Magic in the Background: On Storytelling, Tech & Digital Engagement

Chris Evans, founder of the design consulting firm Drummin Hands, designs in-gallery digital experiences across museums, national parks, and cultural institutions. With a background rooted in interpretation and storytelling, Chris believes the best technology is invisible. Or, as he puts it, the "magic happening in the background." He shares how he helps organizations of all sizes start with the story first, choose the right tools to tell it, and create digital moments that visitors can't get anywhere else.

Pauliina Kinanen, Training Specialist, with the Finnish Museums Association pulls back the curtain on what digital learning looks like when the average number of staff in a Finnish museum is nine. These small teams are finding big ways to innovate by trusting the power of their own stories, building the right partnerships, and experimenting with digital tools on their own terms. This conversation is a reminder that you don't need a massive team or budget to create meaningful digital learning experiences, you just need confidence, curiosity, and good collaborators. Learn more about the Finnish Museums Association.

Zeina Dghaim, Training and Excellence Manager at the Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi, knows what it takes to build digital learning experiences from the ground up. From advising on a fully digital museum for the Bahamas to shaping visitor experiences at one of the newest cultural institutions in the world, Zeina has a clear message for the sector: trust yourselves.  She challenges museums to stop approaching digital from a deficit mindset and start leading with imagination, creativity, and confidence in their own stories. Her unlikely sources of inspiration? The fashion and culinary industries where vision comes first and barriers come second. This conversation is a reminder that museums already know how to create extraordinary experiences. They just need to believe it.  

Frits Polman, CEO and founder of Guide-ID, is the first guest this season to go deep on how AI is reshaping the digital learning experience in museums. His platform uses AI to generate audio content tailored to each visitor's language and learning level making personalized engagement possible for museums of any size and budget. But Frits also makes a compelling case for why audio itself matters more than ever: in a world designed to pull visitors toward their screens, audio lets them keep their eyes on the art and their phones in their pockets. This conversation explores what happens when AI and audio come together to put the story and the visitor first.

Katya Provornaya from the Group for Education in Museums (GEM) shares how museum educators across the United Kingdom are the driving force behind making digital tools actually work for audiences — from rural schools and home-educated children to underrepresented communities. She discusses how GEM is leading sector-wide research and upskilling efforts, and why the most intentional digital learning strategies start not with technology, but with the people designing the experiences. Learn more about Group for Education in Museums .  

Museums often talk about going beyond the walls to reach audiences—but what if the museum has no walls at all? After the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art closed its doors in 2024, it has engaged more audiences than ever through "trans-mediated experiences" spanning exhibitions, digital platforms, and partnerships.  Kimon Keramidas, Head of Digital Content and Strategy at the Rubin, demonstrates how this deliberate approach can help museums serve as bastions of critical thinking and future-proof our sector against whatever the next hype cycle brings. Plus, Kimon designs his dream museum studies degree program in our game!  

Museums don't run without people. Yet workforce development remains underfunded and undervalued despite being critical to everything museums do. It cultivates community, increases retention, leads to employee happiness, and it's a way to future-proof the sector.  Tamsin Russell, Workforce Development Lead at the Museums Association, creates multiple opportunities for its 13,000 members to grow. In this episode she shares her overall approach to developing these programs - ensuring they are relevant and even slightly provocative - while diving deep into their online learning offering. Plus, a game that ties together hot dog vendors, nuclear engineers on a submarine, wedding DJs and museum staff.  

Social enterprise—using business strategies to achieve social goals—is common in the nonprofit world but newer to museums. Ian Ellard, Head of the V&A Academy at the Victoria and Albert Museum, sees an opportunity for museums to break free of old models with this approach. We dive deep into what social enterprise actually means, what it looks like in a museum context, and explore the nuances of using business strategies and financial success to support the public value of a museum. Plus, hear how ancient Greek wisdom can help solve modern online learning challenges.      

Evaluating online learning often flummoxes museum educators, but it doesn't have to. Jeanine Ancelet, Principal at Audience Focus, helps bust that myth with smart, doable strategies for making evaluation meaningful and manageable. Hear practical tips for measuring on-demand resources, interpreting YouTube metrics, and designing inclusive evaluations across ages. And, find out why you might already be sitting on a gold mine of data. Jeanine also shares the guiding philosophy behind her 18 years of evaluation work. Plus, how do her skills as a trained Master Naturalist shape the way she visits museums? Stay tuned to the end to find out! Audience Focus: https://www.audiencefocusus.com/

"How much social impact do we get for a dollar?" That's the question Katy Scott, Director of Education Program Strategy at Monterey Bay Aquarium, is asking as her team explores what social impact actually means in practice, especially when it comes to online learning. Social impact has become a buzzword in museums, but Katy shares how her team is defining it through the intersection of environmental education, maker education, and equity education. While they don't have a formal definition yet, discover how online learning can create "hyperlocal" impact at global scale. Katy reveals why the future of meaningful social impact lies not just in reaching more people, but in empowering communities to innovate solutions for their own local challenges.   Plus, what do girl scout cookies and social impact have in common? Listen to the end to find out!