been able to do for. And that has brought things that we haven't experienced before. So we, you know, we made ourselves as kind of theoretically ready as we could. There have been challenges both from a practical running an event venue to how do we. How do we do silent science communication when we are constantly learning? We've changed things already, you know, we're flexing and responding and they affect the things that we wanted to bring in the future that I was referencing before they change each plan. Andrew Farrer: And we have a lovely timeline, it's very exciting, very big map, lots of post its that shows where we want things to start happening, but each of those responds to that. So there's no one single ready. And again, even when you are as close to ready as might exist, just like the programmes that we offer, that readiness evolves as well. You keep learning. Paul Marden: Of course. So what were those challenges then? What can we share with listeners? What were some of the things that if you had another swing at it, you'd do differently through this process that you've gone through this transition? Andrew Farrer: That links back to your, what was your biggest mistake? We only knew we learned because we tried something that didn't in theory worked, you know. Yeah, I mean, there's just some sort of like general practical thinking. You implement a system and then only when it's actually put through its paces you realise, oh, hang on, there's this like scenario tangent that we haven't thought about. There's, you know, there's a few things on that front about practically running the. Running the space. As Becca said, that the science park is porous, but we are one of the big things that is now bringing the public in. So there's, you know, murmuring is in that as well because that porosity has been used in the way it hasn't been previously. And we've been thinking about when are people coming during the day, when are they. Andrew Farrer: Their repeat visits happening? Which means when do we cycle the lab activities in the show? Talking about, you know, we can do a different show every day but you know, that's probably overkill because people aren't going to come quite every day. But actually what cycle are they coming on so that we can make sure that we, you know, we're providing sort of an awe inspiring moment and a set of curiosity experiences on a wide variety of different topics so that we can find that thing that sparks everyone. Mandy Curtis: Just to add to what Andrew said, I think it would be hard to label anything we've done as a mistake because we wouldn't be where we are now if we hadn't gone through the process we did. So even stuff, very few things that didn't quite work out well, we've learned from and we've moved on and we've built on. So everything has, I feel everything we've done and has been a positive experience. It's all been, you know, it's all been good. Paul Marden: It's a very philosophical approach to it, isn't it? The idea that it's never done, the project isn't over, it just continually, you know, it needs continual tweaking and continual improvement. Andrew Farrer: It's a scientific approach, if anything.Mandy Curtis: Much as I promised I would be laying down in a dark room by now, I'm not and I won't be. And we're still, you know, there's, we're planning, we're moving forward and looking to next year at the programmes and what we can offer. So yeah, there's always something more to do. Paul Marden: Once again, you're queuing me up for my next question, which was really what do the goals look like for the future? You've done this massive project, returning to a physical space and getting it ready and opening it up and welcoming people in. Where do you go now? What are the aspirations for the next couple of years? Mandy Curtis: It's more of the same, better, more different, looking at different approaches at different audiences. We're going to be. I'm already planning and writing the STEM Tots programme for next year. So that's the younger kids, the preschoolers, so there's new audiences all the time to move into. There's school holidays, you know, kids have been over here over the summer for the next school holiday, they're going to want something different. So we're thinking about that, how we can encourage people to come back, what we can offer, what different things, different collaborations. However many companies on the science park. I don't know, Becca probably does. There's people we haven't even spoken to yet. So there's just opportunities everywhere still. Rebecca Porter: For us, I would say that we are, it's definitely a programmes expansion piece next year. So we need to really solidify what we've got now with our new venue and start building out those different audiences and what the different programmes for each audience will look like. And then it's also making sure that our Popup science centre in Wisbeach continues to go from strength to strength. And so certainly, although we've got this fabulous new venue, we don't lose focus on the outreach work that we're doing as well as building up, building momentum around our support. And Andrew's doing a really wonderful job putting some work into our logic model and our theory of change. And so again it's mapping that out and then how we can link that to, to our, to the work that we're doing. Rebecca Porter: The supporting organisations, what role can they play in pushing forward our logic model? In particular, we talk a lot about emotions, skills and actions as being what underpins our logic model and it's how can our different partners lean into those things? Are there organisations that want to support the emotions piece? Can we do a skills focused programme with another organisation? So there's still lots of mapping to be done, but hugely exciting stuff. Andrew Farrer: Opening the doors to the centre was really only the beginning. Now it's making the absolute amount, squeezing every bit of juice out of this amazing fruit that we've been lucky enough to be supported to build for ourselves. Paul Marden: Stretching your analogy just a little bit there, but it's a very good point. Andrew Farrer: What analogy if you can't stretch it to its unfathomable limits? Paul Marden: Andrew, one last question because I think a couple of you have mentioned the Popup Science Centre. Tell me a little bit about what is that and what's the plan for the future? Andrew Farrer: Yeah, so our Popup science centres are fully fledged science centres. They appear in community spaces. So the ones that I mentioned earlier and they feature our hands on exhibits, they feature our shows, they feature our activities and we are in November moving into a empty well, it's currently empty, but we're about to fill it chalk unit right in the heart of Wisbeach in the Fenland area. So the Fenland region which is on the north of Cambridge, one of these areas that if transport around the area is difficult, sort of deprivation in that area. But there are some great pieces of science, technology, engineering and maths, you know, organisations working in those areas as well. Andrew Farrer: But it's one of those places where for all of the efforts we put into breaking down the barriers to come into the fixed space, that's one of the areas that we're really struggling. So we're going to that there'll be a fully fledged science centre which will be open to schools and the public on those points through the year to go in, to explore, to have these workshops, to have these shows, to engage, to chat. We are kind of, this is coming off the back of, one of these 18 months long project where we've had these pop up science centres sort of around Fenland. This is kind of where we're settling in and really sort of digging our heels in a little bit. So sort of phase two will start to become much more co development with the community. Andrew Farrer: We've been able to spend 18 months getting to know the people of this area and then importantly getting to know us. It's now exactly back to what I was talking about earlier. It's been sort of equivalent of the kids walking in and seeing the exhibits and having a play. Now we're ready, both of us and them to have this conversation about well what should a time centre be for you specifically? And honestly we don't know what that will be. But next summer Cambridge Centre and Wis beach will become this whole new thing where there might be forensic escape rooms happening. There could be some giant chain reactions going on with balls and bean bags flying everywhere. People could be building cardboard cities. Andrew Farrer: I've got no idea because it's actually not down to us, it's down to the people who want to answer the questions that are part of their lives. Paul Marden: Wowzers. It's just amazing. I'm so excited for you. I'm so pleased because it's been a project that I've been watching from the sidelines growing. I'm so pleased that the project's not over and that there's an aspiration to really push this thing and squeeze it for all it's worth. Andrew Farrer: Just like my analogies. Paul Marden: Absolutely. Lastly, we always ask for a book recommendation and you're going to bankrupt me because I've invited three of you on here. So I'm going to get three book recommendations. So what are your recommendations, Becca? Rebecca Porter:  First, first for you, I would say I'm actually a huge fan of an author called Philippa Gregory. And so my favourite book would be The White Queen by Philippa, which is all about Elizabeth Woodville. And Shima was married to I believe Edward IV during the Plantagenet era. So I love a bit of historical fiction. So that's my one. Paul Marden: Aha. Okay. So my colleague and co host Oz, big into historical reenactment. I'm sure that would be a book that would appeal to him. Andrew, what about you mate? What's your recommendation? Andrew Farrer: I have a book this is about I've had for years. I mean it's a kid's book really. It's a book called Aquila by someone called Andrew Norris and it's one of these books that it's about a short book. I keep revisiting it every now and again. It's just a story I've always engaged with. But it's funny, looking at it now, it almost seems very relevant. So it's about two young high school lads who on a school field trip get passed away from the rest of their class and end up falling into a cave and discovering a Roman centurion skeleton and by him what turns out to be an alien spaceship. So the navy spaceship have been on earth for some 2,000 years. Andrew Farrer: And the rest of the book is they don't want to just tell everyone else that the spaceship is here and it's them figuring out okay, well we can't take it home now because we're on a feeder trip so we've got to figure out a way to come back and get it home without anyone seeing it. And then they've got to learn how it works. And it turns out that it's kind of got AI function I guess and it can talk but because it was previously used by Roman, it taught in Latin. So they have to learn Latin. It turns out it's run by water. They figure out how much water. And it's a really brilliant story about these kids solving all of these problems around having quite that fun Canadian spaceship. Andrew Farrer: But at the same time their teachers are aware that these two kids who've classically not engaged at school at all are suddenly asking all of these really weird non class related questions. And yeah, they figure out the whole spaceship thing but think it's story they've made up for themselves. And so I give them the actual support and engagement they need in school to learn better than they were. But everyone misses that the spaceship is totally real, that these kids are flying off like Mount Everest on the weekend. So I love that. Paul Marden: Excellent. That sounds really good. That sounds like one I need to read to my daughter. Mandy, last but not least, what's your recommendation? Mandy Curtis: Just to say Andrew's book was made into a kids' TV series that I remember watching. Yeah, I've just. The most recent book I've read was one from way back. Not fiction. It was Life on Earth, David Attenborough and I reread read it often. It was the series that really sent me on my way to where I am now when I. I was doing unusually a zoology A level and my teacher played us the videos of Life on Earth and yeah, I've never got, never moved away from it. So yeah, that's the book I've read most recently and would recommend. Paul Marden: What, what a recommendation as well. That's a lovely one. So, dear listeners, as you know, if you go over to X and retweet the show, tweet and say I want Becca or Andrew or Mandy's book and the first person that does that will get that book sent to them. And I think as we got through recommendations, three of you could choose any one of those and we'll make an exception and bankrupt the marketing budget. Guys, it has been absolutely lovely talking to you and finding out a little bit more about the story of the journey that you've been on recently. And I think we should get back together again soon and find out how the pop up is going and what's actually filling that vacant shop because I think that's a really exciting proposition. But thank you for joining me today. Paul Marden: It's been absolutely marvellous. Mandy Curtis: 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, SkiptheQueue.fm. The 2024 Visitor Attraction Website Survey is now LIVE! Help the entire sector: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 conversionsFill in your data now (opens in new tab)

When she first made the move from New York City to a farm in Minnesota, Molly Yeh embarked on a whole new life. She is the host of the Food Network's series Girl Meets Farm and a New York Times bestselling cookbook author. Her new book, Sweet Farm!, is out next year. She came on the show to talk about fall cooking ahead of the holidays, how her training as a classical percussionist informs her work as a cook, and what it's like to make a life on a farm.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Part II of our mini-series 'How to Shape a Legacy', we focus on legacy as it applies to businesses and brands. In this episode, Maya talks to BRC Chief Creative Officer, Christian Lachel, about the closest thing a brand can have to having a soul: a set of values, that lend to a series of decisions, actions, and events that become the lessons we impart, and hopefully, the stories that we tell when we feel like shedding light.   In part 1, Senior Writer, Rich Procter, unpacks legacy as many things: a gift, a call to action, a glimmer of hope, a path…But in the end, a great legacy teaches us that life is not about being rewarded for good behavior; it's about doing the right thing, despite one's personal gain. And all of that is possible, even for things as seemingly mechanical as corporations.   Christian is no stranger to the concept of legacy. He's worked on many corporate archive teams for brands like Ford, Coca-Cola, Caterpillar, and Johnnie Walker, helping the best of them define the best in themselves. Whether you're an iconic brand that has an archive or a brand new company that's dreaming of one, a legacy is possible! But as Christian and Maya discuss, no matter who you are, your legacy is only as good as the people responsible for passing it on.    To learn more about Christian, visit: https://bit.ly/3HAMyfE   To learn more about BRC: www.brcweb.com   Special thanks to the sponsors of this miniseries, The World Experience Organization, a global institution dedicated to promoting the experience economy, improving the quality of experiences, and enhancing the opportunities for experiential creators worldwide. Learn more: www.worldxo.org

Joe Pine was the first to identify many of the trends that have animated business for the last two decades, including the trend away from simple mass production to mass customization, and the emergence of the experience economy. Today, Joe joins us to discuss how those trends are influencing the future of work, and how companies might mass-customize experiences for employees.Joe Pine is an internationally acclaimed author, speaker, and management advisor to Fortune 500 companies and startups. His best-selling book, The Experience Economy, has been published in 15 languages and used as a company guide for over 20 years.In this episode, Dart and Joe discuss:- The progression of economic value- The Experience Economy- The current transformation economy- How to customize a customer's experience and promote transformation- Brand authenticity- Focusing on value vs. price- The management style we need to create value- How to revitalize a business- The importance of company exploration and innovation- And more…Joseph Pine II is an internationally acclaimed author, speaker, and management advisor to Fortune 500 companies and entrepreneurial start-ups. Joe is a co-founder of Strategic Horizons LLP and a lecturer at Columbia University. His best-selling book, The Experience Economy, has been published in 15 languages and used as a company guide for over 20 years.Joe serves as a Senior Fellow with the Design Futures Council and the European Centre for the Experience Economy. He previously served as a Visiting Scholar with the MIT Design Lab, a professor at Duke University, and a manager with IBM. Joe has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and Harvard Business Review. His other published works include Infinite Possibility, Authenticity, and Mass Customization.Resources Mentioned:The Experience Economy, by Joe Pine: https://www.amazon.com/Experience-Economy-New-Preface-Authors/dp/1633697975Mass Customization, by Joe Pine: https://www.amazon.com/Mass-Customization-Frontier-Business-Competition/dp/0875843727Authenticity, by Joe Pine: https://www.amazon.com/Authenticity-What-Consumers-Really-Want/dp/1591391458Travel that Can Change Your Life, by Jeffrey Kotler: www.amazon.com/Travel-That-Change-Your-Life/dp/0787909416Work with Dart:Dart is the CEO and co-founder of the work design firm 11fold. Build work that makes employees feel alive, connected to their work, and focused on what's most important to the business. Book a call at 11fold.com.

For full 6 hour episode and more deep research excursions subscribe to our Patreon Part two of the experience economy episode, this one focused on the history of experience design, the combinatorial arts, and independent value creation in order to advance some solutions to the problems politics can only scratch the surface of. Topics: the rise of Kill Tony and interactive cringe comedy, Baby Invasion/Edglrd by Harmony Korine movie review, first person shooter w/ Burial Soundtrack, John Ruskin's Pathetic Fallacy, art market crash, “Total Work” - German Christian philosopher Joseph Pieper , DeSano's pizza University. The Take Back Your Time organization, Leisure Capital, UX, Feng Shui, Leibniz's understudied dissertation on Combinatorial Art, exploding pagers in Lebanon: Pandora Box, Value Capturers, Dorthe R. Christensen, The European Commission, Comic-Con, the rise of AirBnB, Therapy Culture: Cultivating Vulnerability in an Uncertain Age, Benjamin Kline Hunnicutt's book on the Eudaimonic Tech + more...this is a continuation of part A

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. Special Clips from our previous guests:Understanding Sustainability Reporting https://skipthequeue.fm/episodes/polly-bucklandPolly Buckland sat on the client side in a marketing manager role at BMW (UK) Ltd before co-founding The Typeface Group in 2010. She's an ideas person, blending creativity and commercial awareness to get the best outcomes for our clients.The Typeface Group is a B Corp Communications Agency + Design Studio based in North Hampshire. Their mission is to counteract digital chatter by championing authentic and strategic communication. Team TFG work with brilliant minds in business to extract, optimise and amplify their expertise, cutting through content clutter and stimulating saleswhile reducing digital waste at all costs.  The Typeface Group have been B Corp certified since October 2021 and is currently going through recertification. Digital Sustainability and the Elephant in the Room https://skipthequeue.fm/episodes/james-hobbsJames Hobbs is a people-focused technologist with over 15 years experience working in a range of senior software engineering roles with a particular focus on digital sustainability.He is Head of Technology at creative technology studio, aer studios, leading the technology team delivering outstanding work for clients including Dogs Trust, BBC, Historic Royal Palaces, and many others. Prior to joining aer studios, James was Head of Engineering at digital agency Great State, where he led a multi-award-winning software engineering team working with clients including the Royal Navy, Ministry of Defence, Honda Europe, the Scouts, and others.He also has many years experience building and running high-traffic, global e-commerce systems while working at Dyson, where he headed up the global digital technical team. Making Holkham the UK's most pioneering and sustainable rural estatehttps://skipthequeue.fm/episodes/lucy-downing-and-sue-penlingtonLucy Downing - Head of Marketing and Sue Penlington - Sustainability Manager at Holkham Estates.  Transcription:  Paul Marden: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in and working with visitor attractions. Paul Marden: When consumers are asked if they care about buying environmentally and ethically sustainable products, they overwhelmingly answer yes. A recent study by Nielsen IQ found that 78% of us consumers say that a sustainable lifestyle is important to them. And while attractions have been great at a wide range of initiatives to improve their sustainability, this year's Visitor Attraction Website Survey will show that as a sector, we're lagging behind on digital sustainability. Paul Marden: So in today's episode, I'm going to talk about the learning journey I've been on personally, along with my colleagues at Rubber Cheese, to understand digital sustainability and how to affect real change. Paul Marden: I'll talk about what I've learned from hosting this podcast and how we've started to make real changes to our processes and our client sites to make them more sustainable. Welcome to Skip the queue. I'm your host, Paul Marden. Paul Marden: Back in April, I spoke to Polly Buckland from The Typeface Group about the importance of sustainability reporting. Polly Buckland: There's buckets of research out there as to the relationship between consumer behaviour and sustainability. So McKinsey did a study. “60% of customers actively prioritise purchasing from sustainable businesses.” Capgemini, “77% of customers buy from and remain loyal to brands that show their social responsibility.” I could literally keep quoting stats as to why businesses should take their sustainability goals very seriously and the communication of their sustainability initiatives very seriously, because it's becoming clearer. There was another stat about primarily women making the decisions based on sustainability of a business, and Millennials and Gen Z being sort of high up the list of people that are taking sustainability creds into consideration when they're making a purchase. So, I mean, it's a barrel load of stats that suggest if you don't have your eye on sustainability reporting and communicating your sustainability goals, you perhaps should have. Paul Marden: Of course, many attractions have been blazing a trail on the subject of sustainability for years. Going back in the archives of Skip the Queue to 2021, Kelly spoke to Lucy Downing, the Head of Marketing, and Sue Penlington, the Sustainability Manager for the Holkham Estate. First, let's hear from Kelly and Lucy. Kelly Molson: Lucy, I wondered if you could just give us an overview of Holkham Estates for our listeners that might not be aware of you or visited there themselves. Lucy Downing: So if you sort of picture it, most of the time when you think about stately homes, you picture a stately home with a garden. At Holkham, we are very much a landscape with a stately home. So 25,000 acres. We have a national nature reserve. A beach, b eautiful beach. It's been in Shakespeare in love. If you know the final scenes of Gwyneth Paltrow walking across the sands, that's Holkham, a bsolutely stunning. We're a farm, but at the centre of that, we've also got our 18th century palladian style mansion and that's home to Lord Lady Leicester and their family. They live in the halls. It's a lived in family home. But then we also have all of our visitor facing businesses. Lucy Downing: So we've got the hall, our Holkham stories experience, which is an attraction museum telling us all history and the now and the future of Holkham. Lucy Downing: We've got a high ropes course, cycle hire, boat hire, normally a really buzzing events calendar. We have accommodations. We've got Victoria Inn, which is near the beach. We've also got Pine Woods, which is a holiday park with caravans and lodgers. We have our self catering lodges, which within the park. And then we've got farming, conservation, gamekeeping, land and properties. We've got nearly 300 properties on the estate that are tenanted. A lot of those people work for Holkham, or if not, they work in the local community. We've got forestry and then we've also officiated and it's won lovely awards for the best place to work in the UK. It's a stunning landscape that surrounds it and we've got. I don't know if you've heard of her, but Monica Binnedo, which is global jewellery brand, she's based at Longlands at the offices. Lucy Downing: She decided a few years back to base her whole business there. She got all of her shops around the world, but that's where her business is. And I think she's ahead of the times, ahead of this year. She sort of knew how wonderful it would be to be working, I suppose, and not in a city centre, so I hope that gives you a flavour. But, yeah, I think it's 25,000 acres of beauty, landscapes with a house in the middle and lots of wildlife. Kelly Molson: I mean, it really is one of the most beautiful places and that stretch of the world holds a really special place in our hearts. It's somewhere that we visit very frequently and it's stunningly beautiful. Paul Marden: Later in that episode, Sue shared her insights on their sustainability strategies. Sue Penlington: So we've got three main themes. One is pioneering environmental gain I, which is all about connecting ecosystems and biodiversity and habitats. One is champion low carbon living, which is all about carbon emissions, our impact on construction and housing, our leisure operations. That sort of thing, and farming. And then the last one is the one that we always talk about. Tread lightly, stamp out waste. So that's all about recycling, reducing single use plastics and that sort of thing. So those three themes are what we're running with for 2021. We've got three goals, which are quite ambitious as well. And for me, I just see 2021 as that year of change where we'll make an impact. So we've done quite a lot of talking, and rightly so, and we want to take our visitors on that journey and really start to chip away at those goals. Paul Marden:  Now, let's talk a little bit about the fears around talking about sustainability. I think one of the things that is getting in the way of an open discourse around digital sustainability is fear. We're afraid of being judged by our actions and our intentions. In a recent survey by Unilever of social media influencers, 38% were afraid to openly discuss sustainability for fear of being accused of greenwashing. Again, let's hear from Polly, which is. Polly Buckland: Why, again, that storytelling part of the impact reporting is really important for me, because I will say we are not perfect. These are the things that we know we need to work on, but these are the things we've done better. And that's what I really like. The BCorp BIA assessment and their framework is because it takes you across five categories of measurement, and no one's perfect in any of them, but what it does do is it provides a framework for you to better. Paul Marden: Yes, absolutely. Polly Buckland: And measure yourself against. Yeah, I think if. I think the messaging behind your sustainability is really important. If you're professing to be perfect and you're not, you will get stung, because I think people can see through that. But if you are showing that you're trying to better, I don't think many people could argue with that. Paul Marden: Now, let's rewind a little and talk about my interest in digital sustainability. When I spoke to James Hobbs of the aer studios about digital sustainability back in July, we talked about my ignorance. So my background was at British Airways and I was there for ten years. It really wasn't that hard to spot the fact that environmentally, that we have a challenging problem, because when you stood on the end of Heathrow Runway, you can see what's coming out the back end of a 747 as it takes off. But I don't think I ever quite understood the impact of what I do now and how that's contributing more to CO2 emissions than what I was doing previously, which, yeah, I just don't think there's an awareness of that more broadly. James Hobbs: No, yeah, I'd agree. And it's complicated. Paul Marden: In what way? James Hobbs: I guess it's complicated to quantify the carbon impact of the type of work that we do in the digital industry because I guess there's what we're shipping to end users, which is one thing, but most modern websites and applications and stuff are built on a big tower of cloud services providers and all of their equipment has to be manufactured which has a carbon impact and rare earth metals need to be mined out of the grid. All of that stuff. Theres a big supply chain backing all this stuff and we can influence some of that directly, but a large chunk of it, we cant. So it makes choosing your suppliers quite important. Paul Marden: But in a presentation by my friend Andy Eva-Dale, now CTO of the agency Tangent, he opened my eyes to the impact that the digital sector has on the environment. The Internet consumes 1021 terawatt hours of electricity per year. That's more than the entire United Kingdom. Globally, the average webpage consumes approximately 0.8 grammes of CO2 per page view. For a website with 10,000 monthly page views, that's 102 kilos of CO2 per year. And as we'll see in a bit, the Rubber Cheese Visitor Attraction Website Survey shows this year that the websites in our sector are anything but average. But let's talk about my learning journey. I've used this podcast as a way to learn about the sector and to drill down into sustainability itself. My interviews with Polly and James taught me a lot. It's one of the real benefits of running a podcast. Paul Marden: I can sit and ask people questions that in real life they may not want to talk about. Beginning from absolute first principles. Following the advice from James in the podcast, I've gone and studied the online materials published by the Green Software foundation, including their green software practitioners certificate. Some of that is quite technical, but a lot of what's in there is a real interest to a lot of people. Now let's talk a little bit about what I've learned along that journey. In an interesting conversation with Andy Povey the other day, he talked about people's innate reaction to digital sustainability and that for many people, the move to digital feels sustainable. I'm not printing things out anymore, so it must be sustainable. Of course, all that computation and networking has a massive global impact on greenhouse gas emissions, so not every website is sustainable. Paul Marden: In another conversation I had recently, someone said to me, why does all of this digital sustainability stuff matter? If I host my site on a green hosting server, there's no harmful emissions from the server. But that's only one part of a complex web. The power needed to connect up all the servers in the world and to all of the endpoint devices is immense. Of course, the carbon emitted to generate power varies country by country as well as by time. And that's not really in our control. But we can definitely control the impact our website has on all of that infrastructure. As the web page is in flight over the Internet to somebody's mobile device, the power it uses and consequently the carbon emitted along the way is therefore something that's definitely in our control. Paul Marden: The other source of learning for us this year has been the sustainability elements of the rubber cheese survey of visitor attraction websites. We made sustainability a core theme of this year's survey and we found some really interesting things. 80% of attractions in our survey have got some sort of sustainability policy, which is an amazing achievement and sets a benchmark for the sector. Also, a number of attractions are taking active steps to improve the sustainability of their website. But we found that this isn't necessarily being done in a framework of measuring and monitoring the sustainability of their website. So the changes that people are making could be making improvements to the sustainability of their site, but at worst, some of the techniques being used could actually harm the performance and sustainability of the website. Paul Marden: The thing is, if you're not testing and measuring, you can't ever know whether the changes that you're making are effective. The Green Business Bureau talk about how benchmarks provide a reference point to assess trends and measure progress and baseline global data. They say, "Companies have begun measuring sustainability performance, which allows them to make continuous assessments, evaluate where they lie on the sustainability agenda and make data driven decisions and policies. Measuring sustainability requires proper selection of key sustainability metrics and a means of making effective process improvements. These measures provide real time data and much needed quantitative basis for organisations to strategise and mitigate environmental and social and economic risks." I'll come back to making process improvements later, but for now let's just stick with measures. Back to James Hobbs, who talked about the ways in which you can measure the CO2 emissions on our website. James Hobbs: There are some tools out there that you can use to help you quantify the carbon impact of what you've got out there in the wild now. So the big one that most people talk about is websitecarbon.com, which is the website carbon calculator that was built by, I think a combination of an agency and some other organisations come up with an algorithm, it's obviously not going to be 100% accurate because every single website app is slightly different and so on, and as a consistent benchmark for where you are and a starting point for improvement. Tools like that are really good. Ecograder is another one. Those offer non technical routes to using them. Paul Marden: Now, both of these websites use similar technologies and methodologies to understand the CO2 emissions of a website. But the survey shows more than half of attractions have never tested the CO2 emissions of their site. This got me thinking. If it's that easy to test the sustainability of a single webpage and you can run them on any website, but most attractions aren't doing it, then what can we as Rubber Cheese do to help? So in this year's survey, we've run the largest audit of visitor attraction sustainability scores that we're aware of. So working with our lovely podcast producer Wenalyn, who also supports me with the survey, firstly, I run a proof of concept gathering and comparing data for a small number of attractions in our database this year. Paul Marden: Once we began to better understand the data, Wenalyn went and ran this against all of the sites that were in our database. With this, we hope to support the sector with a benchmark of webpage sustainability that can be used by anyone in the sector. And what this has shown us is that 58% of attraction websites are rated f by Website Carbon. That's 8% worse than the general population of all websites. But the sobering thing for me as an agency owner is that the sites that we build were in that 58%. The work that we've been doing recently isn't good enough from a sustainability perspective. So this triggered a number of projects internally for us to improve the sustainability posture of the sites that we design and build. Paul Marden: So I'm going to dig into one of those sites and the journey we've been on to remediate the sustainability of their site, because I think it can give a really nice understanding of the journey that you have to go on, the changes that you can make, and what the impact of those changes could be. Now, we started by benchmarking the scores for the site in question from Website Carbon and Ecograder. And this site was a grade F and marked 51 out of 100 by Ecograder. From there, we drove our improvements off of the feedback that Ecograder gave us. We worked as a team to estimate the work involved in the feedback from Ecograder to identify the tasks with the lowest estimated effort and the highest potential impact. Paul Marden: Essentially going for the quick wins, we implemented a number of really simple measures, we implemented lazy loading of images. This is making the browser only download images when they're just about to show on screen. If you don't lazy load an image on a page, then when the webpage opens, the browser will go and grab the image, calculate the size, and redraw the webpage with that image in it, even though the image is off screen. If the user then clicks something in the top part of the screen, maybe in the top navigation, and they never scroll down, they will never see that image. So all that network traffic that was used, all the computation in the browser to be able to figure out the size and paint the screen, was completely wasted because the user never got to see the image. Paul Marden: So by lazy loading, it means that if a person doesn't scroll all the way down the page, then an image near the bottom of the page will never get loaded. And it's an incredibly simple code change that you can write in now. This used to be something that you had to write custom code to implement, but most browsers now support lazy loading, so it should be really easy for people to implement that. Paul Marden: Another thing that we did was to correctly size images. We found that, but with best rule in the world, our editors were uploading images that were very high resolution, very big images, even though on screen we might only show a thumbnail. By resizing the images inside WordPress, we've made it easy for our editors to upload whatever size image that they like. But we only share the smaller image when somebody views the webpage, again, cutting down network traffic as a result of that. One other thing that we made a change on was to make the website serve more modern image formats. Paul Marden: Again, we used a WordPress package to do this, called imagify, and it means that our editors can upload images using the file formats that they're familiar with, like JPEG, GIF and PNG, but that we convert them to more modern formats like WebP inside WordPress. And that has better compression, making the images smaller without any discernible loss of quality, and making the whole webpage smaller, lighter, faster as a result of it, which has the impact of reducing the CO2 emissions that are needed to be able to use that webpage just as a guide. We measure everything that we do in the business in terms of the time it takes us to do things. So we're real sticklers for time tracking, but it was really important in this project for sustainability to work out what the differences were that were making. Paul Marden: So these changes, those three that I just outlined there cost us about a day and a half of development effort and much of that was done by one of our junior developers. So it wasn't hugely complex work that was done by an expensive, experienced developer. But in return for those changes, that one and a half days of effort, we've seen an improvement in rating by website carbon from F  to B and on eco grader from 54 out of 100 to 83 out of 100. This puts the site well into the realm of better than most websites on the Internet and better than 84% of attractions in this year's survey. Is it enough? No, of course not. We can do more and in fact, there are still technical improvements that we can make that don't impinge at all on the user's experience. Paul Marden: We can and we will make more changes to move the site from B to A or even to A+. But there's no doubt that following the old 80-20 rule, these marginal gains will be progressively harder and more costly to achieve. And there may be changes that are needed that will impinge on the user experience. Some things you cannot improve from a sustainability perspective without changing what the user is going to experience. If you've got an auto playing video on your website that consumes bandwidth, it generates network traffic. You cannot remove that video without removing the video entirely and changing it to be something that isn't autoplay but plays w hen a button presses that will have an impact on the user experience. Not everyone will click that button. Paul Marden: Not everyone will watch that video and say not everyone will necessarily have the same feeling about the attraction that they got when there was an autoplay video in place. But there are undoubtedly lots of things that can be done that don't impact the user experience of the site. One of the changes that we still haven't made, which is a little bit more effort, it's a little bit more complexity, and adds a little bit of costs to the hosting of the website is the introduction of a Content Delivery Network or CDN. Here's James Hobbs again from aer. James Hobbs: From a technical angle, I think one of the most impactful things you can do, beyond making sure that your code is optimised and is running at the right times, at the right place, is simply to consider using a content delivery network. And for your listeners who aren't familiar with a content delivery network, a CDN is something that all of us have interacted with at one point or another, probably without realising. In the traditional way of serving or having a website, you've got some service somewhere in a data centre somewhere. When someone types your website address in, it goes and fetches that information from the web server and back comes a web page in the simplest sense. James Hobbs: Now, if your website servers live in Amsterdam and your users on the west coast of America, that's a big old trip for that information to come back and forth, and it's got to go through lots of different hops, uses up lots of energy. A Content Delivery Network is basically lots and lots of servers dotted all over the planet in all of the major cities and things like that can keep a copy of your website. So that if someone from the West Coast of America says, "Oh, I'm really interested in looking at this w ebsite.", types the address in, they get the copy from a server that might be 10,20, 50 miles away from them, instead of several thousand across an ocean. James Hobbs: So it loads quicker for the user, which is great from a user experience, SEO, but it's also great from an energy point of view, because it's coming from somewhere nearby and it's not having to bounce around the planet. That's one thing that you could do that will make a massive and immediate impact commercially and from a sustainability point of view. Paul Marden: So there's another example of something that you can do that has very little impact on the experience of the website. In fact, it massively improves the user experience of the website, takes relatively little effort, but offers a huge improvement. Those are all things that we've done to one individual website. Let's talk a little bit about how we bake that into our process. In a 2022 article in the Harvard Business Review about how sustainability efforts fall apart, they recommend embedding sustainability by design into every process and trade off decision making. I found that language really interesting. It's similar to the language used widely in technology and security that was popularised during the launch of the EU General Data Protection Legislation, which talks a lot about having a security by design approach. Paul Marden: So taking this idea of designing sustainability into every process and trading off the decision making, we've incorporated it into our sales proposal, writing, designing and testing processes. Our people responsible for selling need to bake sustainability into the contract. We want to hold ourselves and our clients accountable for the sometimes difficult decisions around meeting a sustainability target. So we'll discuss that target at the beginning of the project and then hold ourselves to that throughout the design and build process, thereby not needing to do all the remediations that we've just done on the other website, because it's typically much easier, quicker, cheaper for us to implement a lot of those things. The first time through the project, as opposed to as a remediation at the end. We've also baked sustainability testing into our process. Paul Marden: No site goes live without having been tested by both website carbon and eco grader to make sure that the site meets the criteria that we set out at the beginning of the work. So we've thought a lot about how we can improve what we do and we've started to go back and remediate over some of the work that we've done more recently to make improvements. But my learning journey hasn't been entirely smooth. There are challenges that I've hit along the way. I think there's a few interesting challenges that are to be expected as you're going about learning things that I wanted to share. For example, we've done work to remediate the scores of one of our sites and been super excited with the impact score. Paul Marden: I mean, went from bottom of the Fs to A+, only to deploy those changes into production and it didn't move the dial at all on the production website. And that was heartbreaking. Once we looked into that in more detail, thinking that we've done loads of changes, move the dial such a dramatic amount, only to launch it into the wild and it barely touched things. What we realised that in the test environment that we used, we had password protection in place and the website carbon and Ecograder were testing the password screen, not the actual homepage underneath it. So there was a lesson learned for us. The other area where we've made lots of learnings is during the survey when we created our sustainability benchmark. We've seen test results so good that they can't be explained. We've seen somebody hitting 100 on Ecograder. Paul Marden: We've also seen scores that were contradictory on Ecograder and Website Carbon, and also scores that have dropped dramatically. When we first tested in August and did a validation test checked last week, we're still working our way through these wrinkles and I think some of it is because we're looking at many hundreds of websites rather than trying to learn by testing and improving just one site. But beyond the kind of technical challenges, there remain some things that I simply don't understand. And my mission going forward is to fill those gaps. Firstly, while both Ecograder and Website Carbon use the same underlying principles and tools to calculate CO2 emissions, they often can and do give different results. Paul Marden: Not just in the fact that one is A+, a F score and the other is out of 100, but that the basic page sizing in kilobytes and consequently the CO2 can and often is different depending on which tool you look at. And I don't understand why that is, and I need to look into that. And I'm sure we'll come back to the podcast and talk more about that once I do understand it better. But the other problem is that I'm struggling with the size of the problem and the size of the prize. There's no doubt in my mind that making these improvements is the morally right thing to do, and commercially it's right as well, because it improves your outcomes on the website as well as the sustainability. Paul Marden: I'm just struggling with the business case, because if I had an unlimited budget, I do make every change in business that improves the sustainability posture of the business. But most marketers, most people that listen to this podcast don't have an infinite budget. They have a very finite budget, and so they have to put their budget to work where it's going to have the most impact. And what's the return on investment of spending 5k on improving the website versus changing light bulbs to leds, or moving away from gas powered water heaters in the outside toilets by the penguins? It's really difficult at the moment for me to be able to understand where this is the right and sensible investment of sustainability funding within an organisation. So I've shared my learning journey over the year. What about you? What can you do next? Paul Marden: For one last thought, let's head back to the conversation between Kelly and Lucy and Sue from Holkham. Kelly Molson: Are there any advice that you could share with our listeners in terms of how they start or begin to look at sustainability? Lucy Downing: Interesting. I was chatting with Lord Leicester yesterday about the subject and were sort of agreeing that I think you definitely need to know where you are, particularly as a business. You know where you are, because then you can set your goals in a realistic fashion. And I think the one thing to remember is that it has to be realistic, because you need to set goals that you can financially deliver, because if they're not financially viable, then you're not going to be here as a business to deliver them. And what we're also finding and talking to other businesses that actually quite a lot of the sustainability gains that you can make are actually in financial ones too, because you probably cut down on some of your resources that you're using, you'll think better, you'll work smarter. Lucy Downing: So it's just, I think that's something to definitely remember, that it has to be sustainable in all ways, socially, financially and environmentally. That's definitely some key advice. And I think be authentic. There's a lot of talk around greenwashing. Don't be guilty of thinking, wow, this is something we really should do and we're going to do it and just talk about it. It has to be authentic. So really think about where you can make the biggest changes environmentally for sustainability and focus on those and just make sure. Yeah, it's like us really. We're saying we're launching our sustainability strategy, but actually for the past ten years, we've now we've got 100 acre solar farm, we've got anaerobic digester, we heat the hall and all of our businesses with woodchip, so we've got our biomass boilers. Lucy Downing: So we've been doing it for quite a long time without telling anyone. But what we're now doing is saying, actually, that's not even enough, we need to up it further. So, yeah, that's the thing. I think it just has to be authentic and realistic. Sue Penlington: Yeah. And from my point of view, I'm a bit of a doer do and not a talker, so don't get bogged down. It could be absolutely overwhelming. And I think when I was first approached by my boss here, I was just like, wow. Because it isn't just rubbish, it's every single business. Sue Penlington: It's huge. But from my point of view, small differences can make a really big impact and keep chipping away at it because solutions are out there. There's loads of people doing really cool things. And, you know, every night I'm on Google looking up something else or going down another rabbit hole because I've seen something on Twitter. So for me, every day is a school day. But, yeah, get stuck in and collaborate with other like minded people. You know, nowadays you're not considered swampy because you're talking about sustainability. Sue Penlington: Well, you know, it's totally on brand, isn't it? And let's not reinvent the wheel. If we can learn from other people, then let's do that. I mean, go for it. Literally, every single individual can make a difference. Kelly Molson: Oh, Sue, that's. Yeah, you've just got me right there, sue. And I think what you said about collaborating and learning from people, that has been something that's so key this year. People are so willing to share their plans, they're so willing to share what they're doing and how they're doing things. Especially within this sector, there's always somebody that's doing or, you know, a couple of steps ahead of you that you can learn from. And people are so willing to kind of give up that advice and their time at the moment as well. So definitely that's a key one for me. Ask people. Ask people for help. Ask people how to do things. Paul Marden: I'd like to thank everyone that contributed to this episode, including Kelly, Lucy and Sue at Holkham, Polly at TFG and James at aer. Thanks to everyone that's helped me with this journey in the last year, the lovely clients we've talked to, the survey respondents, and my team at Rubber Cheese, Steve, Ben, Tom, Sinead, Wenalyn, and Oz, who've all worked really hard to benchmark the sector and to make continuous improvements to our client's sustainability. As you know, we're really experimenting with the podcast format at the moment, and if you like this or any of the other changes, I'd love to hear. And if you don't, then tough, go make your own podcast. Only joking. I'd love to hear. If you think we can make improvements, you can find me on X, @paulmarden and also on LinkedIn. Paul Marden: If you're at VAC this week, the Visitor Attraction Conference, then I'll be there with Oz and Andy. So come and say hi to us and I'll see you again in a couple of weeks time. 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! Help the entire sector: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 conversionsFill in your data now (opens in new tab)

In this episode, Bill Graf, CEO of ONDA (Instagram), shares his thoughts on the future of hospitality and opportunities for innovation now.Listeners will learn:Bill's unconventional path into hospitality and the pivotal travel experience that inspired him to start ONDA (02:41)The concept of "Hospitality 3.0" and how it's different from previous waves of innovation in the industry (09:59)Why the next big opportunity in hospitality lies in serving niches (12:47)Lessons from restaurants for hotels and lodging (13:58)The history of experience in hospitality and how it's evolving (20:02)The specific type of experience that presents the most opportunity now (21:30)How HBR's “Four Realms of Experience” applies to hospitality (24:16)Hospitality 3.0 focuses on these types of experiences (27:10)Why Bill believes that service has become commoditized and what it will take to create truly differentiated guest experiences (28:41)How recognition and personalization are a baseline expectation (30:54)Experience is the way to drive the highest investment ROI (32:50)The next frontier of innovation and opportunity: transformation (34:00)The challenge of consistent excellence (35:56)Why guests prefer self-serve technology now (38:00)How technology allows hiring for personality, not traditional hospitality skills (38:51)Bill's writing on experience:Reflections on Hospitality 3.0Hospitality 3.0 and the Experience Economy (Part 1)Hospitality 3.0 and the Experience Economy (Part 2)Mentions: A few more resources: If you're new to Hospitality Daily, start here. You can send me a message here with questions, comments, or guest suggestions If you want to get my summary and actionable insights from each episode delivered to your inbox each day, subscribe here for free. Follow Hospitality Daily and join the conversation on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram. If you want to advertise on Hospitality Daily, here are the ways we can work together. If you found this episode interesting or helpful, send it to someone on your team so you can turn the ideas into action and benefit your business and the people you serve! Music for this show is produced by Clay Bassford of Bespoke Sound: Music Identity Design for Hospitality Brands

#3bti5m #3biztips How many well-intentioned thoughts never convert into actions? Better yet, how many times do we convince ourselves that we actually executed these actions?After 35 years of closely observing various business situations, it appears the divide between thoughts and actions is growing wider. Who really knows the reasons why, but the trend is crystallizing right before my eyes. Many times, we think we said hello, but we didn't. Or, we think we volleyed a reciprocating question, but it never came out of our mouth. Or, we think wesent that email, when in fact we did not! This trend seems to be affecting our professional and personal lives. As the Experience Economy puts more, and more weight on impressions from the transactional micro-journeys, the necessity to parlay thoughts into actions grows stronger for each professional operator. Join us for an “out of the box” episode that will stimulate some thinking, and actions.Support the show

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 hosts are Paul Marden and Oz Austwick.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://ukthemeparkawards.com/winners https://ukthemeparkawards.com/sponsorsWatch the UK Theme Park Awards 2024 on YouTube. Interviewed Guests:Paul Kelly: BALPPA  Neil Poulter: Thorpe ParkRoss Ballinger: Drayton ManorDanielle Nicholls & Sophie Tickle: Alton TowersJennifer Howlett & Charlotte Peirce-Gregory: Legoland https://www.linkedin.com/in/sineadwaldron/Sinead Kimberley is the Senior Client Success Manager of Rubber Cheese and has a background in digital marketing, engagement software and all things client satisfaction. She guides clients through the various stages of their project, ensuring they have the information they need when they need it, as well as being the link between our developers and clients. https://x.com/MrTicketeerhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/andypovey/ 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. Paul Marden:  Hello and welcome to our first Skip the Queue Season Six Rubber Cheese get together. And we've got a corker. Today, there's four of us virtually together for our meetup after having been together yesterday in real life at the UK Theme Park Awards. So that's what we're going to talk about today. Paul Marden: We're going to talk a little bit about all the cool stuff that we saw yesterday at Thorpe park and enjoyed those theme park awards. But before we do that, should we do some introductions? Because I think everyone knows me and others, don't they? Oz Austwick: I'm here again. Paul Marden: You can sound more pleased. Everyone will love you. I'm thrilled. Oz Austwick: Absolutely thrilled. I couldn't wish to be anywhere nicer. Back in my office, not surrounded by monkeys. Paul Marden:  We are also joined by Sinead Kimberley, who is the Senior Client Success Manager here at Rubber Cheese. Say hi, Sinead, and tell everyone what you do. Sinead Kimberley: Yeah, so I work with our clients and making sure they've got everything they need for the website and try and act as the voice of the client, essentially with our developers, so that what you ask for, they know how to make it technical. I can pass it back to you and make it all visible on the website and get everything done. Paul Marden: That you need the glue that binds us together. And today we are also joined by the probably I've got to prove this. I'm going to have to do the counting because I know that other people do count. I'm thinking Dom from Mary Rose for sure counts the number of times he's been there. Andy Povey: So am I. Paul Marden: But I think Andy Povey, roaving ticketing expert and gentleman of leisure, joins us today possibly as the most frequent guest on Skip the Queue. But today you get upgraded to co host status because you joined us. Andy Povey: Well, I feel honoured, Paul. Thank you. Oz Austwick: Is that actually an upgrade? Paul Marden: I definitely think co host is an upgrade. For sure. For sure. Oz Austwick: Speaking of co hosting, I'll just point out that also in this episode we have some interviews recorded at the awards, some with winners, some with prize givers. It'll make more sense in the YouTube version where you can actually see them. But if you're listening to this just as an audio podcast, you need to know that when the room gets noisy or you can hear people screaming in the background, that's a clip from Thorpe Park itself. So that's coming up throughout the podcast today. But as always we start with where we've been recently, other than Thorpe Park. Paul Marden: Why don't I start with you, Andy, because I know you've been on a few trips just recently with the family. Where's an attraction you've been to recently that sticks in your mind as being pretty cool? Andy Povey: So most recently was a couple of weekends ago. We took the kids Tower of London on a Sunday afternoon or a sunny Sunday afternoon. It's absolutely superb experience. We've been members of Historic Royal Palaces for six months, eight months, something like that. And it's one of those that just sits in the dusty corner of a drawer somewhere and didn't get used. So we dusted it off and said, "All right, let's go to the tower.". Brilliant experience, absolutely superb. The kids loved it and they really engaged with all of the interpretation there. And it's probably my third or fourth time of taking my ten year old girls there. And there's something new every time or something different every time that we haven't picked up on, we haven't seen so great experience. Paul Marden: I love it. And I love it going there with membership because I think when you go the first time, you get wowed by all the really big stuff, you know, the shiny jewels and all of that kind of good stuff. By the time you go there second or third time, you begin to notice some of the other stuff. There's some lovely little regimental museums hidden off in the corner. Aren't there lots to find in there? Which if you only go the once and you do it as a set piece, you don't necessarily notice it because you want to go and look at the court stuff. Andy Povey: Yeah, it's just the single visit. It's just a high pressure environment, isn't it? You want to catch everything, you want to get the best value out of it. I mean, we got there at 02:00 in the afternoon. I don't think I'd have done that if I was just paying for the single day entry. Paul Marden: What about you, Sinead? Where have you been recently? Sinead Kimberley: Mine is up north, Wyresdale Park. And it's just an outdoor park, so not kind of a ticket place that you need to kind of buy a ticket for. But I loved it because when went, it felt like we'd just gone into a normal park, but you felt like you were at some kind of holiday camp and you could hear kids playing in the water on the paddle boards and the kayaks and then you had all the dogs running around and then you had the hikers going past you to go up. And we did go for a walk. So went, I think it was maybe two and a half hours up to the peak and it was just lovely to see all the families as well on a sunny day. Rare up in Lancaster. No rain for once. Sinead Kimberley: And, yeah, it was just a lovely place to be. You had a really nice feel of just people having fun and enjoying nature, which I think is really lovely. So, yeah, that was my favourite recently, besides Thorpe park, obviously. Paul Marden: Oz, what about you, mate? Oz Austwick: Goodrich Castle. We took the family away and we did a couple of nights glamping. Amazing place. I won't go on too much about that, but went to Goodrich Castle, just outside Ross on Wye, and it's the first time I've ever been. It's amazing. So many of these castles are just a series of small walls and there's nothing to actually see, but it's a proper castle. There's a moat and a bridge over it to get in, and there are dungeons and towers. You can go up and it's. Yeah, it's fantastic. If you're in the area, definitely go check it out. It's well worth it. Paul Marden: Lovely for the kids, isn't it? Because I do think, whilst it can be a really lovely day out to go to some of these castle ruins, it can be pretty tough to imagine as a ten year old what it was actually like and what that low wall over there actually was. Oz Austwick: There's definitely a trade off, though, because the more castle there is, the more the older kids love it. But I've got a four year old as well and I'm much happier when it's a flat bit of grass with a couple of stones in it than when she's trying desperately to scale up a spiral staircase that has been worn down for 500 years. Paul Marden: We did the wall around Warwick Castle a few years ago and I was at a heightened state of anxiety, I think it's fair to say. Oz Austwick: Yeah. Paul Marden: So mine is the National Marine Aquarium, which is one of the Rubber Cheese clients down in Plymouth, and it's my first time of actually going and seeing it. And were there. We were coming back from a holiday in Cornwall, so it was a stop off on the way back and it was such a lovely stop off. My memory of it is we've been. We were avid watchers of the anime show that was on at Christmas last year. We really enjoyed watching that. Millie loves animals and she loved the turtle that was in the show last year. And went and I. We were there. It must have been ten minutes before closing time. They were trying to get people to leave. Paul Marden: We were one of the last families there, but were just sat on the floor, on the top floor looking into the tank where the turtle was. It was just so relaxing to just watch this turtle coming in and going out and the sharks that were in there. It was a really beautiful place. Lovely place. Really enjoyed that. So going from serene, calm aquarium, let's talk about Thorpe Park and the National Theme Park Awards. How was it for you guys? I hasten to add, I didn't make it Hyperia yesterday, which we did. Oz Austwick: Notice that Sinead and I did. Sinead Kimberley: My eyes were closed. Paul Marden: So what was Hyperia actually like then? Was it, was it as scary as I thought it might be? Oz Austwick: Yes. Sinead Kimberley: Yes. But also as incredible. Yeah. I was sad I didn't go on twice. Oz Austwick: You know, all of those feelings you get when you go on a roller coaster, that kind of the adrenaline and the sense of fear and all of that you get that gives you a bit of a buzz when you get off it. Imagine just dialing all of that up to eleven and. Yeah, mind blowing. It's too far, it's too big, it's too high, too scary. No, I'm glad I did it. Paul Marden: They did say yesterday, didn't they, when they were talking about the ride itself, that it was the tallest roller coaster in the UK, I think. But also the one with the most weightlessness in the UK, which I can't imagine how you measure it and I can't imagine what it's like. So can you put into words what the weightlessness was like? Oz Austwick: You know, if they've got these big over the shoulder harnesses that come down and you're in the seat and, you know you're safe, you know you're trapped and you're sitting with all your weight on a seat because that's just how you sit. Right? Paul Marden: Yeah. Oz Austwick: But for most of this ride, you're not. You're somewhere in between the two. You're not sitting and you're not pushed up against the harness, you're just being flung around constantly. Sinead Kimberley: Yeah, yeah, it is weird. I think I didn't notice when the harness thing you get is different to the normal one, so you don't have that big thing pushing your shoulders back. It just goes around your waist and then there's like a bar you can hold in front. It is safe, we can confirm because we are here, but it did make you feel like you weren't quite as stuck to something as normal. And then add to that you were moving faster, and you were dropping from higher heights. You realise that you were still falling, which you don't normally do on a roller coaster. Normally you realise you're falling and then you're done, whereas this, you realise you're falling. You start to be like, okay, but I'm still safe. And then you maybe open your eyes and you look around this I couldn't. Sinead Kimberley: I carried on realising I was falling a lot longer. You really felt it in your body. Oz Austwick: That first peak where you go and it starts to move, and then it literally, it takes you up and you're lying backwards and you're going up, and you can just about see the track ahead of you up there. And then you get to the top, and it's such a tight curve that as you drop, you can't see the track, and you just drop. Yeah. Sinead Kimberley: I loved it, though. Paul Marden: Should we go back to the podcast and move away from therapy session? Oz Austwick: Yeah, we can come back to therapy later, though, right? Because I think I need it. Paul Marden: So yesterday was the third year that we've sponsored one of the awards, so it was the third time I've been to the awards. Third time it was in real life, fifth year of running, and it was just lovely, wasn't it? It was such a nice industry get together. I think you were commenting this morning, Andy, on LinkedIn, about the networking effect of it. Andy Povey: Yeah. The industry we're in is a very physical, actual industry. People go to attractions because they want to do something so well. Virtual is great, and digital is great, obviously. I mean, it's what I've been doing for a very long time. There's nothing that really gets to the heart of what this industry is all about better than the face to face physical interactions. And that was a real sort of epiphany away, I think I said on a message to someone the other day, yesterday, that's just really important. It was the first event I've been to since May. Very good. Oz Austwick: Good. I thought it was a real eye opener how you kind of going there as an exhibitor. And it was my first time. I kind of assumed that I'd stand next to a stall and people would come over and I'd try and talk to them, and all they'd want was whatever free merch I'd have on this. But it wasn't like that. It was like being in a big room with a bunch of people who were friends and they were happy you were there, too, and it was just a really lovely experience. It didn't feel like a corporate trade show type event, which is exactly what I was expecting. Paul Marden: And it is fiercely competitive. So everybody does want to win in the categories they're in. Oz Austwick: Yes. But Alton Towers wins them all. Paul Marden: Right, so I am here with Sophie and Danielle from Alton Towers. It's been a successful day for you guys, hasn't it? Did you manage to count the number of awards or did you just lose count? Danielle Nicholls: I think it was a level, maybe round and fair. Paul Marden: Definitely double figures. Definitely double figures. We saw both of you going up and down the stage. Up and down the stage. Highlight, which was the one for you, Danielle, that you really appreciated. Danielle Nicholls: You know, what it was between two. So super proud of everything we did with Nemesis. Like Nemesis Reborn has been such a momentous campaign throughout. Paul Marden: Yeah. Danielle Nicholls: And so I'm super proud of that one. But for me, I think the one that has my heart in, it's our community award. So I was super proud to play silver for that one. Paul Marden: It was brilliant to get you up on the stage, bring the band back together again with you and Ross up there. And Sophie, what about you? What was the biggest highlight for you? Sophie Tickle: So I was really keen for the Best Marketing Campaign purely because I know how hard our team works on it. So I was really kind of brutal. And the nemesis story is just incredible. So we felt like that was. That was a really good win for us. And then best ride storytelling is always a nice one just because we feel like it just captures everything. The resources. Paul Marden: I really enjoyed watching when we had the. ad campaigns that came on and we saw everything that everyone had produced and you could see the storytelling that goes into something like nemesis reborn. And then the room was just quiet at the end of it because were all just captured by all of these videos. Danielle Nicholls: Everyone could have won that one, genuinely. But we're so proud. Like, Alton is such a lovely, friendly community in itself. Like, there's hundreds of people that work all the towers. Like, you can never just put it down to one person. It's such a big team effort. Everyone pulls together for everything. So, like, Alton After Dark winning golf best of event, that was amazing as well. I'm super proud of that one. Paul Marden: Everyone loves an after dark event, don't they? Yeah, it's awesome. Awesome. Danielle Nicholls: They do. Paul Marden: Thank you for joining me, ladies. It's been really good to talk to you all. Cheers. So, yes, it is fair to say that Alton Towers did make a lot of trips onto the stage. Danielle and her yellow jacket was seen going up on stage quite a lot yesterday. But there's a real diversity of different attractions that were nominated. So I think they said more than 30, nearly 40. I think it was attractions that were nominated. 20 attractions overall. Yeah, 20 attractions overall. One prizes. There was one that was really close to my heart. Brean Theme Park. It was where my granddad and my dad played golf 45 years ago. I would go to Brean Leisure Park, as it was then, and go down helter skelter all the time. So to see that up on the awards for a nomination was really lovely. Paul Marden: And there's quite a few other smaller attractions like that got nominated. Talk a little bit about the categories or the memories that we got yesterday that stuck in our minds. Andy, was there a category for you that you were really impressed by? Andy Povey: Yeah, there was. For me, it was the Accessibility initiative the Katapult sponsored. Obviously, Merlin were very heavily represented in the nominations for that category. I think there were five out of the eight nominations were for either for Merlin Parks or things that Merlin were doing as a bigger or as a cross group activity. But there were also some really quite simple things from much smaller parks. So noticeably there was a Camel Creek, again, down in deepest, darkest Cornwall, who were nominated for their changing places facility. And that just really brought home to me. Yes, it's important that Merlin, as the largest operator in the country, are leading the way and they've got the resources to put behind this and all that kind of stuff. But it's not just about doing those big things. Andy Povey: Small things can make a difference and can make a really significant difference. And that's really key to. Was one of the key messages in the industry, I think. Paul Marden: Yeah, I thought it was an interesting category. First time that it appeared in the awards, as you say, Katapult sponsored it, and it was quite a nice match between Katapult and that category because they've been doing quite a lot of work in designing spaces and attractions that are more accessible to people. So that was really. It was quite a nice match between sponsor and category. And as you say, there was some really lovely stories to be told around. What was there? I loved there was a Merlin initiative where they were taking the characters and the stories of the parks out to hospitals and places where they were terminally ill children, which there's lots of stories that have existed for a long time of kids being taken to the parks themselves. Paul Marden: But what about when they can't make it to the park and can you bring the magic of the park to them? I thought that was a really lovely idea. Andy Povey: Magic tour, they call that. And it's actually run by the Merlin charity, Merlin's Magic Wand. Paul Marden: Yeah. It's a cracking idea, isn't it? Yeah. But then you take it down to the changing places toilets and the initiatives to make places and make it clear what the accessibility of the place actually is, because we know that's really important, that people that have accessibility needs will not go to new places if they're not completely sure that it is accessible to them. And having a space on your website and winning an award, or even being shortlisted for an award for having that information on your website, I think is amazing. It's a cracking idea and there's so much that the sector is doing that has opened my eyes just in the last year, from the M&H show that were at six months ago to just seeing some of the stuff yesterday, thought it was brilliant. Oz Austwick: Shall we have another interview from the awards? Paul caught up with another Paul. Paul Kelly from BALPPA. Paul Marden: So, Paul, you've just come from the first session of giving out awards and you on stage giving out bridge award. Paul Kelly: I was doing the best theme park for toddlers, both in the small category. And the large category. Paul Marden: And who was winning? Paul Kelly: Well, unsurprisingly, I think it's not the first time they've won small categories won by Paulton's Park. And considering the amount of investment they've done, and I'm not surprised, they also won the large as well. So, really good taking off. Paul Marden: It is, yeah. We were talking on our table that they've been doing this now for a very long time, able to get up on stage and win awards. Still, they must really be investing in what they're doing. Paul Kelly: Continuous investments. I mean, if you get a chance like I do, look behind the scenes, they're investing infrastructure, their staff, for how they run the park, but think of ten years ahead. So, yeah, incredible family, incredible journey. So, yeah, good luck. Paul Marden: Behind the scenes, Pickworld must be quite the operation. Paul Kelly: Yeah. I mean, again, well, one of the things they've done, although it is photographers, they do very well in bandits now, builds them on that because they have invested in trying. I don't think they might be saying, "They do very well in bandits now," builds them on that because they have invested in trying. I don't think they might be saying. Paul Marden: That it is just about having. Paul Kelly: Well, but, yeah, paddlings are well deserved. Paul Marden: Amazing. Well done. Thank you. Paul Kelly: Yeah, no problem. Paul Marden: Sinead, what about you? What was the category that jumped out to you? Sinead Kimberley: Yeah, so for me, I think it was the sustainability, partly because it's something that I am kind of working on, looking at a lot at the minute with clients and also a thing that I've been kind of getting myself up to speed on within the industry, because I think everyone talks about sustainability, but often it will be either a really big initiative or it's something that's just what everybody else is doing. So, you know, more recyclable packaging or that kind of thing. And I really loved. There was a roller coaster, I think it was Greenwoods, was it, Andy? Andy Povey: Yes. Sinead Kimberley: They had like a people powered or counterbalanced roller coaster. And I was sat on a table and kind of asked what that was. And the person next to me explained that it doesn't use electricity, it just uses people. So as you're going up, you're powering people, going around the roller coaster, essentially. And it just sounds incredible. I've never heard of anything like that before. And I was also talking to some of the people about the sustainability of a website and something that we don't think about. You think about how many clicks to get tickets sold or to get you to see the video or whatever, but you don't necessarily think about the server powering every single click, empowering every single page view. Sinead Kimberley: And so to kind of see how different places have worked with sustainability, whether it's the reusable cups or roller coaster that's literally using people to power it and then enjoy it at the same time, was really interesting to kind of complete my picture of what sustainability looks like in the industry and all the different things it could touch on from the website to literally on the park itself. And when the parks are by nature not going to be the most, you know, energy efficient, maybe because you've got these massive roller coasters you need to power safely. It's really interesting to see that the small things, like you mentioned, Andy, with accessibility, the small things really can altogether make a really big impact on how you as an organisation can be more sustainable. Sinead Kimberley: So, yeah, that was really eye opening, I think, seeing those different nominees. Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. Oz Austwick: I think the one that won it as well is a lovely example of however much you ask people to do something because it's the right thing to do. If you actually make it in their interests to do it, suddenly it becomes much more viable. So you can. Everyone's got recycling bins, but if you've got this reverse vending machine where you put your empty plastic bottles in and you get something back out of that, then clearly people are going to do. If you were there with your kids, they're going to be collecting bottles they find lying around and making sure they go in the right bin because they get something. Paul Marden:  And it wasn't just a little something, was it? It wasn't just a couple of tokens. You could win some pretty amazing prizes out of it. Oz Austwick: Absolutely. Yeah. Andy Povey: Yeah. I was at the Latitude Festival last year and they were charging a temp deposit on every waxed paper cup. And the number of kids running around collecting huge stacks of these cups. Oz Austwick: Yeah. Andy Povey: And they were even going into the bins and taking them out of the bins, which I'm not sure was the real driver behind, but they were making. It must have been hundreds of pounds. Oz Austwick: Absolutely. It was the same. I used to go to the rugby quite a lot before my rugby team disappeared. And they would charge a one pound deposit on plastic reusable cups and you could either keep it as a one pound cup or give it back and get your pound back. And most people just. They'd have a few beers and they'd leave them. But at the end of the match, kids, just like you say, would be running around collecting these and they'd be walking away with 20, 30 quid's worth of cups. You know, what an amazing thing for the kids to do. Just makes it worth their while, doesn't it? Paul Marden: So I'm here with Jennifer and Charlotte from Legoland. So you've been at the awards today with us. How's it been? Was it a successful day for you guys? Jennifer Howlett: Pretty successful, yeah. A few wins across the category. Paul Marden: Yeah. So what. What categories did you. Did you get awards for? Charlotte Peirce-Gregory: So we've got new band, which I was Ninja tonight, which is really exciting. That was our summer first year. Jennifer Howlett: We've done it as well. So it's really exciting to see that. Paul Marden: So I love Ninjago. The ride itself. What's the event all about? Charlotte Peirce-Gregory: So, literally, we had loads of different things going on. We had dragons, drumsy, we had loads of different entertainments. We had characters, meet and greets, and were new characters, which was really exciting. Aaron and Sora. So, yes, that was great. And that finished quite long ago. Sarah's missing to see that. Paul Marden: Excellent, excellent and highlight of the day for you guys. What did you see that has really got you excited? Charlotte Peirce-Gregory: Do you know what, thing is for me with the map? I look after all things catholic events and stuff, and that was quite nice that you see. Paul Marden: It's funny because everyone was laughing a little bit. I know award for the maps, but actually, the maps and the attraction is so important. It is, it is. If you walk in and you don't get a map, it's like, How do you figure out where you're going, you're always going and looking at the map on the wall instead of having it in your hand. So, yeah, it's a bit of a laugh, but actually I think it's a really important. Yeah. Lovely to meet you guys. Thank you for joining us. Cheers. Paul Marden: So, Oz, tell us what was the standout moment for you yesterday? Oz Austwick: I thought it was really lovely to see in amongst all of these theme parks and massive organisations getting up there to win awards, that there was an award specifically for content creator of the year, that these people are out there producing content that literally markets and drives visitors to these attractions to go on these rides and they were actually recognised a change. And I thought that was both a lovely thing as a concept, but also as a YouTuber myself, within a very small and specific niche, it was really nice to get to chat to some other YouTubers from an equally small niche and spend a bit of time with them. I thought it was really. It was lovely. So I just want to shout out to Andy from Coaster Crazy and Digital Daniel, lovely people. Sinead Kimberley: Thank you, Andy, for helping me on the roller coaster as well. It was needed. Paul Marden: You were with those influencers, weren't you, during the awards itself? I think. I think it's a bit of a challenge having a daytime awards, that it can be a bit of a struggle to get some life out of the audience. And George, the compare does graft to try and get us into the mood. But I've noticed every year I've been there that if you sit anywhere near the influencers, that's usually the naughty table with lots going on. Sinead Kimberley: They were very well behaved. Oz Austwick: Because you were sat with them at the award. We went with them round the park later and it was lovely to see people visiting the park, recognizing them and coming up to say hi and that this is genuinely a thing that really works. Yeah, I just thought it was. It was great. Let's recognize these guys because I doubt any of them are making a full time living out of this. They're doing it in their own time because they love her. So if you're. If you're from a theme park, support them a little bit more, get them in there, let them. Let them do this stuff because it does benefit you. Paul Marden: You say they're not making a full time living. I can't remember what the couple are, Andy, who have every year at theme park awards, they're never there to collect their award because they're always somewhere in Florida or California, because September is a perfect time for them to go and do all the recordings. I guess parks are a little bit quiet. Weather's still good. Oz Austwick: Yeah, but that's the thing. Maybe they go in then because it's cheaper. Paul Marden: Yeah. Still having a good time recording to make a good living.Oz Austwick: You can make a good living from social media, but it's pretty rare. Paul Marden: So I am going to claim. Yeah. Executive prerogative and I'm going to take two memories and talk about them. Oz Austwick: That is definitely cheating. Paul Marden: So I'm going to talk first about the. The main awards, the best theme park, which, strangely, last year were at Chessington, won by Chessington. This year were at Thorpe park, won by Thorpe park. Oz Austwick: What are you saying? Paul Marden: I don't know. I don't know. But what I am. I guess what I am saying was what I really loved was the recognition of the whole thought pop team. Now, it wasn't the whole thought pub team because that would probably be hundreds of people and the stage wouldn't take it, but we had a little kind of troop of different people from across the park come and collect the award and I just. I really liked that. I thought that was a lovely thing to see those people being recognized. Neil Poulter: And that's exactly. It's a team effort, there's no doubt about it. Obviously, many people in the room, but the people behind the scenes as well. And we've had a fantastic year. It's been a journey. You don't just arrive at winning best theme park and best new attraction. It's a journey that we've been on for the last three and a half years. We haven't previously won that award, so I think it's testament to where we've come from, but hopefully where we're going as well. So, super excited. Paul Marden: Highlight for you? Neil Poulter: I think, obviously, Best Theme Park. I think winning the big one is something that, you know, is. Feels like new territory for us, but I think, you know, we deserve our seat at the table. Neil Poulter: But, you know, across the awards, you know, best new attraction, obviously, for Hyperia is that also some entertainment in terms of stitches and Friday nights, which we're so proud of, you know, a fantastic maze. The team that do our social, which, again, you know, allows us to speak with our audience, our most passionate audience and really, you know, them winning the gold was also a huge highlight for me as well. Paul Marden: Awesome. So time for some food and then some fun after Hyperia. And here's some screaming. Neil Poulter: Yeah, absolutely. Can't wait to ride it. I actually wrote it yesterday for about only the 6th time and I went on the back. It was amazing. But, yeah, hoping people that haven't even experienced it yet will get a chance to. And if people have, which I'm sure many have, they will come back and enjoy it. And the sun's shining, so what better time to be at the Thorpe Park? Paul Marden: So congratulations, Neil. Thank you for talking. Neil Poulter: Thank you very much. You're welcome. Paul Marden: But then the other memory for me was our own award. We sponsor the Social Media Content Category and I nearly missed my queue. I was quite happy sitting there listening to all of these parks being nominated, thinking, well, that's interesting. Well, that sounded very good. And then I realized it was me and I was supposed to get on stage and hand the award out, so there's a little rush to the stage. But what I really liked, it was lovely to hand over the gold award to Thorpe Park, meet the social media team there. Paul Marden: But it was also really nice because it was an opportunity to meet a couple more Skip the Queue alumni, Danielle and Ross, they used to work together at Drayton Manor and as we've already said, Danielle is now at Thorpe Towers and was up and down like a fiddler's elbow on the staircase yesterday. Oz Austwick: She's a full time award collector. Paul Marden: But it was lovely to get the band back together again up on stage. Handsome. Some bronze and silver awards out to Ross and Danielle. I really enjoyed that. It was just nice. It's really nice because Kelly first met them at the awards three years ago. Again, she was sat on the naughty table at the back with the two of them making lots of noise and enjoying themselves. But just, we got immediately the sense of enjoyment and fun that the two of them had and that they bring to the work that they do. And it was lovely to see that recognised yesterday on stage because we have nothing to do as sponsors of the award, we have nothing to do with choosing who the winners actually are as a team of esteemed judges. And then the public vote also counted this time. Paul Marden: But, yeah, to see, to see the growth of people that have been on the podcast, their careers growing, and then seeing them back on stage again yesterday, that was really lovely. I enjoyed that. Paul Marden: It's a bit weird, isn't it, because the awards are in the daytime, it's. All a little bit where we can. You always come and you bring the energy to the room, don't you? Yes. We got the band back together up on the stage with you and Danielle. Ross Ballinger: Yeah. Paul Marden: Both in the social media category. So that was nice. To see what have you got in your hands at the moment? Ross Ballinger: I've actually just got pleasure Wood Hills award because I'm representing them today as well as part of the luping UK contingency. Paul Marden: Okay, so what did they win? Ross Ballinger: They got bronze for Best Theme Park. Paul Marden: Oh, wow. Ross Ballinger: Which they have overhauled their map this year, which is really fantastic. So we're getting too excited never to excited about. Paul Marden: No. Ross Ballinger: But maps are a great addition to any park. Paul Marden: Do you know when you walk in the gates and you don't get the map and it's like, oh, people have got it. Yeah. People will complain. Absolutely. And everyone loves a map. Ross Ballinger: They take a lot of. It's no easy task. They can take six to twelve months to get a really, you know, popping man. Yeah, yeah. And it's obviously all down to the illustrators and everything like that. Paul Marden: And the life of the park as well, because you're telling stories. Andy Povey: Oh, yeah. Ross Ballinger: You've got to bring the paper to life. Paul Marden: So highlight for today for you. Ross Ballinger: Highlight, obviously, being on the show, on stage, being on stage for the social media category. Close to my heart, that kind of category. I love socials. I love doing what we do on socials. And it's a big core team for Drayton Manor. Paul Marden: Is it really? Ross Ballinger: It's the whole team that really. It doesn't really channel itself into one person. We have a great executive, Morgan McHenry, that looks after the top end of all the social media. So she's the goddess that orchestrates it all. But she will be. She will say that it's not just her, but everyone just contributed to making sure our social media channels are like, just absolutely fantastic and great for people to watch. Paul Marden: I think they're most authentic, aren't they? When you get everybody involved all across the park, all the people telling their little stories and showcasing what party's like. Ross Ballinger: That's what it's all about. A lot of other departments do their job. They think they're just having fun on TikTok again. But we're not, you know, we're really like behind the scenes thinking of content, going out, filming the content, you know, putting the content together, scheduling it to go out. Paul Marden: It doesn't just happen by itself. Ross Ballinger: It doesn't happen. Paul Marden: You don't just walk out with a phone and get yourself a smash hit video that just goes viral. Ross Ballinger: Well, the more fun we have, the more engaging it is. So it's our job to be fun. You have fun. Paul Marden: It's a tough life. Right. Lovely. See you again. Bringing the alumni back together again. Ross Ballinger: Great. Thank you. Thank you. Paul Marden: So that was the UK theme park awards yesterday, but that's not the only thing happening in the industry at the moment, is it, Andy? Something big and important is happening next week. Andy Povey: You mean my trip to Amsterdam? Paul Marden: Well, I was thinking more about the IAAPA conference that was at Amsterdam as opposed to your particular trip to the. Andy Povey: Yeah, so it's the 20th 30th instance of the IAAPA Europe show, IAAPA Europe Expo, this time taking place in the RAI at Amsterdam, or in Amsterdam from Tuesday to Thursday next week. Lots of great stuff, lots of great people. All about the attractions industry. There might be an occasional beer or two while we're there on the short. Paul Marden: I think it is important to note for Mrs. Povey, if she actually does listen in, that this is an important work event and there will be lots of networking. And if you're not networking, you're not working. We know that. However, it is also worth mentioning that on numerous occasions yesterday I heard you talking to people about the after parties that you were planning to attend. And yeah, it's a busy social calendar that you've got signed up to next week. Andy Povey: It certainly is. I think I might need to cut down on the pre party work to give time for the after party to take the best. Paul Marden: So you're going to enjoy yourself and do lots of important networking next week. But I guess the call to action for listeners today is if you are planning on being at IAAPA next week, hunt down Andy. He's a tough guy to miss and everybody knows him. So go and find him, have a chat with him and enjoy yourselves in IAAPA and we will be back in two weeks time. Thank you very much guys. It's been delightful having a foursome as co hosts and I think we get to do this again. Oz Austwick: I quite like this. We should do this more often. Paul Marden: Absolutely. 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 2024 Visitor Attraction Website Survey is now LIVE! Help the entire sector: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 conversionsFill in your data now (opens in new tab)

In this episode, Matthew Jarvis sits down with Dan Murphy, Head of Wealth Strategies at Commonwealth, to explore the evolving landscape in financial planning. Gone are the days of product-pushing and binder-heavy financial plans; welcome to the era of experience-driven advisory! Dan walks through the "Experience Economy," revealing how advisors can transform their practices from mere service providers to architects of memorable client experiences. The industry is rapidly shifting from a product focus to an experience focus, and Dan emphasizes that modern financial planning should revolve around clients' goals and values rather than just charts and numbers. From the mindset shift required to embrace this new paradigm to the operational changes needed to support it, Dan offers a wealth of insights for advisors at every stage of their careers. He stresses the importance of cultivating genuine curiosity and empathy as crucial tools for understanding clients' needs. Creating positive experiences, Dan explains, requires intentionality in all aspects of client interactions, going beyond providing services to crafting "time well spent" for clients. Crafting Unforgettable Client Experiences with Guest Dan Murphy [Episode 272] Resources in today's episode: - Matt Jarvis: Website | LinkedIn - Dan Murphy: Website | LinkedIn - Financial Planning Experience - Financial Wellness Experience - The Experience Economy by Joseph Pine and James Gilmore

On this episode of the Customer's First Podcast, I delve into a spirited conversation with Andrea Leigh, a distinguished Change Catalyst and Customer Experience Powerhouse. Andrea's journey into customer experience began at a young age, rooted in her early retail encounters, where she discovered the profound impact of prioritizing customer care. With over three decades in pharmaceutical sales followed by a significant transition into retail fashion leadership, Andrea shares her insights on the evolution of customer relations and the essential role of emotional connection in crafting superior customer experiences. We explore the transformative period of COVID-19, where Andrea's unforeseen pivot from pharmaceuticals to fashion illuminated the importance of fostering genuine relationships with customers. Her tenure at a chic fashion boutique in Oklahoma City made her an exemplary leader whose sales achievements exceeded expectations. Andrea emphasizes that the keys to her success lay in treating customers with care and creating enjoyable shopping experiences, which helped her build trust and loyalty. During our chat, we also tackled the critical impact that customer experience has on businesses. Andrea explains that a great customer experience is an indispensable marketing tool and a catalyst for exponential growth in today's experience-driven economy. Conversely, she warns about the fallout from neglecting customer needs, explaining how even a small oversight can tarnish an otherwise stellar interaction and lead to customer loss. Andrea passionately advocates for leaders to cultivate a company culture that prioritizes customer satisfaction above all else. She highlights the importance of team communication and recommends leveraging friendly competition to boost morale and drive performance. She believes leaders can inspire their teams to consistently deliver exceptional experiences that resonate with customers by celebrating even the smallest victories. As we wrap up, I encourage leaders to actively listen to customer feedback and maintain open lines of honesty throughout their businesses, emphasizing that fostering human connections is paramount to customer delight. Andrea's insights remind us that the heart of any successful brand lies in how it makes customers feel and that creating memorable experiences is the cornerstone of lasting success. This episode is a treasure trove of wisdom for anyone looking to enhance their understanding of customer-centric cultures and create the magic that comes with outstanding customer experiences.  Timestamps: 6:48: The Importance of Customer Trust 8:55: Understanding Customer Experience Impact 15:36: Cultural Shifts in Customer Service 20:25: Prioritizing Customer Interaction   Andrea's Contact Information: LinkedIn & Facebook: @AndreaLeigh Instagram: @therealandrealeigh   Tacey's Contact Information: Website: https://www.taceyatkinson.com  Thank you for tuning in, and I look forward to having more valuable conversations together in the future. Remember: Customer-Centric Cultures Create Magical Customer Experiences. Now Go, Create the Magic!

A go-to authority on global business, economics and geopolitics, digital transformation, and corporate governance, global trade, Ryan Patel is so smart, he's never been afraid to ask the stupid questions. These days, he's doing it on TV, appearing on networks like CNN, BBC, Fox Business, CNBC, The Hill, and Yahoo Finance. He's frequently featured in publications like the New York Times, Forbes, and Entrepreneur, and has lead campaigns with corporations Mastercard, HP, Adobe, The Economist, IBM, Salesforce, LEGO, and more. Ryan also asks a lot of questions on his own Webby-Nominated series “The Moment with Ryan Patel,” a show that's filmed in the actual Garage where HP and Silicon Valley, accordingly were founded.    Patel is a firm believer in giving back to the community and paying it forward. His passion for combining social good and business has led him to discuss relevant and real-world situations that are accessible to both students and professionals alike. In 2015, he was awarded “Executive of the Year” by the Los Angeles Business Journal and received Special United States Congressional Recognition for outstanding services to the community. In 2017, Inc. listed him as one of nine executives and innovators who serve as an inspiration for how all businesses can make a difference. He also received the 2018 “Connect” Award for Business Leader of the Year and is the 2020 recipient of the prestigious NAAAP 100 award. He also received the United States Senate Certificate of Commendation which recognized his exemplary business leadership and contributions. Also, listed as one of the “Creators to Follow” by Linkedin Editor in Chief and is recognized as a “Top Voice” on Linkedin. He also holds the esteemed title of Visiting William F. Podlich Distinguished Fellow at Claremont McKenna College.   In this episode of Masters of Storytelling, Maya talks to Ryan about building and leading teams, the careful work of scaling businesses, the art of telling stories that resonate, and how to be yourself in the face of bygone corporate expectations.    For more information about Ryan, visit: https://bit.ly/3YuTYwh    For more information about BRC Imagination Arts, visit: www.brcweb.com

Josh McCall serves as Chairman Emeritus for the global brand experience agency, Jack Morton where he focuses on growth and consulting on key client relationships. In 2022, he stepped down as CEO  and Chairman after being an integral part of the agency since 1984 and holding a variety of roles ranging from Account Executive to Chief Operating Officer. Under his leadership, the agency expanded its reach across the US, Europe, Australia, and Asia and was recognized for its creativity, winning awards at the Effies, Cannes Lions, D&AD, Clios, Ex, PRO, and Webby  Awards. Josh was instrumental in transforming the agency into an ideas-focused culture that creates extraordinary work for brands and he kept the agency at the forefront of the Experience  Economy. Josh McCall earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania, completed business and management training at the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College and The  Kenan-Flagler School at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and holds an honorary Doctor of Commercial Science degree from Suffolk University in Boston. Josh also serves on the board of The Vineyard Trust, the owner of historic island landmarks.

Send us a Text Message.In this episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, host Curveball sits down with Diane Hopkins, the founder and CEO of Xperes. Diane is a marketing guru with extensive experience in marketing communications, customer design strategy, and is a certified Experience Economy expert. Join us as Diane shares her journey from a traditional marketing career to becoming one of the first chief experience officers in the healthcare industry in the U.S., and eventually founding her own consulting business.www.expeers.netplease be sure to follow, rate, review, ad share this episode to as many people as possible.