Thanks TO – my immeadiate response was very much tongue-in-cheek by the way 😀
On a more topical note now – my perspective opinion drawn from experience…..
Any Museum I visit must grab my attention to make it worthwhile and memorable – that sounds so obvious but there have been experiences where I wondered why I was there (and that covers a range of subject matters not just aviation).
Interactivity seems to be the key word vital these days to capture the imagination of the younger visitors who are more likely to be from the games console generation and just don’t ‘get it’ when it comes to silent exhibits? When I first became involved with the Midland Air Museum and XF382, I was faced with an aircraft I had actually worked on in my RAF career; so I wanted to bring some life into it as well as some actual history to it as I had been part of it! That meant working within the constraints of being a volunteer as well as the environment the aircraft was placed in. Within that scope, power was restored to it so that the machine was once more ‘alive’ and doing what it was built to do within safety parameters of course. That side of the exhibit drew interest from young and old alike, and became a talking point that was passed on to friends and families hopefully (which in turn encouraged others to visit?). Talking about it all was also part of the plan, as I wanted to give some insight into the aircraft’s individual background as well my own involvement.
Other projects at the Museum have followed similar paths, and that has brought good feedback from public, which only goes to further promote future visits.
The local connections surrounding the Museum are also an important aspect – why it is where it is, and what is the connection with the exhibits etc?
The people working at a Musuem are another vital cog – nothing worse than wandering around without a clue as to what it’s all about or having questions unanswered because there is no-one around.
Layout is important – from easy access to as many as possible, to an uncluttered site plan….
Facilities form part of the experience, as mentioned already. Toilets should be managed and monitored to ensure they are kept clean and useable at all times. On site catering facilities should be along the same lines – clean and well presented. The menu should suit the venue – no point having a 5* facility when visitors only tend to spend an hour or so there, but going to the opposite end of the spectrum – a vending machine facility won’t cut it when you want to spend a day there! Costs are a difficulty with any catering facility – but if it leaves a good impression then I don’t object to spending a few quid there!
A Museum shop brings vital income, but some of them seem to stock such a wide variety of products that they can look like a discount store if not thought through? Themed products are a nice way of having a souvenir of your visit as long as they are not too pricey of course?
In the ideal world for me – the perfect aviation museum would be an entire ex-military airfield brought back to life as a living breathing site just like a timewarp from the RAF era I was accustomed to. Rather like places such as my local Black Country Living Museum do, with volunteers dressed accordingly and role playing so the visitor feels like they have just arrived back in time via the Tardis? It could be achieved with money of course, and the right period venue, and although this is my very biaised aviation opinion – I’m sure other types of Museum would and indeed do thrive by capturing a moment in time which the public seem to lap up?
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