COMMUNICATING EARTH SCIENCES - HOW TO PLAN A ROVING EXHIBITION

The elements of a successful exhibition, milestones in the exhibition planning process as well as ideas and recommendations to make your exhibition even more exciting, will be discussed. Best practice examples from ten years of experience with Earth sciences exhibitions will provide useful information for your exhibition project.

Over the last years, institutions and organizations became more and more aware that communicating Earth Sciences is vitally important within the competition for financial support. Furthermore, Earth sciences will have to take over the leading role in global sustainable policy. Efforts to raise attention within the politically responsible community as well as in the public are getting more and more support by executive and advisory boards all over the world. But how to get in touch with the audience? The communication toolbox offers various methods to reach diverse audiences. The R&D programme GEOTECHNOLOGIEN conducts roving exhibitions as one of it's most successful communication tools. With roving exhibitions we are able to get in touch with different audiences at once. By following the 3M-concept (Meaning - Memorable - Moving), exhibitions allow to connect the visitors living environment and personal experience with the presented issues and objects. Therefore, hands-on exhibits, exciting multimedia effects and high-tech artefacts have to be combined with interpretive text elements to highlight the daily significance of the scientific topics and the exhibition theme respectively. To create such an exhibition, strong conceptual planning has to be conducted. This includes the specification of stern financial as well as time wise milestones. In addition, partnering with a museum will become a crucial step on the way to success. Merging scientific backbone with experienced museum pedagogic will help to communicate complex themes in a more prosperous way.

The crucial steps of planning an exhibition, with a strong focus on small budget projects, will be highlighted by best practice examples from the previous and ongoing Earth science exhibitions.