Astrotour 2010 Summary

Well, it has been an incredible summer - 20,000 miles and several facilities, all the planets and a small amount of this one. Mostly though I have to say that it's been an honour to meet so many people and see behind the scenes of some truly world-class science communication hubs. I want to summarise in this post what I felt makes a great centre and a good experience, but if you want more information please do contact me.

Firstly, and most importantly, staff: if the staff are happy, this immediately translates to the visitor that this is a good place to be. To make the staff happy, they need to be involved, to have a sense of ownership over the place, so allowing them to play in the centre will encourage others to do just that too. If they can be part of the decision-making and design process for exhibits and collections, so much the better, as this will give them a sense of ownership and therefore more enthusiasm over showing it off.

Secondly, if it's a choice between a natural communicator and a scientist, I'd take the communicator every time. You can teach an actor physics; you can't necessarily teach a scientist how to interact with people. If you want to create an atmosphere of learning, then it helps for the staff to be learners too. The Exploratorium had high schoolers, the Ontario Science Centre had actors - neither group is classically well up on science, but they have a curiosity and a natural keenness for learning.

Thirdly, if money is a problem, get the community involved. Make exhibits to be used and ask people to donate materials and ideas. What do people want to see and understand? Can you foster links with universities to bring new exhibits, sponsorship and talent? Can you get local businesses to sponsor an exhibit? What other ways can you find to use your existing facilties more wisely?

The simplest interactives are generally the best, as I found in places like the Halifax Discovery Centre, where space and funding are at a premium. You don't need gigantic interactives such as at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, though if you have the money and buildings, by all means go for it. Try and find the simplest ways to get the message across.

In that vein - signage. Make sure it's easy to navigate through your centre (take note, AMNH) and that in the hullabaloo of school holidays there are enough people on hand to direct visitors. There is though a very fine line between putting too much description on an exhibit and not putting enough; often putting a headline and brief precis of what's going on, then going slightly more in depth should visitors want to read on. Whatever happens, saying: "What's going on?", "What to look for" and "Why does this matter" and being clear about it really helps.

Finally, whatever you do, make sure that you listen to your visitors. The least good place I visited (in Montréal) was bitty, the staff were bored and uncommunicative, and the complaints procedure was non-existant. It has to be said that someone eventually got in touch, but after playing a bit of answerphone hockey the communication ceased, so there was obviously little desire to change. Every visitor counts, and every visit is a chance to boost someone's curiosity about science.

So there we have it, a brief summary of an incredible summer. For more information about me and what I do, please visit my website at www.davidault.co.uk - otherwise, keep the science communication coming!