Natural Connections Visitor-Centric & Participatory Engagement Jennifer L. Wolff, CIG Manager of Interpretation
Roles of Public Gardens Trainer of horticultural techniques and in skills for growing food Facilitator of community conversations Educator of youth and general public Technical Expert of conservation techniques Credibility Lender to engage more established institutions Community Host for meetings and events Catalyst for change toward sustainable community development MBG Priorities Get people of all ages, abilities & backgrounds outside exploring, caring. Greatly strengthen and deepen environmental & ecological literacy. Build the will, capacity, and skills to live more sustainably. Protect plants and our natural world, both locally and globally.
Opportunity and Obligation The Garden has an opportunity, and an obligation, to better engage, empower, and involve our millions of visitors, in promoting conservation and sustainability, at home and around the world. The Garden must be an active learning partner with our visitors, facilitating their experiences based on their motivations and interests, inviting them to learn about plants and the Garden s efforts in personally relevant ways, and enabling us to learn more about our visitors.
To serve today s visitors, we need to accommodate a range of learning styles, abilities, backgrounds, preferences, and ages. Successful programs at the Garden must engage visitors in dialogue and interchange, inspiring and providing opportunities for them to react, editorialize, question, ponder, create, and share.
Meeting the Challenge The Garden launched Natural Connections!
What is Natural Connections? A comprehensive package of visitor engagement components, tactics, tools, technologies, and transformative experiences designed to better engage, involve, empower, and inspire our visitors.
Who are we connect with? adults & kids students leisure seekers tourists other gardens teens grad students press/media museum professionals grantors potential volunteers sponsors corporate partners community leaders staff & volunteers board of trustees donors researchers young professionals interns culture & art lovers history buffs avid gardeners members professional peers teachers potential employees reporters
What do we know about our visitors? With my family, including children 23.5 With a group of families including 13 to 17 years old With my spouse or significant other 50.0 43.7 Other 10 to 45.0 12 adults years (all old people over 18) 40.0 35.0 30.0 By myself 625.0 to 9 years old 20.0 15.0 Organized 12.2 group 210.0 to 5.0 5 years old Missing 0.0 Social Group Types Ages of Children Percent of sample Under 2 years old 2.1 29.5 24.6 12.2 1.7 11.8 6.3 1.3 11.5 6.7 27.9 0.8 0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0 30.0 35.0 Percent of sample 29.8 29.4 18.5 45.9 0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 Percent (multiple options--does not total 100.0%) Frequency of visit per year
Why do they come and what do they do? Family Groups Adult Groups Walk for exercise 49.2 64.4 Linnean House Visit shop 47.5 64.4 Frequency of Visit Infrequent 26.2 47.5 Frequent Explore Children's Garden Rose Gardens 50.8 79.1 5.6 61.4 Feed fish Sit and soak up beauty Japanese Garden 26.2 69.6 70.3 14.1 50.0 48.9 Brookings Navigate maze Linnean House English Woodland Garden Climatron 31.1 66.9 23.0 75.7 58.8 4.0 9.6 12.5 48.9 44.3 Tower Grove House 58.8 26.1 80 60 40 20 0 Chinese Garden Kemper Center 54.7 0 20 25.0 40 Percent in each group 46.6 selecting option 27.3 60 80 Demonstration Gardens Temperate House Eat in cafe Explore Children's Garden Navigate maze Brookings 40.5 47.3 32.4 22.3 17.6 15.5 21.6 11.4 13.6 9.1 5.7 3.4 80 60 40 20 0 0 20 40 Percent in groups selecting each option 60 80
How are we connecting with them? Social Media Newsletters Annual Report News Releases Adult Education Youth Programs Signage Walking Tours Digital Media Print Material Teacher PD Family Programs Lectures Training Sessions Germination Stations Sponsorships Volunteer Trainings Student Programs Website Audio Tours Community Conversations Outreach Programs Horticulture Therapy Presentations Bulletin Mailers Events & Exhibits
OUTCOMES 1. Personally relevant, meaningful, satisfying, and memorable experience. 2. Greater awareness of plants and human reliance on plants for survival. 3. Increased knowledge of choices and actions to promote conservation and sustainability. 4. Strengthen visitor affinity and support for the Garden and its global mission.
Priority Take-Away Messages 1. Something provocative that I didn t know before 2. What is the Garden is doing 3. Something I can do
Upon arriving at the Garden Lots of activity Visitor arrival Admissions, maps, and orientation Membership Desk, Garden Gate Shop Locating amenities Plants are Our Passion
On the 2 nd Floor Monsanto Hall Exhibits! Sassafras Information kiosks, event posters, rack cards, and brochures What s in Bloom Public tour, daily Visitor Engagement Station
Visitor Engagement since 2010 Volunteers 7 days a week, sporadic Engaged 67,946 Increase visibility & consistent staffing Increase engagement opportunities Equip with digital kiosks and custom guide printing
MyGuide to the Garden 2014 18,508 engaged visitors 80+ new volunteers trained New Tours: Member Pilot 5 new tours 332 distributed 26 completed survey Topics of Interest to Members Birding in the Garden Missouri Native Plants Wicked Little Plants Poisonous Plants Carnivorous Plants Popular Wedding Flowers Animal-named Plants Shaw Trees We found the German garden and dry bed garden for the 1st time after being Garden members for 8+ years! Keep up the great work! Been coming here since 1980s, couldn't figure out where the rock garden is in the brochure.
Display Gardens
Annual Floral Shows
Pot-a-Plant Activities Edible Landscapes Children s Garden Herb & Heirlooms Herb Garden June-August St. Louis Herb Society First 150 visitors Plugs from our greenhouse
Visitor Impacts!!
Children s Garden Happenings
EDIBLE GARDEN EVALUATION 47 parents surveyed June-July 17 were Garden members 21 visit 2 to 4 times per year and 5 visit more than 10 times. 42 had never heard about programming in the Edible Garden. 43 were participating for the first time. 12 participated as a family while 27 reported that just their children participated. 50% agreed that programming provided their children with new knowledge. We can grow our own food and gives kids more variety. My son can t identify cauliflower! Must make some. New veggies to try, some grow underground; How bees help the plants. He plants a garden with Dad, so this is great for him to see here! We love the Children s Garden!! We would participate more if we got a postcard or e-mail reminder.
Tower Grove House
Brookings Interpretive Center circa 1995-2005
Exhibit Lineup: 2008: Exploring Trees Inside and Out 2009: Living the Green Life 2010: DinoQuest 2011: TREEmendous 2012: Plants & People: China 2013: Foodology 2014: Nature in Your Neighborhood
BROOKINGS INTERPRETIVE CENTER Nature in Your Neighborhood What are visitors doing? Making Nature Art Building Tents Playing with Puppets, Costumes, Puzzles, and Blocks Reading Great Tales Exploring Urban Greening Discovering Missouri Natives Mapping and Drawing Nature in their Neighborhoods Pledging to Plant the Future And let s not forget Creating with 40,000 LEGO bricks. What s next? Brookings 2.0 & Addition in 2016!! We want your ideas on additional experiences we can add to the space.
Brookings Interpretive Center 2.0 Children s Garden Temperate House Climatron Renovation & Expansion Project Ground Breaking September 2015
Natural Connections Outcomes and benefits Greater diversity of experiences; increased length of stay Customizable, repeatable experiences Active, unique learning experiences Increased diversity of visitors and more members too! Jennifer L. Wolff, CIG Manager of Interpretation Jennifer.wolff@mobot.org