Planning to Achieve Your Destination’s Vision
Walt Disney once said, “all our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” A comprehensive master plan, one that outlines institution-innovating improvements, sets a roadmap for the future and a realization of your destination’s dreams, answering the questions what do we want to become and where do we want to go?
The process of creating a master plan begins with clearly identifying and understanding a destination’s current guests and the ones that aren’t yet visiting. It’s about truly recognizing who they are – their entire profile, outlining their behaviors and preferences before, during, and after their visit. This step becomes the foundation for crafting a strategy to best satisfy their needs and wants.
Next, an institution must engage in profound introspection. The investigation delves deeply into “who we are” and “where did we come from,” and is a sincere evaluation of greatest strengths and most fragile weaknesses. This internal study begins to prioritize and logically assemble the powerful steps that the long-term strategy will entail.
Finally, a destination in the midst of master planning must create its strategy and clearly communicate its purpose and key steps. Every action a destination takes, whether it’s operational or capital, reinforces that strategy if it’s implemented with that purpose in mind. As a destination executes a clear strategy, staff, stakeholders, and visitors now know where the institution is going as a whole, they have a greater understanding of how they fit into that picture, and can help execute actions towards that mission – even become evangelists.
Comprehensive master planning is the perfect fit for any destination that wants to grow, effectively actualize their mission, or become what its founders dreamed. Massive for-profit attractions and start-up non-profits alike have deeply benefited from master planning. From the roaring screams at Busch Gardens, to the quiet reflection at the National Geographic Grand Canyon Visitors Center; to the mystifying aquatic life of the Georgia Aquarium to the inspiring, silent army of the Terracotta Warriors, destinations of all walks of life are boldly paving their futures with strategic master plans.
Beth Hill
President, Fort Ticonderoga
How did you come to be leading the legendary Fort Ticonderoga?
I started at the Fort on my birthday in 2010, but it all began months earlier when a board member from Ticonderoga got in touch with me and asked that I apply for their newly-opened Executive Director position. I had been passionately in the thick of a project in my seventh year at Fort Dobbs in North Carolina, so I hadn’t been in the mindset of a transition. But after 20 years working in museums, I recognized that it was a huge honor, and I’m so very thankful to have such a supportive family who left North Carolina to join me on this adventure at Lake Champlain.
What has it been like to manage the institutional turnaround?
When I first arrived, the original board member who recruited me told me that it took a lot of courage for me to join them. We both knew it would take a great deal of fortitude to lead change – but it always does. There’s a strong regional culture of “my history” with the Fort – people’s personal stories and connections with the site – and we need to be respectful of those as we evolve. What’s been essential is having a clear vision and enthusiasm around where we’re going, and clearly communicate it in every opportunity – I live and breathe my work.
Where are you taking the Fort?
Today, we’re looking at Ticonderoga’s history of destruction and renewal – it’s a place of so many beginnings and ends, it’s changed hands so many times, which brings new structures, cultures, and stories each time. It’s a great dialogue to engage our visitors with – why do educators teach about a certain decade in one way last year, but differently this year? What have we learned about history in between? Universities are now coming in and exploring our history too, helping fuel brand new discoveries and programs. It’s pretty exciting.
What advice do you want to give historic site managers across the country?
I’m afraid that there’s a trend starting to spread at some of these destinations – where organizations feel they need to “trick” guests into coming by being more of an adventure park than an honest historical experience. I don’t think that’s right – we think visitors want a gritty, honest, visceral experience. We have something of incredible value, and we’re honored with the privilege to distribute it. We want to authentically recreate experiences; and if cultural destinations don’t want to do that while being true, honest, and telling their unique story, they may need to reconsider what they’re doing.
What’s the future of destinations like yours?
Gone are the days where non-for-profits don’t have to think like a business. Places like ours will need to grow organizational cultures into ones that operate with accountability and business strategy at the core of everything they do. We’ll need to stay rooted to our missions, but always continue to innovate and create new,
groundbreaking ways to engage the public.
Quick Wins: Immediate Steps to Impact Long-term Success
Strategy. It’s a word that perks up the ears of management and lights the eyes of the board, but is often followed by crestfallen moans. It’s something that “we’ll get around to when we have time,” or, “I think Bill’s team is hammering something out around that.” It can be a challenge to make the time and effort to assemble a team and focus on answering the question “where do we want to go and what will it take to get us there;” but when the time is allotted, powerful, incredible opportunities can come to light – and some you can start today.
Quick wins are the immediate actions an organization can take right now to effect positive change. However, these strategic, results-driven insights can only best emerge when a team takes a break from its daily operations and undergoes the strategic thinking required for a master plan.
During a master planning process, staff are assembled from multiple departments and forced to think deeply about how they envision their destination in the future. This opportunity for multi-department communication and collaboration is often-times rare, which makes it that much more valuable. But it’s a requirement – no well thought-out master plan will ever only effect one department at a destination. It’s a re-imagining of an entire organization, and that needs the insights and collaboration of everyone.
Master planning is a time for deep reflection – to step away from email notifications, voicemails, and text messages and examine both philosophically and strategically every aspect of an organization. It requires a deep understanding of the destination – from envisioning the visitor experience, to examining the complete physical lay-out of the property, to picking apart the daily operations of the entire complex.
While master plans can often be hefty road-maps that blueprint decades of incremental improvements and strategies for organizations; sometimes, during the creative and conversational beginnings of the planning process, some actions present themselves that are so easily implemented, which have clear positive results associated with them, that your team could begin right after this meeting. Traditionally these have been called “low hanging fruit;” but since not all destinations are in the business of horticulture, we call them quick wins. A quick win will usually present itself in concert with other quick wins, and they usually appear – rather quickly.
Here’s how you spot one:
- Number One: They don’t cost much, if anything.
- Number Two: They’re not risky. If the experiment doesn’t work, no loss.
- Number Three: There’s potential for immediate, high return.
- Number Four: They require little, if any, new infrastructure or resources.
Psychologically, quick wins have an incredibly strong impact on institutions undergoing the growing pains that come along with master planning and new strategies.
Quick wins:
- A. Build confidence in your team that you have the power not to do things the way you always have, and that you can be change agents.
- B. Provide a low risk vehicle for experimentation, which can lead to greater insights and innovation for your organization.
- C. Build support within your organization, the community, and other leaders within your destination that you’re ready to lead positive transformation.
Quick wins enable an organization early on in the master planning process to immediately identify opportunities and act upon them, leading to greater visioning, strategic planning, and immediate results. Leave the low-hanging fruit at the grocery store.
Quick Wins at Fort Ticonderoga
Cresting on the cool shores of Lake Champlain in Upstate New York, Fort Ticonderoga is currently undergoing the first of three phases in a master plan, with its eyes set on becoming the most important U.S. military site in the continental United States. The monumental historic landmark is notorious for quickly changing leadership throughout the centuries; and the new Fort President, Beth Hill, is engaging in some modern-day quick wins of her own.
“We’re in an industry where attendance and revenue are hurting – standing still is not an option,” says Beth Hill, President of Fort Ticonderoga. The success of the first phase of the master plan and its quick wins would fuel the energy and funding around phases two and three, so its success was essential. There had been a number of strategies and plans that had failed, creating at times a frustrated, stagnant culture at the Fort – so quick wins needed to be bold, sustainable, and empower Ticonderoga’s current resources. Hill initiated six big quick wins in the spring of 2012:
- Relocate the ticketing booth from the Fort to the entrance gate of the entire property.
- Increase ticket prices by $2.50, from $15 to $17.50.
- Phase out free ticketing programs.
- Develop a program around hosting special events, such as weddings, at the Fort.
- Partner with large, regional businesses to provide special corporate events.
- Initiate special, behind-the-scenes tours.
“We realized that more than 20% of our visitors weren’t paying to visit the Fort,” says Hill. “Because the ticket booth was inside Fort Ticonderoga, guests could drive through acres and acres of our beautiful property, up to the Fort, enjoy the incredible views of the outpost and Lake Champlain, and never pay a dime.” The organization also had numerous free ticketing programs, too many for a healthy balance, and realized the opportunity. By restructuring their program so that all of their guests paid for admission, and gently raising the price of those tickets, Hill could reposition the admissions program in a very powerful, impactful way.
The other opportunity seized upon by the Fort was offering premium programs. While the general public is typically more than satisfied with a regular trip to a legendary site, many guests like the opportunity for special events such as behind-the-scenes tours or weddings. These premium services can be offered at a higher price point than regular admission, and larger events like weddings or company outings can be an incredible source of revenue and attraction. Best of all, these initiatives don’t require much of any additional staffing or program resources.
Bold, aggressive changes like these can often be confronted with push-back in most organizations, stakeholders quick to nay-say to protect the antiquated way of doing things. Such was not the way of change at Fort Ticonderoga. “My staff really embraced it,” says Beth Hill. “It really ignited a culture of empowerment, accountability, and enthusiasm – a reality of ‘we can make a difference!’” The team foresaw that there might be a fall-out from the community, especially because visitors wouldn’t be able to freely drive through the property any longer. But Hill professes that the community really “gets it” – every time she has a chance to speak publicly, people are truly engaged to discover that the Fort is non-for-profit; yet, is a major economic engine for the local, regional, and state economies. Hill proudly states, “the best part about it is, what truly gets the community, the staff, and our board excited about the entire project, are the results of the quick wins.”
Quick Results
- Admissions revenue is up 20% over the same period last summer.
- Paid attendance is up 8% vs. 2011, where 2012 regional attendance is flat or on the decline of similar institutions, and nationally only up 2%.
- Membership has risen by 42% over summer 2011.
- Contributions are up 63% against 2011’s donations.
“Quick wins have been transformative for Fort Ticonderoga,” says the new leader of the historic citadel. “It’s charged us to be fearless, in a strategically and fiscally responsible way. It’s carried into all the strategic discussions with our staff – truly a way we do business now. Where can we invest modestly and get a great result?” They’re the first steps for a great undertaking that an institution can make; and from Mount Defiance to the shores of Lake Champlain, Fort Ticonderoga is well underway with its big summer quick wins.
Master Planning at the Saint Louis Zoo
As the Saint Louis Zoo approached its centennial celebration, it embarked on a 10-year master planning journey to redefine and restructure its destination strategy and exhibits in 2007. Despite the zoo’s popularity and success over the course of the last century, guests’ taste change, technology advances, new conservation needs emerge or are accomplished, and the Saint Louis Zoo was ready to innovate and redefine the path it would lead over the course of its next hundred years.
In Phase One, the Saint Louis Zoo turned deeply introspective to analyze every aspect of its operations. The master planning process forces multiple departments to communicate and collaborate, something that most destinations may not be doing on a regular basis. They deeply questioned “why and how do we do this now” as they examined their visitor traffic, their mission and vision statements, how their strategies and management styles carried those out, and how their current marketing and advertising efforts communicated that promise to the public. The Zoo’s mission is “to conserve animals and their habitats through animal management, research, recreation, and educational programs that encourage the support and enrich the experience of the public.” It was essential that their planning process follow that guiding light. After collectively ruminating on their local competition and wholly understanding their attendance and demographic data, the leaders of the Saint Louis Zoo looked out over the scenic expanse of Forest Park and asked, “what do we want to become?”
In Phase Two, the team launched into Product Development. Geared specifically with long-term, mission-driven goals and financial objectives in mind, the Saint Louis Zoo began to formulate what improvements to its operations and its attractions would best serve its animals and its guests alike. Out of this phase, the zoo could clarify what mix of innovations would have the greatest impact on accomplishing all its goals with specific visitor segments: strategic, financial, mission-driven, guest-thrilling, and animal-pleasing.
Phase Three creates the road-map for the future and specific steps, including construction, are given due dates. A long implementation phase is essential, as each success lays the foundation for the following step, ever creating a stronger, wider base for a better institution. The Saint Louis Zoo’s road-map centered around four main objectives of development: Animal Care, Conservation Messaging, Way-finding, and Financial Sustainability.
The final phase yielded a number of exciting improvements to be implemented before 2017, including enhanced pathways, new animals and exhibits in strategic locations, heightened utilization of the zoo’s picturesque lakes, and a completely heightened experience for guests and the permanent faunal residents, including immersive story-telling and enhanced environments. Each of these improvements are directly correlated to bolstering the mission of the zoo, bettering the visitor experience, and creating powerful, business-oriented realizations.
Now almost halfway through the implementation of their master plan, the Saint Louis Zoo has revealed its brand new South Entry experience as well as its record-breaking Sea Lion Sound attraction, featuring the world’s first underwater-viewing tunnel for marine mammals and a thrilling Sea Lion Show. As the zoo continues to make improvements to its North Entry experience and its nationally-recognized elephant program, it continues boldly in a period of empowerment and excitement that paves the way for zoo innovation, management, and design.
