How to Create Meaningful Museum Engagement: 10 Best Practices from 150 Episodes

Now before that, in the last episode, I spoke with Geraldine Collinge, Chief Executive at Compton Verney, a unique art space in a park located in the uk. We explored how they're re-imagining art engagement by putting values, like fun, inclusivity and boldness at the heart of everything they do, we talked about their play first approach and their multisensory exhibition that has doubled visitor numbers. So if you missed it, do go back and listen to episode 1, 4, 9.

And speaking of reimagining, many of the ideas that we explore on this podcast are also featured in my book, The Art Engager: Reimagining Guided Experiences in Museums. Now, if you haven't got your copy yet, you can find it on your favorite online retailers or order it through your local bookstore. And if you've enjoyed it, please do leave a review as it really helps other museum professionals discover these ideas. So let's get on with today's show.

Now over the course of the last 150 episodes, we've explored so many different aspects of creating meaningful engagement in museums and cultural spaces, and today I'm sharing 10 insights about engagement that have emerged organically over the last four years. I've combed through the whole list of episodes and re-listened to lots of solo episodes and guest conversations too. So let's get started with engagement insight number one, engagement begins with observation and noticing.

So in today's world, we've unfortunately become accustomed to superficial observation. Our attention is fragmented and disrupted by technology. We scan, we skim and we scroll, and we are accustomed to observing in a passive way. And in doing so, we are missing the subtleties and details that enrich our understanding of our surroundings. So in our guided experiences, we can offer opportunities for participants to observe, notice, and deeply engage with art and objects.

We can encourage and cultivate a heightened awareness and attention to detail using all of the senses to connect with what we are looking at, and we can use these observations and insights as the basis for all discovery. And so observation and noticing have played such a key role in the most engaging discussions I've facilitated over the years. Without noticing details, there is no shared discovery.

So by encouraging participants to observe and describe the details of an artwork or an object, you are laying the foundation for deeper interpretation and critical thinking. Objects don't share all their secrets at first glance. And different layers of meaning and nuance are revealed during sustained observation and noticing. So if I was only allowed to give you one piece of advice, this would be the one that I would choose over and over again.

This is the easiest, most straightforward and most useful piece of engagement advice ever. Engagement begins with observation and noticing. So let's go to insight number two. Not all questions are created equal. So if you ask any museum educator about engagement, they'll mention questions, they'll say that asking good questions is the cornerstone of any engaging museum program. But there's more to it than you might think.

So if you have a good questioning technique and you ask well worded, thoughtful questions, you can instantly engage people. You can provoke their curiosity. You can find out what they already know, and you can make your programs more interactive. That's all good. But on the other hand, questions can also work against you. So I've been fascinated by questions for years and have devoted many episodes to the subject here. It's actually about 8% of the 150 episodes on this subject of questioning.

And I keep returning to this topic because I know that questions, alongside the other seven practices that I talk about, can transform an entire experience. So when we're intentional about our questions, we create better conditions for meaningful experiences. But in reality, few of us are actually trained or receive training in creating and sequencing questions.

Using questions in an organized way, gradually building each question on the previous one is essential in a balanced discussion, but it's a difficult skill to master. Which is why I spent a long time developing a repertoire of Questioning Practices designed specifically for museum educators. So questioning practices are structures to actively and intentionally support question use. They also foster, participate participation and engagement on your guided experiences.

You can find out more about QP's in episode 1 3 6. And if you want to dive deeper into questioning techniques, check out episode 87 on asking more open-ended questions, or episode 1 3 0 on the power of inquiry and curiosity with guest Trevor Mackenzie. So the third insight: connection before content. So connection before content is a phrase that you'll hear me saying time and time again on this podcast. It often comes up as the one key takeaway for participants on my workshops too.

And I first encountered this idea, it's not my idea, it's from organizational designer Peter Block, and it's become central to everything I do in museum settings and what it means in practice, it means making a conscious effort to: first, connect people to each other, so help the group feel like a community. Second, build genuine rapport between yourself as the facilitator and participants. Third, help visitors connect to the museum space and its collection.

Fourth, clarify the purpose of our time together, so connect people to why they're here. And fifth, create a warm, welcoming atmosphere where everyone feels like they belong. So putting connection before content might require a mindset shift, and it might also feel a little bit counterintuitive when we have limited time with our groups.

I think many of us worry that spending time on connection means sacrificing content that will run out of time for sharing background knowledge and contextual information. But what I've discovered though is exactly the opposite. So when people feel connected, they actually listen more attentively, they participate more actively and they remember information better.

So the time 'lost', in speech marks, to building connection is more than made up for by the improved quality of engagement with the content you do share. In episode 144, I explored connection making in detail. It's really worth revisiting this because this principle has such profound implications for how we approach our guided experiences in museums. So number four, silence creates space for thinking. So in our museum programs, we often fill pressure to fill every moment with words.

We may rush to answer our own questions. We might fill every gap and move quickly from one point to the next. But over the years I've come to see silence as one of the most powerful tools in our engagement toolkit. So when we ask a thoughtful question and then allow that silence to stretch a bit, something we might call a productive silence, we're creating space, space for participants to look, to think, and to formulate their own responses.

And these quiet moments allow for deeper observation, personal connections, and more thoughtful comments than if we were to rush to fill the void. Many of us find silence uncomfortable. We worry that our participants are bored, confused, or expecting us to keep talking. But I've found that participants actually appreciate small moments to process what they're seeing and thinking.

And I think becoming comfortable with silence takes practice, but it transforms the quality of discussions and shows respect for people's thinking processes. In episodes 95 and 96, I explored how silence is actually a superpower in our guided experiences. I shared strategies for overcoming discomfort with silence and offered lots of practical ways to incorporate more of these valuable thinking pauses in our programs. So insight number five, psychological safety unlocks deeper participation.

So, have you ever felt intimidated in a museum? I know I have. Even as a professional, as a museum educator, I think museums can be imposing spaces. They've got that impressive architecture, sometimes a hushed atmosphere, the layout is complex and there's a whole new code of behavior that you need to work out. Now imagine being a participant in a guided experience where you are not only processing these feelings, but you are also being asked to speak up in front of strangers.

Now, it's no wonder that many visitors might default to silence or perhaps to safe, superficial responses, and this is precisely where psychological safety becomes important. So psychological safety means creating an environment where people feel it's okay to ask questions, take risks, and to share their perspectives without fear of judgment or embarrassment. So without it, even the most brilliant questions or amazing artworks may be met with surface level engagement or even silence.

So in episodes 90, 125 and 142. I explored how to create intellectual comfort, build rapport, and build trust and psychological safety on guided experiences. I've found that small actions can make an enormous difference. So that might be welcoming people individually, validating early contributions, explicitly stating. That there are no wrong answers, modeling curiosity rather than certainty, and responding to all comments with genuine interest.

So insight number six, every challenge is an opportunity. So in museum work challenges inevitably arise from perhaps the dreaded tumbleweed moment when a question falls flat, to a group that might seem reluctant to participate. Museum spaces are also full of unpredictable moments. A visitor might ask a challenging question, a planned activity doesn't resonate, or the space itself presents limitations.

So while we can't always control what happens during our guided experiences, we can choose to view those moments through a lens of possibility. So there are lots of useful episodes in the back catalog telling you how to respond to certain challenges we might encounter, but I think adopting an experimental mindset might be the most useful advice of all. So when we adopt an experimental mindset, we change 'problems', in speech marks, into questions.

So what might this silence be telling me about my pacing? How might this resistance reveal what the group actually needs? So the most skilled facilitators, they don't just solve problems. They approach challenges with genuine curiosity, asking, what can I learn here? And challenges can actually become the drivers of positive change and improvement in how we work.

They're the moments that push us to try new approaches, develop new skills, and ultimately advance our practice in ways that might not happen when everything is running smoothly. So I encourage you to view every challenge as an opportunity. Okay. Number seven, engagement happens through multiple channels. So how many ways can we connect with art and objects? Far more than you might think. Far more than just through discussion and observation.

I think we often think of engagement in museums as primarily, verbal; the questions we ask, the discussions we facilitate, but there's so much more to it than that. Engagement flows through our senses, our bodies, our emotions, and our creativity. And this is precisely why Multimodality is one of the eight practices in the Thinking Museum® Approach because people engage, learn, and express their understanding in so many different ways.

So multimodality is less about pleasing all of the people all of the time, and more about offering a wide variety of options for participants to help them engage with your programs. So this might be a wide variety of aids, activities and modes of working in any one session to help appeal to as many participants as possible. So perhaps incorporating drawing to reveal details our eyes might otherwise miss.

You might want to use creative writing to forge personal connections with artworks or include slow listening experiences with music to develop deeper attention. You might want to bring in the sense of smell to evoke memories and emotions, or even experiment with movement to help participants understand form and composition through their bodies. These multimodal approaches enrich everyone's experience.

Now, I was referring there to a lot of episodes in the back catalog that explore drawing, writing, listening, a sense of smell and movement, and I'll link to them in the show notes. Okay, insight number eight. Less information leads to more understanding. So many of us feel a responsibility to share our knowledge, to provide visitors and participants with historical context, technical details, and background information. And this impulse comes from a good place.

We want visitors, participants to appreciate the significance of what they're seeing. But information overload is the enemy of genuine understanding. When we shower visitors with facts, dates, and details before they've had a chance to look, think, and wonder, we often achieve exactly the opposite of what we intend. Most people forget information when they haven't been challenged to think about it first or to connect it to what they already know.

Less information strategically shared actually leads to deeper understanding. Less is always more. Episode 12 is an oldie, but still so useful and shares best practices for sharing information. For a deeper dive on how, when, and if to share information, read the chapter on intentional information in my book. You'll also find there the CHOOSE framework, which is a practical tool for deciding exactly what information to share and what to leave out.

Okay, insight number nine, deliberate practice is how we grow. So being good at engaging people with art and objects isn't something that just happens overnight, like any skill worth mastering. It develops through practice, reflection, and continuous refinement. We develop our facilitation skills through doing the work, reflecting on how it went and making adjustments for next time. And deliberate practice doesn't mean simply repeating what we already do.

It means watching others at work and noticing specific details, how they phrase questions, how participants respond, how they use silence. It means creating opportunities to practice in low stake settings, perhaps in a community of practice with your colleagues, and you can all offer feedback. It's about recording our reflections systematically, looking for patterns over time and setting specific goals for growth.

And I think one huge thing that really transforms our practice is the commitment to regular reflection, as we explored in episode 29. So ask yourself three questions. What went well today? What could I have done differently? What might I try next time? These questions, when we ask them consistently after our programs, help us learn from experiences and continuously improve. And I think what sets exceptional facilitators apart isn't necessarily what they know.

It's their commitment to this ongoing cycle of practice, reflection and adjustment. And they see each program not as a performance to perfect, but as another opportunity to learn, grow, and develop. And this deliberate approach to practice transforms potential into excellence over time. So if you need more inspiration on this subject, do take a listen to episode 28 or 81. And the 10th and final insight: engagement happens by design, not by chance.

So creating meaningful engagement in museums doesn't happen by accident. It requires thoughtful design, careful planning, and purposeful execution. So the most engaging experiences are crafted with intention at every stage from the initial Welcome to the final moments, and thoughtful design means considering the entire visitor journey from the physical route through the museum to the pacing of activities, from the balance of listening and participating, to the transitions between stops.

So when you plan a guided experience with intention, each element of your experience works together harmoniously. The route tells a story, questions build upon one another, activities deepen engagement progressively, and the conclusion helps participants integrate what they've discovered and extend their thinking beyond the museum walls. So this is about creating the conditions for engagement deliberately, rather than leaving it to chance.

Now for more on designing, engaging experiences across all three phases, the entry phase, the exploration, and the exit phase. Explore episodes 44, which is about the four elements of a great introduction, episode 57, how to end well, and Episode 99, 1 of my favorites, striking the right pace in museum programs. So there you have it, 10 essential insights distilled from 150 episodes of exploring engagement in museums. I could easily have shared 15 or 20 insights.

But as insight number eight reminds us, less is more. So looking back at the list, what strikes me most is how these small shifts can lead to really big changes. So something as simple as giving people 30 seconds to really look, or pausing after you ask a question, or spending a moment really connecting with people before diving into any content. These tiny adjustments can completely transform an experience.

So small intentional changes in how we observe, question, connect and design our programs. These really create the kind of meaningful engagement that stays with people long after they've left the museum. So as we look ahead to the next 150 episodes, I wanna thank everyone who's been part of this journey so far. Now, one of the reasons I created the Art Engager podcast back in 2021 was to recognize and elevate the value and importance of museum education work.

I hope this podcast plays a small part in sharing the incredible work happening in museums around the world with a wider audience. So whether you've been listening since episode one, or you've just discovered this podcast, your engagement, your curiosity, really fuel this work. Knowing that this podcast serves as a helpful resource that changes people's practice, that inspires new approaches and sparks fresh ideas, make the work involved for creating every episode worthwhile. So thank you.

And I know many of you use the back catalog as a resource, so I've now created a complete episode list on my website to make it easier to find exactly what you need. You can search by keyword or browse chronologically, whatever works best for you. I'll link to the resource in the show notes. And this milestone also feels like the perfect time to ask for your support. So creating this podcast twice a month involves real costs and time.

And the best way to help sustain this work is through a monthly Patreon subscription. Now if that's not possible, even a one-time donation makes the difference. So if you found value in any of these 150 episodes, whether it's changed, how you facilitate, whether it's inspired a new program, or simply given you new ideas to try, please consider supporting the Art Engager. I'll put the details in the show notes.

Finally, don't forget to visit my website to learn more about The Art Engager book available now, wherever books are sold. That's it for today. Thank you so much for joining us on this special episode. See you next time. Thank you for listening to the Art Engager podcast with me, Claire Bown. You can find more art engagement resources by visiting my website, thinking museum.com, and you can also find me on Instagram.

@thinkingmuseum, where I regularly share tips and tools on how to bring art to life and engage your audience. If you've enjoyed this episode, please share with others and subscribe to the show on your podcast player of choice. Thank you so much for listening, and I'll see you next time.