Presented at the Museum Computer Network conference in Montreal, November 2013 by Dana Allen-Greil, Emily Lytle-Painter, and Annelisa Stephan. No matter where you are in your organization, or where your museum is in its digital evolution, you can play a leadership role in developing a meaningful digital strategy. But to do this well, you'll need to think first about people: Who are you trying to serve? Who do you need to communicate or collaborate with? And how can you best converse with those people? Maybe you have a formal strategy in place, but you need to be better at communicating it to leadership and your colleagues. Perhaps you're working on a digital strategy in the absence of a larger institutional plan. Or maybe you're just getting started in thinking about how to tackle the strategic planning process. There is no one right way to build a digital strategy, but there are frameworks, tools, and tips that can make the process smoother and more collaborative. View original Google Presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14bepROX0UQvoYL3Q87np7zXbfAS6j_5NBnTNMq5pbrA/edit#slide=id.p

1. By the People, For the People
#MCN2013 #DigitalStrategy Workshop
Annelisa Stephan @Meowius
Dana Allen-Greil @DanaMuses
Emily Lytle-Painter @MuseumofEmily

2. Hello!
Annelisa Stephan @Meowius
Dana Allen-Greil @DanaMuses
Emily Lytle-Painter @MuseumofEmily

3. 9:15 - 9:30
9:30 - 9:45
What Is Digital Strategy?
9:45 - 10:30
Today’s
Schedule
Digital Benchmarks
Digital Engagement
Framework Activity
Break!
10:40 - 11:30
Design Thinking Activity
11:30 - 12:15
Planning Next Steps
12:15 - 12:25
→ Thanks to everyone who
participated in our survey!to
everyone who
10:30 - 10:40
Action Plan
12:25 - 12:30
Wrap-up

4. ●
●
●
●
Let’s Get
Cooking
Open up the cupboards
Get ingredients on the counter
Combine, stir, play, test
Taste what others are doing
● Create your own recipe

5. Digital Benchmarks
Where are we?

6. Developed by Collections Trust to
provide a simple tool for
assessing the many dimensions
of digital in an organization:
Digital
Benchmarks
for the
Cultural
Sector
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Strategy
People
Systems
Digitisation
Content Delivery
Analytics
Engagement
Revenue
http://bit.ly/culturebenchmarks

7. Source: Nicholas Poole

8. Range Statements + Spider Charts
For each of the 8 core
areas, range statements
describe a scale of 0-5.
The statements you select
get plotted on a chart (that
looks like a spider web.)
Today we will look at
Strategy, one of the 8 core
areas.

9. 0
The organisation has no strategic plan or statement of mission or purpose.
1
The organisation has a strategic plan or mission which does not reference
engagement through technology.
2
The organisation has a strategic plan, which includes projects and programmes,
some of which make use of technology. Digital is not fully integrated into the
strategy, which is not regularly reviewed.
3
The organisation has a strategic plan, which includes projects and programmes,
some of which make use of technology. Digital is integrated into the strategy,
which is regularly reviewed.
4
The organisation has a strategic plan/mission in place which references the use of
digital technologies to support core delivery, or it has a separate (but connected)
digital strategy in place. There is at least one digital champion within the senior
management of the organisation. The strategic plan is regularly reviewed and
updated.
5
The organisation has a strategic plan/mission in place which integrates the use of
digital technologies to support core delivery. The digital elements of the plan are
owned and championed at a senior (Board & management) level and supported by
appropriate budgets. Digital technologies are embedded across all teams and
departments of the organisation. Digital delivery and engagement through
technology are embedded within the organisation’s performance framework.
The strategic plan is regularly reviewed and updated.

10. Discuss
Which statement did you select?
Where are you in the process of
developing a strategy?
What documents or materials did
you bring with you today?

11. What Is Digital Strategy?
And why do we need it?

12. Digital strategy is an
actionable, shared,
cohesive plan for your
digital activities as a whole
that is updated regularly.

13. Everything is digital now.
branding
fundraising
collections
publishing
research
exhibitions
audience engagement
interpretation
PR & marketing
education
membership
games and media
Photo: Cleveland Museum of Art

14. “Digital is not really something
separate...no one under the age of
20 talks about ‘digital’ anything, it
is just a part of everything.”
—Jane Finnis, Culture24

15. So why bother with
“digital strategy”?

16. Because digital forces the big questions.
what’s
our
voice?
who is this
for?
who are
we?
why are we
doing this?

17. Because digital requires clarity.
Yes!

18. “The problem is that nobody sees
the creation of a digital strategy as
their job, so if you don’t step up,
chances are nobody will.”
—Paul Boag

19. Digital Engagement
Framework
What do we have?
Where do we want to go?

20. What is the DEF?
A framework
based on a structured set of questions
that provide the building blocks for a
digital engagement strategy
created by Jasper Visser and Jim Richardson
digitalengagementframework.com

21. An “engagement” strategy?
Bridge the gap between:
what you have
to offer
(assets)
the people
who might be
interested
(audiences)

23. My task:
Develo
p a digi
tal
strateg
y
for edu
cation
(Not pa
rt of a
larger s
trategic
plan)

24. (Digital) Strategy
Focus was on:
● who we are
. . . and then how
digital can help us
accomplish those
goals
● who we serve
● what we are
trying to achieve
my area of expertise

25. Why use the DEF?
A tool to help you ask the right questions,
of the right people, at the right time.
The DEF can help you:
● bring stakeholders together
● take inventory
● improve your understanding of the key
ingredients
● connect the dots

26. Assets
Given the choice between you and
everything else, what do you have to offer
to convince people to pick you?

27. Audiences
Who do you reach?
What new groups would you like to reach?

28. Vision
What sentence would make your heart sing
if you heard an audience members say it
after an experience with your museum?

30. Bringing it all together
Pick one of each:
Audience
Asset
Vision

31. Reach
Asset
Audience
Engagement
Vision

32. Phases of Engagement
Reach
● Where will you go to find your audience?
● How will you use your assets to connect with the
audience on this platform?

33. Phases of Engagement
Interest
● What can you offer to keep your audiences
interested?

34. Phases of Engagement
Involve
● How will you invite audiences to participate?
● What will you ask them to do?

35. Phases of Engagement
Activate
● How will you activate fans?
● How will you turn fans into advocates, by
encouraging them to share their enthusiasm with
others?

36. Reach
Asset
Audience
Where will you go to find this
audience?
How will you make the first
connection?
●
●
Engagement
(Interest > Involve> Activate)
●
●
●
How will you keep them interested?
How will you invite them to
participate?
How will you turn them into
advocates who share their
enthusiasm?
Vision: How does your activity get you one step closer to this person saying
the sentence you want to hear?

37. Share

38. My Experience
Workshops
● 9 workshops for 50+ staff in education
○ 90-120 minutes each
○ Divided into groups by department/functional
area (3-10 people per workshop)
Sharing
● Wiki
● Photo documentation

39. Discuss
● How might the DEF be useful in your
organization?
○ Who would you include in workshops?
○ What activities or questions would you have
people engage with?
● What challenges might you face in using
this tool?

40. Break Time!
Be back in 10 minutes.

41. Design Thinking
Ideation and Implementation

42. What is
Design
Thinking?
Design Thinking is a mindset
and methodology for
reframing problems. It is
centered around empathy
with a user, collaborative
ideation with your team, and
rapid iteration.
●
●
●
●
●
Empathize
Reframe
Ideate
Prototype
Test

43. Listen
Build
Brainstorm

44. You will work with one partner
to reframe and build a solution
to their problem.
Today’s
Activity
It’s going to be fast and
probably a lil’ uncomfortable.
You will be learning about the
fundamentals of DT to take
back to your institution, while
simultaneously using the tool
to problem-solve institutional
roadblocks for your partner.
So meta.

45. Gain
EMPATHY
Today: Interview your partner
about roadblocks they face to
creating and implementing
digital strategy at their
institution.
Take it home:
Depending on your institution,
you might start by talking to
visitors, staff, or someone else.
Ask open-ended questions.
Really listen. Ask “why?”
Watch their body language.

46. Today: Using empathy,
reframe your partner’s
problems into a point-of-view
statement.
REFRAME
the Problem
Take it home:
Be specific to the person you
are talking about.
Use empathy maps to infer
thoughts and feelings from
words and actions.
Consider using interviews and
point-of-view statements to
build personas.

47. Beginner POV:
EXAMPLE
POV
A dad with two kids (user not specific
enough) needs good educational
programming for his kids (use a verb,
and go for a deeper need) because art
is important to him (this is superficial
and doesn’t seem like you actually
talked to him).
Here is a more refined example:
A burned-out dad (user) needs to
refresh himself at the museum, not
just babysit his kids (need), because
his passion for art is the one thing he’
s given up since his kids were born
(insight).

48. Today: Sketch 4 solutions to
your partner’s problem. Just
get ideas down on the paper!
IDEATE
Solutions
Take it home:
Use “How Might We …?”
questions to start, and additive
brainstorming to come up
with solutions.
Select ideas that rise to the
top, then have group
sketching sessions to
elaborate on the ideas.

49. Today: Make a thing your
partner can interact with!
BUILD
a Prototype
Take it home:
Gather a box of art supplies
and bring it to a meeting. Low
fidelity is the goal.
Make sure to have lots of
scissors and tape.
Prototypes can be as simple as
a sketch and as high-level as
using a working group to
prototype a new department
structure.

50. Today: Talk to you partner
about what works and what
doesn’t. Take pictures.
TEST
and Repeat
Take it home:
Take your prototype to your
audience. Listen to what they
say and watch what they do.
Test with different people and
at different times.
If something doesn’t work,
make a new prototype and try
again.

51. What amazing ideas did your
partner come up with?
SHARE
Anything you want to share?
How might you use Design
Thinking to jump-start
problem solving when you get
home?

52. Planning Our
Next Steps
How might we move forward?

53. Strategy As a Process
Urgency
Get—and keep—
strategy on the
agenda
Action
Resources
Implement and
iterate strategy
Find time and
people to work on
strategy
Clarity
Articulate and
communicate
strategy

54. Discuss with Your Table
Share your experiences with digital
strategy at your organization.
Brainstorm with your colleagues how to
make forward progress at each strategy
stage.

55. Urgency
get—and
keep—digital
strategy on the
agenda
How might we…
• make the case for change?
• find openings for progress
(even if small)?
• achieve leadership buy-in?

56. Resources
Find time
and people to
work on digital
strategy
How might we…
• carve out time and energy to
devote to digital strategy?
• motivate colleagues to
contribute?
• work together to reach
consensus on priorities?

57. Clarity
Articulate and
communicate
digital strategy
How might we…
• decide what to include—and
what to omit—in our strategy?
• put it on paper (or pixels)?
• tell a compelling story about
our strategy?

58. Action
Implement and
iterate digital
strategy
How might we…
• begin doing something with
this strategy?
• be honest if something’s not
working?
• make strategy an ongoing
process?

59. Action Plan
Five Things to Move Us Forward,
at MCN and at Home

60. Action Plan | 5 ways I will move forward
At MCN
I’ll listen for
ideas about:
At Home
I’ll speak to these
colleagues about digital
strategy at my org:
I’ll put the following
ideas into practice:
I’ll use the tools demo’d
today to:
I’ll read/watch/consult
the following resources:
I’ll talk to/get
feedback on:
I’ll be “strategy
buddies” with:

61. A Few Ideas...
●
Share.
■
■
■
■
■
■
●
●
Create a short presentation about what you learned at MCN. Invite
your manager/director.
Distribute the DEF book internally; sign up for a DEF webinar.
Start a strategy club. Give your manager/director reading material.
Identify a pilot project, such as an exhibition, to test-drive the DEF.
Conduct an informal “asset audit” on your own, on-site and online.
Use Design Thinking strategies to “bias for action” on a project.
Act.
Connect.
■ Find a “strategy buddy” in today’s session. Check in periodically.
■ Swap notes with local museum colleagues, here and back home.
■ Conduct empathy interviews with visitors.

62. Thanks for joining us today!
Please keep in touch.
That’s a
WRAP
Annelisa Stephan
@meowius
astephan@getty.edu
Dana Allen-Greil
@danamuses
d-allen-greil@nga.gov
Emily Lytle-Painter
@MuseumofEmily
elytlepainter@getty.edu