Latest / Arts Unscripted with Monica Holt / CI to Eye | What Zoos Can Teach Us About Exceptional Guest Experiences

Transcript

CI to Eye | What Zoos Can Teach Us About Exceptional Guest Experiences · Arts Unscripted with Monica Holt

0:09
Hello everyone. Dan here. So if you've been tuning in for a while,
0:12
you've probably heard us talk a lot about audience hospitality-those little
0:16
things we can do to make someone's experience unforgettable and leave them
0:20
wanting more. In today's competitive landscape,
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every touchpoint counts.
0:25
Audiences have infinite options of how to spend their time.
0:29
There are endless streaming platforms, the temptation of a cozy couch,
0:32
a new episode of The White Lotus or my personal favorite, Below Deck...
0:36
So how do we stand out and get them to choose our venues instead? Well,
0:41
the answer isn't straightforward, but one thing is simple.
0:44
Exceptional guest experiences matter,
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and those experiences don't just happen on their own.
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They're designed with intention.
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From the first click on a website to the moment a visitor steps through your
0:54
door to engagement after they leave,
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every interaction shapes how people feel about your organization.
1:00
We wanted to learn more about what it takes to create a truly exceptional guest
1:05
experience. So for today's episode, I sat down with Emily O'Hara,
1:09
senior director of guest experience at the Detroit Zoological Society.
1:14
Emily shared how the Detroit Zoo fosters personal connections and creates a
1:18
welcoming, engaging environment for every guest.
1:21
We discussed practical strategies for delivering wildly good experiences (get
1:26
it?) that turn visitors into raving and returning fans.
1:29
I enjoyed this conversation so much and I know you will too.
1:32
So without further ado, let's dive in, shall we?
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I'm so excited to be sitting down with Emily O'Hara,
1:49
the Senior Director of Guest Experience at the Detroit Zoological Society,
1:54
a nonprofit organization that operates both the Detroit Zoo and Belle Isle
1:58
Nature Center. Emily, welcome to CI to Eye.
2:01
Thank you for having me.
2:02
I've been so excited about this podcast interview because my major was
2:07
zoology. For a long time in my life,
2:09
I was on the career path of animal sciences.
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I also lived right next to Chester Zoo,
2:15
which is one of the biggest zoos in the United Kingdom.
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So much so that I could hear the sea lions barking in the morning,
2:21
and so I've always been obsessed with zoos and
2:25
love anything to do with animals.
2:26
That's awesome. What is your favorite animal?
2:28
Oh, ants. I love ants. Yeah, so I studied rock ants at university.
2:32
I spent a long time looking at ants on a table and tracking them with a webcam.
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It's a whole thing. I'm not sure if it was useful science,
2:39
but it was definitely science. So yeah, anything to do with ants,
2:42
I could watch them for hours. What's your favorite animal?
2:45
So traditionally I say my favorite animal is a crested screamer,
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which is a bird, a very unique looking bird.
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They used to live at the Detroit Zoo,
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but the pair that lived here actually moved down to sunny Florida so that they
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could be outdoors year round.
3:01
So now I say of the residents who live at the Detroit Zoo,
3:05
scarlet ibis is currently my favorite.
3:08
Another bird that lives in our free flight aviary.
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Amazing.
3:13
Watch the search volume on Google Trends of crested screamers popping up after
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this.
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I know.
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I do suggest you also go and watch a YouTube video of their vocalization.
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They're a fun bird.
3:24
I'm definitely going to do this after this interview.
3:27
Many arts and culture organizations don't have a dedicated director of guest
3:32
experiences. Tell us more about what your role entails.
3:36
So really it's looking at the guest experience.
3:39
No matter whether you're here as a general daytime admission guest or here for
3:44
a special event, maybe one of our evening hours, or even for a wedding,
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we want to ensure that you are having a great experience,
3:52
that you are able to access the amenities that you need,
3:55
that you're able to enjoy time with the family members or friends who you're
3:59
visiting with, and ultimately that we're able to connect you to our mission.
4:03
And so why is it important to have someone championing this work in an
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organization?
4:08
It's really important to ensure that we don't leave the guest experience behind,
4:13
and in some sense, we can't operate without it.
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Especially at cultural organizations,
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the guest experience is essential because oftentimes we have mission
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messages that we're also trying to share. So for the Detroit Zoological Society,
4:26
we want to connect people, animals, and the natural world.
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And oftentimes we're talking about conservation stories or work that we're doing
4:34
out around the world or even with the animals who live either at the zoo or at
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the nature center.
4:40
And you can't get to those messages if you haven't met your basic needs of your
4:44
guest. It's one of the, in some sense,
4:47
founding principles of why schools do free breakfast or free lunch to make sure
4:52
that their learners are able to focus on what they want them to focus on.
4:57
So we have a similar philosophy in that we want to ensure that the guests who
5:01
come feel welcome but also are able to have those basic needs met and that they
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can kind of move past,
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where am I going to go get lunch? How am I going to get to the bathroom in time
5:12
if my kid tells me he has to go?
5:15
We want you to be able to have those things taken care of so that you can start
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to learn about some of the things that we are either doing here at the zoo
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or some of our conservation efforts around the world.
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We really want to make sure that we're able to connect guests with those things
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while they're having a great experience.
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We also want to make sure you're having a good time with the group that you came
5:38
with.
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The highest reported reason why guests are coming to our facilities are to spend
5:43
time with other people,
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and we want to make sure that you can have that quality time and be building
5:48
those memories together as well. And sometimes at the end of the day,
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you are tired. It's been a long one.
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We want to make sure that you have access to restrooms on the way
6:00
out, that you can grab a water or a snack for your drive home,
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that you can really take that away so that you can talk about the memories of
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your day rather than getting caught up in the logistics or the
6:13
headaches of just adventuring out into the world.
6:16
Absolutely.
6:17
And it seems like your role is more common at exhibit based organizations-things
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like zoos, museums, aquariums, science centers.
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But it's not as common maybe in performance-based institutions.
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And there are definitely exceptions to that rule that we've talked about on the
6:30
podcast, but do you have any thought why that might be?
6:33
Yeah, so for an exhibit based organization, we're building your experience.
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So every time someone is coming through the door,
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we're kind of curating what it is based on how we've set up the journey to go.
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I do wonder if performance-based institutions, because the thing you're doing,
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it's kind of this external party is coming in and performing and you're sitting
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there and taking it in,
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the crafting of that experience kind of happens in a slightly different format.
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Performance-based institutions are really engaging with their guests when they
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arrive and right when they depart and probably during intermission,
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but not so much during those interim parts when the entertainment is being
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provided.
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And so I'm wondering if that is that split that you're seeing when you're
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looking across cultural organizations?
7:20
Yeah, definitely. It feels like visiting an exhibit based organization,
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the experience is the whole thing,
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whereas at a performance based institution,
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often the thought is that the experience you're getting is just the bit where
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the curtain goes up and maybe we need to rethink that a little.
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And in some sense there are certain points in the interaction where it is very
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much the same. We're ticket taking, right?
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Trying to get folks in through the doors.
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And we want to ensure that the ticket buying process was clear.
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You know what you're expecting. We do have amenities, right? Restrooms,
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vending of some sort, whether it's restaurants or other dining offerings,
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and then ultimately, can you get back to your car or back to public transit?
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How are you getting home afterwards?
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So ensuring that we're covering those things.
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I think we definitely still have a lot of overlaps with each other.
8:10
Yeah.
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What's the first moment and last moment you want a visitor to experience at
8:15
Detroit Zoo?
8:16
So ideally we want you to come in and say, whoa.
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We're really excited to enter this place.
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We did go through rebranding this last year and we focused on our main entry,
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so we wanted to make sure that we had light pole banners and big signage,
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and we have a giant photo op that you can get a family photo with as you're
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walking up to our main admission gates so that you have that
8:40
excitement, that new energy already building on your way into the zoo.
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What do you want guests to feel when they leave the zoo?
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What's the primary feeling you are aiming for?
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I'm hoping joy. We really want to make sure that you had a joyous day.
8:56
It is a tricky thing in that the end of the day can be exhausting
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depending on the weather that day. It might've been hot,
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it might've been really cold, you might have a hike to get back to your car.
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So we want to make sure to make that exit as smooth as we can
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so that you can be talking about the awesome time that you had at the zoo rather
9:17
than complaining about being tired or I have to go to the bathroom or I'm
9:21
hungry or thirsty.
9:23
It feels like you really thought about hospitality in such a deep way,
9:28
and there's so many aspects of that visitor experience that you've thought about
9:32
in their entire journey through the zoo and after.
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How do you prioritize which areas to focus on?
9:38
Do you conduct any focus groups or audience behavior research?
9:41
So we have a variety of methods. So we're always collecting visitor feedback,
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so we send experience surveys after guests come to visit,
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and we do that for both our daytime guests as well as for events.
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Last year we were able to bring in a group to do a specialized accessibility
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survey as well,
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and that has really helped because especially if you're talking a zoo,
10:02
we've been around for a long time,
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so we have infrastructure that has been potentially grandfathered in,
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but there are better practices that we can institute.
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So we're going back through that and prioritizing what reaches more guests,
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what are things that we can make changes on that can impact across the board.
10:21
I mean,
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the great thing about accessibility is that one accessible change that may be
10:25
targeted for a certain group or individual helps across the
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board. Curb cuts are always used as the standard example of,
10:34
curb cuts help strollers.
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Curb cuts help people who use wheelchairs. Curb cuts help if you have a dolly
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and you're just trying to move stuff across an area.
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So we want to be prioritizing those things that can really help across the
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board. And then there's also just resource limitations,
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so making sure as you alluded to, we can't do everything all at once,
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but we're really trying to ensure that we're hitting the things that are the
11:01
biggest pain points first so that those aren't lingering.
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We always want to make sure that we're acting on those things to the best of our
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ability so that we can get to the things that will really enhance the guest
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experience -- some of those fun, whimsy...
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the things that we can really touch on once you get past the basics of what the
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limitations are.
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I mean,
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the fun and whimsy sort of side of stuff is obviously the bit that people maybe
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focus on. I can imagine it'd be quite easy to go for the shiny thing,
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go for a new photo activation or guest activation bit.
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Whereas what you actually need to do is do all the base work that you've done
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first.
11:42
Oh yeah.
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And one of the other things that we do is regular walks with our team and
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across the organization.
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So I do a weekly walk with our head of facilities just to make sure that he and
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I are on the same page about how are we prioritizing repairs,
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how are we prioritizing upgrades to different areas -- particularly, again,
12:01
our restrooms, our sidewalks, our fencing --
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so that we are in alignment with what we want to tackle next.
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Have you ever had any really surprising,
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counterintuitive things you've learned through either your walkthroughs or your
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research? Any light bulb moments?
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One of the things that has stuck with me for years now from market research is
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the idea of accessible institutions from a financial perspective
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and the idea that just because a certain group of people isn't coming to your
12:33
institution,
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it doesn't mean they can't afford to come because you might make it free,
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but if you're not welcoming to them,
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if they don't feel like it's a place that they belong,
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they're still not going to come.
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All the free tickets in the world aren't going to make somebody come to your
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institution if they don't feel like it's meant for them.
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So that is also something that we really strive to ensure that we're conveying
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through our marketing efforts,
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through ensuring that when we have a lot of different visitors who come visit
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our campuses, that we have amenities available, that they can feel comfortable,
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and that they can know they belong here.
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It's always stuck with me because I think it's a default when folks say, oh,
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such and such are not coming to our campuses. Oftentimes the default is,
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just give them free tickets and they'll come. And that doesn't solve it.
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It doesn't fix the problem.
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I think there's a parallel there. We've often talked about diversity, inclusion,
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and accessibility of having the door unlocked versus having the door open.
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Sure, people can go and open the door if they want to,
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but by truly welcoming people,
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by opening the door and inviting them in wholeheartedly,
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then it makes such a huge difference, I think.
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We encountered that in the last year.
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Last year we had a couple of sensory friendly evenings, and again,
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it was an effort to say we want to be more welcoming to guests who have sensory
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sensitivities or sensory needs.
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So we had some sensory friendly hours and it was from three to seven three
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times last year where we advertised and were hoping to have folks come in.
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And I'm really glad that we listened to people who either came or people who
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didn't come that said, you know what? Dinner time's not the best time.
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We have routines, we need to stick to those routines.
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So that didn't work for them. Also knowing, well, these three random dates,
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there's no consistency. I can't build a schedule around that.
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And so what we ended up doing was we just shifted our model and said...
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This year we shifted to the second Monday of every month from opening to
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noon are sensory friendly hours. And that way our families who we're
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working with can plan months ahead of time,
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consistently see what works for their schedule.
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It worked better for them as far as time of day, morning time,
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you can do something that maybe is out of the norm a little bit.
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But that was just one example of where we had an idea of, oh,
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we want to help this group of guests who haven't been coming,
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and we had to make adjustments.
15:07
We had to really listen and find out how can we continue to improve on opening
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that door and having it be open rather than just unlocked. I like that.
15:16
Yeah, for sure. Out of interest,
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what other accommodations do you make for sensory friendly audiences?
15:21
So our main thing is we can make adjustments to some of our attractions around
15:26
the campus. When you enter the zoo right up at the front,
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the Pope Penguin Conservation Center is the spectacular two story building that
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houses five different species of penguins.
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And as part of that experience when you walk in,
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we have a ramp that you start in South America and then you go down the ramp and
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you cross Drake's Passage to go toward Antarctica.
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And when you're on Drake's Passage, there is projection all around you.
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It is sunny. A sea shanty's playing in the background under the blue skies,
15:56
but then it turns to a storm. And so depending on where you are in the cycle,
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there can be water spray. The whole room feels like it's kind of moving,
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it can be loud. So for our sensory sensitivity mornings,
16:09
we have the lights partially up in that ramp,
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and then we keep it on daytime the whole time.
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So you still get the nice experience without some of the unpredictability of
16:18
that. Also, we have a 4D theater on our campus,
16:22
and so we can run that without all the effects,
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so you won't have the air blowing in your face and we can do our lights
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partially up. Those are the kinds of modifications that we're making.
16:32
Amazing. That penguin exhibition sounds phenomenal.
16:36
I've never ever seen someone leave a penguin exhibition unhappy.
16:40
They're such joyful animals, just watching them on the glass,
16:45
watching them dive through, and it looks like they're playing.
16:48
I don't know if they are, but it looks like they're playing.
16:50
Yeah, and the great thing I will say with the five different species,
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they kind of hang out in different areas. They have different habits.
16:58
The king penguins love -- we have a snow machine ice maker.
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They will stand under it and have little peaks of snow just falling over them.
17:07
The chinstrap penguins are almost always swimming around in the water.
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They're super active.
17:12
And then the macaroni and rockhopper penguins are often near that kind of South
17:15
American glass. We're going into breeding season soon,
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so they're going to be moving rocks around.
17:21
They use rocks to build their nests and kind of present rocks to each other.
17:25
And so soon that habitat's going to be full of all kinds of rocks that the
17:29
penguins can take and manipulate and move around to their nesting areas.
17:33
Oh my goodness, magical. I love that so much.
17:36
You mentioned before the rebrand.
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And you served on the organization's core team for new brand development.
17:43
Can you walk us through some of the elements that were designed to make the
17:45
guest experience even better with this rebrand?
17:48
Yeah, so with the rebrand,
17:49
it really was about shifting the Detroit Zoological Society and the Detroit
17:54
Zoo to ensure that we had things that were digitally friendly,
17:59
but then when you're on campus, we wanted to make sure that again,
18:02
it was welcoming, friendly,
18:05
really conveyed the feeling and the spirit that we wanted to get across.
18:09
So our new logo has the O's of the zoo act as these containers that we can also
18:14
have animals walk through. We use video superimposed behind it.
18:19
We'll also have people kind of popping out of them and breaking kind of the
18:24
shape a little bit as well to really look like they're integrated with the logo.
18:28
And that was a way for us to highlight that people are essential as well.
18:32
And then the other big part of the rebrand was the color palette.
18:37
We went through and really wanted bright saturated
18:42
colors that worked together again in a fun way,
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and we've really rolled that out across our campus.
18:49
We painted some roofs last year thinking about how that integrates into the
18:54
finishes of our built environment as well,
18:57
so that it isn't always just in signage or just in digital
19:02
formats, but how can we then integrate it into our full campus plan?
19:06
So how do you use data to measure the impact of hospitality initiatives?
19:11
Are there key metrics or visitor behaviors that you track?
19:15
Yes. So I mentioned that we do guest experience feedback surveys,
19:19
and this is one of those fair, poor, good, excellent,
19:24
and outstanding.
19:25
So we do have that kind of baseline guest experience question
19:30
as a KPI. So we are tracking that percentage year after year,
19:35
but we have other questions on the survey that we are also paying attention to.
19:39
'Likelihood to recommend' we definitely look at very closely.
19:43
And then for us as a zoo,
19:45
we have very specific questions around conservation messaging,
19:49
animal visibility, and then similar across other boards.
19:53
Our dining and retail also get a lot of feedback that we're usually
19:58
looking at there.
19:59
And then the other piece of data that we've started to integrate more fully are
20:04
reviews on social media sites.
20:06
So what comments are we getting on Google reviews, Yelp,
20:10
TripAdvisor, and then what are guests commenting on social media posts?
20:14
So we really integrate with our communications team to ensure that we're
20:17
capturing those things and looking at them holistically across the board.
20:22
I think some leaders see hospitality as maybe a nice to have rather than a
20:27
necessity. What's your response to this perspective?
20:29
How would you argue that hospitality is essential to long-term success?
20:34
I think hospitality is essential to ensuring that you have ongoing support of
20:38
your community, of your guests, of your visitors,
20:41
of the people who live in and around your institutions.
20:45
We want to make sure that we're integrated,
20:47
that we are providing a community service,
20:50
and part of that is providing a great experience when you visit.
20:54
So to me,
20:56
it is essential for that long-term success to ensure that you're thriving beyond
21:00
just today.
21:02
We want to make sure that we're in existence decades, centuries,
21:06
into the future.
21:08
We just had our 95th anniversary and starting in that planning for that
21:12
hundredth anniversary and thinking about keeping an organization going for a
21:16
hundred years requires that buy-in,
21:18
requires that you have people who want to keep coming back and want to
21:23
keep supporting both the experience as well as the mission that you're moving
21:27
forward.
21:28
A hundred years or so, it requires such organizational strength and robustness.
21:33
When you compare that to --
21:34
the average Fortune 500 company is under 20 years old.
21:38
That is wild to think about that contrast. Yeah.
21:41
What's one mistake you can see cultural organizations making when it comes to
21:46
hospitality and how can they course correct?
21:48
One of the challenges that sometimes comes up is how accessibility is
21:53
viewed as a nice-to-have down the road.
21:56
So when projects are getting planned,
21:59
sometimes accessibility is that add-on thing at the end,
22:03
and sometimes people think of it as something that can be cut.
22:07
One of the challenges is that in that you are making a decision and saying,
22:12
we are intentionally not going to build something that every guest can
22:17
participate in.
22:19
And I challenge organizational leaders to really think about the
22:23
statement that you're making when -- you are silently saying it,
22:28
but you are still saying,
22:30
not every guest is important enough for us to have thought about how they were
22:35
going to engage in this activity.
22:37
It is something that I know a lot of organizations often end up with one or two
22:40
champions and they're able to make some changes,
22:44
and then when those folks move on or move to other roles or other
22:48
responsibilities, some of that can fall off again.
22:50
And it really is something that you have to stay diligent about.
22:55
You have to build it into your budget and into your planning,
22:57
and you have to make sure that all of your designers who are on the project
23:00
understand how important that is.
23:03
It is something that can get overlooked or left behind, and unfortunately,
23:08
it's a trend that I see come and go from different organizations and it's really
23:13
unfortunate because it's a really strong message that not everyone might realize
23:18
they're putting out there when they make those decisions.
23:21
I think that's such a good point,
23:22
and I think we can often see accessibility as you say, this add-on,
23:27
whereas really it makes sense both ethically to make sure that you are giving
23:32
everyone a chance to interact with your organization.
23:35
And it also kind of makes sense financially,
23:37
and it can often be sort of an uncomfortable thing to say when you make this
23:40
argument,
23:41
but that's a huge portion of your audience or your guests that come to your
23:45
organization benefit from having accessibility,
23:50
and so there's a return on investment argument that you can make as well.
23:54
And I would also argue if you're planning it early in the project,
23:58
then it gets baked in.
24:00
It is much lower to build things into a plan.
24:04
I mentioned earlier how we did the accessibility review last year and one of the
24:07
things that we knew, old infrastructure,
24:11
we don't have automatic door openers on all of our doors across our campus.
24:14
Well, it costs a lot more to run that electricity,
24:18
change the hinges on the doors so that --
24:20
change out the doors so that they can have this accommodation.
24:24
Adding in push buttons where they didn't exist before,
24:27
it's a large add-on. And so we are gradually chipping away,
24:31
but we're saying every single new door that we are planning better have it built
24:36
in.
24:36
It is much easier to run the electric out there before you put up the walls,
24:42
and so we are making sure that those things are built in so that we're not
24:46
coming back afterwards and having to correct previous gaps.
24:50
And I think that also points to another thing with accessibility is people often
24:53
think it's an all or nothing thing. It's like, oh, well,
24:55
we can't be accessible in this 75-year-old exhibit. Right?
25:00
Because it wasn't thought about at the time.
25:02
So we don't do any of the accessibility.
25:04
Whereas I think you're making a really good argument for like, hey,
25:06
do everything you can.
25:10
One thing we hear from marketers when we're talking about hospitality is it
25:13
doesn't have much to do with them, but from the outside looking in,
25:16
there's actually quite a lot of overlap between marketing and guest experiences.
25:20
People are interacting with your marketing first and then going to the
25:24
organization,
25:25
but really that's kind of a seamless sort of journey that people are taking.
25:28
That's your first interaction,
25:30
is maybe before you're even in the parking lot of the zoo.
25:33
What's your perspective?
25:34
How do these two functions work together at Detroit Zoo?
25:38
Marketing is essential and critical, I would say, to hospitality.
25:42
I think at the baseline level they set expectation,
25:46
so what you are showing or choosing to highlight within a marketing
25:51
campaign is going to be a guest assumption of what they're going to encounter
25:56
when they get there. I'll say historically,
25:59
we've worked really closely with our marketing team over various years and
26:03
various campaigns, and it can be a challenge, I'll say particularly at a zoo,
26:08
because there are certain animals who might get more clicks,
26:13
might be more eye catching,
26:16
but maybe they're not visible during a certain time of year.
26:19
And so we have to work really closely with our team to ensure that we're not
26:23
setting up a false guest expectation.
26:26
We don't want to publicize the big photo of a polar bear when it's dening
26:31
season and the female's going to be behind the scenes. We have one male and a
26:35
really large habitat, which is spectacular,
26:38
but we don't want to set you up to think this is going to be your one big
26:41
experience of the day, right? For us,
26:44
maybe a better thing to highlight then in that particular instance are the
26:48
penguins because you can get right up to the glass.
26:51
They're really visible all year round,
26:54
and so we try and shift our marketing efforts to align with
26:59
what the guest expectation should be during that time of year.
27:03
During the winter, we actually,
27:05
we will highlight animals who are playing in the snow.
27:07
So we have river otters or wolverines who are great outdoor snow
27:12
animals, and we want to highlight our indoor experiences where you can be warm.
27:17
We have a walkthrough Butterfly Garden and Free Flight Aviary,
27:21
our National Amphibian Conservation Center.
27:24
Those are places that you can come to and actually have a really great indoor
27:27
winter experience as well. So we're able to leverage off of each other,
27:32
but only through really clear communication.
27:35
So we want to make sure that we are communicating those things.
27:39
We do a similar thing when we're marketing our events,
27:41
ensuring what are going to be the things that people are actually doing.
27:46
I will say we've moved more into leveraging our guest feedback surveys to help
27:50
drive our marketing for the coming year.
27:53
So one of the things is we have a 21 plus series where it's four
27:58
events throughout the year, evening adult-only drinking events,
28:02
so we have -- Zoo Brew is coming up next,
28:06
and then Spooky Spirits is our fall one that overlaps with Halloween displays
28:10
that we have.
28:11
We have Polar Beers in the winter that overlaps with our wild lights holiday
28:15
light display.
28:16
And we went back to our guest feedback surveys and one of the top things that
28:20
those guests said they enjoyed was seeing animals,
28:23
and we weren't really highlighting in our marketing efforts that you can see
28:27
animals when you come to these events. We had been highlighting drink variety,
28:33
additional yard games, and that kind of thing. We haven't gotten rid of that,
28:37
but we've shifted so that we also highlight you have access to the zoo's
28:42
campus during Zoo Brew.
28:44
You can walk around with a beer and watch the camels in the field.
28:48
You can go back and see the polar bears.
28:51
So we wanted to ensure that we're working in lockstep with one another
28:56
so that the marketing team has the information that they need to be able to move
29:00
forward and do that as well.
29:02
Yeah,
29:03
that's such a good example of listening properly to what your audience is saying
29:06
as well and not going with what you initially think is the guest
29:11
experience. 'They'll like this because there's lots of drinks.' Well,
29:14
you can get lots of drinks at a bar.
29:16
The big thing is you're seeing it in the context of all these incredible
29:20
animals. But,
29:21
it feels like there's lots of communication at the Detroit Zoological Society.
29:25
You're trying to break down those silos between all these different departments.
29:29
It is an ongoing effort.
29:30
Of course.
29:31
I think for every organization, figuring out where the silos have existed --
29:36
we have had silos and probably in some sense we still do,
29:39
but we have worked diligently and very intentionally to
29:44
try to break some of those things down to ensure that we're able to move forward
29:49
in the best direction together.
29:51
We never want to be undercutting each other's efforts because ultimately
29:56
we do all have the same goal.
29:58
Each one of us needs to have a seat at the table because we are representing a
30:03
different perspective. So when I'm sitting at the table,
30:06
I am much more focused on the guest experience than I am on animal wellbeing.
30:10
It doesn't mean I'm discounting it,
30:12
it doesn't mean that I'm operating without thinking about it,
30:16
but it means that I'm sitting at the table with that perspective so that when
30:19
our head of animal research is there,
30:22
she can be sharing her perspective and we can come together on what the best
30:26
solution is.
30:27
Yeah,
30:27
it's about illuminating rather than fighting between two different departments.
30:32
And for us, especially in our event planning,
30:34
one of the big changes that we've made in the last two years is just making sure
30:38
that we're doing pre-meetings with everybody on campus who wants to attend from
30:42
the various departments so that the landscape team knows what's coming up.
30:46
The maintenance techs know what's coming up,
30:49
but also our animal curators know there's going to be heavy equipment
30:53
going by certain habitats,
30:55
and we want to make sure that they're really clued in on that.
30:58
We also have this Attractions Trail that this summer is going to have dragons
31:03
in it -- animatronic dragons and mythical creatures.
31:07
And we will invite our animal teams to come
31:11
out and we do sound monitoring with them,
31:14
so any of the habitats that are close to that footprint,
31:18
we make sure that they're included in part of that process in the angling of our
31:22
speakers, in motion,
31:25
if there's going to be anything that can be visible from outside of that
31:28
footprint, we want to make sure that, again,
31:30
we're working together so that we aren't fighting against each other's goals so
31:34
that we can all get to the same ultimate end goal of fulfilling our mission
31:39
together.
31:40
So how do you think audience expectations around hospitality will evolve in the
31:45
next five years, and how should arts and culture leaders prepare?
31:49
One of the things that we are tackling is how individualized do we make
31:53
the experience?
31:55
While most guests report that they are visiting our attractions or
32:00
cultural institutions to spend time with other people,
32:03
there is a tendency to think that we need to really narrow in that experience to
32:08
cater to an individual.
32:10
It is something that I feel like within the last decade has really popped up.
32:14
A lot of, oh, you can customize your phone.
32:17
Are we used to social media catering your
32:22
reels, your For You Page?
32:25
How much are people expecting that the world around them reflects their own
32:30
desires in that moment? How much does it cater to what they're expecting?
32:35
On the negative side of things, people are like, well,
32:38
does that just develop an echo chamber and how much can you experience new
32:42
things?
32:42
And one of our goals is that you do experience new things when you come to the
32:46
zoo or come to the nature center. It has been an ongoing
32:50
discussion. I think it will continue to be an ongoing one.
32:53
One of the places where we have had that discussion on our campuses is last
32:58
year,
32:58
we added a new Detroit Zoo app and our app enables you
33:03
to pre-plan your visit,
33:05
build out and save which animals do you want to see,
33:10
which restaurant maybe do you want to go to for lunch,
33:13
and then on the app itself,
33:15
you then have a layer that you've built your journey.
33:18
When we were talking about this, the question came up,
33:21
are we expecting guests to all have the app on their individual device? Well,
33:26
no, because we kind of want your group to stay together.
33:28
We don't want everyone in your party to break off and have your own experience
33:32
because much of some of that connection building or storytelling later is that
33:37
you're having these experiences together. So we are hoping that as a
33:42
family or as a visiting group,
33:44
you're sitting down and you're building out that experience before you come.
33:48
While it has the capability of providing a completely individualized
33:53
experience,
33:54
we're hoping that you're still doing it together so that you can take those
33:57
stories away and share them. Again,
33:59
it's something we need to continue to tackle and continue to listen to guests
34:05
when they're experiencing these things to find out,
34:08
how much was it actually important?
34:10
How much did it enable you to enjoy the experience more or did it even isolate
34:15
you from people around you?
34:17
Did it distract you?
34:17
Yeah.
34:17
It's such an interesting nuance because I would automatically think that
34:21
personalization is better,
34:22
but really when you go to a performance or you go to an exhibit,
34:27
the first thing you do when you see something amazing is you look to the person
34:30
next to you. I remember seeing the cheetahs at Chester Zoo.
34:33
They were lazy for the whole day and suddenly something got them.
34:36
They all sprinted towards the door and one of the first things you do,
34:40
you don't look at that and log it in your diary.
34:44
You look to the person next to you and say, did you see that?
34:47
The first thing you do at a comedy show when you laugh is you look at the person
34:52
who you're with to laugh with, and that's not personalization.
34:55
That's about the community.
34:56
That's about the experience that you have with people at an organization,
35:01
at a performance.
35:02
And especially in the zoo environment,
35:04
we are trying to build empathy for animals in a variety of ways,
35:08
and one of the best ways to do that is to have guests share their own
35:12
experiences with one another.
35:14
You might have someone in your visiting group who is uncomfortable around
35:17
snakes, and you might not feel comfortable going up to a snake habitat yourself,
35:22
but you might enter that building because your whole group is going in,
35:25
and then maybe they'll share, oh,
35:27
I actually had a garter snake that lived in my backyard.
35:30
It was really neat for this reason.
35:32
I saw it sunning itself on a rock one morning.
35:34
And starting to tell those stories and build past some discomfort that
35:39
someone may initially say, oh, nope. I actually don't want to go near --
35:43
I don't want to be exposed to certain animals or certain things.
35:47
And really being in that visiting group can help expand someone's thinking
35:51
around those animals as well.
35:54
Wow. I love that.
35:55
One of my favorite things at zoos is listening to a random kid tell me a
36:00
fact about an animal. I think kids want to share naturally.
36:04
I think they don't have the sort of blockers on the adults sometimes have of
36:09
like, oh, I don't necessarily want to share this with this other person. Kids,
36:12
they want to tell you the fact about the smokey jungle frog or something.
36:17
And sometimes they're amazingly fun and I didn't know them myself either.
36:22
It can be really fun to go out around campus and see,
36:26
what are people really connecting to that day?
36:29
What did they know before they came?
36:31
What are they finding out while they're here? And then later finding out,
36:34
what is it inspiring them to pursue after they leave our campus,
36:39
too?
36:41
If an organization wants to improve its visitor experience but doesn't know
36:44
where to start or perhaps has very limited resources,
36:47
what's one small step they could take today?
36:50
I think the first step is asking what needs to be improved.
36:54
Figuring out where you should actually be focusing your time, effort,
36:57
and energy to me is the baseline.
36:59
Is to get that initial feedback.
37:02
And it doesn't mean that you have to initially do
37:07
a full survey of everyone who's come to your organization. In the last year,
37:11
one of the things that we did when we were starting to work on our campus
37:15
navigation project was I did a survey of our frontline
37:20
staff. I said, where do people ask you to go to first?
37:24
Where are they trying to get to when they enter the campus?
37:28
And we were able to get a great initial baseline for us to then start
37:33
digging into so that we can ask further guest questions, but that was,
37:39
we had data that we just had never compiled,
37:43
and that really enabled us to get a headstart on some things before we could
37:47
launch into a full survey or full data collection around that.
37:51
Absolutely.
37:52
It really reminds me how often we've had the conversation with marketers about,
37:56
hey,
37:57
talk to your box office staff because they are the people who are seeing the
38:00
guests first. They're seeing your patrons first.
38:03
They get all the questions that you've never even thought would be possible to
38:06
ask or you thought had an obvious answer.
38:09
That's the other place that we really tap into.
38:12
What questions are people calling and asking about?
38:14
Because that means they have taken the time to find a phone number and they
38:18
really want to talk to a person and find out this answer,
38:21
and that means that they've hit other barriers,
38:24
that it isn't obvious on the website.
38:26
It isn't obvious through other communication methods that we use.
38:30
So we want to make sure that we're capturing those things as well.
38:34
If you could broadcast one message to executive directors, leadership teams,
38:37
staff,
38:38
and boards of thousands of arts and culture and exhibition based organizations,
38:43
what would it be?
38:44
Please don't forget the people. I think the big thing is, right,
38:48
making sure that you remember that why we continue to be able to
38:52
operate is because people are coming to visit us.
38:56
People are coming through our doors. People are supporting us.
38:59
And to know that when a guest is asking for something or getting
39:03
clarification or needing assistance, we are here for them.
39:08
And so ensuring that we are providing that support and thinking through and
39:13
really addressing the concerns that exist because we wouldn't exist without
39:18
them.
39:19
Amazing. I love that. Whenever I go to a zoo,
39:22
one of the first places I look for on the map is the reptile enclosure or the
39:26
reptile exhibits.
39:27
What's one of your favorite exhibits at the zoo that all of our listeners should
39:31
go and see?
39:32
My favorite place to take a little escape when I'm at the Detroit
39:36
Zoo is our free flight aviary.
39:39
It is a walkthrough experience where birds are free to fly
39:44
all around you.
39:45
It has two story glass enclosure and
39:51
tons of plants.
39:52
You feel like you were completely transformed to a jungle
39:56
forest, and you hear bird calls, bird songs,
40:01
and then you start to see them,
40:02
and that is one of the parts that I actually love about it is you have to slow
40:07
down to be able to see all of the birds that live inside of there.
40:12
Because they blend in, or they're up high, some are down low,
40:16
and so it really slows you down in a way that I love.
40:20
I love to be able to slow down and kind of escape time a little bit in there.
40:25
Amazing. Emily, thank you so much for being here. I've loved this conversation.
40:29
Thank you so much, Dan. I appreciate you having me.
40:38
Let's wrap things up with a quick round of CI-lebrity Sightings.
40:42
Here's some of our favorite stories about CI clients in the news. First up,
40:46
Boston's WBUR reported that the city is expanding its Family Days program,
40:51
which offers school-aged children and their families free access to cultural
40:55
institutions twice a month.
40:57
The program now includes performing arts institutions, including ArtsEmerson,
41:01
Boston Ballet, and Huntington Theatre. Excellent news, Boston!
41:06
Next,
41:06
The Children's Theater of Cincinnati received a major boost for their capital
41:10
campaign to restore their historic Emory Theater.
41:14
An anonymous donor gave $2 million. According to Broadway World,
41:19
this donation covers half of the remaining funds needed to reach their goal.
41:23
Way to go! And finally,
41:26
the San Francisco Symphony and its chorus partnered with the San Francisco
41:29
Conservatory of Music Orchestra for a benefit concert supporting those affected
41:33
by the recent Los Angeles fires.
41:36
The SF Chronicle reported that nearly 1900 people attended the event.
41:41
What an incredible example of using the arts to bring people together for a
41:45
meaningful cause. Huge applause to these organizations for sharing art, support,
41:50
and inspiration with their communities. Got a story that deserves a shout out?
41:54
Well, tag us on social and let us know.
42:08
Thank you for listening to CI to Eye.
42:10
This episode was edited and produced by Karen McConarty and co-written by Karen
42:14
McConarty and myself, Dan Titmuss.
42:17
Stephanie Medina and Jess Berube are CI to Eye's designers and video editors,
42:21
and all work together to create CI's digital content.
42:24
Our music is by whoisuzo. If you enjoyed today's episode,
42:29
please take a moment to rate us or leave a review.
42:31
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Until next time, stay nerdy.