StEPS Program
Audience Section
Feb 25, 2012
Agenda and Meeting Notes

The next meeting will be on Friday, March 30, 2012 from 5 to 7 PM at the Law Office.

The StePS group met with Jan, Phyllis, Bev, Mark and Ron in attendance.  They made great progress and came up with a lot of action items.

The discussion was on trying to collect better demographic data on our existing visitors and use it as a tool to attract new visitors.

The cash register will force us to put each visitor into 1 of the 9 categories listed below.  Phyllis will also add questions to the Visitor Register asking for zip code, age range, school grade levels, etc.)  This data will be put into a spreadsheet and analyzed by the Board.

More specificically:  

1.      Ron will order the cash register with a scanner.

2.      Ron will program 9 keys on it:

1.      General Admission $5.00
2.      Students in grades 1 through 12 - $2.00
3.      Pre-School Children - Free
4.      Visitors with an Annual Membership – Free
5.      Special Events
6.      Members of a pre-approved adult group $5.00
7.      Members of a pre-approved student group $2.00
8.      Discretionary Free Admittance by Staff
9.      Free-Will Donations

3.      Ron will develop written instructions for staff members on how to use the machine and demonstrate the cash register and written instructions.

4.      Ron will develop a training manual and train the front desk volunteers whenever possible. Other people will also need to be able to train the new front desk volunteers when Ron is gone.

5.      Jan and Bev will get with Rebecca Edland on placing an order for merchandise.

6.      Ron will work with Rebecca Edland on the bar code system. We will try to get her to put our bar codes on everything she sells us.  Ron will work on getting the scanner programmed for all the merchandise.

7.      Jan will try to run the Z-tape as often as possible after closing and reconcile it with the cash and deposit the cash.

8.      Phyllis will complete the state sales tax paperwork.

9.      Ron will program the cash register with the correct sales tax rate on merchandise.

10.  Mark will check on a credit card machine and find out the fees involved.

11.  Phyllis will develop a new registration form for us to modify and/or approve. It will be voluntary for the guests to decide if they want to fill out this form.

12.  Ron will enter the data from the registration forms and the z-tapes into a spreadsheet broken down into the necessary categories at the end of each year for use by Orv and the Board.

13.  Phyllis will develop a new comment card for us to modify and/or approve.

Audience Standard 1 of 5

Question 1 of 2: Does the museum actively collect information about current and potential visitors?

We qualify for Good (Silver Certificate) if we can say: We analyze visitor information to determine trends and patterns in visitation (e.g., seasonal) and in interest (e.g., most popular programs).

Question 2 of 2: Does the museum regularly evaluate its activities?

We qualify Basic (Bronze Certificate) if we can say (1 of 2) Paid and unpaid staff are aware of the significance of evaluation.

1.      Phyllis is developing a new comment card.

2.      How do we train the staff on its significance?

We qualify Basic (Bronze Certificate) if we can say (2 of 2) We informally collect and review feedback from audiences that participate in our programs and other activities and discuss this feedback with our governing authority, staff, and volunteers.

1.      Very informally. Comments are usually passed on to each other.

2.      We could try to train volunteers to fill out a form listing verbal comments from visitors?

3.      Feedback could be entered into computer and used by this StEPS group?

We qualify for Good (Silver Certificate) if we can say (1 of 3): Paid and unpaid staff have knowledge of visitor research and evaluation methods through readings, training, conferences, etc.

We qualify for Good (Silver Certificate) if we can say (2 of 3): We conduct some types of evaluations (e.g., interviews, surveys).

We qualify for Good (Silver Certificate) if we can say (3 of 3): Visitor information influences the decision-making process for creating visitor experiences.

We qualify for Better (Gold Certificate) if we can say (1 of 3) Paid and unpaid staff keep current through articles, journals, books, and other literature on visitor research and evaluation.

We qualify for Better (Gold Certificate) if we can say (2 of 3) We evaluate most of our activities (exhibitions, public programs, publications, etc.).

We qualify for Better (Gold Certificate) if we can say (3 of 3) When possible, we compare our evaluation results to those of peer institutions.

This completes Audience Standard 1