Back to the Beginning: How Innovation Can Reconnect Us to Shared Humanity

Head of Visitor Experience at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and passionate visitor advocate, Sara DeYoung crafts memorable spaces with continuous growth at the heart of her work. She blends innovation and tradition, digital and physical, to create captivating exhibitions that leave a lasting impact. Here, she discusses how a comittment to lifelong learning can transform audiences, inspire curiosity, and connect museum-goers to the core human experience.

Shiwon Oh: How has your commitment to continuous learning influenced your career trajectory?

Sara DeYoung: I am a curious person with many interests, and I have always been fascinated by people: their stories, histories, and behavior. One of my favorite things to do is to people-watch. Even as a kid, I would entertain myself by wondering about the people around me—who they were, what they were doing, or where they were going. My curiosity, combined with my interest in people, has served me well in my work.

I began my career as an exhibition developer, a role on an exhibition design team responsible for determining the storylines, objects for display, and the appropriate interpretive approach (i.e., text, images, multimedia, digital interactive, etc.) for the target audiences, and for creating the content. I researched many topics for the various exhibitions I worked on, from American Revolutionary history to plate tectonics, and spent time understanding the audiences for each exhibition: their needs and learning styles, so that the exhibitions were relevant, accessible, and engaging. I executed visitor studies and evaluations to better understand the audiences and their experiences. Who was coming and why? Was the content understandable? Relevant?

Grounding myself in continuous learning about audiences has been an undercurrent in my career. As I moved away from storytelling and into visitor experience more holistically, that approach has been vital. My work relies on knowing who's coming through our doors and how we can best meet their needs. What are the pinch points in our experience, and what are the successes? Where can we do better? How can we support our frontline teams in their work of welcoming our visitors every day? Now, my continuous learning is focused more on CX and UX, and on building a visitor-centered culture.

SO: How do you stay up to date with emerging tech trends to create memorable visitor experiences?

SD: There are a few key places I look to keep my finger on the pulse of emerging trends in cultural heritage. The first place is my students. I teach graduate courses in Museums and Digital Culture for Pratt Institute's School of Information. My students tend to be early adopters, and I am constantly learning from them. The second is an annual conference called Best in Heritage, which gathers institutions from around the world to showcase their award-winning projects. For over 20 years, the Best in Heritage has presented a snapshot of what our field deems important, as every project presented during the conference won an award from a cultural heritage governing body or professional organization the previous year. Not surprisingly, this year, immersive experiences and AI were top technological topics. Finally, I look outside my field to see what retail, restaurant, entertainment venues, and theme parks are doing. Museums are slow to adopt new ideas and often resource-strapped—so it's important to see what others are doing to understand the trends.

SO: In what ways can digital tools and solutions elevate in-person museum exhibits?

SD: Digital tools can provide everything from directions to immersive experiences, but a memorable visitor experience is not about the technology. People visit museums to learn, yes, but primarily to spend time with friends and loved ones. The power of most museums is in offering experiences with real objects, artifacts, and artworks that connect us to the human condition. To the extent that digital tools can help tell stories and create connections, they can help elevate an in-person experience.

SO: What educational resources do you recommend for those interested in creating hybrid visitor experiences?

SD: I'm asked this kind of question often, but it's the wrong question. It assumes an approach to the end product before understanding the audience and their needs. It's putting the cart before the horse. The first question to ask while designing any experience is: Who is your audience? Then, what are their needs? Their expectations? Their goals for their visit? What's the big idea? What stories do you want to tell? How do you make it relevant for them? Then, the solution of how to provide that experience will start to emerge. Sometimes that solution relies on technology, sometimes it doesn't.

Experiences that successfully blend the physical and digital worlds keep the audience at the center and offer authentic connections to stories, objects, and each other. They use technology in intelligent ways to augment an experience, not be the entire experience. Technology for technology's sake always comes off as empty and gimmicky, but technology used to create connections can make magic.

SO: What are your top best practices for lifelong learning, especially in a field where change is constant?

SD: Build relationships across generations. It's important to know, understand, and respect the point of view of people older and younger than yourself—especially the younger generations, as they are the future of any field, institution, or organization. It's cliché, but it's true.

Pay attention to what is going on outside your field. Museums can learn a lot from the hospitality, retail, and entertainment industries about experiences and brand loyalty.

Stay curious about the world around you. Good ideas can come from anywhere, and if you keep an open and curious mind, you'll be more receptive to them.

Read our full issue here.