Samir Bitar and I had a very spirited discussion about his role in leading a transformation of the Smithsonian visitor experience. Like many folks who attain a Chief Customer Officer level type role, Samir had been developing a robust visitor experience for just one of the 19 museums on the Smithsonian campus. His success there earned him his role to lead the work across the entire Smithsonian campus. Talk about human duct tape! Samir shared with us the robust engagement approach that he used to meet with the leaders of every museum to build his proposed approach. He used these insights, paired with a simple draft of the Smithsonian visitor journey at the time to convince the most senior board of regents (including multiple senators and the vice president) why the work was necessary and how he would proceed. Then we talked about exactly how Samir worked to build the first journey map for the Smithsonian which has established the blueprint for countless innovations in the visitor experience, as well as many basic experiences that needed to be consistent from one part of the museum to the other. Finally Samir walked us through a groundbreaking trip planning tool which Conde Nast called a game changer, which is the Smithsonian’s “Trip Planner”. Launching in June we will provide you with the URL.
