Having said that, I do think sites offering audio tours, whether included or hired, should give visitors a free nibble before they have to commit to something that is often, sigh, a total dud. It can wreck a nice day at the museum, at least until you give up on it. We must provide better content!

If hired, the nibble would save visitors spending money on something they found tedious, and possibly dumped on later to their friends, and if free, they would be spared from lugging around (that’s what it feels like when the tour is a bust) a machine which even though as light as most are now, has become a dead weight for them. More dumping. They understandably say, Oh forget those things. They’re no good. That doesn’t help the industry, which can hardly be called young after lo these 50 years!

Good use of one’s time: spend 30 mins every three weeks standing at an audio tour desk, selling and dressing visitors. You learn a lot, including how far we have to go. Loic: try it. You’ll see. Especially if you’re selling them. And especially if the site has provided useless signs and the tour doesn’t have a handle. (‘It’s by Meryl Streep.’ ‘It’s by the prisoners.’} How do you sell an invisible abstract concept? ‘Taint easy.

That’s why I love universals.

Best,

Robert

PS, Shouldn’t the The Park Service update its website which even now says the Alcatraz tour is refundable? Can an included tour be refundable? Maybe. But is a curiosity, no?

Picking-up on Robert’s link to comments in visitor books, I don’t doubt that a visitor’s experience can be ‘made’ by the audio tour: I’ve lost count of the visitor evaluations I’ve read that ‘prove’ a particular audio tour improves the visitor experience. The difficulty is in encouraging visitors to decide to take-it in the first-place; this involves getting the audio tour marketing and distribution ‘right’. (And I find Sarah’s experience with selling audio tours online vs. on-site v.interesting here).

But the above needs to take into account the fact that visitors’ motivation for visiting a museum vary greatly. This motivation affects the type of experience they are seeking, and hence implicitly, whether they will want the audio tour or not. Its rare (impossible?) to find a site where every visitor will want the audio tour, or where the audio tour would be suitable for them.
I think it’s important therefore that museum take the time in to identify which type of visitor would be best served by the audio tour, and to then ensure that it is marketed in a way that directly speaks to that visitor type.

But I’m going to pick-up on this again in a next post…

Loic.

Clearly the was interpretive content is offered (marketed and merchandised) needs to be transformed. Interestingly, adoption rates online are typically higher than onsite (when people are doing online ticketing that is). i’ve got several theories about why that is but at least here the decision timeframe can be longer and people can sample more of the content in a non threatening, self directed way. “listening stations” serve to meet this need inside the museum but not all of them have them, and then you face the challenge – how do i communicate what’s on the listening station….and so on…

A note of clarification for Mr Cutler, the audio tour at Alcatraz is indeed included in the price of admission, and has been for the past several years. It is true that it was previously an optional extra and at that time the usage rate was very high.

Cheers, Sarah

As a museum or art gallery visitor I tend to avoid the audio tours especially if I’ve already paid to enter and the tour is an extra cost.

As with all interpretation media a tour must be written by a trained or experienced interpretation specialist in partnership with the venue and te venue’s specialist staff. As an archaeologist until 3 years ago and an interpretation officer now I’ve been both the specialist wanting to get as much information across and the writer trying to create engaging interpretation. A museum curator with a dull voice trying to show how clever he/she is is a big turn off for visitors. Do companies such as Antenna have good interpreters on board to turn the specialist content into engaging content?

Of the audio tours I’ve visited my favourite is the actor-led tour of the SS Great Britain in Bristol which really animates the spaces of the ship to give a sense of place and convey historical information in an interesting way.

I’m currently working on an audio tour of Castleton Centre Museum for VIPs – visually impaired people – in the Peak District National Park. This is proving to be an interesting experience. I’ve been working with a blind colleague during development and will soon be testing the draft audio with him. We’re also hoping to get a Sheffield-based partially sighted walking group to test it if ever they return our contact.

Cheers, Bill

Cheers, Bill

You remain one of the few clear voices in the wilderness!

Lenore

This is what you want your visitors to say::

(It’s about the audio tour of the Lobkowicz Palace in Prague; the tour is included in the entry price and is in eight languages.)

The first two long comments are from Tripadvisor. The short ones are from the visitors comment book.

brikis98
Massachusetts
Jun 23, 2008

….inside is a charming look into the life of the Lobkowicz family and some Czech history.

….(the) entrance includes an audio guide which will guide you through the entire museum. The audio (at least, the English) is narrated by the current Lobkowicz prince, with occasional cameos from other family members and friends.

The exhibits include portraits of family members (wonderfully described in the audio guide), a beautiful china collection, various gorgeous artifacts, an arms & armor collection, works of art, and more.

The audioguide is brilliant at walking you through the museum and explaining the importance and background of the various items. You really get an appreciation for a painting you otherwise might have walked by without a second glance.

One of my favorite exhibits had original manuscripts from Mozart and Beethoven – both of whom were funded by the Lobkowicz family – including corrections, edits and the like. Moreover, the audioguide features a good deal of their music, really adding to the experience.

This may not be the richest or largest museum you’ll visit …. but it’s a unique, lovely and memorable experience. Go there now, before everyone else finds out!

tequilatamm
Sydney, Australia
Sep 24, 2008

We are in Prague for 3 days. We spent the first two around Old Town, Jewish Quarter, etc.

My husband wanted to go to the cathedral, but the line was pretty long and it looked like a 2 hour wait, so we satisfied ourselves with photos of the outside, and continued on to the low side of the complex where the Lobkowicz Palace is located.

I was telling my husband the whole time that it sounded from the reviews I’d read that this was the one thing worth seeing… he was suitably unconvinced and sort of rolling his eyes.

The cost was about 275 each, which didn’t help his attitude. However, from the moment we put the included audio guide on and the current heir to the Lobkowicz estate, William Lobkowicz, who grew up in the US, began to tell the family’s story, it was magical!

The family was exiled from their home in the Czech republic twice: Once by the Nazis and once by the communists, and finally have had their rightful things restored to them, and opened their palaces as museums to display their collections.

I’m not one to spend long hours in museums, I tend to get bored and so just glaze over things and look for the most relevant ones. The audio guide at this palace draws your attention to the numbers in red as the main relevant things to look at and punch into the guide if you are short on time (or have a short attention span like I do), but in this case, I found myself slowly punching in more and more of the non-red numbers…

The tour started on the second floor with paintings of various ancestors and the family tree, loaded with marriages between the Lobkowicz line and several royal lines, including Austrian, Spanish, etc. ….

All-in-all, as others have said here on Tripadvisor, the Lobkowicz Palace is #1 for a reason… it is truly a find. I would recommend if you only have time or inclination to visit one place in-depth on the castle grounds, this is the one. Truly a find!

Others:

“By far the best audio guided tour I have enjoyed anywhere in the world.”

“I was moved to tears by the rich musical heritage displayed here.”

“The audio guide is excellent.  And as I looked at the original orchestra parts with Beethoven’s own corrections, my hand was shaking.”

“The lives of the family come alive.  It is so tender…”

“Loved it.  What a brilliant walk through time and a well told story of family history.”

“The best stop yet!  Thank you to the Lobkowicz family for this collection.  It brought chills & tears to us many times.  Lovely narration!”

“Your museum will be a great success – it has the WOW factor!”

“This is one of the most wonderful museums I have ever visited in Europe.”

“Absolutely amazing.  A fantastic collection which was beautifully described with the audioguide.”

“One of the most moving visits I have ever had – truly wonderful.  Particularly the music room which made me cry!  Thank you.”

“A remarkable and thrilling tour through a marvelous family history and Czech culture and history.”

“The most lucid and elegant introduction to Czech history since we’ve arrived.  So wonderful it made me cry.”

“Makes me proud to be Czech.”

The last three say nothing about the audio tour and everything about its impact – on the visitors and also on the owners and manager of this site who can go to the galleries at almost any time and find people in tears.

PPS, Commercial point: Do you know how much a visitor who is moved to tears will spend in the shop? To preserve the moment? Answer: Two to three times as much as is spent at museums whose audio tours have no impact. A lovely byproduct of a great tour. Something to think about.

Point 2 of 3:

The above site has eight languages.

Another site of ours started with four languages and now has 13; each new language is a business builder which they use to generate (with intelligent marketing) new potential visitors. With them it’s not a question of Who’s here, it’s a question of, Who would we like to be here.

Last point: Great audio tours don’t grow on trees. Nor do Spielberg or Ken Burns. You have to pay for the good stuff. But what a waste to produce and provide the drudge we’ve all heard so often. And what a treat for all to do it right.

I couldn’t agree more with almost all..

Nobody watches a TV except the family cat. It’s what’s on TV that matters.

Same with audio tours. As long as you can turn the handheld gadget on and off, pause it and rewind, and make it louder and softer, who cares! Let content win or lose the day. It does anyway. Which is why we must improve improve improve, and keep the pedants at bay.

I’ve always thought it was asking visitors to make a large leap of faith to buy an audio tour without knowing what they were buying,

To fix that, at places where it’s an option, we’ve started giving visitors a free nibble so they can

‘Hear it before you buy it.’

That seems fair and smart. I pass it along to all in case it’s a help.

Robert

Btw, the Alcatraz tour is actually optional, but it doesn’t look it. It’s a great tour and almost everyone does and should take it.

go to http://www.nps.gov/alca/planyourvisit/feesandreservations.htm

There is no entrance fee to visit Alcatraz Island. However there is a charge for the ferry service to and from the island which is supplied by a private company under contract with the National Park Service. For additional information on schedules, prices, and to purchase tickets in advance (tickets are made available about 60 days in advance) please visit the Alcatraz Cruises website.

The price includes the cellhouse audio tour, which is available in English, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin and Dutch. If you do not wish to do the audio tour you can receive a refund by contacting a supervisor in the cellhouse bookstore.