This document summarizes Watershed's journey in developing data strategies and improving their use of data analytics. Key outcomes include developing dashboards to monitor online metrics and box office sales, benchmarking metrics against other organizations, and creating evaluation frameworks and audience surveys. Watershed also invested in a new box office system, restructured staff to build data capacity, and embedded data strategy in their business plan. Challenges remain around standardizing data and integrating legacy systems. Next steps involve continued evaluation, a data audit, and integrating key systems to gain customer insights.

1. Shifting gears - Watershed’s journey on the
road to unlocking the power of data

2. Who are we?
• We are a cross art-form venue and producer
• We produce and present original ideas and content
and curate a diverse programme of talent
development, cinema exhibition, events and
festivals.
• In the building we have three cinemas, a large
Café/Bar, three flexible conference and events
spaces and the Pervasive Media Studio, a multi-
disciplinary lab where a brilliant community of
artists, creative companies, technologists and
academics work on commercial and cultural projects
in the area of pervasive media
• We also house an online youth led magazine (Rife)
with an in house team of content creators
• We employ an equivalent of 70 full time staff, and
are open 7 days a week, 363 days a year.

3. What have we achieved so far on the journey?....

4. Outcomes:
•Since 2012/13 we have been developing our use of Google Analytics
to internally monitor web traffic and inform development of our
website (which was redesigned in 2011) using an iterative approach to
the site’s development
•Developed a dashboard to report on key online metrics and plot
those against box office sales data to establish trends
•Been able to benchmark our online activity, through using Google
Analytics as a consistent tool, with other culture sector organisations
e.g. Culture 24’s collaborative action research programme Let's Get
Real and the Bristol and Bath Cultural Destinations Project’s Digital
Asset Audit
•Used Google Analytics internally to regular report online data to site
section owners and reporters, engaging them with online activity which
previously had been seen as remote and unconnected
Developed our Internal Online M&E Strategies
weareculture24.org.uk

5. Outcomes:
•Creation of an excel based centralised activity
database which can be queried based on funding
report or KPI, timescale (with a future aim to create
a dashboard to summarise this data)
•Creation of visualisations to provide digestible
insight into targets and trends
Consolidated our Quantitative Reporting to meet both organisational and
funder needs

6. Outcomes:
•Development of Watershed evaluation
framework (pictured)
•Completion of two face to face audience surveys
to measure our audience demographic with
sample sizes of approx 500 people for each.
•Production of two reports evaluating strands
within the cinema programme
•Dissemination of the report findings throughout
the organisation
Formulated an Evaluation Working Group

7. Enabled by ACE catalyst funding, we invested in a new Box Office System
Outcomes:
•100% increase in % of online sales and in members of our
loyalty card scheme
•Greater understanding of what we are trying to achieve from
our box office data set as an organisation
•Motivation and buy in across the organisation to use the new
system as a tool for development
•Improved capability for segmentation
•Improved efficiencies in front line box office transaction times
•Launch of an individual giving campaign

8. Embedded the Importance of Data Strategy within our Business Plan
Outcomes:
•Enabled a focus to embed understanding of evaluation, data, and business
analysis across the organisation, giving staff the information and confidence to
follow their instincts and take risks within a blame free organisational culture.
•Staffing restructure to continue to build organisational capacity to focus on
our strategic use of data.
Key Operating Principles and Priorities as outlined in the business plan:
 Fundraising
 Grow audiences for cultural cinema
 Increase engagement from young people and BME population
 Reduce our environmental impact
 Constant evaluation and learning
 Optimising deployment of organisational capacity

9. Restructured our Staffing Model to Build Capacity for Development of a
Data Led Strategy
Outcomes:
•The role of Head of Operations will adopt a more
defined focus to lead this area of development
and will be re-titled Head of Data Strategy and
Operational Systems.
•Box office will have dedicated leadership to
support and enhance systems integration and
data management (formally this was a combined
role of Operations Manager which had line
management of both the front of house and box
office departments – with the continuing
development of the organisational focus on data it
became clear this role had too broad a remit).

10. Consolidate our Quantitative Reporting
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
New BoxO System
Development of internal online evaluation strategies
Business
Plan
Achievement Time Scales

11. Our Approach and Key Learnings
Not working in silos - Establish working groups with representatives
from key stakeholder depts across the organisation, and at different
levels (front line / management / senior management).
Constant Communication across the Organisation - Gaining buy in and
embedding new learning across the organisation by disseminating
progress and findings within established meeting structures and
knowledge sharing events
Utilise peer to peer dissemination - Rather than management to staff.
This maximises buy in.
Having data champions – identify staff members in key departments
with a passion or interest in data and use this passion to motivate
others, whilst also investing and developing their skills.

12. Our Approach and Key Learnings
Context is key - Use the data to tell stories, and frame those stories
within the real life context (remembering the importance of visualisation
in conveying the message).
Ensuring constant evaluation and learning to inform your thinking – We
are now generating a lot of intelligence ourselves and actually acting on
it on a more regular basis.
Understanding it’s a journey – It’s going to take time! Mapping out
milestones but be prepared to remain flexible around them.
Solid Knowledge of Excel is extremely useful in more contexts than you
think! - A solid understanding of excel can promote much more efficient
working practices as well as being a useful data analysis tool.

13. The (ongoing) Challenges
• Standardising metadata, and language across the organistion
• Working with legacy or rigid systems which give less scope for segmentation
• Re-engaging and retraining staff on their systems; developing understanding and
importance of the data structure, embedding best practice to ensure most efficient
operation, unlearning bad habits!

14. What Next?
• Continuation of work undertaken by evaluation working group
• Organisation Data and Workflow Audit to establish and document what we have and also
how people are using it. This will also enable documentation of workflows (and
data/information flow) across the organisation in order to look at more efficient ways of
working
• Integration of key systems to enable greater insight into customer behavior
• Development of operational systems to build capacity and enable efficiency
• A focus on using newly established key tools for the sector (Audience Finder -
audiencefinder.org)

15. Thanks for listening…
References:
Culture 24 ‘Let’s Get Real’: weareculture24.org.uk
‘Counting What Counts’: nesta.org.uk/publications/counting-what-counts-what-
big-data-can-do-cultural-sector
Layla Barron
Head of Operations
layla.barron@watershed.co.uk
www.watershed.co.uk
@wshed