With the objective of creating dynamic, mutually beneficial volunteer opportunities that would amplify V&A’s impact, the team at Young V&A developed a new volunteer journey through user led research, embedding their principles of Play, Imagine and Design into every step. From newly designed roles to outreach, training and collaboration, discover how they created a joyful volunteer proposition that contributes to an audience led, sales through service, visitor experience.

How can you design a visitor experience for an audience that changes with every exhibition? It’s an exciting time at the Design Museum with multiple blockbuster exhibitions including Barbie: The Exhibition, The World of Tim Burton and Wes Anderson: The Exhibition on the horizon, bringing new challenges for the VE teams. Join Will as he discusses the ways in which the museum works with its visitor facing teams to prepare and cater for their changing audience.

This session will explore how cultural institutions can adapt to a more commercially sustainable model. Georgina will look at the challenges and opportunities of developing a commercial strategy within a registered charity context, with practical insights and examples from the Old Royal Naval College’s experience of building a sustainable commercial events programme.

Blenheim Palace has partnered with Oxford Brookes University to develop a Smart Visitor Management System (VMS) providing predictions, dashboards and other decision-making tools that offer new ways of understanding and managing visitor experiences, while making better use of staff and other resources. Paul will share the Palace’s journey to develop the VMS and what it might mean for others in the sector.

Christina will explain how the venue hire team have built a lucrative business area for English Heritage featuring a range of third party events, a small but successful wedding business, and an expanding filming offer working with Netflix, Amazon, Disney and more.

Find out how The Box was able to re-open and honour all venue hire bookings, just two days after discovering their third party caterer was going into administration. They now operate in-house with a stronger offer that better reflects The Box’s values – and makes money. Kate will discuss the immediate crisis management and longer-term development of a sustainable in-house catering solution within a Local Authority environment.

Insole Court generates the majority of its income through venue hire and catering. Discover how investing time and energy in the smaller income streams can make a big difference to the bottom line, with practical tips and useful insights into the charity’s fresh approach to events, tours, filming, retail, membership and fundraising.

Discover the potential of leveraging your Intellectual Property (IP), particularly through commercial licensing, with careful planning and investment. This session will introduce the building blocks required to develop a successful commercial licensing strategy that will successfully optimise your IP.

Fresh from designing some of the most iconic theme parks and visitor attractions that are set to open in the next decade, Robbie and Kelly share the magic of data-driven insights and their power to drive guest delight and income.

With public funding across the UK’s cultural sector under immense pressure, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society is consistently asked why it’s not generating significant amounts of commercial income. Susan will share insights on how the Fringe Society has developed its commercial income strategy; the main opportunities and challenges; and how other cultural organisations can learn from their experience. From AI to social media giants; airlines to drinks companies; what does the future of cultural funding look like?