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Methodology:
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Our team set out with the goal of determining how to increase event pre-registration for events hosted by the Indiana State Museum. In order to tackle this challenge, we researched a broad body of information pertaining to event planning and marketing.
 
To facilitate the research process, we divided the research into smaller sub-topics, and each sub-topic was researched by a different team member.
 
  • Jop Horning researched best planning and promotion practices
  • Nijea Coleman researched social media and email marketing
  • Levi Bolinger researched data collection and analytics
  • Jeff Grogan researched webpage and invitation design
 
Over the course of our research, our team relied primarily on two methods for obtaining pertinent and useful information: a) Internet research, b) Local study
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Internet Research
Using online articles and academic databases, we assembled dozens of sources relating to our research topic. IUCat, Google Scholar, the American Association of Museums, and ProQuest generated the most suitable results when searching for academic sources. Our team attempted to use academic sources whenever possible. However, many of our sources came from sites geared toward informing marketing professionals. In such cases, we tried to find supporting scholarly evidence to back up the claims made in the non-peer-reviewed articles.
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All team members meticulously noted the search terms that yielded the most fruitful research results. Among the successful search terms used by our team include:
Legal Research and Writing
  • Planning museum events
  • Event promotion
  • Museum events
  • Museum event promotion
  • Museum AND events
  • Museum AND promotion
  • Museum AND marketing
  • Applied Data Analytics
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Email Advertising
  • Advertising and Social Media
  • Marketing design
  • Email design
  • Invitation Design
  • Designing effective invitations
  • Designing effective marketing material
  • Event Marketing
 
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Local Study
In order to gather the best information about Indiana State Museum events relating to visitor experience and public engagement, our team created a survey on SurveyMonkey. We designed a 10-question survey aimed at: a) finding the barriers/issues that are keeping people from registering for museum events in advance, b) finding potential methods and strategies for increasing event pre-registration. The survey questions were set up in multiple-choice format. In order to disseminate our survey, we distributed the survey through the ISM email list and surveyed people in-person at the Indiana State Museum. We received a total of 57 responses. The majority of people surveyed were museum patrons, as we surveyed people attending ISM events and people on the ISM email list.
 
Each question included in the survey was chosen either to fill holes in the internet research or to test a hypothesis derived from the research. The results gathered from this survey proved indispensable for providing useful recommendations for the Indiana State Museum.
Group Discussion
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