This document discusses how museums can bring their history and stories to the public outside of the museum walls using open platforms and audio tours/apps. It emphasizes that audio tours need to be engaging stories rather than just facts to persuade people to use them. Creating good stories focuses on understanding the audience and including elements like themes, characters with goals, conflicts, and emotion. The document advocates experimenting with audio tour prototypes, collaborating with others, and sharing content on open platforms to reach wider audiences. It encourages questions and working together to create great audio tour content.

1. CITY HISTORY,
BEYOND THE WALLS OF THE MUSEUM
How to connect the public to the city and bring its history to life
with Open Platforms, such as izi.TRAVEL?

2. WHY USE TOURS / APPS?

3. GOING OUTSIDE THE WALLS
OF THE MUSEUM

4. TEARING DOWN
WALLS BETWEEN AUDIENCES

5. WE HAVE AMPLE EXPERIENCE
Museum App,
Amsterdam DNA tours
Flinck
#Golden Age
izi.TRAVEL
Amsterdam DNA tours
Ontdek Amsterdam Oost (Discover the east of Amsterdam),
iProvo
Publieke werken (Public works)
Wraak van Vondel (Vondels revenge)
Queering the collection

6. TECHNOLOGY IS TROUBLESOME

7. GETTING PEOPLE TO DOWNLOAD
AND USE APPS IS A CHALLENGE

8. CONTENT CREATION IS A CRAFT

9. WHY IZI.TRAVEL?

10. EASY TO USE, FREE
AND OPEN PLATFORM

11. KNOWLEDGE SHARING
AND GREAT SUPPORT

12. APPS FOR ALL PLATFORMS,
INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE AND PROMOTION
see
SUMMER 2016
CAMPAIGN

13. WHO DO WE NEED TO
CREATE GREAT STORIES?

14. AUDIO TOURS AS PAGE TURNERS
#STORY
HACK

15. WHY AUDIO TOURS AS STORIES?
Many audio resemble spoken brochures; factually correct but boring
We don’t persuade visitors to (continue to) use an audio tour
Example
Historic Congressional Cemetery: The Dead Tell the Best Stories
Good stories keep the audience engaged from start to finish
There is a lot of knowledge on storytelling available, let’s use it!

16. WHAT MAKES A GOOD STORY?
Everything is focused on the audience
Understandable language
It should be worthwhile to follow the story
It should be appealing to the rational, emotional and aesthetic
People want to invent things themselves
People want to anticipate what's coming
A clear theme from the beginning to the end
The theme is comprehensible (palpable) for the target group
A story has a moral
It's about people and the way they change in order to reach their goal
The characters each have an (unconscious) goal that drives them
A universal structure
Beginning, middle, ending

17. Start stop
Stop 2
Stop 3
Final stop
Stop n
Title, image
Beginning
Middle
Ending
Transition
Seduce, convince:
- appealing picture (emotional)
- catchy title
- universal theme
Introduction of the story and characters
Introduction of the narrator
Practical information:
- length tour, starting point
- app usage
Overall story via the stops:
- conflicts,
- surprising twists,
- cliffhangers
Means per stop:
- personal tone narrator
- emotions (including humor)
- sounds (music, soundscapes, quotes)
- photos, video (limited)
- questions, game elements
Unraveling story
Relevance to public
Parting
Incentive to want to go to the
next stop
Practical issues
Limited time between stops
Storytelling using Audio tours

18. THE MAKING OF...
See
The making of
video

19. THE RESULT: FIRST PROTOTYPE

20. WHATS NEXT?

21. IF WE CREATE APPEALING STORIES,
WE CAN BRING HISTORY OUTSIDE THE
MUSEUM WALLS

22. LET’S EXPERIMENT, COLLABORATE AND
SHARE TO CREATE GREAT CONTENT FOR
TOURS AND APPS!
LET’S PUBLISH ON (OPEN) PLATFORMS,
CONVENIENT FOR OUR AUDIENCE!

23. QUESTIONS
What would you do differently?
What would you do next?
Is this relevant for your organisation?

24. Arjaan Kunst
arjaan.kunst@izi.travel
izi.travel
Marijke Oosterbroek
m.oosterbroek@amsterdammuseum.nl
amsterdammuseum.nl
LET'S COLLABORATE!