The Visitor Studies Group: Championing excellent visitor experiences
Save the date! Events 2023-2024
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
- 18th October, 6-7pm – Joint Tea with VSG/Latte with VSA. Book here
- 20th December, 6-7pm – Christmas Quiz
- 21st February, 1-2pm – Topic: the use of incentives
- 17th April, 1-2pm – Topic TBC (Suggestions welcomed)
Reading Group dates – In person and online
In response to member suggestions, we are hosting a bi-monthly group. We will be hosting in person reading group meetings in London and Scotland but if you live somewhere else and would like to host a reading group in your area or remotely, let us know and we’ll support you to set it up.
- 30th November, 4-6pm – The Barbican Centre, London. Book here
- 6th December, 11am – 12.15pm, Online for members wherever they are. Book here
- 25th January – The National Gallery, London
- 1 February – Edinburgh or Glasgow site TBC
- 28th March – London venue TBC
*If you are an Edinburgh or Glasgow-based venue and would like to host in February or a London-based venue and would like to host in March, get in touch the.visitor.studies.group@gmail.com!
Visits and socials – In person
- 23 November, National Galleries Scotland – Afternoon visit to the new Scottish galleries at the National Gallery of Scotland at 3pm, Edinburgh, followed by social nearby from 5.15pm.Book here
- 9th May – pre conference social, London location TBC
- 10th May – post conference social, London location TBC
Call for proposals! VSG Conference 2024
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 crisis and audiences are feeling the pinch. Financial restrictions to participation and enjoyment of arts… Continue 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 the… Continue Reading
VSG Committee Opportunities
Extensions to this deadline have been agreed. Get in touch if you’ve missed the deadline and would like to arrange to send an expression of interest by 4th November. Interested in audience research? Keen to expand your network and skills? Being a part of the VSG Committee is a great opportunity to develop your skills and… Continue 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 back… Continue 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. In… Continue 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 priority… Continue Reading
Call for Proposals now open!
The call for papers for our 2023 conference “Open for all?: Working towards inclusive practice” is now open. The conference will take place 18 & 19 May and will be hybrid – in person at ISH Venues in London, with an online component. The VSG annual conference brings together delegates from the cultural sector and beyond… Continue 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 is… Continue Reading
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 experiences… Continue 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 needs… Continue 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 past… Continue 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 ‘big… Continue 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 the… Continue Reading
Conference 2017 – Storify
For those of you who were not able to attend our 2017 conference, ”Measuring up”: ways of capturing social value and more intangible outcomes’, held in March, check out our handy Storify: https://storify.com/visitorstudies/visitor-studies-group-conference-2017 Thanks to all who tweeted and joined in the conversation over a thought-provoking two days!