On Sunday morning at ASTC 2012, attendees learned about strategies for using outreach programs that complement onsite exhibits and activities during Engaging Communities Outside Our Walls, Bringing Visitors In. Panelists shared how their science centers have used outreach programs to increase awareness of their centers, build relationships with people who have yet to visit, and establish themselves as an integral part of the community.

Steve Snyder from The Franklin Institute talked about their efforts to take science out to people where they are even before those people have come to the science center. Making digital connections is an important part of their plan—the center has, for example, begun offering Discovery Camps online as well as onsite. Their goal is to establish relationships through outreach and increase recognition of their brand and resources so that for many, actually visiting The Franklin comes later rather than an onsite visit being visitors’ introduction to all the center has to offer.

Eric Meyer described how Explora’s outreach programs have allowed them to reach new audiences and increase support for further outreach and school field trips. Projects such as holding family science festivals and sending outreach exhibits to libraries and community centers in rural areas have raised awareness of the center’s programs. That increased exposure has led to increased support and funding from communities for both school field trips and outreach programs.

OMSI has been successful in reaching new audiences through nontraditional outreach, including Star Parties held in spring and summer at two Oregon state parks. Tim Hecox described the benefits of the program to all involved: the program is free for attendees, the state parks see increased parking revenue those nights, and both OMSI and the astronomy clubs that volunteer to run the programs gain exposure for other programs they offer.

Catherine Paisley from Ontario Science Centre (OSC) shared several ways the center has worked to reach new and diverse audiences in Toronto. The center participates in several community festivals each year, including the Word on the Street literacy festival where their booth promotes science literacy. They also participate in a program that allows families to check out one-week passes to OSC from libraries in neighborhoods identified as “at risk,” as well as the Institute for Canadian Citizenship’s Cultural Access Pass program, which gives new Canadian citizens free admission to cultural institutions across the nation for one year.

Michelle Kortenaar talked about Sciencenter outreach programs that have helped to boost onsite program participation. At Community Science Nights, participants are given free passes to visit the center itself. Staff have also found that afterschool enrichment drives attendance for Sciencenter’s summer camps.

All of the panelists stressed that onsite attendance, while a benefit of outreach, has not been the primary focus when designing outreach programs. Rather, the focus has been on building relationships and establishing strong community ties, which in turn, can encourage more people to visit the center.

Is your museum admission the right price for your market? With today’s challenging economic climate and our heavy reliance on admission revenue, pricing strategies are a key business decision. How can you increase revenue without undermining attendance? In Saturday’s session, Pricing Trends, Considerations, and Tradeoffs in the Current Marketplace, panelists Stephanie Ratcliffe and Hillarie Logan-Dechene from The Wild Center; Jason Drebitko, ConsultEcon; Lara Litchfield-Kimber, Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum; and Maureen Henderson, TELUS Spark discussed how to determine when to change admission prices, what considerations factor into deciding to make a change, and best practices for implementing admission price increases.

Drebitko began the session by listing seven important pricing considerations for science centers: the overall value of the science center experience; whether a center is resident- or visitor/tourist market-oriented; competition and relative value of the experience; benchmark ticket prices of competitors; cost of living in the area; type of ownership/operation (private nonprofit, public, etc); and general economic conditions.

Other panelists shared their experiences in considering and implementing changes to their centers’ admission and membership prices. All stressed the importance of knowing your audience in order to both maximize revenue for the center and value to visitors. Tracking ZIP codes of visitors, monitoring online review sites, and surveying visitors can help a museum understand who it’s visitors are, where they come from, and how they feel about the museum experience. Logan-Dechene talked about the benefits of having a committee that encompassed all museum departments consider price increases. One strategy employed when they did increase prices was adding value, making general admission tickets two-day passes. Litchfield-Kimber suggested institutions review pricing every time budgets are reviewed and to try not to raise all prices at once. Henderson shared her center’s experience in dealing with strong blowback against price increases that began primarily on blogs. She emphasized the importance of being prepared to engage community members in positive ways on social media and training frontline staff to engage positively with visitors unhappy about changes. She also cautioned against knee-jerk reactions, encouraging centers not to change pricing again immediately, but to give the new pricing plan a bit of time to see if it will be successful or not.

(Session recaps provided by Jeremy Riga, ASTC 2012 communications volunteer from COSI)

We Love Science: Wonderful Discoveries about Our Wondrous World
“I love science. Do our visitors?” A 2010 poll of online readers asked, who do people trust when it comes to science? Scientists are mostly trusted, but that changes depending on the topic. People trust museums as sources of information. Nearly 30% of one museum’s visitors did not share the museum’s view of climate change. A speaker from another institution noticed that some visitors use the evolution display as a platform for teaching creationism. The point is that many visitors love science, but love it in different ways.

Creating Learning Spaces for Young Visitors
COSI wants to document and make visible the impact their work has had. Growing research partners to allow everyone access to the data. From early childhood perspective: height of visuals are important, taking into account kids riding in strollers. Adding small child elements to bigger museum pieces helps the younger audience engage. Dramatic play spaces have enhanced the visit for families. Young imaginations enjoy and appreciate the extra effort.
“My classroom is the museum.”

Communicating Climate Change: Building Global Awareness through Local Citizen Science
One institution uses “citizen scientists” that help them get temperature readings in the sand by having students and families collect data for them outside the museum. They give these people the GPS coordinates of the sensors and can then go locate the sites, download the data, and learn about temperature change and feel part of the process.

Product Demo: Increasing Revenue at Your Venue from a 3D Theater
3D growth: Theatrical, home consumer, aquariums, amusement parks, zoos, science centers, planetariums. 3D increases capture rate an average of 30%, but changes widely by geographical area. Raising revenue means mixing it up: moms and strollers, school groups, families.

(Session summary by Sean Smith, ASTC’s Director of Government and Public Relations)

In the first of what will be a number of sessions with a U.S. federal agency angle, Mike Shanahan (Bishop Museum, Honolulu) moderated the “Astronomy and Aerospace Showcase 2012,” which featured 10 panelists, including representatives from NASA facilities (Marshall Space Flight Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory), ASTC-member science centers (Bishop Museum, Pacific Science Center, the Children’s Museum in Indianapolis, and Adler Planetarium) and other institutions (Digitalis Education Solutions, Space Telescope Science Institute).

Panelists highlighted a variety of exciting new information and opportunities, including updates on the latest on upcoming space flights and the present and future of planetarium shows—like how to involve teens and younger children in astronomy and planetarium programming. Attendees were also provided with a detailed overview of NASA-related resources available to science centers and museums. Many ASTC members are already involved with the NASA Museum Alliance, but did you know that a Mars rover will be available for earth-bound travel to science centers and museums beginning next year? How about that through NASA’s artifacts program, you can gain access to flight-flown NASA hardware, materials, and garments, and even make inexpensive additions to your permanent collections? In addition, science centers can now receive Space Shuttle tiles and space food, which were both previously unavailable through the program. To date, more than 6,179 artifacts have been allocated, including 222 here in Ohio. For more information, visit gsaxcess.gov/nasawel.htm.

During the session, NASA announced the launch of a new website, www.nasawavelength.org, which will serve as an online repository for NASA resources for earth and space science education. The site, created in partnership with the Lawrence Hall of Science, serves as a digital library for resources developed through funding of the NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD), all of which have undergone a peer-review process through which educators and scientists ensure the content is accurate and useful in an educational setting. ASTC members can use NASA Wavelength to quickly and easily locate resources, connect them to other websites using atom feeds, and even share the resources you discover with others through social media and email.

ASTC Annual Conference attendees are encouraged to visit the NASA Exhibit Hall Booth (#728), for educational materials, DVDs, high-resolution images for download (plus the ever-popular tattoos and stickers), and everyone is encouraged to learn more via the NASA website, www.nasa.gov.

While you’re online, be sure to follow-up on International Observe the Moon Night (www.observethemoonnight.org), which was also highlighted during the session and will next take place on October 12, 2013. ASTC members are encouraged to get involved and to help get their visitors excited about lunar science and exploration. International Observe the Moon Night happens every year, and anyone can host an event; the website has great materials for hosts, including fliers, activity ideas, etc.

How can science centers effectively use online resources to increase awareness about their programs? Where can informal science educators search for vetted programs and opportunities specific to their needs? During an ASTC 2012 session, Leveraging Free Online Resources to Expand Awareness of Informal Learning Programs, Carol Tang, director of the Coalition for Science After School (CSAS), Tara DeGeorges, online content manager for Time Warner Cable, and Kalie Sacco, program manager for the Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE), touched on these issues.

Time Warner Cable’s Connect a Million Minds “Connectory” is powered by CSAS’ National After School Science Directory. This searchable database is designed to increase access to high-quality science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education beyond the classroom for youth and families across the nation. The directory houses thousands of STEM opportunities, submitted by science centers, museums, schools, and other youth-serving organizations. Click here to submit your organization’s programs to the directory.

CAISE is also offering two new online resources for the informal science community. The Informal Science Education Evidence Wiki, iseevidencewiki.org, supports a public discussion of the case for informal science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. The goal is to provide easy to read summaries of evidence that characterize the benefits and outcomes of ISE experiences. The Informal Commons is designed to help ISE professionals find resources quickly with one search engine accessing materials from many websites serving informal learning professionals.