And now, I will make one of the great debates … vanish! Bwahaha! Yeah. I’m just being dramatic. Because, regardless of what they say, it’s not a debate. It’s just a decision. Centralize all the players, or distribute them? Here’s how to decide. …

Time to address the elephant in the room. Ah, right. “There are 47 of them, which do you mean?” Fair. Today, this one: Are we all doing experience design now, or exhibition design still? And my answer is, “Both. All along.” Here’s why. …

(I can feel the unsubscribes coming. But this is important.) Should a project be led by an SME — the subject matter expert, like a curator, historian or scientist — or by a PM or developer? There isn’t a single answer, but there are … guideposts. ..

For a while I imagined it was some regional feud, like that east-west hip hop thing in the 90’s. But it turns out to be another one of those trick questions. When to use each? It depends. Let’s put the imaginary feud aside and give each its due. …

For any member of the exhibition tribe, overlooking what loan agreements mean could easily spell failure. There is a lot to learn — and there’s an MtM podcast episode with more — but three key loan requirements are humidity, temperature, and security. …

MONIQUE: My client wants to add more facts to the exhibition we’re developing. PHIL: Mm-hm. Facts are good. [Cautiously sips matcha] MONIQUE: No they’re not. PHIL: [Raises eyebrows] MONIQUE: People don’t come to exhibitions for facts. …

You’ve worked on a few exhibitions, doing image rights licensing. They went fine. You’re feeling good. Your next project will license video footage as well. But hey, video licensing must be similar to photo licensing, right? Uh. No. …

Nurse: Doctor, this patient has been slumped on a bench, staring into space for an hour! What’s wrong with her? Doctor: I’m afraid she has a bad case of … museum fatigue. Joking aside, I do believe museum fatigue is underdiagnosed. …

Quick, what’s better: A linear path exhibition, with a preset route? Or open plan, where you choose where to go? Most people I know say “open plan.” Maybe it sounds better. But it’s a false choice. Both work, for different situations. …

The more popular your institution is, the more you have to deal with lines. But queueing can be improved. Theme parks make queue design into an art. Here are nine possibilities: 1. Don’t Have a Line:
Digital pre-purchase can reduce or eliminate lines. …

The SEGD Museum Exhibition Professional Practice Group, or ME-PPG, has a great offer while supplies last. If you work for a nonprofit museum and need support to join, SEGD has a limited number of grants available to cover a complimentary membership. …

Here’s a thought: Over time, the OpEx of an exhibition will eventually outstrip the CapEx. Now, you probably had one of two reactions to that statement. Reaction #1 is: “Hm. Yes, eventually that would likely be true.” Reaction #2 is …

Since the QR code comeback, they are up for consideration in every project. And for some things, they’re great. But before we put QR codes on every wall, let’s review 7 truths. #1: QR codes are just shortcuts online. But shortcuts to what? …

“Color temperature” is a term you’ll often hear in museum projects. Or should. :) The term means the warmth or coolness of white light from a source, measured in “kelvin” units, or “K”. But there’s more. There’s a whole, er, spectrum. …

Floor plans usually show walls, furniture, windows, and doors. Slightly less common types are used to plan electrical circuits and lighting systems. Then there are the other types, the ones no one knows about. Except now you do. …

How many different types of experiences should one interactive offer? Easy: One. It is easy for us to dream up interactives for our exhibition as if they were the laptops we use to plan it. But interactive surfaces in exhibitions aren’t like that. …

What are the (top) secrets of better collaboration? Barbara Miller and Danae Colomer from MoMI discuss “Mission: Collaboration” with host Jonathan Alger (caution: this episode will self-destruct in five seconds). …

Sure, it’s smart to plan systems using the “worst-case scenario”. But that doesn’t work when the worst case is extreme. For example: We want to accommodate the largest exhibitions. So we plan big. But that size rarely comes …

We imagine our visitors moving through our exhibitions in the exact order we devise. But visitors that follow every step of our sequence … don’t exist. Even if our experience were a one-way people-mover, a visitor can still get distracted …

In Las Vegas they have The Sphere, a hollow moon coated with LEDs, inside and out. It cost well over $2 billion to make, and it’s awesome, even though nobody knows what “LED” stands for. Can’t tell LED from LCD? You’re not alone. …