Animals Always, but Not Animals Only
![Speaker onstage at IAAPA Expo](/sites/default/files/styles/default_embedded_media_900/public/images/20211115_Inspiring-Awe-010.png?itok=sQYnSqnG)
Ryan Jeffery, director of guest experience at the St. Louis Zoo in Missouri, opened “Inspiring Awe: The Impact of Great Guest Experience to Build a Connection to your Mission-Based Organization” by presenting the zoo’s tagline, “Animals First.” However, the lesson to be garnered from the IAAPA Expo education session was that despite animals always coming first in the zoo and aquarium industry, it cannot always be “animals only.”
Jeffery joined forces with Amber Christopher, chief operating officer of the Denver Zoo in Colorado, and Kenneth Maguire, director of operations and guest experience at the Monterey Aquarium in California, to discuss with fellow industry members the importance of people, like the guests and the experiences that they have.
“People do matter,” Jeffery said, adding that 50-60% of his employees had initially shared the animals only mentality. He said he had to find the key to showing his staff the importance of people.
“If we’re doing everything that we absolutely need to do, we will start to have that mission success and building toward that world where, hopefully we can save the world and save animals from extinction,” Jeffery explained. “But we need help if we’re going to achieve these objectives. Here, we have potentially 3 million people that could help us. If we take care of our guests and invest in them, and we deliver them quality service, positive memories, and good experiences, then, ultimately, those guests will build a relationship with us. Their trust will go up, and their support will go up.”
So, what is awe, and how can it be used to inspire guests?
“Awe is something that doesn’t necessarily happen organically,” Jeffery said. “It’s something that has to be curated and worked on.”
Christopher agreed, saying that awe is something impactful that stops guests in their tracks, and Denver Zoo’s objective is to harness that awe to consciously change guest behavior. Christopher explained that this can be done through facilitating these moments through factors like proximity to the animals, beauty of the animals and exhibits, and the novelty of the experiences.
“You can’t force these moments,” Christopher said. “It’s all about cultivating them.”
To create human connection, attractions must establish good relationships between guests and staff to make any kind of interaction with the animals and exhibits. This is what Maguire stressed to the audience, as he spoke on the way Monterey Aquarium chooses, trains, and continues to educate its staff from day one of the hiring process, throughout the entirety of their employ. Monterey Aquarium makes it a goal for all staff, regardless of assigned role, to understand the innerworkings of all departmental operations, as well as hold knowledge on the marine life.
“The operations staff always used to tell me, ‘What difference does it make that we know about the animals or the habitats inside the aquarium?’” Maguire said. “I quickly let them know that they’re the table setters. They are the ones that create what the experience is going to be like. If they have an amazing experience walking through the door, their minds, their ears, their hearts are more open to what our message is."