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In this issue:
Welcome
What's coming up for consumers and the gardens and arboreta they visit?
A Forest Journey brings the benefits of trees indoors
More Chocolate! A new look at this American obsession from The Field Museum

You will probably already have indulged in more turkey and dressing than is good for your health or your waistline by the time you read this issue of News to Use. And you, like most managers of outdoors venues, are probably in the midst of your holiday displays. In November and December, traveling exhibits give way to staff-created holiday celebrations of lights and poinsettias and all sorts of Christmas related special events.

Gardens and arboreta have been doing special holiday events much longer than they have been hosting traveling exhibits, and the exhibits are really just extensions of the benefits of the holiday shows. The Christmas displays – see the December 05 issue of News to Use in the newsletter archive on openairexhibits.com for a national round-up of approaches to seasonal extravaganzas – give visitors a reason to include the garden as well as the mall, church, parties, etc., as part of the annual celebration.

Please accept my best wishes for happy holidays to you and members of your garden staff and my most sincere wish that you will extend the compelling draw of the holiday display all year long with just the right exhibits for your venue.

I recently attended a Future Trends Conference in Miami – three days of hearing what’s coming in consumer communications, entertainment, packaged goods and more.

Unlikely as it might seem, several key concepts connect to the garden world. Take, for example, the workshop titled “Feel the Pain: Problem Solving Built on Empathy.” The workshop leader was Marco Marsan, author of Think Naked, Childlike Brilliance in the Rough Adult World. He led the group in developing creative new business ideas based on moments of pain that their customers endure.

As you look for ideas that will improve the visitor experience in your garden and offer opportunities to grow your revenues, why not start from your visitor feedback cards? What are your guests telling you what they can’t find when they visit your garden – plant id tags, picnic tables for a family lunch, soft drinks or conveniently located water fountains? All of these are starting points for improving visitor satisfaction and identifying areas that need to be addressed before you present an exhibit to boost attendance.

Event Planner to the Stars Colin Cowie targeted the trend toward affordable luxury – he is creating an affordable line of elegant entertaining accessories for Walmart similar to Martha Stewart’s partnering with Kmart.

If your visitors are following the trend of buying as much luxury as they can afford, how does your garden measure up? When you do a preview for donors and VIPs before an exhibit opening, do you have a red carpet to make them feel special? How about gift bags that include enough merchandise to make them feel like they have been to “the” party of the moment? It may seem far removed from the garden’s mission, but attention to these details is what keeps sponsors and donors coming back for more.

Christine Haskins of Ideas to Go conducted a “claimstorming” session that helped participants think through the unique benefits that their product or service offers to clients. This is a great exercise to take your staff, your board and your friends of the garden through to help you position yourself among competitors for visitor and volunteer time and donor funds. It can also help as you plan promotion for an exhibit – start by asking what the exhibit offers to visitors and then keep asking what else and what else. The technique can reveal additional meaning for additional audiences that you may have initially overlooked.

The list of speakers and ideas goes on and on. One of the big conclusions to draw is that fresh ideas for your venue don’t always come from garden-related sources. This year, take a chance and attend a meeting or conference that approaches your issues from a different perspective – you may get a whole new insight from spending a few days with marketers or theme park managers or municipal employees. You never know where you’ll find a source of inspiration.

And one parting suggestion – much of the research cited came from personal survey and observation. Worth Global Style Network keeps its subscribers up on fashion trends with reports from representatives in major cities around the globe who track what kids on the streets are wearing. The outfits that kids use to express their individuality often grow into the next fashion craze. The editors of Daily Candy – dailycandy.com – watch for what is new and hot in selected cities across the United States by tracking press releases, restaurant and other openings and general “buzz” to keep readers in the know. This approach to research is a great tool for garden managers and their staffs as well. It may be nothing more than a periodic review of garden web sites for ideas, a field trip to see an exhibit another garden is hosting or tracking what the other entertainment venues in your city are doing.

We are coming to the time of year for resolution making, and resolving to keep an eye on what’s happening in the larger world may be one of your most effective tools for success in 2007 and beyond.

There's an old saying about not being able to see the forest for the trees, but with A Forest Journey, created by staffers of the Franklin Institute Science Museum, your visitors will enjoy both. The Philadelphia museum’s mission is to inspire a passion for science learning, and this 1000-foot indoor display carries it out with a compelling message and a series of engaging interactive stations. The exhibit takes the visitor through a history of the use of wood throughout the world, a review of forest products from paper to lifesaving pharmaceuticals, and a look at the relationship between forests and the greenhouse effect.

The exhibit stations are easy to put together and feature 7' translucent photos of trees. "It makes you feel like you are walking in a forest," says Jennie Zehmer, Museum Exhibit Services.

Available in Summer 2007, the exhibit rents for $15,000 plus inbound shipping for a three-month run. The fee includes marketing materials and a teacher’s guide. No special security is required, and renting venues are asked to present a certificate of insurance ($500,000 in comprehensive property damage insurance) and evidence of Workers Compensation Insurance.

Set up and take-down of the table tops and back panels each require 2-3 people and 2-3 days, and the only tools necessary are a wrench, a ratchet and a screw driver. A palette jack and forklift are helpful for moving crates off the truck and moving them around.

For a virtual tour of the exhibit, go to www.fi.edu/exhibitservices. For more information or to reserve the exhibit for your venue, contact Jennie Zehmer at 215-448-1128 or jzehmer@fi.edu.

Chocolate seems to be the one topic that always draws a crowd, no matter how it is presented. If your venue has 5,000 square feet of indoor space with ceilings at least 10 feet high and an entry that measures at least 6’ by 8’, Chicago’s Field Museum treatment of this delicious subject may be just the right one for you.

The exhibit has been on the road since 2003 and has two remaining openings: October 2, 2010 through January 2, 2011 and January 29 – April 17, 2011. It includes some 200 objects, props and highly detailed replicas, interactives, scent components, attractive graphics and several audio visual elements to tantalize visitors with the natural and cultural history of one of the world’s favorite treats.

The story of chocolate is more than 2,000 years old, and the exhibit covers Growing Chocolate, the History of Chocolate, Eating Chocolate, Making Chocolate, The Chocolate Challenge (a test of your chocolate knowledge), Books, Films and Resources and a Just for Kids section.

Also included are Field Museum staff to assist with onsite installation and de-installation, an Educators’ Guide, an Exhibitor Toolkit including press releases, a logo, store information and images and a wide range of branded merchandise developed for the exhibition.

Rental fee for a three-month run is $150,000, and the host venue is also responsible for inbound shipping charges.

See the exhibit at www.fieldmuseum.org/exhibits/traveling_chocolate.htm and for more information, contact Whitney Owens, Traveling Exhibit Manager, 312-665-7332. You can reach her via email at wowens@fieldmuseum.org.

Editor: Cathy Garison
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