Joining the Visitor Experience team

As ‘the face of the museum’ Visitor Experience Officers (VEOs) extend a warm welcome to our visitors and are responsible for delivering exceptional customer service.

Queensland Museum is custodian of the state’s natural and cultural heritage, caring for more than a million items and specimens in collections that tell the changing story of Queensland.

If you enjoy assisting people of all ages from diverse cultural backgrounds we’d like to hear from you.

You will play an important role:

• walking the floor of exhibition spaces greeting visitors
• conducting tours or running visitor activities (sometimes at after hours events)
• maintaining the safety and security of visitors, exhibitions and the building
• ensuring conditions of entry are adhered to
• setting up and packing down activities and events.

A day in the life of a Visitor Experience Officer (VEO)

Briefings

A day at the museum as a VEO starts with a team briefing delivered by a Team Leader. The briefing cover the day’s events, roster updates, information on any exhibition requirements and training tips in customer service, security and emergency management.

Briefings are informative on many levels, so it pays to listen well in order to best extract and apply the information when it’s needed throughout your shift. Briefings also build 'team spirit' and gives you a sense of the day and who you will be working it.

After briefing you’ll head off to your rostered area to conduct a visual check of the condition of the gallery space, the objects and equipment and the emergency equipment and lighting. You could find yourself cleaning the space or setting up your till to sell tickets.

Roaming galleries

Once the doors open, depending on your rostered position, you’ll either be extremely busy as you welcome people into the building and answer their questions, or you will find a moment of calm as visitors make their way through to your exhibition space. Every hour you will move to a new position.

You should always be prepared for the questions, from the common place (where's the toilet?), to the unusual ("what spider is this" while handing you a jar containing the spider). It’s important to know the content of the exhibitions as well as objects on the floor, where they are located and the necessary information for visitors to appreciate and enhance their understanding of exhibition content.

One of the main skills for VEOs to apply is being able to read 'body language' and adjusting your behaviour accordingly. Some visitors are seeking assistance, some want to be left alone. Just being able to read a visitor can make all the difference to their visit and day. A smile can go a long way.

You will oversee the welcoming of school groups to the museum, helping them store their bags, briefing them on appropriate museum behaviour and finalising invoicing information.

Depending on where you are stationed in the museum, you will experience different visitor types and engage with visitors in different ways. If you’re in SparkLab or science centres, you’ll facilitate primary school aged children interactions with our science exhibits. It’s a high energy space!

Elsewhere in the museum large groups may move through your area - you will usually hear them coming and being prepared is essential. It’s useful to quietly engage with the students speaking calmly and firmly reminding them of how to behave in the museum in a positive and friendly way.

It could be a busy day and you find yourself answering many questions and helping to direct people to where they want to go, or it could be quieter, and you’ll find the opportunity to chat to visitors for longer as they linger and ask curious questions.

Ticketing and cash handling

If you’re assigned to a ticketing position, you will be selling tickets to exhibitions and answering many questions. You will be trained in how to use our point-of-sale system, including how to sell group bookings and facilitate refunds.

Engagement

Our VEO’s facilitate deeper engagement opportunities with our visitors, such as guided tours, holiday program and education programs, pop up talks or running programs for pre-schoolers. You may also be involved in special events and functions. You’ll be given the training necessary to complete these activities, all you need to bring is the confidence to manage larger groups.

Knowledge

Knowing what's going on, where things are and how to 'behave' may seem ordinary, but surprisingly, it's the most common types of questions and topics that drive the interactive experiences you will have with visitors. Adjusting to visitor's behaviour, guiding and smoothly informing them about the conditions of entry without appearing dictatorial or rude is a skill you will need often.

Rosters and breaks

VEO's are required to move from area to area throughout the day. This also allows for lunch breaks and tea breaks. You rely heavily on your teammates so good timekeeping is essential. You are not allowed a mobile phone on duty so a watch is necessary to keep pace. Lateness isn’t an option. That said VEO’s are friendly understanding folk and flexibility is key. Be prepared for the odd roster/position change.

You will spend a great deal of time standing and walking. Once you get used to strolling it’s quite easy to cover 10 km in the day.

Information

VEO's are required to supervise the information desk and cloakroom, answering and transferring telephone calls, dealing with face-to-face enquiries and helping to store visitors belongings. It’s usually the first point of contact with the public. This can be a challenging place especially on certain days when we have exhibition openings, VIP visits, managing lost property enquiries and lost people or just conveying museum information.

Most of the demanding visitor interactions will be here. Knowing the museum’s policies and regulations is important for safeguarding people and objects.

Announcements and closing time

Museum wide announcements are made by the VEO’s over the intercom system, providing information throughout the day.

One of the most important stages of the day is at closing time when you need to assist in clearing the exhibition spaces as a team, efficiently and politely asking visitors to vacate the premises. It’s at this time that the VEO's search all public areas, reporting back to the Team Leaders that their exhibition space is cleared and secure. Communication is very important. You will learn to use your two-way radio efficiently and effectively.

Other tasks

In our regional campuses you will provide backup assistance with duties in the museum’s coffee shop and in answering telephone enquiries, taking bookings and other duties.

Summary

The VEO role is not a job with a particular career path. It may not suit all people, but if you enjoy assisting people of all ages from diverse cultural backgrounds within a museum environment and experiencing the audible gasp that some visitors give when they see an exhibition for the first time is incredibly satisfying.