Aiming Between Believers and Skeptics

There are two audience groups that exhibitions should almost never target. Both are a waste of your limited resources.

At one end of the spectrum: believers, who already get it and come regardless.

At the other end: skeptics, who refuse to listen and won’t come.

Don’t aim at either.

Aim between them.

Aim at people you can convince, who aren’t already sure.

Think of all the exhibitions aimed at the wrong audience. Curators often write for true believers: other curators. This is normal. Curators want to advance the frontier of knowledge. But 99.99% of exhibition visitors aren’t curators. And there are other ways to address an expert audience, with accompanying channels.

Meanwhile, many exhibition planners imagine skeptics entering their show and leaving forever changed. We’re dreamers. But has that dream actually ever happened? Not that I know of.

Here’s the thing:
Exhibitions are a powerful, but expensive, medium of communication. Don’t waste limited resources on believers or skeptics.

Aim between them.

Warmly,
Jonathan

P.S. Extra credit: aim at those inclined to agree and fence-sitters. Not at those inclined to disagree.