DMS Tours : changing the day and/or frequency of tours

Public Relations
#17

The tour night has been held on Thursdays for so long that changing the night would be a Large change. A while back I went through the info on how members heard about DMS, and 42% of members came from a personal refferal. So having members that don’t know about the change sending people on Thursdays if the day is change, would up the chances of possible new members getting the locked out no one willing to help first impression of DMS which tends to happen to non-members coming to classes.

Also, Stan and Katie are the members that give tours consistently every week. They should be the decision makers on this subject as they do the work. Changing the job that some members already do is a Large change, because we are volunteers and can’t just assign the job to another member and expect them to take it on. They have to want to do the job and we have two members that want and / or just do the job.

I like Stan’s idea of honorarium for giving tours. It might not make me give tours more, but I’ve met many members that it would excite into giving tours. Stan’s point about the kiosks is also a important one. Once we get over about 6 people trying to take a tour, the kiosks drag everything to a halt. Kids tend to get through them in under 4 or 5 minutes, but middle aged to elderly adults can take upwards of 10 to 15 minutes to fill out one form. We need more Kiosks, probably at least 2.

PR helping to get more kiosks, would help more than changing the night of open house.

2 Likes
#18

Thank you for a solid return to earth.

I just want to re-iterate the thoughts running through my head as a freshly-paid-but-uncarded-waiting-for-a-tour person, and ask if these things have been considered and/or discarded as solutions or partial solutions to the kiosk problem:

#19

It seems like we used to have the liability waiver online, back around the time we first moved into this building. Then, we got this new system.

If I were better at navigating the wiki, I might find a copy of the waiver in there.

#20

The current waiver is an online only system. It ties the name and email on the waiver to the name and email on the member account, and an RFID card can not be activated without an electronic waiver. A paper or PDF waiver will not work for this.

I’m working with the BoD to test some lower cost Android Tablets for Waiver Kiosks.

#21

Can we get the app for the waiver as a Iphone/Android application that potential tourists can download and run from their own phones? We could have a QR link in the lobby they can scan and install the waiver. That way we don’t have to put in more kiosks just for the waiver, since most visitors will have a smart phone.

#22

I guess this is what I thought I was suggesting, except it does not REQUIRE being an app (though that’d be good, too); smart phones and tablets work just fine with normal old web pages most of the time, especially for “young people”. ;-D
If you’re wanting to keep it “on site”, which seems to be the gist of this, put the URL/QR code just inside the lobby so it can’t be seen unless you walk into the lobby and/or make it available only to onsite devices (y’know, kinda how we did with the octoprinters when they were just coming on line).

I am feeling like I’m missing something in the chain that by using our kiosk it somehow makes the electronic submission more genuine…

Idea for taking attendance
#23

I don’t believe the question is genuineness. The question is automation-ness. The kiosk apparently populates a database, untouched by human hands. Any kind of form not keyed to the database (as the previous forms were not) would require somebody to populate those fields manually.

#24

@Robert_Davidson What is the current app / service that is being used by the kiosks? What did it take to configure them?

1 Like
#25

I talked with a few members at the space yesterday about the idea of moving to one day a month. Stan explained that we are getting over 100 people per open house Thursday. This ends up being 8 to 12 tours in an evening at around 30 minutes per tour. With four weeks of demand piled up, we could be seeing 400+ people showing up for a Saturday tour, that would mean 32 to 48 tours at 30 minutes a pop. If we managed to double our tour guides we are talking about nearly a full day of tours. This would be very disruptive on our most popular use day, plus the current kiosk system would come to a screeching halt.

On the more positive side of things, there is support of changing the name of the day to visitor’s day or tour day.

1 Like
#26

We use SmartWaiver. While we can technically install it on any Android/iOS device, it would require us to enter the master username and password to add the device in. Basically, the app is targeted towards kiosk use.
Stan is currently looking into a few cheap Android tablets that we can use for this.

1 Like
#27

Untitled.jpg1233×814 111 KB

1 Like
#28

Yes, we “can” add a link on the website, but we need to have proof that they (themselves) filled out the waiver; as in, the security cameras have footage of them filling out the waiver. Obviously, we don’t have cameras at their home :stuck_out_tongue:

1 Like
Procedure for Non-Member classes?
#29

That officially brings this conversation completely circular, and my participation to an end.
“No, thanks” is good enough for me.
Thank you for taking the time to explain the motivations.

2 Likes
#30

We don’t get 100 people every Thursday evening, but it isn’t unusual to have that many flow thru.

#31

@StanSimmons and @Nick

It would be awesome if DMS had 100 people every Thursday. We need to offer the tours as conveniently as possible to potential members… If it is not convenient to the potential member, they will not show up, and you loose that potential membership. There are correlations in sales models dealing with storefronts, access schemes, hours of operation(etc…) that apply here, but to keep it simple.

If 100 potential members showed up every Thursday for open house, and all of the sudden the day changed to ONCE a month, then those Potential members would not necessarily attend all that one day… It is far more likely that only a fraction(a third, if that) will attend that one day, loosing out literally to hundreds of potential members a month.

I myself, would have NEVER become a member, because my time is highly contested. I had to reschedule my open house visit to DMS 5 different times over two months to finally make it in. I bit the bullet self-assured that once I have the FOB I can use the space 24hrs a day. But if the Open house was only once a month, I would accept the fact I would not be able to reschedule ever, and DMS would just fade away; since I would not be willing neglect my priorities.

By the way, The irony of a 24hr a day access space for member convenience, that only gives tours once a month… crazy.

…X…

1 Like
#32

And totally volunteer run, no employees, no set schedule for any specific member to be on site…

Never assume you can get the same kind of regularly scheduled work out of volunteer(s) that you do out of a paid employee, or try to guilt trip people into doing something because “it makes sense”. I’ve personally witnessed more than one volunteer based organization being brought to it’s knees if not outright collapse because of expectations of paid employee performance from an unpaid, volunteer workforce.

2 Likes
#33

Thank you Paul.

Anyone who thinks we should have a Tour Day every week should show up tonight. I’d be happy to walk thru how I give a tour to show what I do 3 to 5 times nearly every Thursday evening (and often several times during the week when I’m on site.) It is exhausting and often my throat is hoarse at the end of the night, but I get to meet a lot of new people and I love watching them get excited about what we do here.

7 Likes
#34

@Hardsuit and @StanSimmons

I completely understand what both of you are saying. I agree fully Paul, please read post 16 on this thread. Your post reiterates some of my points.

For the sake of brevity:

Presuming DMS has Member Turn-over and deducing that the way DMS keeps is doors open is by getting new members, then getting new members is the top priority. The current DMS SOP model for new member tours is hard on those willing volunteers; insures a stronger possibility the Tour Presenters will burn out. Not Good for DMS.

Add the fact that there may be a need to have “Scripts” to insure standardized information, along with a uniform presentation and Paul’s post above becomes even more significant.

To the point: DMS should have one “payed” position, and it should be (strongly)incentivized by the number of sales done by the Tour Presenter. ($1-1000.00 dollars per new sign-up /details.) This insures that the current issues being discussed are resolved effortlessly. This minute incentive will energize some to become diligent Tour Presenters. DMS will then be able to select from the available pool those best fit for that task.

You do not have to like my suggestion, but it will solve the issues mention on this thread expeditiously.

…X…

#35

NOTE: Important information on this thread regarding voting has changed since the time originally discussed. Please check out the following links for updated information:


#36