What Makes a Happy Heritage Facility?
credit: Bill Reynolds
Whether you are an interpretive or visitor centre, museum, art gallery, botanic garden, zoo, etc. and you are sharing a piece of world heritage (even the difficult stories), should we not aspire to exude a positive outlook -- not only for our visitors but also for our staff?
The inspiration for this subject matter comes from the recent opening of Denmark’s Happiness Museum in Copenhagen. “We want it to be somewhere we can reflect on the good things in life,” says Meik Wiking, head of the Institute for Lykkeforskning (Happiness Research Institute), the organization that is funding and organizing the museum. The plan is to offer insights into the history and science behind happiness through experiments and exhibitions -- from the science of smiling to the politics of a cheery disposition.
The museum has a great mission statement:
“Our hope is that guests will leave a little wiser, a little happier and a little more motivated to make the world a better place.”
Now that’s a solid, relevant mission statement that EID can get behind.
How do we take inspiration from this think tank about well-being, happiness, and quality of life? With the weight of COVID-19 and various human rights issues foremost in our minds everybody needs some mental health relief…especially now. But why not always make uplifting people’s spirits a valued policy in every interpretive facility and heritage site? What is your action plan moving forward to boost happiness at your site?
How many of us celebrated International Day of Happiness on March 20th? Full disclosure: I wasn’t even aware there was such a day until recently. “Well, NOT this year,” you are probably mumbling. But actually, isn’t it all the more important this year?
When dealing with a site’s “back of house”, learning architect Lianne Picot provides several crucial questions that lead to a more positive impact on the mental health of your organization and guides you in proactively dealing with the future normal. (For even more details on “future normal” check out her entire post):
What will you bring with you from before?
What will you leave behind?
What new ways of working and leading will you keep using?
What will you do differently, value more, and care deeply about when you move forward?
She concludes: “This is the moment when you get to decide what your future story will be. Use it well. Soon enough, your future normal will begin to form—whether you had input on it or not—and this moment will be lost. This is the time for being brave, and for standing up for the things that matter to you and your people. This is the time to lead.“
This also impacts “front of house” visitors and can easily be adapted to focus on them. Lianne’s process reminded me of a workshops I lead coaching people on making entrepreneurial and customer service changes at their site. Throughout the workshop we asked participants to jot down anything they were going to keep doing, stop doing and start doing to improve the visitor experience. This would be the core of their action plan — to delight the visitor.
EID stresses Engage, Inspire, and Delight as the holy trinity of interpretation and here are some images that begin to push us in the right direction when considering the Delight aspect of our work. First, our “delightful” persona needs to be expressed at all stages of the visitor journey -- pre-visit, visit, and post-visit.
Credit: Bill Reynolds
Even where you least expect it…Loyal blog readers may remember our New Year’s post titled “The Gift of Humour” where a delightful cat & mouse image had been wrapped around the base of a corner wall. The philosophy would be that unexpected delightful moments are potentially around every corner.
Looking at your entrance signage…Take a page from the Happiness Museum where they us clever contouring of the letters in their name, on a strong yellow background, to create a happy face. Didn’t you feel a twitch at the side of your mouth when you first saw the image? Certainly gave me a delightful, welcoming feeling. Smile and the whole world smiles with you.
Getting visitors in the door…If your storefront depends on innovative signage with a snappy invitation, then this retail operation did all the right things with this tongue-in-cheek questioning attitude. Even with captive visitors coming from a parking lot you should reinforce a welcoming, upbeat attitude.
Credit: Bill Reynolds
Check out this example…How often can we get our visitors in the right frame of mind, plus take the edge off, when helping them part with their hard-earned cash for a service as mundane as parking? Giving a high five and thanks to your visitor before they have entered and started their interpretive adventure is certainly an approach worth emulating. The images show the parking meter and two different info-taining side “banners” used in this urban park in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They sure know how to set the stage appropriately by informing the visitor of the good deed performed and the benefit gained.
credit: Bill Reynolds
Credit: Bill Reynolds
How about some video…Video cams are being used more often during enforced isolation, yet rarely have I encountered a fun and engaging personal appeal to “click the button”. Here are examples of two video scripts from the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton, Alberta that show how to employ joyful wording as a way to entice you in while imparting factual information. Even the viewing time is worded in a very approachable, light-hearted manner:
“He's a bit shy most of the time but look closely beneath the coral and you may catch a glimpse of our brightly coloured Peacock Mantis Shrimp, Lyle! Lyle belongs to the smashing group of mantis shrimps, whose unique smashing appendages accelerate at the same rate as a 22-calibre bullet. They use their appendages to break open crustacean and mollusk shells, but they will eat almost any living creature...which is why Lyle doesn’t have any roommates. Check-in between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. on Wednesdays to catch him snacking on shrimp or snails. Lyle's tank goes dark from 8 p.m. — 10 a.m. so he can get a little shut-eye.”
“Meet our Western Painted Turtles! We have two females (Frida Kahlo and Emily Carr) and two males (Rembrandt and Banksy). You can identify the sex by the larger size and more domed shell of the females and the flatter shell and longer tails of the males. Check back between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday for feeding time.
P.S. Turtles gotta sleep! The lights go out from 8:00 p.m. — 8:00 a.m.”
Do you get a sense that this museum might be an easy-going place to find out about STUFF? Let’s all aim to remove the mundane. Make a promise to yourself to embark on a mundane-removing crusade around your site!
Mirthful quotes sprinkled around your site can add to the positive feeling that is so important for visitors to pick up on. Here is one from the Happiness Museum web site which could easily find a home somewhere in their building (By the way…some of the best quotes I have encountered have been engraved in sidewalks).
"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go."
Oscar Wilde
Playful Signage…Taking a playful role with signage is not used nearly enough and humour is much more effective at getting our point across and getting people to notice. For example, we know everyone at some point needs to relieve themselves during the visit and a light-hearted approach with signage provides an opportunity to bring a smile to the visitor’s face.
Careful now…How about using humour to grab visitors’ attention when you want them to notice or take warning, as in the all too common advisory regarding a potentially dangerous wet floor? This banana peel slip-up is a great example of an effective and creative us of signage at a Mexican leisure attraction called SENSES.
Credit: Bill Reynolds
How can you create the greatest happiness return for your visitor? If you read a new report, Wellbeing Adjusted Life Years, you fill find some tips in planning the common currency of delight across economic, social, and environmental domains.
A gentle bottom-line reminder…look for happiness every day, delight in life, and do not take yourself too seriously.