#EDUCATION
5 MINUTES
An innovative tool
to facilitate museum bookings for school groups
In 2019, school trips to museums accounted for 35% of school projects and 51% of college projects. Today, many initiatives aim to increase the number of school group outings to museums. The aim is to give students the chance to enjoy workshops, visits and cultural enrichment at the heart of institutions, beyond the extracurricular period. We’re thinking in particular of the Artistic and Cultural Education (EAC) program. This need is all the greater given the current health crisis: schoolchildren need and want to return to the museum.
On the other hand, the school-going public sometimes represents over 40% of a museum’s visitors, a not inconsiderable share. And, believe us, museums can’t wait to get back to them!
Discover how, based on these various observations, we have created a product that facilitates the booking of visits for school groups at the heart of museums.
Working together for museums and teachers
This new product has its origins in a long-term partnership with the Musée de la Grande Guerre de Meaux.
Indeed, in 2019 we first deployed a mediation chatbot for the Circuit de la Marne 14. This device accompanies visitors on a journey that traces the history of the area through 10 monuments.
Also in 2020, the teams told us of their need to automate responses to recurring visitor queries. As a result, we set up a chatbot to provide practical information. Since then, Jean has been answering visitors’ questions to help them prepare for their visit to the museum in the best possible way!
It was after these two successful projects that the Museum’s teams came to us with a particular need. They wanted to simplify the process of booking visits for school groups, for both the teaching staff AND the reservations officer. Previously, this task had often been carried out by telephone, followed by numerous exchanges to agree on the details of the school visit. School groups account for 40% of visitors to the Musée de la Grande Guerre de Meaux. The problems associated with booking school groups therefore represented a considerable investment of time. Organizing an educational visit for one or more groups of children in a school setting was proving to be rather time-consuming and tedious.
In order to develop a tool that best meets the needs of our partner and teachers, we took a close look at how they use the site. Our teams first studied the various stages involved in booking a visit for a school group. The aim was to see what improvements could be made, and to automate most of them using technology. This study led to the creation of a tool adapted to the needs of both parties. The Musée de la Grande Guerre de Meaux is the first to offer a booking chatbot, enabling teachers to plan a visit in just a few clicks!
Would you like to find out more? Let’s take a look at some of the features, without further ado.
Features of the booking chatbot for school groups
The tool was developed in partnership with Vivaticket, which offers an online ticketing service.
In concrete terms, the tool is a chatbot that asks the questions essential for booking slots for school groups. From the number of pupils, to the level of the class, to the type of visit to be selected, everything is designed to simplify the task. Once all the answers have been given to the conversational assistant, a reservation file is created directly in the ticket office. All that’s left to do is to validate the file and create a quote for the booking manager. And in just a few minutes, it’s all done!
Supporting the teacher's approach
This tool is designed to support teachers in their work, as it can be accessed directly from the institution’s website. The experience is simplified and quicker to complete.
Thanks to our collaboration with Vivaticket, we were able to develop a feature that connects the museum calendar directly to the chatbot. This enables the teacher to see availability in real time, avoiding the frequent problems of date availability.
One month after the tool was rolled out last December, the Musée de la Grande Guerre de Meaux has counted some 50 reservations. This has enabled more than 2,300 schoolchildren in search of an education to set foot on the forecourt of Europe’s largest museum dedicated to the First World War.
For the reservations manager, this tool has freed up one day per month (saving an average of 15 minutes per file), allowing him to devote time to other tasks that create value for the institution…
Museums are essential places of knowledge. They play an important role in transmitting the duty of remembrance to young audiences. At Ask Mona, our aim is to democratize access to culture for as many people as possible. We believe it’s essential to facilitate access to the cultural enrichment opportunities offered by institutions. All the more so for schoolchildren, who represent the next generation of citizens. We hope that this tool will enable as many students as possible to access cultural venues!