VEX25 Workshops
Tuesday, September 30
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
The Visitor Experience Blueprint:
Align Your Teams, Wow Your Guests, Grow Your Revenue
Edlis Neeson Theater: 9:00 - 10:30 am
Learn how to align departments to deliver a cohesive guest experience by connecting service standards, recovery, and premium offerings. This session provides tools to build a holistic strategy that improves satisfaction, streamlines operations, drives attendance and spending, and lowers acquisition costs at your venue.​

Josh Liebman, Founder, Liebman Leisure Group
DEI in the Crosshairs: Advancing Equity in Challenging Times
Edlis Neeson Theater: 11:00 am - 12:30 pm
Explore actionable strategies for sustaining Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work in cultural institutions amid shifting political and social climates. This session offers tools for navigating resistance, fostering institutional resilience, and reaffirming DEI as core to mission-driven work.

Sara Furr, PhD, VP of Inclusive Strategies, Family Institute at Northwestern University
Moving Beyond the Deficit Model of the Visitor:
Visitor First Approaches to Site Interpretation
Crown Family Room: 11:00 am - 12:30 pm
Participants will engage in thinking about approaches to site that fully engage visitors, putting their interests, knowledge, and experience at the center of facilitated experiences rather than assuming visitors enter any experience with a deficit. Emerging theories and recent research will be presented. Links with DEAI will be discussed.

Brian Forist, PhD; Senior Lecturer-Parks, Recreation, & the Outdoors; Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington
Access All-Stars: Making the Case for Inclusion
Crown Family Room: 2:00 - 3:30 pm
You’re an Access Champion—now put your skills to the test! In this interactive session, solve accessibility challenges, lead institutional change, and develop disability-centered programming. Learn how communication, pre-visit information, and proactive solutions eliminate barriers before they happen, and bring 'Service First' to life at your organization.

Alex Boyle, Director of Programs, Art-Reach Dani Rose, Access Consultant