Ellis Island and Teddy Bears: Finding What’s Personal in a Museum (Crafting Valuable Experiences, Part 4)

In this episode of the MME podcast, we dive deeper into the concept of crafting valuable experiences in museums, focusing this time on the personal context of a visitor's museum journey. 

Building on previous discussions, we explore how museum exhibits and programs can create transformational experiences that deeply resonate with individuals. I’ll explain what “peak personal experiences” are and why creating opportunities for them to arise is invaluable to the success of your programs.

Key Takeaways include:

• Creating peak personal experiences in museums leads to visitor satisfaction and meaningful memories. These experiences are highly personal and unpredictable, often resulting in strong emotional reactions and attachment to the museum.
• How “culturally privileging” certain experiences over others limit our programming reach, particularly to children audiences.
• 4 tips for immediately improving visitors’ opportunity for personal satisfaction at your museum

Resources Mentioned:

• Did you know Rachel can run a personalized workshop for your staff, based around the latest research on creating valuable programming? Find out more at https://modernmuseumeducation.com/services.
• Looking for your next professional development read? Links to Rachel’s recommendations, including Family Spaces in Art Museums and The Value of Museums, can be found at https://modernmuseumeducation.com/bookshelf.
• Want to be a guest on the podcast? We are looking for museum educators of all kinds to share their experiences, expertise, and ideas. Click here to let us know you are interested!