Visitor Experience 101, or, Touchy, Feely Museums

I've been thinking a lot about Visitor Experience lately. Not just the visitor experience at my museum, but in general, hence the capital "V" and "E".
I have an idea of what Visitor Experience means, but sometimes I'm not sure if others really do, or if I've gotten it wrong, really.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines "experience" as "an event or occurrence which leaves an impression on someone" and/or "to feel (an emotion or sensation)". I'd have to say that my definition would be a bit of both.

How many times have I written about making visitors feel comfortable, welcome, at home or some other such emotion at the museum? Endless times. For me, the Visitor Experience is all about emotion, feelings, not so much about the product itself. Yes, the product is important, but I can't help but think that it should be secondary, somehow.

We're currently working towards improving the visitor experience at our museums right now. My boss keeps asking things like, "So, imagine I'm a visitor and I arrive at the museum; what do I see?" Questions like these are awesome because they make you think about the program or event in a different light. So often we only think about the program on a surface level and follow a formula, repeating the same things over and over, like a template. But things get stale.

So we're revamping things, and it's awesome.
But the question I want to ask is, "If I'm a visitor and I arrive at the museum; what do I feel?"

I was asking some friends the other day what the visitor experience was going to be like at their museums in 2012. I was a little bit surprised, however, when they essentially answered me by giving me a list of things that visitors are going to do. No real mention of what visitors will feel or "experience".

Traditionally, we develop a program in our head and then find ways to deliver the message and make it a pleasant experience as an afterthought. But I think it should be the other way around; we need to think about what we want people to experience, then develop the program, event, or exhibit around that.

The reason I've been thinking about this is because my intern delivered her first museum program last night. Not her first program with me; her first program ever. I felt that I needed to give her some advice since she admitted to being a bit nervous. It was a snowshoe hike and she knew all the information; she'd been studying the program delivery plan all week.

I told her not to worry, and to remember why people were there. "They aren't here to learn about Geoheritage [the topic]. Let's not kid ourselves. We're going to offer them something so they learn, but that's not why they're here. They're here for fun, to get out, to meet people, to try snowshoeing. Don't get hung up on the info and the delivery. Be yourself, welcome them to the museum and show them a good time."

She did awesome, for the record.