 Kia ora koutou kato, ko Frith Williams aho, my name's Frith and I pretty much oversee the creative team here at Te Papa across exhibition and web channels. Ngā mahi nui motowa i tineira, thank you very much for coming. This was Te Papa's opening 21 years ago. It's almost a group hug around the entire building and it really shows the sea change at the time, which was appealing to a much broader and more diverse audience than ever before. So when it came to redeveloping our permanent galleries for the first time, since then we were conscious of the big shoes we had to fill and the really, really high expectations. But our amazing team have risen to the challenge. Toy Art opened in March 2018 and Te Thaial Nature, which is my focus today in May this year. So today I'm going to tell you a little bit about the foundations we put in place for that redevelopment, the interpretive principles we set from an audience creative point of view, with some examples of how they manifest in the show, and some key things that we learned. Now I'm not starting from medium for our digital analogue face-to-face because we didn't and shouldn't start there, but you will see where digital solutions were used because they supported those audience principles in ways that other media couldn't and added huge value. So where did we begin? The Museum as a whole set a new mission, changing hearts, minds and lives, and that really reflected much more comfort in taking a stand, particularly in relation to environmental sustainability where the science is pretty clear. We set an overall renewal approach. So this is really the type of experience that we were aiming to create in a nutshell and very much informed by technological, social and environmental trends. So Inspire Wonder recognises that in this digital age, information available anywhere, anytime, by anyone, our role shifts towards being a place of inspiration. They're also still accuracy, particularly with trans-alternative realities. Our nurturing diversity, that recognises our diversifying society in Te Moana Nuiakiwa and the need to represent those many perspectives. Shake things up. The need to acknowledge the big environmental and social challenges of our time and related to that, prepare for the future. To be relevant, we need to look forward because history is happening now. Invite involvement in this age of social media, the experience economy, people desire participation. Reach out. We need to go where our people are online and on the street as much as here and empower our communities. Everything we do is about serving our communities. So who are they? Our audiences. We broadened our understanding of our audience beyond demographics and took on MHM's psychographic segments. Now segments, but like personas, don't assume that every Māori person, every millennial, every middle-aged woman like me is the same. Or wants the same. They classify audiences by their motivations in relation to arts and culture, the type of experience they're seeking. And are used by an increasing number of museums worldwide, so they're aiding benchmarking in that sense. So I've shown our priority audiences, expression, stimulation and affirmation. And you'll see, they're on the right here, so they're already our biggest audiences. And they're quite aligned in many ways in what they're looking for, particularly social opportunities, fun, interactivity, immersion, and that helps to create a cohesive experience. In many museums, you'll see essence higher. They're the more sophisticated, independent, educated audience, still very important for us too, particularly in our art galleries, less of a target elsewhere, in part because they'll come anyway. And supporting the need for a social experience is this, our audiences are primarily social. 80% come with others, and of those 20% are families. In fact, that figures risen to 25% since Te Tai are opened. And we still do identify families as a social target, a demographic of sorts, because their shared needs aren't fully captured by the culture segments. And they're also really, really important repeat visitors and we are wanting to increase local repeat visitation. And in addition, we highlight young Māori and Pacific visitors. They are the future of cultural revitalisation and this particularly has to do with content, so ensuring their stories and their voices are heard. So these are the interpretive principles we set to meet the needs of those audiences and also to capture best practice in storytelling. Number one's very relevant there, and learning theory. Number four's particularly relevant, I'll come to that. So these principles essentially guided the sorts of experience we would invest in. Again, both digital and physical, because the medium came afterwards. But clearly we needed to go beyond text and graphics. And we do have other more fundamental principles too. Now they're in this list because they should never be debated. So they're more permanent and more important in that sense, particularly by culturalism. In te tā, we wanted Mātauranga Māori knowledge to be absolutely central, not just positioned over there as myth, but as a vital way of understanding our natural world based on years of observation and key to guiding our relationship to it. Knowledge that both differs from and aligns with science in different areas. So very briefly on the concept, obviously an enormous amount of work went into this, involving our collections and scholarship around them, our evaluations of past exhibitions, our entire project team went out and spoke to the hosts, observed visitors on the floor. And there was a lot of academic research into New Zealanders environmental attitudes that we looked at, as well as the psychology of behaviour change, because that's the impact we were seeking, change. We did formative testing of the early concepts with diverse groups right around the country in five centres. And you can see how they voiced a really strong desire for a positive uplifting take on environmental issues, not a didactic depressing to-do list. I'm going to take you through these principles and show you examples of how we applied them to the concept. The first principle is to be targeted, less is more. Now, this is an age-old principle of storytelling, but I think even more are valid today because of how we're inundated with information. Museums have a really bad habit of trying to do far too much to the point where it's very unclear what to take away. So my number one concern throughout was that. That's beige. It's meant to be. It's trying to please everyone. It's not very memorable. And really everything that we do is about memorability because it supports learning. So we counted that risk in part by being very targeted in our big ideas, which everything in te taira comes back to. Kaunga are the very specific characteristics that make our natural world unique from anywhere else in the world. Tokotokorangi, the most important threats we're facing today, and Kaitiakitanga, the positive actions that people are taking in those areas to protect the natural world. And two really important underlying ideas are Mauri and Whanau Ngatanga, which I'll come to really soon. The overall plan actually shows those big ideas because they form the structure. From bottom left, uniqueness in the green to ikafenoa, unique NZ. Through threat, the circle in the middle, te kōhanga, the nest, and on to action Ngā Kaitiaki Guardians in the blue. The second principle is emotion, which is also key to storytelling. It helps make stories sticky, if you like, memorable. And as it turns out, it's also essential to inspiring behaviour change as environmental psychology tells us. How do you get people to protect the environment by helping them care first? So the phrase that guided us throughout was from connection to action. And that all came back to the impact we were wanting to have. Connection first, awareness of the issues and then action. Again, that formed the structure of the show. And there's also a connection to why we chose Māori as the narrator. As our sort of welcomer and guide. Because he's relatable, we can connect with him emotionally. He's an explorer, but he also pushes too far, he exploits. He's also a shapeshifter, so he's got huge potential for problem-solving and innovation. Essentially, Māori is us, and we are Māori in the show. He brings a sense of character. He sets the slightly cheeky tone. And he also sets our challenge at the start. And you can see here too the approach to bilingual content, where we intersperse the Māori into the English, as well as have it separately. And that's to encourage language learning, which is a really, really big emphasis for us now. Māori appears in various places throughout, in digital and analogue form. He's teasing, he's encouraging contributions, he's prompting reflection. Including at the end, where he pops up in a projected montage of New Zealanders taking action and challenges us to do the same. And that sense of emotion, character, extends right through unique NZ and how we present our species. Kind of like eccentric family members, the odd bunch, thieving weka, peculiar parrot, croakless frogs. So that's all about supporting this idea of whanau ngatanga, the idea that we are connected to the natural world. We really feel that. Third principle, social. So as mentioned, our target audiences are looking to do things together. So we nurture that, especially where doing so supports the concept. And digital technologies really come to the fore here, especially in relation to scale. The Modi activator in the first gallery introduces the concept of Modi, life force, abundance. Why make it social? In part because it's such an important concept, but also because nurturing abundance means working together. So it's part of the concept. And here you place your hands, I hope you get to do this, on a beautiful carved interface to activate the Modi. Appears in the form of wildlife and energy on this very large screen above. The more hands, the more abundant and dynamic that life becomes. Why digital and audio visual for the payoff? Because it is so great at representing something that's otherwise hard to see. Energy and abundance in quite a magical way. With experiences that depend on social interaction for success, I think it's really important to remember that spectatorship is as important as participation for learning, as you see here. So it's not a failure for visitors to watch. That said, testing very important, especially to ensure that the payoff for that social interaction and collaboration is great enough. And he's testing of the Modi Activator a month or two before opening. It's another example of the social principle, whanau ngatanga. Ko au te taia, ko te taia, ko au. I am nature. Nature is me. Everything's connected. And here a gesture-based camera picks up your body and sort of shows your silhouette embedded with natural imagery. It's another beautiful illustration of that magical quality that digital media can bring. And that's why we chose it after brainstorming. God, must have been about 100 other possibilities. This went through multiple iterations before we came to something really quite simple. And again, it's the fact that people do this together. That's particularly powerful. They dance. They jump around. They laugh. And that's the sort of joyous connection that we wanted to encourage. Social interaction, of course, doesn't have to be digital or complex or costly. This is quite a cheap interactive. It's a set of industrial scales that allow you to weigh in against the 240kg giant moa. So these kids together don't even get close. They weigh a little bit more than a stout legged moa. There's lots of laughter with this one. And supporting social interaction can be as simple as making something big enough for people to gather around, making a table big enough for various people to draw on or a screen big enough for them to gather around. That's really, really key. Even displaying an image from a microscope on a war monitor so mum and dad can enjoy it with their child. Fourth principle is physical, which is closely connected to social. Now, this is about the value of play, but it's not just about being hands-on and pushing buttons for the sake of it. I'm really talking about embodied learning, where the physical action that we're asking for matches the concept, the real action. So much of our learning happens in our bodies, so this can really increase long-term retention of knowledge. And of course, digital can support the physical. They're not mutually exclusive. Here, the story of New Zealand's formation, which explains why our wildlife evolved so weird and unique. In our old galleries, we told the story of Zealandia on a monitor on the wall. This time, we chose to project it on the floor so that people, especially kids, could follow the landmasses with their bodies to help understand that notion of geographical isolation. So it's a very fun and simple form of physicality. Here, you can see us testing it by lying on the floor to get a sense of looking down at the landmasses. We also brought back an old favourite. Some of you may know this, the earthquake house. But we revamped the experience inside. So you're invited to drop cover hold, and you're taking the lead of your new neighbours who are through that door to your right. So again, embodiment of a learning concept. Digital media's also involved because that doorway is, of course, a screen. We tested this pretty early on too with kids. You can see here lots of fun testing. There are simpler examples of physicality too. No digital technology involved. Pure touch, touching replica kiwi claws, even smelling the kiwi. That's a really popular one. And those senses are also vital because, of course, our audiences bring many different abilities and disabilities. And this wonderful group of people with disabilities advised us on their needs, and they adjusted our ideas as a result. For example, in the Modi activator, we included sound and haptic feedback as part of the payoff for interaction. And the nature of that touch was important too. It needed to be nurturing, not frantic. Physicality and interactivity are coming through really strongly. And visitor research, so many confirm it as a driver for memorability and learning. It's a really nice expression of learning theory for one of our visitors. Unforgettable. The senses, of course, have a strong connection to the fifth principle, immersion, taking people on a journey. So each space in Te Tai Ao is to some degree immersive. After unique NZ, which is a bit like a forest clearing, Whakarua Moko, active land, is more like going underground. That large-scale projection at the back shows the eruption that created Lake Taupo, our supervolcano. So scale, often really important in building immersion, of course. But the epitome of immersion is Te Kohanga, the nest at the very heart of the space. It's the emotional turning point from uniqueness and wonder through to threat. And here, bird song draws you in. Sound. You find yourself in a beautiful forest with stunning images of birds all around you. But which are thriving, threatened or extinct? And by touching eggs, you discover their status. You also trigger their calls, if they're still around, and build the soundscape. Overall, one in five of our birds are extinct and many others are endangered, so it's a very sobering moment. Now, this experience is simpler than you might think it's made of recycled materials. It isn't digital or screen-based. It's backlit labels with light and sound triggers. But it's still radically different from how we approached the same topic ten years ago, which is a pretty didactic graphic list of extinct species. So no immersion, no audience participation, no physicality, no senses. I'll leave you to decide which is more effective in terms of memorability and learning. This is actually still on level three in Blood Earth Fire. And once again, we tested very early prototypes of the nest in a local school, as seen here. You're originally going to touch skulls, but the kids quickly told us that they didn't want to do that. We tested even small things like the placement of graphics to gauge point size and message. If you look closely, my hand on the right has the word digi labels on it. That's my sustainable to-do list. And you'll hear more about those labels from the team or over the back at midday. Principle six, empowerment. So the questions posed in the nest are connected to empowerment. Asking questions is a learning strategy. It's also key to the scientific process of inquiry. But we took that even further with te au, the current. And here we ask for your response to big environmental questions. And you can place yourself along a spectrum from excited to angry, for example. You can express a more in-depth opinion and writing. You've used projected and real time in the gallery and you can see it relative to others. This museum's display research here we're wanting to contribute to it. So it's really an experiment. And we chose to create this digitally to support that research. We can upload those responses to a public database and track and analyse attitudes over time. And anyone can access that data. There's even potential to contribute to government policy here. So digital media really brings massive value in that way. And this experience is also available on our website. So reaching people where they are. We've got the guy who's over the back here who managed that project. Empowerment can be, though, as simple as seeing yourself in the gallery. Transformed in some way. Interesting to see a kind of renewed desire for this retro analogue options like this. Like who needs Snapchat when you've got a real mask. I mentioned digital labels. We use these for large displays of objects. So they bring specimens to life. Through audio and video, presenting content fully bilingualy without overwhelming you with text on the walls. And they're also about empowering you to choose what you want to find out about. And we can and do gather analytics on what you choose. OK, the last principle. How's my time, by the way? Oof, I'm going to have to go fast. So it goes without saying that real things are fundamental to our museum's point of difference. And we should never forget that. Our collections are at the core of what we do. We can use digital labels to illuminate them, but the collections and their stories are the gold. Colossal squid, one of our heroes. Who doesn't want to see the real giant wetter? Freaky deep sea fish. Where else can you get to see them? So why would I include this immersive projection under the category of real? It's the climate converter. Here your goal is to create a Carbon Zero New Zealand and keep sea level rise and drought at bay. You have to raise your hand. That's a physical metaphor right there to trigger community solutions around the walls. Less dairy, more windmills, et cetera. And the environment around you changes the more action you takes until you win and reach Carbon Zero. And again you need to work together to do that. So it is social, it's physical, it's immersive, it's empowering, it's all those principles that I've talked about in one. But the reason it's also real isn't just because climate change is a real and important issue. But because of what those girls on the bottom right are about to do. And that is make a personal pledge to combat climate change. Anything from I'll walk one day more to school each week to I'll eat a little less meat. And that pledge shapeshifts into a bird like Maui and joins the Kawhai Tree. And you can also opt into an email which offers you advice to put your pledge into action. So that's the key real world connection. There's a link to our Action Aves here too. Now there's 16 videos that show New Zealanders from all walks of life taking real action in real places around the country. Like the school in Porirua, cleaning up their local script stream. There's a crowd sourced videos. The community has filmed them themselves. So it's about using those success stories to help inspire further action. That URL at the top links you to a volunteering website called Collaborate which connects you to conservation opportunities where you live. So again, real world connection. Now we know that only a few people access that URL in the exhibition. One person per day did over the first month. But of those 30 people, 40%, that's 12 people actually signed up to volunteer. So that's pretty cool. Which brings me to our impact. We are capturing our success along the spectrum. So it shifts from a basic level engagement on the left, attention, right through to personal action, community impact and national impact on the right. The simple fact-based learning in the middle. So visitor numbers, long-standing success measure are actually on the left, attention. They're not the be-all-on-end-all, but they are still important. And on that note, we're 30% above visitation targets which is cool and satisfaction is also pretty high. But most importantly, 16% of visitors are leaving inspired to make a change to protect the environment and that is our ultimate goal. So that's really cool. These are just a few of the responses to surveys a few weeks after visiting on behaviour change, specifically reduce my meat intake, trying to use less plastic. Seems that we are having some impact on conservation action. And it's been super-heartening to see this feedback because beyond building environmental understanding, we consciously using te taira to promote language learning to unprompted responses. And so we come full circle to our overall museum mission and it seems we are making some inroads there. It's very pleasing. I'm not going to have much time for what we learned. So I'm going to dash through this. We did learn a lot about process and making sure that people from very different backgrounds all understand roles and responsibilities. We learned how important the community is. They're willing to help. They have so much knowledge and a big shout out to everyone that was involved in the show right around the country. Vision, I learned that your vision will be challenged on all fronts, often for budget reasons. People will say just make it a text and graphic constantly. But if you can afford one experience, that would be better expressed physically and socially do it because it makes a difference. Sell it to sponsors. Scale it back but still do it. The final two, testing vital at all stages, doesn't have to be expensive. Just get your people out on the floor. This is the most important one for me. We were humbly reminded that our team, internal and external, is our everything. And a project of the scale and length is so incredibly taxing on them. Team wellbeing needs to be a success measure, is what I would say. Because creativity is hard enough as it is. This is how it feels. Leadership is very much about having faith in them and empowering them. Having some fun helps to relieve the pressure. That's my daughter on that chair waiting for me again. There is a wonderful harmony in the fact that mahi tahi, the name of the place where Māori to have first arrived, the place that our team visited early in the project and that inspired the exhibition entrance, means work as one. Mahi, work tahi as one. And this is the team that did that with all of our communities. Right behind them, warming our nest. Full credit to everyone involved. Kia ora tātou.