The Visitor Studies Group: Championing excellent visitor experiences

News & Events

The latest news and upcoming events from The Visitor Studies Group (VSG). To find out more or make a booking please see the events posted below.

2024 Mentorship Programme applications open!

We are pleased to announce the next iteration of the Visitor Studies Group Mentorship Programme. This informal mentorship programme supports emerging audience researchers and evaluators and anyone who has had audience research responsibilities recently added to their role.

First created by long-standing VSG members who want to give something back to the sector, this is an opportunity to encourage best practice, share expertise, provide a friendly sounding board and expand colleagues’ knowledge and networks. You can find the list of this year’s mentors and their biographies HERE.

A key strength of the programme is how tailored it is to the needs of the mentee, from the frequency of meetings to the objectives set up to be achieved, and more. 

Applications are now open to those who would benefit from this programme, regardless of whether you are a researcher at the beginning of their career or an established professional who has only now started dealing with audience research and evaluation.

This mentorship is not suitable for freelance consultants or students.

If you are interested in applying, please fill out this form by Wednesday 27th March 2024. Send to: the.visitor.studies.group@gmail.com 

If you have any questions or would like to know more about the programme, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

2024 Conference tickets on sale!

Tickets to our annual conference on 10 May at ISH Venues in London are on sale now! The early bird discount of 20% will be available until 25 March so book early! The theme of the conference is The cost of culture: measuring barriers affecting the visitor experience. Book your ticket here . In recognition ofContinue Reading

VSG Committee – May 2024 Elections

You heard it here first – there will be a May election! No, not that election, the election of the 2024 VSG Committee which will take place this year to ratify existing committee members into their positions and elect new faces to replace outgoing members who have served their term as committee members. There are fiveContinue Reading

VSG Mentorship Programme recruitment

Are you an experienced in-house or freelance audience researcher working in the Cultural Heritage sector in the UK? Are you interested in becoming a mentor to support colleagues tackling audience research and evaluation projects? We are recruiting new volunteer mentors for the 2024 VSG Mentorship Programme. This informal initiative enables experienced visitor studies professionals to help, guide and be a friendly ear for others inContinue Reading

Save the date! Events 2024

We have a suite of events, socials and networking opportunities this year, free for all VSG members. Most events will be open to non-members as well for a fee, check booking links for details. Tea with VSG dates – Zoom 21st February, 1-2pm – Topic: the use of incentives. Book here 17th April, 1-2pm – TopicContinue Reading

Call for proposals! VSG Conference 2024

** Please note the deadline for submission has been extended to EOD 25th January** We are seeking proposals for our 2024 conference on Friday May 10 at ISH Venues in London. The topic is The cost of culture: measuring barriers affecting the visitor experience Britain is in the middle of a cost of living crisisContinue Reading

Call for Stories – VSG Newsletter

Do you have an exciting story or news to share with VSG members? We are now sending out VSG Newsletters to members every quarter, and we would like to hear from you. If you have an interesting story or trending news about visitor studies, please get in touch

What is in store for VSG 2023-2024?

This September marked the start of a new term – get to know the Committee here . Our wonderful outgoing Chair from 2020-2023 Jen DeWitt led us through a year of listening at the end of her term and as promised, we have been reflecting on VSG’s next steps. We are very excited to share theContinue Reading

On Sale now: VSG Conference Open for all: working towards inclusive practice

Tickets for the 2023 VSG Conference, Open for all: working towards inclusive practice are on sale via Eventbrite here> View the full Conference Programme here> View the Conference Schedule including detailed timings for the day here> Join delegates from the UK cultural sector and beyond to connect, share and reflect on experiences of developing inclusive visitor studies practice.Continue Reading

Mentee Applications now open

Continuing with the last few years successful Visitor Studies Group Mentorship Programme, we are pleased to announce that we are continuing this offer for 2023 to support emerging audience researchers and anyone who has had audience research responsibilities recently added to their role. First ideated by long-standing VSG members who want to give something backContinue Reading

Key Dates for 2023

We’ve got a busy year ahead, here are the key dates you need to know: Mentorship Programme w/c 9 Jan – applications for mentees opens 10 Feb – mentee applications close Conference 18-19 May – Open for all?: Working towards inclusive practice In person at ISH Venues and online, tickets coming soon 16 Jan –Continue Reading

VSA training event

Surveys 101 WorkshopTuesday, January 10, 2023 | 1:00 pm ET, 10:00 am PTPresenters: Stephen Ashton, Ph.D., Director of Audience Research and Evaluation, Thanksgiving Point Kari Ross Nelson, M.A., M.S., Research and Evaluation Associate, Thanksgiving Point Description: Back by popular demand! Surveys are one of the most widely used and flexible tools used by evaluators. InContinue Reading

Conference Bursary

In line with our efforts to be a more inclusive community, each year the Visitor Studies Group offers at least one bursary to support attendance at our annual conference. For our next conference (2023) we will be offering two bursaries. Each covers one full (two-day) ticket for the conference plus £100 towards travel and priorityContinue Reading

Mentors Needed

Are you interested in helping other audience researchers and evaluators as a mentor?We are recruiting new mentors for the 2022-2023 VSG Mentorship Programme. This initiative enables experienced professionals to support, guide and be a friendly ear for others in the sector. Volunteer mentors will be part of a small collective of mentors and the  role isContinue Reading

Virtual Event – Like herding cats: Coordinating evaluation across multiple areas

Virtual Event – Like herding cats: Coordinating evaluation across multiple areas

Wednesday 9th November, 4-5pm Join us for tea as we discuss the challenge of evaluating programmes or projects which involve multiple partners, sites and activities. Such projects can be fraught with difficulty and contention as well as opportunity to support wide-scale change. Kate Measures and Jen DeWitt will begin the session drawing on our experiencesContinue Reading

WE’RE GROWING! VSG COMMITTEE OPPORTUNITY

The Visitor Studies Group is managed by a committee whose role is to: set the strategic direction for the Group oversee the annual programme of activities represent the Group professionally at conferences and workshops encourage partnership working with like-minded organisations within the UK and from overseas meet four times a year to ensure the needsContinue Reading

2021 Virtual Event Series Programme

Join us for a Visitor Studies Group conference with a twist! For 2021 we have created an online event series taking place throughout May bringing together practitioners from the cultural sector and beyond to discuss a variety of themes. We want to explore, discuss, and discover different techniques that we have used in the pastContinue Reading

Big data toolkit

As part of the VSG 2018 Conference, ‘Big Data, Big Opportunities’, delegates were invited to contribute ideas to a ‘Big Data Toolkit’.  We have compiled notes collected from the conference into the toolkit, which we are sharing with VSG members.  This includes examples of ‘big’ and ‘bigger’ data used in the sector, examples of ‘bigContinue Reading

Conference reflections

This year, the Visitor Studies Group were happy to be able to offer a bursary to assist one person to attend our conference.  Louise Treble of Glasgow Museums was the deserving recipient and through the bursary was able to attend the full two day conference.  Louise has kindly summarised her experience of the conference: As theContinue Reading