Romina
Mancuso,
Cultural Heritage Department, Literature Faculty,
Palermo University
Via P.pe di Paterno
72
90144 Palermo- Italy
+390916251901
+393487622790
roma@unipa.it
C.V.:
Sociologist, researcher in the museum communication field, Romina
Mancuso is also writer and illustrator of children’s activity books and
stories.
Title:
Museums Collections, Convention Tourists, Literature Creations, Urban Venues:
mix all, add emotions and communicate!
Slide 1: Conference tourism is an emerging market,
all over the world
Every year lots of people travel to participate to
annual general meetings, sales meetings, staff trainings, retreats, product
launches, incentive trips.
Many cities have, for that reason, arranged
conventions bureau to better face all the convention industry needs and to
develop a strategic communication mix, able to catch all the resources coming
out from this important audience slice. For conventions
tourists different factors are
determinant of destination choice: Museums could be one of those.
Slide 2: Business
Tourism sector is, quite often, generating
a considerable part of the total tourism amount of a country.
In
Slide3: Most of
the meetings take place in hotel, conference centres, historic residence and other conference rooms
(cinema, theatre, museum). The analysis of the different meeting venues in
Slide 4: Corporate,
association and agency events organizers are always looking for new
destinations and services that can enrich their events. Especially in terms of offering emotions to
the audience. They constantly search charming locations for creative
proposals for special events within the meeting; interesting place for pre- and
post conference tours; entertainment activity as after –dinner speaks.
Slide 5: Any museum’s
collection can become a strong emotions dispenser for a specific target
if just this collection, or part of it, is exhibited in a specific way. An exhibition, set by a cut familiar to conference’s participants interest, will attract their
attention.
We all know the fascination and strong emotions that a
museum experience can offer to the
visitors.
Slide 6:
Except for
those museums, that are events and conference oriented, there are thousands of small and medium size
museums that are not giving the right attention to this slice of market. That are not taking any advantage from the
conference industry unless some sporadic regular visitor contact.
Slide 7: I will now invite you to have a look at some random ideas coming out from the mix of four
elements: Museum Communication – Literature Creations – Urban Venues –
Conference Industry. It is not going
to be en exhaustive, complete overview on this never ending scenery, it just
should be a starting point - a
brainstorming – for project on your own experiential communication actions to
pursuit the better vision of your organization.
Slide 8: The
use of the museum collections and sites as
a tool of communication inside the communication mix of a conference event is
giving benefits to the museum and to the event organization too. This
cross-organization cooperation geared to promote and develop Museums as a
destination in the convention tourism will give an opportunity to improve the
museum visibility with a small money effort. By been hosted in a bigger event
communication campaign even a museum
with a small communication budget can reach high visibility by appearing in
the event web-streaming, in the designed and printed material of the
conference, in national and international magazine, broadcasting media, tv
programs and so on. It can be an attraction tool for a museum fundraising
campaign, will be a way to find and reach
sponsors supporting the long terms museum cultural, social or research
activities. It may find field experts to whom be keeping in touch with.
Specialists from specific field, involved in the conference organization, can help in the setting of a specific temporary exhibition that, otherwise, the
museum would not have been able to organize.
Slide 9:
Slide 10: PR
& communication team of a Museum has the responsibility to help museum be able to play its active role
in the Convention Industry market. And Exchange ideas and opinions to make
business travel more efficient. To do it, some basic steps are important:
Knowledge of the market
Understanding the trends
Sharing experience and expertise
Slide 11:
(the slide’s pictures will show the case)
Slide 12: Work together, since
the beginning, on the event’s project.
Once that a museum has been accepted as an extra tool inside the
communication mix of a conference event,
is important to focalize both visibility
needs: museum’s and conference organizer’s, to be sure that no elements will be
under-utilised or potentialities wasted within the museum and the event
organization.
Communicate and share expertise
is the key to meet targeted objectives. It’s important to know the capability
of the players involved in this communication process: participatory behaviour
may help in this way. The goal of participatory techniques is both to meet
event organizers’ expectations for active engagement and to do so in a way that
furthers the mission and core values of the Museum.
Slide 13: Termini
Imerese (Palermo) – Italy: Blue Fish Conference and Festival, Termini City
Museum, fisherman stories and fairy tales, “Azzurro
Mare” a specific children book written and illustrated by Romina
Mancuso. (the slide’s pictures will show the case)
Slide 14: By
working together, from the beginning, on the development of the communication
project, PR &Com person from museum will be able to indicate all the
potentiality of the museum and can negotiate particulars to satisfy the event
organizer’s needs, but also be sure that the museum mission is respected.
Slide 15: Basic activities to live and to develop together are:
Brainstorming to arise ideas for an event that can
involve the museum collections and its know-how. Consider why use the
idea and how to integrate it into the marketing mix.
Decide how to plan
it according to the target and objectives of the event, but also evaluating its
compatibility with the mission of the museum.
Plan how to manage and promote it.
Imagine which strategies use to make it more effective
(as for example set a temporary exhibition dedicated or connected to the themes
of the conference).
Slide 16: Working
together on the process of planning and setting up an exclusive exhibition connected
with the conference event:
Choose a theme and determine a title of the
exhibition.
Select a date.
Determine the location of the exhibition. (considering
that it can be used not only the museum’s rooms but any place connected with
the convention and the town)
By working together lots of potentiality will jump out
and make the event really useful for both the part involved: museum and event
organizer.
Slide17: An
emerging trend in events organization world is a so called experiential communication. Theatre,
smells, images, colours, music and any sensorial stimulations is finding place
in the communication mix of the event.
Slide 18: Literature
field is by itself a mine of emotions: the stories narrated, the fantastic
characters that are still making dream
the lectors all over the world, the places and objects described in their pages
are extraordinary, powerful tool of experiential communication.
Starting from a novel book story, or from a novel main
character, is possible to re-write a story that can attract visitors inside a
museum and helps their orienteering inside the exhibition.
Theming puts people in a
receptive mood and keeps them from feeling embarrassed or silly. All the
elements of a movie must be made to complement each other and this criterion
was adapted in designing the parks. It’s a concept of relating things in a
non-competitive way (Walt Disney)
Slide19:
….Il cavallo alzò il muso sgocciolante dall’acqua, e poi, guardando l’altra
riva, diede un colpo di zoccolo. Aksigna riempì l’altro secchio, si mise in
ispalla l’asticella alle cui estremità pendevano i due secchi e cominciò a
salire barcollando leggermente. Gregorio, a cavallo, le tenne dietro….. (M.
Sholokhov, Il placido Don, Bompiani, 1941, p.27)
Mikhail Sholokhov was the Nobel Prize winner for
literature in 1965
(the slide’s
pictures will show the case)
Slide20: Veshenskaya (
(the slide’s pictures will show the case)
Slide 21:
What to say and how to tell a story are at the basis
of any event by which companies present themselves to their public. “Telling
stories” means to involve the public in specific themes and objectives. The
role of an event director is to find the best way to tell the company’s story.
Can this works also for build the image of a city?
Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish author winner of the Nobel
Prize (for Literature in the 2006), wrote a book titled Museum of Innocence
that is also going to be a real museum in the Cukurcuma neighbourhood - in
Istanbul. The basic idea was to write a novel that cover a 30-year period in
the history of modern
(the slide’s pictures will show the case)
Slide 22:
(the slide’s pictures will show the case)
Slide 23:
(the slide’s pictures will show the case)
Slide 24:
Slide 25: ...and
Luigi Pirandello (1934 Nobel Prize for Literature winner), guide book for
children written by Laura Cappugi and Romina Mancuso
(the slide’s pictures will show the case)
Slide 26: Thank you!
Extra info: Credits and references (!attention the list is incomplete still need to be
updated)
R. Davidson & T. Rogers, Marketing destinations and venues for conferences, conventions and
business events, Butterworth-Heinemann, Linacre House, JordanHill Oxford,
UK -2006;
Osservatorio
Congressuale Italiano, annual report 2009, Univerity of Bologna;
K. Weber & K.S. Chon, Convention tourism: international research and Industry perspectives, The
Haworth Press, Inc – 2002;