I recently had the opportunity to present at the Visitor Studies Group Conference 2026, themed Experimenting with Our Practice. The conference brought together professionals across museums, heritage and cultural organisations to explore how audience research and evaluation approaches are evolving in response to changing visitor expectations, organisational challenges and new ways of working.
Ruth at the VSG Conference (Photo credit: Visitor Studies Group)
Across the day, one of the strongest themes was the importance of remaining agile and open to experimentation. Many of the sessions explored how organisations are adapting their research and engagement approaches, often working iteratively and collaboratively to better understand audiences and improve visitor experiences.
One session that particularly stood out was Behind the MI5: Official Secrets exhibition. Tim Steffens-Dyke and Sophie Field from The National Archives gave a fascinating account of how audience insight can help shape interpretation and visitor engagement in real time.
Another valuable discussion focused on Testing Approaches for Integrating Visitor Experience Assistant Feedback at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museum. Elena Trowsdale gave us some practical tools for incorporating feedback from frontline staff into audience research and evaluation. Visitor-facing teams often hold valuable insight into audience behaviours, questions and challenges, yet this perspective can sometimes be overlooked within formal evaluation processes.
The session exploring audience-led methodologies to test re-presentation in a historic house setting, led by Joanne Davenport and Laura Bijelic from the National Trust, also provided an interesting perspective on rapid and collaborative testing approaches. The use of design sprints to explore and refine ideas at speed demonstrated how organisations can engage audiences earlier in the process and test assumptions before making significant changes. The emphasis on iterative learning and audience-centred development felt particularly relevant at a time when many organisations are seeking to become more responsive and inclusive in their practice.
The keynote panel on Citizens Juries, with representatives from the National Gallery, Imperial War Museums and Birmingham Museums Trust also provided an important reminder of the value of placing users at the centre of decision-making. It was inspiring to hear directly from some of the jury members on their experiences.
Overall, the conference reinforced the importance of thoughtful, flexible and audience-centred approaches to research and evaluation. It highlighted how organisations across the sector are continuing to experiment with new methodologies, challenge established ways of working and place greater emphasis on collaboration and learning.
These conversations strongly resonate with our work at M·E·L Research. Across our work with museums, heritage and cultural organisations, we see the value of combining robust evidence with meaningful audience engagement, using a range of qualitative, quantitative and participatory approaches to support better understanding and decision-making.
It was an inspiring and thought-provoking conference, with plenty of ideas and reflections to take forward into future projects and partnerships across the sector.
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