INTERVIEW
Workshops, lectures and networking at Ecsite’s conference in Trento, Italy, in June
I SAW MANY NEW AND YOUNG FACES AND THAT’S A HEALTHY SIGN “By joining the network, we reached
new groups of people, as well as museum lovers and families who only visit attractions accessible with the Museumkaart,” says Buchel. “Attendance grew by 100,000 card-holding visitors and has stayed at this level.” Thirdly, a boom in tourism in Amsterdam helped boost visitor numbers. And lastly, the popularity of science and technology in Holland is growing enormously. “Besides this, hard work, creativity,
partnerships with companies, universities and NGOs, great staff, improved hospitality and a passion for science are also factors,” Buchel adds. “We all work very hard to find ways to make the experience more impactful for the visitor, to make them better understand not just that science is interesting and fun, but that it’s really important for the future our planet.” Investments are being made as NEMO undergoes gradual renovations. Each floor is being redesigned and given a theme, such as “the manmade world” or “technology”. There’s also a new roof terrace and café, set to open this summer atop the Renzo Piano-designed building.
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attractionsmanagement.com Investments don’t have to be huge to
make big improvements. Buchel is a great believer in learning from others, from other types of business and industry. “Science centres can learn from commercial industry in terms of hospitality, as well as from outfits like Disney,” Buchel says. “Visitor ratings are almost 50 per cent based on hospitality, so we need to look after the details: toilets, signage, customer service. There needs to be professionalism at every level.”
ECSITE Ecsite was founded with just 23 member organisations in 1989. The first Annual Ecsite Conference in The Hague, the Netherlands, in 1990 hosted 100 delegates and the most recent, in Trento, Italy, in 2015 hosted 1,101 attendees from across Europe and beyond. As Buchel embarks on his two-year presidency of Ecsite is there anything he’d like to change? “The organisation is thriving, with over 350 members. However, we’d like to have more full members. Full members have voting rights and a greater impact and influence on what we do.”
Full membership can be expensive for small organisations, so Buchel suggests “those with broader shoulders” pay more under a revised structure. There are about 60 full members currently. He says that with more full members people feel more responsible for the network. The more responsible they feel, the more influence they have. Plus, the members’ relationship with Ecsite shouldn’t be “a one-way thing”. With Ecsite in its 16th year, Buchel is also noticing more outside interest than ever before. Alongside Ecsite’s 239 science centre/museum members, there are 36 private companies and 85 other organisations. (At the same time, distinc- tions between science centres and science museums are beginning to melt away.) “At the Ecsite Conference 2015, I saw how many more different organisations and industries are here, and people from different backgrounds. It’s interesting meeting people from outside our industry. We need to collaborate and work with other organisations and other parts of society.” “I also saw many new and young faces and that’s a healthy sign,” Buchel says. l See Future Visions, this issue, page 30
AM 3 2015 ©CYBERTREK 2015
PHOTOS: ECSITE/ MUSE
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